l> ' - / .C .; ?,/" . ^L r . A COLLECTION _ . c. zzi7zcx FACTS AND DOCUMENTS, RELATIVE TO THE DEATH OF Hamilton; WITH COMMENTS : TOGETHER WITH THE VARIOUS ORATIONS, SERMONS, AND EULOGIES, THAT HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED OR WRITTEN OS LIFE AJVD CHARACTER. Quoad humanum genus incolume manserit, quamdiu usus literis, honor summae eloquent! x pretium erit, quamdiu rerum natura aut fortuna steterit, aut memoriaduraverit, admirabile, posteris vigebis ingenium. AURELIUSFUSCUS. fir THE EDITOR GF,t PRINTED BY HOPKINS AND SEYMOUR, FOR I. RILKY AND CO. BOOKSELLERS, NO. 1, CITY-HOTEL, BROADWAY. 1804. District of New-York, ss. IT REMEMBERED, That on the twentieth day of Au- (L. s ) ust) * n t ^ ie twent 7- nmtn year of the Independence of the United States of America, ISAAC RILEIT, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as^proprietor, in the words following, to wit : * ' A Collection of the Facts aud Documents relative to the Death of ' Major-General Alexander Hamilton; with comments: together with the various Orations, Sermons, and Eulogies, that have been published or written on his Life and Character. " Quoad humanum genus incolume manserir, quamdiu usus literis, honor " summae eloquentiae pretium erit, quamdiu rerum natura aut fortuna ste- " terit, aut memoria duraverit, admirabile, posteris vigebis ingenium.-~ '* Aurelius Fuscus. " By the Editor of the Evening Post. 1 ' IN conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by se- " curing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors " and Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein men- "tioned."-- ' . ^ . V ; ; "EDWARD DUNSCOMB, ; * *: Clerk of the District of New-York. PREFACE. THIS Collection of Papers, and the comments and remarks which will occasionally accompany them, are offered to the public no less in gratification of my own feelings, than in compliance with the request of those whose wishes I have long been accus- tomed to respect. IN the death of HAMILTON,! have lost my best earthly friend, my ablest adviser, and my most generous and disinterested pa- tron. And all that is now left me, is to pour forth my grati- tude in unavailing sorrow ; and to evince my regard for his me- mory, by defending it against the cruel attacks of those, who, not contented with having deprived him of his life, seem bent on pursuing him beyond the grave, and destroying his fame. A belief is confidently indulged, that when this series of Numbers shall be completed, enough will have appeared to silence the voice of calumny forever. THIS Collection will contain all the documents and publica- tions, which, it is presumed, the friends of General HAMILTON would wish to see preserved in a more permanent form than that of a Gazette. Most ot the papers and facts have, indeed, already appeared ; but some things of a very interesting nature are now for the first time published ; and the remarks on the Corres- pondence and circumstances connected with the fatal event, will be found to have been materially revised, corrected, and me- thodized, since their first hasty appearance in the Evening Post. 332001 A COLLECTION, IN the following pages will be found a satisfactory account of the shocking catastrophe which has deprived America of her most valuable citizen, and our age of the greatest man ; together with some brief remarks, calculated to place the melancholy affair in its true light, both as it respects the deceased, and him by whose arm he was slain. PERHAPS the most satisfactory manner of introducing the reader to his subject, will be to begin with the Correspondence which led to the fatal interview. It follows : /N. I. New-Tor k, June 18, 18O4. SIR, I SEND for your perusal a letter signed Charles D. Cooper, which, though apparently published some time ago, has but very recently come to my knowledge. Mr, Van Ness, who does me the favour to deliver this, will point out to you that clause of the letter to which I particu* larly request your attention. You must perceive, Sir, the necessity of a prompt and unqualified acknowledgment or denial of the use of any ex, pression which would warrant the assertions of Dr. Cooper, I have the honour to be, Your obedient serv't, A. BURR* General HAMILTON. (2) . II. New-Tor k, June 20, 1804. SIR, I HAVE maturely reflected on the subject of your letter of the. 18th inst. and the more I have reflected the more I have become convinced, that I could not, without manifest im- propriety, make the avowal or disavowal which you seem to think necessarv^ The clause pointed out by Mr. Van Ness is in these terms : " I could detail to you a still more despi- cable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Mr. Burr." To endeavour to discover the meaning of this declaration, I was obliged to seek in the antecedent part of this letter for the opinion to which it referred, as having been already disclosed. I found it in these words : " Ge- neral Hamilton and Judge Kent have declared in substance, that they looked upon Mr. Burr to be a dangerous man, and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of govern- ment." THE language of Dr. Cooper plainly implies, that he con- sidered this opinion of you, which he attributes to me as a despicable one ; but he affirms that I have expressed some other, more despicable, without, however, mentioning to whom, when, or where. ? Tis evident that the phrase, " still more despicable," admits of infinite shades, from very- light to very dark. How am I to judge of the degree in- tended ? or how shall I annex any precise idea to language so indefinite? BETWEEN gentlemen, despicable and more despicable are not worth the pains of distinction : when therefore you do not interrogate me, as to the opinion which is specifically ascribed to me, I must conclude, that you view it as within (3) the limits to which the animadversions of political opponents upon each other may justifiably extend, and consequently as not warranting the idea of it which Doctor Cooper appears to entertain. If so, what precise inference could you draw, as a guide for your conduct, were I to acknowledge that I had expressed an opinion of you still more despicable than the one which is particularized ? How could you be sure that even this opinion had exceeded the bounds which you would yourself deem admissible between political opponents ? BUT I forbear further comment on the embarrassment, to which the requisition you have made naturally leads. The V occasion forbids a more ample illustration, though nothing could be more easy than to pursue it. REPEATING that I cannot reconcile it with propriety to make the acknowledgment or denial you desire, I will add that I deem it inadmissible on principle, to consent to be in- terrogated as to the justness of the inferences which may be drawn by others from whatever I may have said of a po- litical opponent, in the course of fifteen years competition. If there were no other objection to it this is sufficient, that it would tend to expose my sincerity and delicacy to injurious imputations from every person who may at any time have conceived the import of my expressions, differently from what I may then have intended or may afterwards recollect. I stand ready to avow or disavow promptly and explicitly any precise or definite opinion which I may be charged with having declared of any Gentleman. More than this cannot fitly be expected from me j and especially it cannot be reason- ably expected that I shall enter into an explanation upon a basis so vague as that which you have adopted. I trust on more reflection you will see the matter in the same light vp& me. If not, I can only regret the circumstance and must abide the consequences. THE publication of Doctor Cooper was never seen by me till after the receipt of your letter. I have the honour to be, &c. A. HAMILTON. Col. BURR. N. III. New-York, 21st June, 1804. SIR, YOUR letter of the 20th instant has been this day receiv- ed. Having considered it attentively, I regret to find in it nothing of that sincerity and delicacy which you profess to value. POLITICAL opposition can never absolve gentlemen from the necessity of a rigid adherence to the laws of honour, and the rules of decorum. I neither claim such privilege nor indulge it in others. THE common sense of mankind affixes to the epithet adopt- ed by Dr. Cooper, the idea of dishonour. It has been publicly applied to me under the sanction of your name. The question is not, whether he has understood the mean- ing of the word, or has used it according to syntax, and with grammatical accuracy ; but, whether you have authorized this application, either directly or by uttering expressions or opinions derogatory to my honour. The time " when'' is in CO vour own knowledge, but no way material to me, as the calumny has now first been disclosed, so as to become the subject of my notice, and as the effect is present and palpa- ble. YOUR letter has furnished me with new reasons for requir- ing a definite reply. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient, A. BURR. General HAMILTON. ON Saturday the 22d of June, General Hamilton, for the first time, called on Mr. Pendleton and communicated to him the preceding correspondence. He informed him that in a conversation with Mr. Van Ness at the time of receiv- ing the last letter, he told Mr. Van Ness that he considered that letter as rude and offensive, and that it was not possible for him to give it any other answer than that Mr. Burr must take such steps as he might think proper. He said farther, that Mr. Van Ness requested him to take time to delibe- rate, and then return an answer, when he might possibly en- tertain a different opinion, and that he would call on him to receive it. That his reply to Mr. Van Ness was, that he did not perceive it possible for him to give any other an- swer than that he had mentioned, unless Mr. Burr would take back his last letter and write one which would admit of a different reply. He then gave Mr. Pendleton the letter hereafter mentioned of the 22d of June, to be delivered to (6) Mr. Van Ness when he should call on Mr. Pendleton for an answer, and went to his country house. THE next day General Hamilton received, while there, the following letter. N. IV. June 23 said he -, u I am a sinner : I look to his mercy." I then adverted to " the infinite merit of the Redeemer, as the propitiation for sin, the sole ground of our acceptance with God ; the sole channel of his favour to us j and cited the following pas- sages of scripture : There is no other name given under hea- ven among men, "whereby ive must be saved, but the name of Jesus. He is able to save them to the uttermost ^vho come un~ to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin?'' This last passage introduced the affair of the duel, on which I reminded the General, that he was not to be instructed as to its moral aspect, that the precious blood of Christ was as ef- fectual and as necessary to wash away the transgression which had involved him in suffering, as any other transgression ; and that he must there, and there alone, seek peace for his conscience, and a hope that should " not make him asham- ed" He assented, with strong emotion, to these represen- tations, and declared his abhorrence of the whole transac- (53) tion. " It was always," added he, " against my principles* I used every expedient to avoid the interview ; but I have found, for some time past, that my life must be exposed to that man. I went to the field determined not to take his life." He reapeated his disavowal of all intention to hurt Mr. Burr ; the anguish of his mind in recollecting what had passed ; and his humble hope of forgiveness from his God. I recurred to the topic of the divine compassion ; the free- dom of pardon in the Redeemer Jesus to perishing sinners. " That grace, my dear General, whieh brings salvation, is rich^ rich" " Yes," interrupted he, " it is rich grace." " And on that grace," continued I, " a sinner has the high- est encouragement to repose his confidence, because it is tendered to him upon the surest foundation ; the scripture testifying that we have redemption through the blood of Jesus-) the forgiveness of sins according to the richness of his grace." Here the General, letting go my hand, which he had held from the moment I sat down at his bed-side, clasped his hands together, and, looking up towards heaven, said, with emphasis, " I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ." He replaced his hand in mine, and appearing somewhat spent, closed his eyes. A little after, he fastened them on me, and I proceeded. " The simple truths of the Gospel, my dear Sir, which require no abstruse investigation, but faith in the veracity of God who cannot lie, are best suited to your present condition, and they are full of consolation." " I feel them to be so," replied he. I then repeated these texts of scripture: It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin- ners, and of sinners the chief. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remem- ber thy sins. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord ; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as (54) snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool* " This," said he, " is my support. Pray for me." " ShaU I pray with you?" " Yes." I prayed with him, and heard him whisper as I went along ; which I supposed to be his concurrence with the petitions. At the conclusion he said, " Amen. God grant it." BEING about to part with him, I told him " I had one re- quest to make." He asked " what it was r" I answered, " that whatever might be the issue of his affliction, he would give his testimony against the practice of duelling." " I will," said he, " I have done it. If that" evidently anti- cipating the event, u if that be the issue, you will find it in writing. If it please God that I recover, I shall do it in a manner which will effectually put me out of its reach in fu- ture-" I mentioned, once more, the importance of re- nouncing every other dependence for the eternal world, but the mercy of God in Christ Jesus ; with a particular refer- ence to the catastrophe of the morning. The General was affected, and said, " Let us not pursue the subject any fur- ther, it agitates me." He laid his hands upon his breast, with symptoms of uneasiness, which indicated an increased difficulty of speaking. I then took my leave. He pressed my hand affectionately, and desired to see me again at a proper interval. As I was retiring, he lifted up his hands in the attitude of prayer, and said feebly, " God be merci- ful to ." His voice sunk, so that I heard not the rest distinctly, but understood him to quote the words of the publican in the gospel, and to end the sentence with, " me I SAW him, a second time, on the morning of Thursday; but from his appearance, and what I had heard, supposing that he could not speak without severe effort, I had no con- (55) versation with him. I prayed for a moment at his bed side, in company with his overwhelmed family and friends ; and for the rest, was one of the mourning spectators of his com- posure and dignity in suffering. His mind remained in its former state : and he viewed with calmness his approaching dissolution. I left him between twelve and one, and at two, as the public know, he breathed his last. I am, Sir, With much respect, Your obedient servant, J. M. MASON. New-Tor k) July 18^, 1804. THE DAILY ADVERTISER. IT is with sentiments of the deepest regret that we an- nounce to the public the decease of the great and estimable General ALEXANDER HAMILTON. No event since the death of the illustrious Washington has filled the public mind with more painful solicitude, or so much called forth the general sympathy and grief, as the event we now record. The loss of a character, so much respected in his profession, so esteemed by the public, so beloved in the circles of pri- vate friendship and of domestic life, is beyond the power of expression ; and the manner of his death ! Alas ! it can be remembered only with unmingled horror and regret. VAIN were the attempt to give even a hasty sketch of the various, the unequalled merit of the illustrious deceased (56) the task will be executed by an abler hand. Suffice it, un- der the present impression of public regret, to state THAT, as a soldier, through the whole of our revolutionary war, General Hamilton was eminently distinguished. He was one of the few select friends of the Commander in Chief, often tried and as often approved. His cool and ac- tive valour in storming the redoubt before York-Town, will never be forgotten. After such a splendid proof of bravery, was it necessary again to put it to the test in compliance with a false notion of honour ? As a statesman, Gen. Hamilton added still greater honour to his name. To him are we principally indebted for the national- constitution and the system of laws under which we now live. It was his hand that traced the outlines of our most important municipal institutions. To him we owe the plans for the organization of our National Treasury, the provisions for the payment of the public debt, for the establishment of the banks, of the mint, and the whole revenue system of our country. As a lawyer, he was unrivalled at the bar. His talents and eloquence gave him a decided ascendancy in his profes- sion, which, however, was softened by the most unaffected modesty, and the utmost courtesy and gentleness. As a man, no one was more highly esteemed for his per- fect integrity, truth, candour, and public spirit, than the un- fortunate deceased. He enjoyed (and no man ever better deserved it) the unlimited confidence of his friends and fel- low-citizens. As a Christian, we are happy to add, he has not left the world to doubt of his faith and hope. In his last hours he (57) has put a seal on his character, by declaring his firm belief in the merits and atonement of a SAVIOUR ; by avowing his trust in Redeeming grace, and by requesting and receiving in attestation of his faith, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. HASTY and imperfect as the foregoing outlines may be, they will recal to the public mind, those impressions of ex- alted merit which we are sure will never be obliterated, will never cease to be cherished with a melancholy pleasure. The soldier, the statesman, the man of pre-eminent talents and worth, is gone ; but his virtues will be had in memory, will be admired and recorded, wherever there is a heart to feel, or a tongue to repeat the eulogy, due to departed worth, WITH the deeply afflicted consort, and the orphan chil- dren of the deceased general, the public will sincerely synv pathiae. Their loss is incalculable. May heaven support them on this trying occasion. May they enjoy consolations from above (for the world .can now have few for them) ; con solations which are neither few nor small, beyond the reach of accident and change. .SAME PAPER. THE ceremonies of Saturday were conducted according to the published arrangements. The scene was indeed so- lemn and impressive. Every countenance evinced a sorrow to which only a loss of the first magnitude an event of the most tragical nature, could give rise. Every mark of res- pect to which departed worth has a claim, was paid with at fectionate earnestness. Business was universally suspended, and the whole city crowded either to perform or to witness the funeral honours due to the illustrious deceased. About noon, the different bodies forming the procession, having taken their respective places, the corpse was conducted from the (58) house of John B. Church Esq. and the whole began to move. The moment was deeply impressive. Every thing conspir- ed to solemnize the mind. The tolling of the deep-toned bells the melting melody of the music the slow and me- lancholy-inspiring pace of the procession the appearance of the sable coffin with its accompanyments the sons of the deceased, still of tender age, clad in the vestments of woe, and shedding the tear of anguish over the fate of a beloved father (Unhappy youths ! who will now be the guide of your growing years, the guardian of your budding virtues ?) These, with the awe-striking report of the minute guns, to which svery heart beat its sad response, rendered the whole a scene of solemn woe. Two hours elapsed before the procession reached the place of interment, owing to the slowness of the pace and length of the rout. Arrived at Trinity Church, the Hon. Gouverneur Morris ascended a stage prepared for fcim, and delivered to a deeply-impressed audience, an ap- propriate and pathetic address. He sketched the life, the talents, the virtues, the civil and military services of the de- ceased. He addressed himself particularly to the students of Collumbia College, the gentlemen of the bar, the Cin- cinnati Society, and the military. He adverted to the de- plorable cause of the disaster, by stating that all were ac- quainted with it, and that he could not then say a word on the sad subject. The orator having concluded, the body was then interred with the accustomed military honours. Thus has perished, by an untimely death, a patriot of ex- alted merit, a soldier and a civilian of pre-eminent worth. Thus has America been bereft of her second Washington ! THE NEW-YORK GAZETTE. LAST Saturday were interred, with all possible respect^ the remains of Gen. ALEXANDER HAMILTON, the enlighten- (59) ed statesman, the skilful lawyer, the eloquent orator, the dis- interested patriot, and the honest man. Never was the sen- sibility of the citizens awakened to such a degree, and ne- ver did they witness so mournful a scene. It renewed their grief for the death of Washington, to see his friend and counsellor cut off in the highest vigour of his faculties, and the United States deprived of their great earthly stay. IMMEDIATELY after his decease, the bells announced that he was no more. On the morning of the day of his fune- ral, all the bells were muffled, and tolled froni six to seven o'clock. They began again at ten, and continued until the procession reached the church. The ships in the harbour ex- hibited the usual tokens of mourning, and minute guns were fired from the forts, and from American and foreign armed vessels. The bells again tolled from seven to eight in the evening. THE procession, consisting of the military, the Cincinnati, the clergy of all denominations, the gentlemen of the bar and students at law, strangers, the different incorporate bo- dies, the several societies, together with the citizens, was very large. All vied with one another in testifying their sense of the worth of the illustrious man deceased, and the irreparable loss which the country had sustained. The sides of the streets were crowded, and the windows were filled with spectators, and many climbed up into trees and got on the tops of houses. Not a smile was visible, and hardly a whisper was to be heard, but tears were seen rolling down the cheeks of the affected multitude. WHEN the front of the procession had advanced as far as Trinity Church, they halted ; and an oration was delivered by Gouverneur Morris, from a stage which had been pre- viously erected in the portico of the Church. The notice (60) given to the Orator was so short, his own feelings and those of the audience so great, that he was able only to paint in an imperfect manner the character and services of the first and most beloved citizen. A little time hence, more jus- tice can be done to his transcendent merits ; and the future historian will seize them with eagerness to adorn his page. THE General, during his short illness, spoke with the ut- most abhorrence of the practice of duelling, and has left his testimony against it. This is known to have been long his sentiment. He declared that he had no ill-will against his antagonist, and had determined to do him no harm ; pro- fessed his firm belief of the Christian religion, and his " ten- der reliance on the mercy of Almighty God through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ ;" he devoutly received the holy sacrament, at his own earnest request. The witness of a man of such extensive powers and information, will outweigh that of an host of infidels. This completes his character, and demonstrates that he was good as well as great. " How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished !" " As a man falleth before wicked men, so fallest thou : And all the people wept again over him." THE AMERICAN CITIZEN. (Democratic.) General Hamilton's Funeral.* On Saturday last the re- mains of this gentleman were interred, accompanied with military honours, in the family vault, Trinity Church-yard. * At present we shall say nothing of the cause or manner of his death. On these points we have much to lay before the public ; but prudence dictates silence until we are furnished with correct information from au- thentic sources. The public have an indubitable right to be informed of the cause and manner of his lamented fate. This information is demanded fey the feelings of our citizens ; by a voice too powerful to be resisted. I trust it will not belong delayed. Every incident of this catastrophe is in- teresting. ( 61 ) ALTHOUGH the period which elapsed between his death and his funeral was but short, yet the lively recollection of his Revolutionary services his acknowledged superior ge- nius his transcendent talents his private worth his ster- ling integrity, and the amiable frankness of his heart, excit- ed in our citizens an uncommon cordiality and vigour to tes- tify their high sense of these virtues by every demonstra- tion of respect. There was a very general suspension of bu- siness, and the streets were uncommonly crowded with spec- tators. THE scene was impressive ; and what added unspeakably to its solemnity, was the mournful group of tender boys, the sons, the once hopes and joys of the deceased, who, with tears gushing from their eyes, sat upon the stage, at the feet of the orator, bewailing the loss of their parent ! It was too much ; the sternest powers, the bloodiest villain, could not resist the melting scene. I wish I could go on and de- scribe the sensations I felt, and those which were manifest on every countenance. SAME PAPER. General Hamilton } s Death*~The Editor, in all humility, asks- the reader to accompany him through a brief review of the correspondence j recently published, in relation to the un- happy affair which terminated the existence of the illustrious deceased. He enters upon this unpleasant task the more readily and with the more zeal, since he views, and cannot but view, the death of General Hamilton as a national loss, and as the inevitable and deplorable effect of a long meditated and predetermined system of hostility on the part of Mr. Burr and his confidential advisers.- LEST, however, he may be misunderstood by some, and knowingly and injuriously misrepresented by others, he (62) deems it fit to cause himself to be clearly and distinctly un- derstood. This, perhaps, is an homage due to the honest errors of the less liberal part of the community. To a few of those with whom I think, and act in what- ever relates to the administration of the State, and General Governments, it may seem extraordinary that I, who while the General lived to give comfort to his family, and splen- dour to his nation, was opposed to him on some political points, should, when laid in the cold and silent tomb, be- come a guardian of* his fame, a vindicator of his wrongs* If in the Republican party there is one man of this description, (and I trust there is not) I would with diffidence beg him to reflect, and to exercise, with becoming dignity and mo- deration, those intellectual powers which it hath pleased God to impart even to the humblest of his image. I ask only for the privilege of thinking, and of expressing my thoughts with exemption from cruel and overbearing intol- erance. A fixed determination, however, to enjoy the one, will prompt me to a due resistance of the other. I must unthink what I have thought, and unlearn what I know, be- fore I can act the part of a savage; and he deceives himself who concludes that, in my editorial pursuits, I will be guided by any opinions but my own. With conscious, and, as I think, becoming pride, I utterly disclaim and renounce that illiberality which will not award to illustrious merit its just due. I have, and always had, an exalted opinion of the merits of the deceased, and with unaffected sincerity and deep regret lament his loss. THIS opinion and this sentiment, however, will not be construed by the liberal and the enlightened, into an appro- bation of the political maxims of this great statesman, nor into a dereliction of principles formerly maintained, and still tenaciously adhered to. It is the high prerogative, the dis- (63) languishing power of the human mind, and most honour- able to man, justly to discriminate in whatever relates to the fame of those pre-eminent citizens who give character and lustre to a nation. HAMILTON, I believe, entertained poli- tical opinions at variance with mine, and on which, mani- fested in many instances by the administration of Mr. Adams, and, in one,, by that of General Washington, I cannot, without unpleasant sensations, reflect. From these, which while living I opposed, I still dissent ; but, alas ! he is dead, and I cannot pursue him to the grave for opinions HONESTLY entertained, calmly and dignifiedly asserted, lu- minously and instructively enforced, and conveyed to the public with all the elegance of a scholar, and enriched with all the erudition of a distinguished jurist. I leave it to pre- sumptuous arrogance, to a species of party rancour which I disclaim, to take another course* .. f So far I differed from General Hamilton in political opi- nion ; but all difference is now at an end. Death has sival* lowed up in victory, cruel and fatal victory, the narrow isth- mus that separated from this great luminary, those with whom I act. I know that ancient writers urge with force , and propriety, and that modern politicians acknowledge, as with one accord, the necessity of frequently laying before the people, by way of admonition, and to put them on their guard, the vices of great men, even after death has destroy- ed the power of repetition. But were I asked whether Ge- neral Hamilton had vices ; in the face of the world, in the presence of my God, I would answer, NO. Like all men he sometimes erred ; but I cannot admit, that even his errors were those of the heart. He was human, and therefore not perfect. But if we correctly judge of human perfection by purity of heart, by rectitude of intention, I hesitate not to K (64) say, that, in my opinion, General Hamilton was most per- fect. His private virtues, his public services, his great abili- ties, involuntarily excite in me the warmest esteem for his memory. OF his private virtues there is no difference of opinion. All men of all parties, speak of them with rapture, and ac- knowledge them with admiration. To these, vice pays vo- luntary homage. The plotting, mischievous citizen, whose bloody hand, guided by cool malignancy, terminated his existence, will acknowledge them. In all the private rela- tions of life he was honest, faithful, generous, and humane. His heart was the seat of every manly virtue. No man ever impeached his integrity with any colour of justice. In vain have party collisions and rancour ransacked public re- cords, and exhausted private inquisition for a blemish. The fatal catastrophe proves, that, like Aristides, he chose to yield his life, rather than his integrity. SUCH A MAN, what* ever were his political opinions, irresistibly commands our esteem. His public services were many, splendid, and great. From these, nothing but deplorable infatuation, nothing but fiery zeal, unmixt with a ray of reflection, can with-hold a lasting glow of admiration and gratitude. The friend of liberty, he who for a moment reflects that out of the revolu- tionary contest, that chaos of clashing elements, arose A WORLD OF FREEDOM, cannot but venerate the memory of those who, as it were, created it. In this most glorious, most useful, most splendid of earthly scenes, HAMILTON perform- ed a conspicuous shall I not say a disinterested, a patriotic ( 65 ) part ? Scarcely arrived at the " gristle of manhood ;" glow- ing with patriotic fire, with military ardour ; he joined the creative phalanx, and signalized himself by constancy, by perseverance, by valour ; and irradiated, with the rays of his superior genius, all within the sphere of its presence. His revolutionary services entitle him to our affection, and will endear his memory to all who are sincerely attached to our independence. His civil was more brilliant than his military career. His early efforts as a "statesman, excel in utility and lustre his exertions in the field. Perhaps to him, more than to any other man, we are indebted for the excellent constitution under which we live. Whatever aberrations from republi- can maxims, rigorous inquisition may have discovered in his efforts in the convention, I know not ; but this I may predict, from what we do know, that his numerous essays, under the title of" FEDERALIST," advocating the principles and enforcing the adoption of the constitution, will immor- talize his name, and render him illustrious when every me- mento of the cavilling witlings of the day shall be swept from the records of time, and buried in everlasting forget- fulness. I think I am not incorrect when I say, that these essays are the ablest political papers in the world. They are replete with lessons of wisdom', clothed in unusual elegance. They are the production of a mind naturally capacious and enriched with all the lore of learning. I read them with renewed pleasure and instruction. Amidst the afflictions of the relatives of the deceased, it cannot but be pleasing to witness statesmen and jurists * resorting to this elementary work as an unerring standard by which to test and determine matters in controversy. * See Tucker's Blackstone and Debates in Congress- (66) THE MERCANTILE ADVERTISER. THE remains of the late General HAMILTON were on Satur- day afternoon deposited in the " house appointed for all liv- ing*" The mournful procession moved from his friend Mr. Church's in Robinson-street, about eleven o'clock, in the or- der directed by the Committee of Arrangements ; and it was not until near two that the rear reached Trinity ChuVch, so numerous were the citizens who joined in paying this last tribute to the memory of the illustrious dead. We never witnessed, in this country or in Europe, on any similar oc- casion, so general a sorrow, such an universal regret, or a ceremonial more awful and impressive. THE arduous task of delivering an Oration over the body of the deceased, was committed to the splendid talents of Mr. Gouverneur Morris ; and he executed it in a manner highly honourable to his feelings. He sought not, in the course of it, to inflame those passions in the people which had already risen to no ordinary height, but touched lightly on the circumstance which produced the lamentable event ; and dwelt with peculiar felicity on the public and private virtues, the uncommon talents, the great usefulness, the inflexible integrity, and the real patriotism of his departed friend. His discourse was necessarily short, for his sensibili- ty sometimes almost deprived him of the power of utterance. THE COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER, THUS has the last kind office been performed by our be- reaved, afflicted city, to the remains of our country's bright- est ornament. In the long train of mourners on this melan- choly occasion, every countenance was covered with sadness, every heart oppressed with sorrow. Never, but at the loss (67) of our beloved WASHINGTON, has the voice of mourning been so impressively heard, nor the grief of our citizens so universally and emphatically expressed. Well may our city and our country mourn I- Hamilton, in the prime of life, and the vigour of talents and of usefulness, has been hur. ried to an untimely grave ! He whose unequalled skill, and undaunted courage at the siege of York-Town, gave victo- ry to our arms, and peace to our country -whose transcen- dent talents, and unwearied efforts, contributed essentially to the erection of our national fabric who organized our financial system, and established our public credit who was the favourite counsellor and friend of Washington who in- variably sacrificed private gain, and personal honour at the shrine of public good whose comprehensive, powerful and intuitive mind formed the boast and glory of America rthe illustrious, the eloquent Hamilton, has fallen by the hand of a desperate and relendess foe ! WHO would believe, had not the fact evinced it, that the son of the venerable President Burr, that model of Christian patience, charity, and meekness, whose instruction, and whose example equally tended to impress the utmost kindness and good-will to all men that the son of such a man, the second officer in the United States, should, in direct viola- tion of the laws of heaven and of his own state in violation of the most sacred principles of religion and morality, and after every means of reconciliation on the part of the unfor- tunate deceased, that was consistent with honour (as we are informed) had been exhausted should take a cool and dead- ly aim against the first citizen of our country the father of a numerous family the husband of a most affectionate wife-^-an ornament to his country and to human nature ? Could nothing but his blood atone for a few hasty expres- sions, indiscreet as they regarded his personal safety, but ( 68 ) honestly intended for the public good, and authorized by- eve^ just principle of an elective government ? Could no- thing allay the cool, persevering resentment of his antagonist, but the heart's blood of such a man ? WELL ! he is gone ! Gone, with the tenderest esteem, the highest respect, the most affectionate tears, that ever fell on the tomb of a public character ! He has gone, we trust, to receive the rich reward of his " labours of love" of the ma- ny and great exertions for his country's welfare. Trusting in the merits of his Saviour penitent for his past sins for- giving even the foe from whom he received his mortal wound he is gone amidst the gush of sorrow from the eyes of weeping thousands, to receive that recompense of re- ward, which is the meed of the truly upright and benevo- lent. ON this deeply affecting subject much more could be said : but we pause 44 To those -who know him not, no ruorfa can paint , 4t And lliose wha knenv him y know all -words are faint?* THE following will show the impression made by the melancholy event in Philadelphia, TRIBUTE OF RESPECT. THE. Citizens of Philadelphia, Southwark, and the North- ern Liberties, assembled agreeably to public notice, for the purpose of adopting proper measures for the expression of their grief at the untimely fate of their deceased fellow-citi- zen, Major-General ALEXANDER HAMILTON, their admi- ( 69) ration of his virtues and his talents and their gratitude for the eminent services, .which as a soldier and statesman, he has rendered to his country Resolve, That a National tribute of respect to the memo- ry of departed Heroes and Statesmen, not only excites an emulation of their glorious example, but constitutes trie pu- rest reward of their toils and their virtues ; and that such a tribute is justly due to the memory of ALEXANDER HAMIL- TON. THAT in imitation of the pious example of the deceased, in the closing scenes of his life, exhibiting an illustrious proof of the benign influence of the religion of our forefa- thers, the citizens, in their respective places of worship, on Sunday next, will render their prayers of thanksgiving to GOD, for his goodness in having blessed our nation with men of talents to discern, and of virtue to pursue, her safe- ty, her honour, and her welfare ; and especially for having, thus long, continued to us the eminently useful talents of the deceased. THAT the Clergymen of the several denominations be re- quested to expatiate on the same day upon the irreligious and pernicious tendency of a custom, which has deprived our country of one of her best and most invaluable citizens, and has proved so fatally destructive to the happiness of his family. THAT arrangements be made for having the bells through- out the city muffled and tolled during the day, and that the Merchants will direct the Masters of their ships in the har- bour to display their flags half mast high. (ro) THAT, as a further demonstration of our grief for his loss and our respect and affection for his memory, such of the citizens as may, consistently with their peculiar religious principles, will wear black crape round their left arm for thirty days. THAT a copy of the proceedings of this meeting be trans- mitted by the Chairman to the Mayor of the city of New- York...and that the sincere and heart-felt condolence of the citizens of Philadelphia, Southwark, and the Northern Liberties, be tendered to him and to his fellow-citizens, for the loss which the state of New- York and the United States of America, have sustained in the death of General HA- MILTON. THAT a committee be appointed to carry the foregoing re- solutions into effect, and to make such further arrangements relative thereto, as may be suitable to the occasion ; and that the following gentlemen compose the committee : JOHN C. Stocker, Thomas Fitzsimons, Geo. Latimer, Elias Boudinot, Jacob Sperry, John K. Kelmuth, Godfrey Haga, Joseph Marsh, Thomas Haskins, William Lewis, William Rawle, Manuel Eyre, and Joseph Grice. AND, that the proceedings of this meeting be subscribed by the Chairman and Secretary, and published in all the pa- pers of the city. THOMAS WILLING, Chairman. Attest, WM. MEREDITH, Scc>ry. AT a meeting of the Members of the Bar of the city of Philadelphia, held at the Court-house, on Monday, the 16th (n) of July instant, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted : Resolved, That, uniting in the general grief for the death of ALEXANDER HAMILTON, we feel it our duty to testify our deep regret for his loss, as a member of the profession to which he had returned, after a series of public labours, in which the eminence he attained was only surpassed by the variety of his excellence ; in which exalted genius, incessant industry, and disinterested patriotism, enlightened and de- fended, enriched and dignified a nation which must ever feel for him the strongest obligations of gratitude, affection, and regret. IN the general testimony of sorrow, we claim the right of adding our peculiar tribute, and of deploring the loss which the science of Jurisprudence, selected by him for the con- cluding employment of his valuable life, has sustained by his untimely and unexpected end. Resolved, That the Members of the Bar in the city of Philadelphia, in testimony of their sorrow for the death of ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Counsellor at Law, will re- spectively wear black crape on their hats, for the space of thirty days. JARED INGERSOLL, Chairman. JOS. HOPKINSON, Sec'ry. AT a meeting of the Students at Law, in the city of Phi- ladelphia, convened at the county Court-house the 16th inst. for the purpose of adopting proper measures to testify their respect for the memory of ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Esquire, Counsellor at Law : It rvos unanimously Resolved That having long contem- plated the virtues and talents of ALEXANDER HAMILTON, as a bright and eminent object of imitation, they sincerely de- plore the loss which they and their country have sustained, in being deprived of his example. THAT as. a memorial of the lively sensibility which has been excited by his death, they will wear black crape on their hats for thirty days. JOHN E. HALL, Chairman. GEO. CLYMER, junr. Secretary. IN consequence of the intelligence of General HAMIL- TON'S death, the bells of Christ Church were muffled on Saturday and yesterday: and the colours of the shipping in the harbour were displayed,, on Saturday, at half mast. THE Gazettes of Philadelphia were distinguished on this occasion by the heartfelt effusions of sorrow, which they con- tained. The following extracts from the Political Register, are eminently entitled to notice for their elegance, their pa- thos, and their discrimination* The two first are from the pen of the editor, Major Jackson, who was a fellow soldier with Hamilton, in our revolutionary war-* The last, it will be seen, is from a correspondent. FROM THE POLITICAL REGISTER. THE mail from New- York of this morning, confirms the melancholy, the heart-rending intelligence of the DEATH of Gen.. HAMILTON. The mourning countenance of our citi- zens...the anguish of hrs friends.. .the tears of his country- men, proclaim their sense of his worth, and offer a just tribute of gratitude to his memory. To the honour of our character, let it be recorded, that those who entertained un- ceasing jealousy of his superior powers, while living...with honourable feeling lament him dead. After WASHINGTON, (who alone surpassed him). ..after the -first of Men and greatest of heroes, who has rivalled HAMILTON in useful- ness to our country ?...in attachment to its interests ?...in un- ceasing labour, in the exertion of the most splendid talents for its welfare ? The generous and gallant SOLDIER, the wise and virtuous STATESMAN, the eloquent and accomplished ORATOR, the ardent and magnanimous PATRIOT, has fal- len the victim of unyielding honour, and inflexible inte- grity. His memory is embalmed in the esteem and affection of 'his contemporaries, and will be consecrated by the gratitude of his country to future ages. THUS hath fallen, prematurely fallen, the HERO, to whose military ardour and accomplishments America confessed the highest obligation ; the CIVILIAN, from whose luminous and correct mind proceeded that invaluable commentary on the Constitution of the United States, which essentially con- tributed to insure its adoption ; the STATESMAN, to whose talents we are indebted for the organization of our finances, and the establishment of our public credit : the JURIST and the SCHOLAR, whose combination of intellectual powers formed the boast and ornament of our country ; the PATRI- OT, who gave, with glowing zeal, to that country, the in- creasing efforts of his superior mind ; and the MAN, who, endeared to his friends by every tender and enobled quality of the heart, received in return the truest affection, and the most respectful esteem. SAME PAPER. WHEN we say that HAMILTON is DEAD ! we can add no- thing to the cause of grief... When we remember how he liv- ed, we can add nothing to the lustre of his fame. Eulogium sinks languid on the swelling heart; it gives no throb un- felt before, it cites no worth unknown. If the pathetic voice of Cicero were to speak, even from the gloom of the tomb, it could open no new source of regret, it could raise no new emotion of sorrow. Deep and solemn is the grief of a peo- ple...the tide swells from ten thousand fountains : the torrent rolls in a resistless course. If the great Spirit of our depart- ed glory will linger but a litde, and delay its ardent flight to the prepared mansions of eternal bliss, it will witness that we are not ungrateful, it will behold the pure and convul- sive tributes of unaffected wo. His virtues are reflected from coundess tears ; and men say HE is LOST ! as if nothing \vas left. The great Hope of the nation is sunk. ..Party rage is overwhelmed in the flood of lamentation, and all men unite in unfeigned eulogiums on the splendid talents, the pure patriotism, the spotless integrity, the noble, disinter- ested nature of the lost HAMILTON ! SAME PAPER. THE deplorable termination of Gen. HAMILTON'S career of usefulness to his country, and glory to himself, has excit- ed, among all denominations of our fellow-citizens, those strong emotions of sympathy and grief, which his long and faithful public services, his great and splendid talents, his firm and inflexible integrity, his active and undaunted brave- ry, his noble, disinterested, and magnanimous patriotism, demanded from a just and grateful people. THE soldier of the Revolution laments, in deep affliction, the loss of the HERO, who was the generous and affection- (75) ate friend of his youth the unwearied and gallant associate of his toils and dangers and under whose auspices the ho- nour and glory of our country never would have faded, nor its independence and happiness have ever been subverted. THE Agriculturist, the Merchant, and the Artificer, re- gret, with unaffected concern, the death of the STATESMAN, by whose indefatigable labour, and exalted genius, our fi- nances were restored to order and arrangement ; public cre- dit was established ; commerce invigorated ; manufactures revived ; and the means of our present unexampled prosperi- ty, and growing greatness, brought into full and active ope- ration. THE lawyer deplores the loss of a brother CIVILIAN, the purity of whose professional life, in all the rage for party de- famation, has never been questioned whose eloquence and learning had neither rival nor detractor whose talents never were exerted in the cause of injustice never yielded to the insolence of power, nor justified the practice of oppression. THE friend of science mourns over our privation of the SCHOLAR, whose mind was the seat of the highest intellec- tual endowments whose genius had penetrated the inmost recesses of literature, and whose imagination was as brilliant and vigorous, as his judgment was intuitively strong. THE Moralist and the Christian, while indignant at the powerful, but wicked and barbarous laws, which custom has prescribed and sanctioned, weep over the lamentable sacrifice, which a high and delicate sense of honour, a pure and ennobled regard to fame and reputation, have yielded to jealousy and resentment. ( re) THE liberal and patriotic Ministerialist, with what ardour and violence he may have opposed the Founder of Federal politics, while living, is yet grieved, sincerely grieved, that our nation should be deprived of powers which conferred honour upon man. AND the Federalist, who has long listened with wonder and delight, to the just precepts of political science which have issued from his lips who has surrendered to his wis dom and integrity, the post of his Protector, and most in- fluential of his advisers, is overpowered with anguish for his friend and sinks into despondence for his country. AMICUS. THE editors of the United States Gazette, long known as the leading federal paper of the Middle States, expressed themselves in the following beautiful and energetic lan- guage. WHEN a great man falls, his nation mourns. When a great man and a political father falls, in the midst of his days ; " in his full strength ;" in the very vigour of his age ; at the noontide of his usefulness ; his bereaved nation suf- fers deep affliction. When such a man falls, aside from the ordinary course of nature ; cut off by the hand of violence ; and sent suddenly, and prematurely, to be numbered with the silent dead ; his fall js yet more deeply and peculiarly bewailed Such a man has fallen in our nation Such a man, such a father, was Alexander Hamilton ; and in such a manner has he fallen ; in the miplst of his days ; " in his full strength ;" in the very vigour of his age ; at the noon- ( W) tide of his usefulness ; cut off, alas ! by the hand of vio- lence; His fall is very deeply and peculiarly bewailed by his mourning country. Of the independence of the nation^ he was a bold asserter, a- brave champion ; of her invaluable constitution, a most able expositor and defender; of her infantine prosperity, political and commercial, a most assi- duous and successful promoter ; of her maturity, the pride, the boast, the brilliant ornament ; of her future hopes, the darling object ; of hopes, alas ! how fatally disappointed ! how suddenly, how prematurely blasted ! A CORRESPONDENT of Mr. Poulson, in the American- Daily Advertiser, thus eloquently vents his grief : Our Hamilton, alas ! is no more. Hamilton ! the pride and ornament of his country, now sleeps in the tomb. We have lost him in the meridian of his days. Those respTerf- dent abilities which gave lustre to our nation, have sunk, prematurely sunk, into the grave. The luminous and ex- panded intellect, so often the theme of our admiration, and our praise, is no longer to instruct and delight Us. That eloquence to which Courts and Senates have listened with rapture, is for ever done. His bereaved country, in humble submission to the will of Heaven, will bear, yet mourn their loss. They will cherish the recollection of the exalted energies of his mind, of the endearing attributes of his heart. They will consecrate his memory by their sorrows and their tears. We are often called upon to deplore the loss of men, whose amiable qualities have endeared them to the circle of their private friends. When the Hero falls, the tears of his country fall with him. The statesman, the se- nator, and the patriot, spread by their death a general afflic- (78) tion. But it is our lot to bear the aggravated grief that arises at the loss of all these characters. HAMILTON, beloved by his friends, endeared to his ^family; the statesman, the senator, the patriot, the hero, is gone. At the fall of such a man, grief is silent, and eloquence muses eulogiums which cannot be expressed. THE citizens of New- York, in a manner honourable to the character of our country, have upon this occasion for- gotten their political distinctions, and all joined in demon- strations of sorrow at departed greatness. The presses in that city under the conduct and support of the political ad- versaries of General Hamilton, announce his death with ap- propriate lamentation. Citizens of Philadelphia, citizens of America ! you will all share in the testimonies of grief at de- parted genius. The solemn and affecting death of the zeal- ous defender of your revolution, of the companion in arms of your WASHINGTON, of the eloquent expounder of your constitution, claims a general mourning. THE Port Folio thus introduces the subject : " IMPERIAL HONOUR'S awful hand Shall point his lonely bed. THIS morning intelligence of the death of Major General ALEXANDER HAMILTON has saddened this city, and wil[ long afflict the nation. He was killed by the V ice-President of the United States in a duel, fought on the Jersey shore, on the morning of the llth of July. Whether General Ha- milton was, or was not, a victim to private malignity, fo- mented by party rancour, his untimely death will be peiv (79) manently regretted by every American who remembers the signal services, both in the cabinet and in the field, which this accomplished Scholar, this valiant Soldier, this SAGA- CIOUS STATESMAN, has rendered to a country, which, with- out his courage and counsels, would have long since moul- dered into insignificance, or maddened into anarchy." AT the conclusion of the article Mr. Dennie breaks forth in the following elegant strain of lamentation : " THUS has perished, in the prime of life, and in the midst of his usefulness, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, the man of 'exalt- ed sentiments , and extensive viexvs, whose theories guided the statesman, whose eloquence influenced senates, whose delicacy might have polished courts, and whose versatile talents bles- sed mankind. He has fallen, not in the course of nature, not jeopardizing his life in the high places of the field, but by a private and petty hand... .and his perplexed and sorrow- ing country makes the pathetic interrogatory of the royal Psalmist : KNOW YE NOT THAT THERE IS A GREAT MAN FALLEN THIS DAY IN ISRAEL? UPON opening the General's will, there was found enclos- ed in it a letter to his wife, written on the 4th inst. in which he tells her, that he had endeavoured, by all possible means, to avoid the duel, but that he found it impossible, unless by acting in a manner which, would justly forfeit her esteem. That he should certainly fall, and she would receive that letter after his death. He begs her forgiveness for being the cause of so much pain to her, and earnestly entreated her to bear herself up under that load of grief with which she would be overwhelmed, placing a firm reliance on a kind Providence who would never desert her. M (80) THE subsequent Port Folio was entirely devoted to the subject. This paper (says Mr. Dennie) is consecrated to the Memorial of ALEXANDER HAMILTON, of whose afflict- ed Country, bereaved of her brightest, greatest, and most stedfast hope, it may be appropriately said, in the words of an eloquent ancient. Quac cum magna modis multis miranda videtur, Gentibus humanis regio, visenda fertur, Rebus opima bonis, multa munita virum vi, NIL tamen t HOC babuisse viro praeclarius in se Nee sanctum magis et carumque videtur. [THEN follows the correspondence, accompanied by the letter of Bishop Moore ; to which are subjoined the " fune- ral obsequies," the " funeral oration," and the best written eulogiums that have appeared in the various papers. The following paragraphs, from Mr. Dennie's own polished hand, close " the memorial."] generous, frank, and honourable man, we shall ever lament his loss and revere his memory. THE TRENTON FEDERALIST. IN this day's Gazette we present our readers with the interesting correspondence between Gen. Hamilton and Col. Burr, preceding the fatal rencounter which has deprived our country of one of its brightest ornaments. While we lament the supposed necessity which called the venerable deceased to the field of death, we should unite our griefs and mingle our tears with the thousands who are deeply bewailing the severe, and perhaps we might add irreparable, loss. An- other of the heroes of our revolution, another of the foun- ders of our republic, has been hurried to the tomb : An- other of the pillars of our commonwealth has been tumbled into ruins. Since the departure of our WASHINGTON, the death of no man has excited such general grief, or covered (87) otir country with so general a mourning. Even those who were, while he lived, his political adversaries, seem to have buried their opposition in his grave, and many of them, la- menting the loss which their country and society have sus- tained, place themselves among the foremost to pay every tri- bute of respect to his splendid merits and transcendent abi- lities. Alas ! Hamilton, the sage, the soldier, and the pa- triot, is no more ! In the vigour of years, and in the midst of eminent usefulness, he has gone to the mansions of the dead. Over his ashes it becomes the country he has served with such devoted zeal, such inflexible integrity, and such prosperous success, to raise some splendid memorial which shall bid future generations venerate his name, and emulate his attachment to the public welfare. But ah ! when we re- flect that no monument marks the spot where repose the ashes of our Washington, we fear this testimonial of grati- tude must be left to other times Like him, however, he has raised for himself a monument which shall defy the blast of ages to tarnish, or the corroding tooth of time to deface. Light be the sod which lies upon his breast ! Green be the grass which grows upon his grave ! Eternal be the laurels which flourish round his tomb ! THE FEDERAL ARK. IT is recommended to our fellow-citizens of Delaware, that, following the example of their brethren of New- York and Philadelphia, they wear crape on the left arm for thir- ty days, in honour of the late General HAMILTON. TIME has been gathering to the tomb the heroes and sages of our revolution, and HAMILTON, with his blushing honours thick upon him, has yielded to its omnipotent sway. (88) WHEN he fell, the Genius of America, recollecting with gratitude, and swelling with grief, shed a tear to his me- mory, which blotted out for ever the imperfections of the man from the brilliant record of his virtues. OUR tutelary genius presided at his birth... .Nature was his foster-mother....Virtue blushed not to call him her son...- Wisdom claimed him as her favourite son....Patriotism with rapture pressed him to her bosom, and Valour by her side, smiling on her caresses, resolved to complete the man. En- rolled in the list of our heroes, thy name, HAMILTON, shall never be forgotten. As a great man, in common with the world, we admired ; in the circle of the private citizen we loved thee j and, as a champion in the cause of our liberty, we know not how to express to thee our gratitude. THE electric shock has appalled and paralized the coun- try. Party spirit forgoes its rancour ; commerce, with it& busy step, forgets its course ; the great and small alike pay the tribute of a tear, and feel, in the loss of HAMILTON, a national calamity. Obeying, then, the impulse of our own feelings, let us join our fellow-citizens in paying the last sad tribute to his memory. A FRIEND TO DEPARTED MERIT* MR. CoLEMAN, IF the following are not entirely unworthy of their exalt- ed subject, give them a place in the Evening Post. A, VERSES ON THE DEATH OF GENERAL HAMILTON.- SOLDIERS of Freedom ! veil your eyes, For low in dust your leader lies : No more his gleaming steel he draws, The foremost in his country's cause. ( 89) PATRIOTS ! who in the rolls of fame, Have nobly earn'd a glorious name ; With melting grief your loss deplore The Second Washington's no more ! YE Children of Columbia ! weep Your Statesman's lock'd in death's long sleep ; And, till the course of time has roll'd, His like you never shall behold. OFFSPRING of feeling ! o'er his bier Heave the swoln sigh, and .drop the tear- For others' wo, bis eyes knew well To pour their streams his breast to swell. POOR widow 'd and dejected land ! Where canst thou find, like his, a hand To prop the fabric of thy state, And shield thee, like o'er-ruling fate \ WELL may'st thou grieve, and hang thy head- Thy boast, thy guardian /wu'r, is fled. Oh ! why, e'er Heav'n reclaim'd his mind, Was not his " mantle" left behind ? THE following lines, considered as the production of a young Miss, only twelve years of age, a favourite of Ge- neral Hamilton's in his life time, will be read with some in- {erest : ELEGY, ON THE DEATH OF GEN. HAMILTON. HARK ! while the deep-toned, solemn, funeral belt, Proclaims some Chief has bade the world farewell ! Mark ! how they pay to worth the tribute dae, While pitying tears the mournful cheek bedew. (90) Well may they weep, and for his loss deplore : His country's friend, great Hamilton's no more! Who will not sigh when virtue meets the doom, And generous worth is summon'd to the tomb ? But in the feeling mind he'll ne'er expire, Still crouds shall bless him blessing, still admire -, Still shall he live, the favourite of Fame, Who thro' the world shall sound his honour'd name ; Record the virtues in his soul combin'd, True to his friends, nor to his foes unkind ; Candid as truth, like innocence sincere, Liberal and just, when other's faults appear; And when an error, or a vice he found, He scorn'd to add reproaches to the wound. When he fought nobly in his country's cause, 'Twas not ambition of a vain applause, But from pure motives, like a patriot brave, Her rights, her laws, her liberties, to save Shall, then, Columbia's sons their grief repress r Shall they not all their virtuous hero bless ? Who is there now can unconcern'd appear, And from his memory withhold the tear ? See, at the tomb, what mournful crouds attend, Oh ! patriot, hero, husband, father, friend ! Now free from cares, from mad revenge secure, Angels shall waft thee to those regions pure, Where worth like thine shall find its bright reward, And FACTION'S murd'rous arm is never rear'd. L. L. THE NEAV-HAVEN VISITOR. THE painful task this day devolves on us of announcing to our readers an event at once awful and distressing. The illustrious ALEXANDER HAMILTON is NO MORE ! He expired on Thursday last, of a wound received the preceding day, in a duel with Col. Burr. This fatal duel, which has de- prived the world of so great and distinguished a character, (91 ) originated, we understand, not from any particular cause ? but from a long course of political animosity. SAME PAPER. WE presume our readers will pardon us for engrossing this day's paper with accounts of the tragic scene in New- York. We have endeavoured to present the most important parts of the whole to them, that they may, with one view, behold the deplorable consequences inseparable from a cus- tom that sets at defiance the laws of God and man, and is as barbarous as vicious. IT appears that the cause of this for ever to be lamented duel was of no great moment. The scene is opened with a trifle apparently as " light as air ;" but soon becomes deeply interesting and affecting. Its progress is marked with death, a funeral, and bitterest weeping...In it we behold the Vice- President, the second Magistrate of five millions of people, in direct contempt of all law, all morality, all religion, and apparently without any just provocation, raise his hand against, and deliberately destroy, the life of one of our first and most distinguished characters.. .a character who would do honour to any country, to any age, and who could not ilie without a nation wept...Let us imagine this venerable man, this great victim of false honour, bleeding before us...See, " Rolled in blood he gasping lies ; Too daring" man ; pride's " noblest sacrifice : His snow-white bosom heaves with writhing pain, The purple drops his snow white bosom stain ; His cheeks of rose are wan ; a deadly hue Sits on his face that chills with lucid dew ; Swiftly his colour flies, he groans, he dies !" Yes he dies, but his well-earned fame will never die. It will ever be held in remembrance by his grateful country. (92) AMONG the papers, federal or democratic, which have done themselves honour by their manner of speaking of the late melancholy event, we particularly distinguish the Na- tional ^Egis. The following elegant extract is from the pen of some gentleman who occasionly assists in writing for this print. THE NATIONAL JEGIS. Death of General Hamilton. THE last Southern mails have brought to us a melancholy confirmation of this dis- tressing intelligence. On Wednesday the llth inst. at 8 o'clock in the morning, he received a mortal wound in a duel with Col. Burr, and expired the day following, at 2 o'clock ! The particulars, so far as they have transpired, will be found under the New- York head. The papers of that city having observed a cautious and gloomy silence on this occasion, it is not in our power to satisfy the curiosity of our readers, by detailing all the dreadful circumstances of this disaster. Enough, however, is developed, to awa- ken the sensibility, and to excite the keenest anguish of all those who are disposed to forget the lighter shades of politi- cal difference, in the overwhelming distresses of their fel- low-creatures. WE notice, with pride and satisfaction, the arrangements which had been made among all classes of people, of what- ever profession or party, in the city of which he was an il- lustrious inhabitant, to render a feeling and unequivocal testimony of esteem for his character, of regret for his death, and respect for his memory. Personal resentment has been soothed, private animosity has been forgotten, and the spi- (93) rit of party has been lulled to repose, by the contemplation of this calamitous event. THE patriot, to whatever political sect he may belong, remembers in him, the firm, the enlightened, the profound, the inflexible Statesman. The soldier looks back, with grateful devotion, on his revolutionary labours, and reveres the intrepid friend and companion of u our first and greatest revolutionary hero" The man of letters mourns, with mil- der sorrow, the learned philosopher, and the accomplished scholar ! The admirer of eloquence dwells with rapture on the musical accents of his voice, the beautiful sublimity of his language, and the irresistible force of his persuasion ! He who delights in the blandishments of life, and finds com- fort and consolation in the enjoyments of social intercourse, cannot withhold a tear when he calls to his mind the amia- ble and interesting traits in his character, which had won the affection of all, who were comprised within the extend- ed circle of his acquaintance ! His family But here, re- membrance is too painful ! Within the narrow compass of two years a wife and a mother has followed to the grave, a son and a husband ; both victims to the same cruel and un- timely destiny ! The annals of our Country do not record an instance of parallel distress ! We forbear to harrow up her soul by cold and unfeeling reflections on the manner of hid death ! If an inveterate and deep-rooted custom is ever to be exploded, it will be done, not by the labours of the moralist, or the threatenings of the preacher : Scenes of such poignant affliction will sink deep on the memory, and will serve as an awful warning to the followers of that treacherous Phantom, which leads to beguile, and seduces to destroy. (94) TOR THE EVENING POST. AN IRREGULAR ODE. HARK ! how the passing bell Heaves to the gale its sullen swell : And lo ! in sorrow's pomp array 'd, To the dull beat of death, The slowly moving cavalcade ! The half-suspended breath Scarce frees the struggling sigh ! And hallow'd tears bedew mute Beauty's eye-* Now, o'er the mansions of the dead, Behold the solemn measur'd tread ! Around their slumb'ring Hero drawn, The silent Soldiers print the lawn Now the long blaze Arrests the gaze ; The hollow vaults resound The blazing sky, The thund'ring ground f . The stedfast eye, More eloquent than Pity's flow,, Proclaims the Soldier's manly wo. High o'er the scene the curling cloud aspires, Fraught with a nation's fervid sighs The mighty incense seeks the skies, And Heav'n approves the scene for Hamilton expires ! [In compliance with the wishes of the public here, Mr. Nott's Discourse will make part of the next number.] END OF NO. A COLLECTION, &c. NMII. *ROM THE FREDERICK-TOWN HERALD. Death of General Hamilton. Ox'this day it is but decent, and indeed our emotions would oblige us, to muffle the rude voice of dissention and party conflict* in the mournful task of condoling with our country on a calamity, which nothing tut the loss of her beloved Washington could exceed, and no other visitation could equal. With inexpressible griefj with a heart overflowing with sorrow, and sunk and depres- sed under a sense of the common affliction, we have to pre- sent a confirmation of the sad tidings that General Hamilton is no more f That our Hero and Patriot, our Statesman and Orator, the Benefactor of this nation and the Stay of her best and last hopes, the admiration of Europe, whose glorious eminence and combination of glories, nor Europe nor the World can this day surpass, that our Pride, our Boast, and our Dependence, is taken from us, " gone to his death bed," " fallen by too severe a fate," cut off in the grime of his maturity and the fulness of all his excellence !r- " BUT the course of this orb, though marked, was short. It is set ; never to return ! Thou sleepest the sleep of death ! But we are not unmindful of thee, O Achilles j in life and in death thou art equally the object of our regard and veneration !" (96) C)N such an occasion, and at such a moment as this, cleepf distress but chokes invention, and would fain borrow utter- ance for the last melancholy office. Casting our eyes on the space held by the very first man of all this land, and the great void which his sudden and deplorable fate now leaves, we can only apply the words of Edmund Burke in the ar- dour of his feelings for the loss of Johnson-" He has made a chasm which not only nothing can fill up, but which no- thing has a tendency to fill up Hamilton is dead Let us go to the next best There is nobody No man can be said to put you in mind of Hamilton." And still dwelling on his acknowledged superiority in whatever is honourable to our nature, with a full allowance for the general imperfections of that nature, and an admission of every infirmity particular- ly attributable to him, we may further use the concluding sentiment of Burke's own biographer, that, " With little al- loy, and so much sterling value, in realms in which great talents are frequent, and great virtues not rare, in the usual course of intellectual and practical excellence, centuries may pass before Providence again bestow an" Alexander Ha- milton. THE affecting manner in which hrs untimely end is an- nounced on all sides, and every where heard, and in which all parties and all classes in the city of New^York have join- ed in public sympathy and lamentation, and the pomp of fu- neral honours, now " canonizes and sanctifies a character,* which it was the purpose of Washington, in one of the last acts of his life, to record above all others. The truly Chris- tian manner of his dying, will also interest every tender and virtuous mind ; and a more authentic account than the let- ter among the extracts here subjoined, will be impatiently looked for to explain the unfortunate circumstances which led to that death, in his duel with the Vice-President, Col. Burr, on Wednesday the llth inst. upon the Jersey shore : where, by a like catastrophe, but two years since, the grave robbed him of a son, and blasted all his fond expectation just as the bud of youthful promise was opening into the bloom of manhood. Such a statement, it will be perceived, is expected in the Evening Post of Mr. Coleman, than whom no man perhaps, out of the weeping and bereft family of his illustrious friend, can more fervently bewail that loss which he knows so well how to appreciate. We shall deem it a duty to communicate whatever appears on this unhappy subject, of a nature to satisfy anxiety, or to afford consola- tion under the most awful and irreparable blow, which it was possible for a people to sustain? SAME PAPER. O America ! veil thyself in black ! Deep mourns the Eagle, with shattered wing, in some lone spot its gayest plumage lost the favourite, o'er whom it was wont to ho- ver, one cruel blow has severed from the world. The tears of the aged burst forth the withered hand trembles in grief the youthful patriots mourn Their Chief is fallen ! r Haste ! even now he bleeds ! he dies! *.Catch the stream that flows from his mighty heart, and pour it in thy veins Cultivate the laurel for his memory, and earn a sprig to grace thy manly brows. In bliss above, his spirit is receiv- ed the hand of mercy is stretched forth joy rises on the soul. Ye hosts of heaven, assemble thy chosen choir croud round the celestial throne raise loud the song of glory send forth its sound on golden clarions Behold, a WASHINGTON and a HAMILTON, again in gladness and in triumph meet. r PASTORA. (98) SAME PAPER. The National Loss.- BEFORE resuming the mournful sub- ject which shrouded the last Herald, we must relieve our- selves by expressing the uneasiness we have felt at a scrap under the name of an Anecdote, amidst our agitation inad- vertently let into the same paper, with something like an appearance of levity, when our Editorial thoughts were really occupied, as indeed they still are, with nothing but sad-, ness. For the present we have put by several communica- tion?, and given up every other subject, since that of Gen. Hamilton's death alone engrosses the public attention ; nor can we help regretting, for the sake of our country readers, that our paper is not large enough to contain at full length every thing which appears of an interesting and authentic nature relative to an event, which seems to have spread with the force of an electric shock, in all directions accessible to the better feelings, or even the compunctions of humanity. Not having it in our power to republish the whole as it should be, we must be content to fill up our columns with such selections from the mass of matter in the New-York Evening Post, as may be thought most essential, noticing a the same time by way of introduction, whatever is most material in the rest. WITH respect to the funeral honours paid the illustrious deceased, there is a melancholy satisfaction in observing with what general devotion the preparations announced in our last, have been carried into effect in the city of New- York. The burial took place on Saturday the 14th ; the procession was formed agreeably to the arrangements pub- lished ; and the day exhibited a scene altogether one of the most affecting in the annals of death, such as must indeed have been "enough to melt a monumen^ of marble." Ac- C 99 ) ^cording to appointment, Mr. Gouverncur Morris, oppressed and labouring under the weight of grief, delivered the ex- tempore address, which is the first article now republished n compliance with the expectations excited last week. In addition to what was done in New- York oii the 14th, we must not pass by the tribute of grateful remembrance rendered by the citizens of Philadelphia, by several public bodies and Societies in both cities, by the Societies of Cincinnati gene- rally, and particularly the resolutions of the Cincinnati of New- York, condoling with the afflicted Widow of their President-General, cherishing his fame with the balm of affection, and as a lasting mark of their respect voting a Mo nument to his memory, with a suitable inscription, in Trinity Church. Nor can we here forbear adverting to the singu- lar degree of kindness publicly proffered by some on the fall pf this Great Man, who were most violently opposed to him while living ; as if obliged now by an irresistible impulse xvhich they cannot help, to do justice to the virtues of his heart, and the noble pre-eminence of his mind ; and in es- pousing his last fatal wrong, to assert the whole tenour of his goodness, and defend him even from themselves. It is even impossible to attest his glory in stronger language, than that used in Cheetham's American Citizen, where General Ha- milton is represented (in the words) " most perfect." In such instances, we would fain consider the present as sin- cere, and we would try to forget the past, RELATIVE to the causes which have produced all this mourning, the expected statement is now also given to the public. The correspondence which shows the cause of the duel, together with the General's observations left sealed up with his will, will be duly considered by the public. As to what passed on the ground, the short account which follows is all that the seconds of the parties have been tdble to agree upon. With respect to a material fact or tWQ ? whether General Hamilton fired at Col. Burr, or meant tq fire at all, it seems there has been a difference of opinion. But we think every body must acknowledge that Gen. Ha- milton's friend, Judge Pendleton, has put the matter beyond all doubt in the reasons he has since assigned for his opinion j and Col. Burr's second, Mr. Van Ness., is certainly mistaken. In the paper of observations, left. sealed up by Gen. Hamil- ton, the reader will see that he had " resolved (in case of au u opportunity 71 ) to reserve and tlwow away his first fire, and had thoughts even of reserving his second fire, thus giving a double opportunity to Col. Burr, to pause and reflect.'' The circumstances so impressively stated by Mr. Pendleton, are conclusive evidence that his determination remained un- altered. He stood exposed to suffer death from the fury of his antagonist, without an attempt to inflict it He gave up his own life, so precious to the world, rather than offer to pre- serve it by aiming at the life of his destroyer. With this ill-fated magnanimity of spirit, the unrelenting malevolence to which he sunk a victim must now abide a contrast : CoL Burr himself has the conviction to undergo, a conviction not much calculated, one would suppose, to add to his triumph or his happiness, that on a mere vague pretence of injury, he has committed the last great injury of all on a man, who, while in the very act of suffering it, was incapable of doing him harm, under the influence of those benign principle^ which he chose rather to ratify with his blood than to offend against. WE have said unrelenting malevolence. ..We should no have said it, and thus contributed to prejudge his case, if there was any prospect of Col. Burr's becoming amenable to the laws, as he and his second ought to be. For himself he has fled to the southward, and there is no likelihood that his ( 101 ) I,-, . friend, Governor Bloomfield of New- Jersey, in winch state the crime was perpetrated, will demand his being deliver- ed up for trial. But if there ever was an instance, in which the law should take its course, this duel is one where every- thing would call loudly for an example to be made. In most instances of the kind, arising from a violent provoca- tion, or from the sudden heat of passion, in which death ensues, juries, in their indulgence for human frailty, have been apt to get over the rigour of the law, and when, they could not entirely acquit, have converted the offence into manslaughter only. But if murder be, what it is defined, " an unlawful killing with malice aforethought, express or implied," if this constitute murder, we ask the reader to ac- eompany us through the whole of the correspondence and narrative preceding the duel, in which the cause of quarrel is explained, and then say whether there has not been on the pan of Col. Burr, " malice aforethought" the most " express," wanton, and inplacable. WE are thus confident in our expressions, because we have seen every thing offered in his behalf by his own Se- cond, but which does not in the least contradict the other statement ; which does not indeed attempt to introduce as a document in the affair, a paper hitherto known only to Col* Burr and his Second, being a sort of communication which his Second was verbally to make (but did not make as he admits himself in the terms used) to Gen. Hamilton, on the subject of fancied wrongs to the cliaracter of Col. Burr,, from time to time supposed to proceed from Gen. Hamilton - f but which communication, if it had been made, was only of a tendency to aggravate, and goes to confirm our belief of Col. Burr's " predetermined hostility," which nothing rea- sonable could ever satisfy or appease... Yet, as Mr. Coleman justly remarks^ " this foisting a secret, and till now an un- ( 102 ) heard of paper, into the genuine correspondence (at least) shows in no equivocal manner, that the writer was conscious that the correspondence which really took place, presents a case no way favourable to his principal".. .Indeed it is now matter of astonishment and indignation to us, how the* Morning Chronicle of N. York, the paper under Col. Burr's control, should have had the audacity to assert, by way of assurance, " that when a fair and candid statement was laid before the public, the conduct of Mr. Burr would be justifi- ed by every disinterested and unprejudiced man"...But we will freely leave it to every such man to decide. For our- selves, we are convinced that had Col. Burr, in the late con- test, succeeded in being elected Governor of New- York, our country would not now be deploring this tragic work of his hand : But in the sullenness and mortification of disappoint- ment, he seems to have whetted up a desperate vengeance, which was to lower Gen. Hamilton, who it is known had not countenanced his recent pretensions with the Federalists* Else, had a jealous care of his reputation been the sole mo- tive, why should those opponents, all the Clintons and the Li- vingstons, who have most openly and successfully reprobated him, have escaped his rage ? If animosity for imagined in- sult or defiance alone prompted him, where was all his fierce- ness and tenacity of honour, when, in the duel with his friend Svvartv/out, Mr. De Witt Clinton exclaimed a wish ** that he had the Principal there?" But no! " Revolving in the gloomy recesses of his mind, 5T the resentment of CoU Burr has taken a different turn ;. or rather the craft of his malignity has sought a different object for its safer gratifica- tion : and thus at the very moment in which it was insisted, that " Federalists, and Federalists alcne, voted for CoL Burr," on his part he was plotting destruction to the main prop and hope of Federalism in these States. Surely we have some right to complain ; surely this man has been des- ( 103 ) lined to us for a curse, and a vexation without end. But at this moment we forget every mischief but the present ; we think not of him as a chief among the original authors of our political ruin, but we start with horror from those hands now reeking with the blood of Hamilton...This last sin has swallowed up every other.. .It is a spot which nothing can wash out.. .Col. Burr may, if he pleases, enjoy the glory of this transgression...but though he shares not the fate of the wretch who fired the temple of Ephesus to eternize his name, which his countrymen would never afterwards repeat ; though Col. Burr will be remembered and have celebrity, it will now be, because " Damned to everlasting fame." It is impossible it should be otherwis e : it is impossible we should restrain these sentiments, since we find the direful blow to have been the entire consequence ^ind fixed purpose of his own subtle, premeditated, fiend-like rancour ; pursu- ing without remorse, and as it were with an imprecation not to stop until he had pushed into the grave. He succeed- ed ; the Genius of Evil was ascendant ; and the most esti- mable and distinguished of the survivors of Washington, the orb of transcendent lustre, the most " finished man in this exigent time," our guardian, beloved, and ever to be lamented Hamilton, fell !... " Oh what a fall was there, my Countrymen ! Then you and I, and all of us fell down, " Whilst bloody treason flourished over us.'* ( 104) THE following Sermon has deservedly 'engaged "an univer- sal share of public attention. The successful manner in which the author combats the fashionable vice of duelling, requires that his production should be extensively circulated. The distant reader will here see in what terms a Minister of God, standing before his altar, feels himself justified in speaking of the virtues, talents, and public services, of the great Hamilton. In the passage beginning with the apos- trophe " Approach and behold" how elegant, how deeply af- fecting, how sublime, is he ! Perhaps a passage of equal kngth is not to be any where found, in our language, supe- rior to this. A DISCOURSE, Delivered in the North Dutch Church, in the City of Albany, occasioned by the ever to be lamented Death of General ALEXANDER HAMILTON July 29, 18O4. BY ELIPHALET JVOTT, A. M. PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN SAID CITY. IT. SAMUEL, i. 19. How are the Mighty Fallen ! THE occasion explains the choice of my subject. A sub- ject on which I enter in obedience to your request. You have assembled to express your elegiac sorrows, and sad and solemn weeds cover you. BEFORE such an audience, and on such an occasion, I enter on the duty assigned me with trembling. Do not mistake my meaning. I tremble indeed not, however, ( 105 ) through fear of failing to merit your applause ; for what have I to do with that when addressing the dying, and treading on the ashes of the dead Not through fear of failing, justly, to portray the character of that great man who is at once the theme of my encomium and regret : He needs not eulogy. His work is finished, and death has removed him beyond my censure, and I would fondly hope, through grace, above my praise- x You will ask then, why I tremble ? I tremble to think that I am called to attack from this place a crime, the very klea of which almost freezes one with horror a crime, too, which exists among the polite and polished orders of socie- ty, and which is accompanied with every aggravation ; con> mitted with cool deliberation and openly in the face of day! BUT I have a duty to perform. And difficult and awful as that duty is, I will not shrink from it. WOULD to God my talents were adequate to the occasion. But such as they are, I devoutly proffer them to unfold the nature and counteract the influence of that barbarous custom, which, like a resistless torrent, is undermining the founda- tions of civil government breaking down the barriers of social happiness, and sweeping away virtue, talents, and do- mestic felicity, in its desolating course, ANOTHER and an illustrious character a father a gene- ral a statesman the very man who stood on an eminence and without a rival, among sages and heroes, the future hope of his country in danger this man, yielding to the in- fluence of a custom which deserves our eternal reproba- tion, has been brought to an untimely end. ( 106 ) THAT the cfeaths of great and useful men should be par- ticularly noticed, is equally the dictate of reason and revela- tion. The tears of Israel flowed at the decease of good Jo- SIAH, and to his memory the funeral women chanted the solemn dirge. * BUT neither examples nor arguments are necessary to wake the sympathies of a grateful people on such occasions. The death of public benefactors surcharges the heart, and it spontaneously disburdens itself by a flow of sorrows. SUCH was the death of WASHINGTON : to embalm whose memory, and perpetuate whose deathless fame, we lent our feeble, but unnecessary services. Such, also, and more peculiarly so, has been the death of HAMILTON. THE tidings of the former moved us mournfully moved us and we wept. The account of the latter chilled our hopes, and curdled our blood. The former died in a good old age ; the latter was cut off in the midst of his usefulness. The former was a customary providence : we saw in it, if I may speak so, the finger of GOD, and rested in his sovereignty. The latter is not attended with this soothing circumstance. THE fall of HAMILTON owes its existence to mad delibe- ration, and is marked by violence. The time, the place, the circumstances, are arranged with barbarous coolness. The instrument of death is levelled in day-light, and with well di- rected skill pointed at his heart. Alas ! the event has proven that it was but too well directed. Wounded, mortally wound- ed, on the very spot which still smoked with the blood of a favourite son, into the arms of his indiscreet and cruel friend the father fell. ( 107) AH ! had he fallen in the course of nature ; or jeopardiz- ing his life in defence of his country, had he fallen But he did not. He fell in single combat Pardon my mis- take he did not fall in single combat. His noble nature refused to endanger the life of his antagonist. But he ex- posed his own life. This was his crime : and the sacred- ness of my office forbids that I should hesitate explicitly to declare it so. HE did not hesitate to declare it so himself : " My reli- gious and moral principles are strongly opposed to duel- ing." These are his words before he ventured to the field of death. " I view the late transaction with sorrow and contrition." These are his words after his return. HUMILIATING end of illustrious greatness ! How are the "mighty fallen / And shall the mighty thus fall ? Thus shall the noblest lives be sacrificed and the richest blood be spilt? Tell it not in Gath ; publish it not in the streets of Askelon I THINK not that the fatal issue of the late inhuman inter- view was fortuitous. No ; the Hand that guides unseen the arrow of the archer, steadied and directed the arm of the duellist. And why did it thus- direct it ? As a solemn memento as a loud and awful warning to a community where justice has slumbered and slumbered and slum- bered while the wife has been robbed of her partner, the mother of her hopes, and life after life rashly, and with an air of triumph, sported away. 4 AND was there, O my GOD ! no other sacrifice valuable enough would the cry of no other blood reach the place of retribution and wake justice, dozing over her awful seat ! BUT though justice should still slumber and retribution be delayed, we who are the ministers of that GOD who will judge the judges of the world, and whose malediction rests on him who does his work unfaithfully, we will not keep silence. I FEEL, my brethren, how incongruous my subject is with the place I occupy. IT is humiliating ; it is distressing in a Christian country, and in churches consecrated to the religion of JESUS, to be obliged to attack a crime which outstrips barbarism, and would even sink the character of a generous savage. But humiliating as it is, it is necessary. AND must we then, even for a moment, forget the ele- vation on which grace hath placed us, and the light which the gospel sheds around us ? Must we place ourselves back in the midst of barbarism ? And instead of hearers soften- ed to forgivness by the love of JESUS ; filled with noble sen- timents towards our enemies, and waiting for occasions, after the exampl^ of Divinity, to do them good instead of such hearers, must we suppose ourselves addressing hearts petri- fied to goodness, incapable of mercy, and boiling with re- venge ? Must we, O my GOD ! instead of exhorting those who hear us, to go on unto perfection, adding to virtue cha- r//z/, arid to charity brotherly kindness must we, as if sur- rounded by an auditory just emerging out of darkness and still cruel and ferocious, reason to convince them that re- venge is improper, and that to commit deliberate murder, is sin? YES, we must do this. Repeated violations of the law, ( 109) and the sanctuary, which the guilty find in public sentiment, prove that it is necessary. WITHDRAW therefore for a moment, ye celestial spirits ye holy angels accustomed to hover round these ALTARS, and listen to those strains of grace which heretofore have filled this House of God. Other subjects occupy us. With- draw therefore and leave us -leave us to exhort Christian parents to restrain their vengeance, and at least to keep back their hands from blood to exhort youth, nurtured in Christian families, not rashly to sport with life, nor lightly to wring the widow's heart with sorrows, and fill the orphan's eye with tears. IN accomplishing the object which is before me, it will not be expected, as it is not necessary, that I should give a history of Duelling. You need not be informed that it ori- ginated in a dark and barbarous age. The polished Greek knew nothing of it The noble Roman was above it. Rome held in equal detestation the man who exposed his life unne- cessarily, and him, who refused to expose it when the pub- lic good required it*. Her heroes were superior to private contests. They indulged no vengeance except against the enemies of their country. Their swords were not drawn unless her honour was in danger ; which honour they de- fended with their swords not only, but shielded with their bosoms also, and were then prodigal of their blood. BUT though Greece and Rome knew nothing of Duelling^ it exists. It exists among us : and it exists at once the most rash, the most absurd and guilty practice, that ever disgrac- ed a Christian nation. * Sallust de beH. Catil. ix. ( GUILTY Because it is a violation of the law. What law ? The Law of GOD. THOU SHALT NOT KILL. This prohibition was delivered by GOD himself, at Sinai, to the Jews. And, that it is of universal and perpetual obligation, is manifest from the nature of the crime prohibited not on- ly, but also from the express declaration of the Christian Lawgiver, who hath recognized its justice, and added to it the sanctions of his own authority. " THOU shalt not kill." Who ? Thou, creature. I the Creator, have given life, and thou shalt not take it away ! When and under what circumstances may I not take away life ? Never, and under no circumstances, without my per- mission. It is obvious, that no discretion whatever is here given. The prohibition is addressed to every individual where the law of GOD is promulgated, and the- terms made use of are express and unequivocal. So that life cannot be taken under any pretext, without incurring guilt, unless by a permission sanctioned by the same authority which sanc- tions the general law prohibiting it. FROM this law it is granted there are exceptions. These exceptions, however, do not result from any sovereignty which one creature has over the existence of another ; but from the positive appointment of that eternal Being, whose is the world and the fullness thereof. In "whose hand is the soul of every living creature, and the breath of all mankind. EVEN the authority which we claim over the lives of ani- mals is not founded on a natural right, but on a positive grant made by the Deity himself to Noah and his sons *. This grant contains our warrant for taking the lives of ani- * Gen. be. 3. ( 111 ) mals. But if we may not take the lives of atiimals without permission from GOD, much less may we the life of man, made in his image. IN what cases then has the Sovereign of life given this permission? IN RIGHTFUL WAR * BY THE CIVIL MAGIS- TRATE J" ; and IN NECESSARY SELF-DEFENCE J. Besides these, I do not hesitate to declare, that in the oracles of GOD there are no other. HE therefore who takes life in any other case, under whatever pretext, takes it unwarrantably, is guilty of what the scriptures call murder, and exposes himself to the male- diction of that GOD who is an avenger of blood, and who hath said, At the hand of every marfs brother will I require the life of man Whoso shedeth marts blood, by man shall his blood be shed. i - . . ' THE duellist contravenes the law of GOD not only, but the law of man also. To the prohibition of the former have been added the sanctions of the latter. Life taken in a duel, by the common law, is murder. And where this is not the case, the giving and receiving of a challenge only, is by statute, considered a high misdemeanor, for which the principal and his second are declared infamous, and disfran- chised for twenty years. UNDER what accumulated circumstances of aggravation does the duellist jeopardize his own life, or take the life of his antagonist? * 2 Sam. x, 12. Jer. xlviii, 10. Luke, iij, 14. f E *. x * 12. \ Ex. xxii, 2. (112) I AM sensible that in a licentious age, and when laws arc made to yield to the vices of those who move in the higher circles, this crime is called by I know not what mild and ac- commodating name. But before these altars ; in this house of GOD, what is it ? It is MURDER deliberate, aggravated, MURDER. IF the duellist deny this, let him produce his warrant from the Author of life, for taking away from his creature the life which had been sovereignly given. If he cannot do this, beyond all controversy, he is a murderer ; for mur- der consists in taking away life without the permission, and contrary to the prohibition of him who gave it. WHO is it then that calls the duellist to the dangerous and deadly combat ? Is it GOD ? No ; on the contrary he for- bids it. Is it then his country ? No ; she also utters her prohibitory voice. Who is it then? A man of honour. And who is this man of honour ? A man perhaps whose ho- nour is a name who prates with polluted lips about the sacredness of character, when his own is stained with crimes, and needs but the single shade of murder to complete the dismal and sickly picture* EVERY transgression of the divine law implies great guilt, because it is the transgression of infinite authority. But the crime of deliberately and lightly taking life, has pe- culiar aggravations. It is a crime committed against the written law not only, but also against the dictates of reason, the remonstrances of conscience, and every tender and ami- able feeling of the heart. To the unfortunate sufferer, it is the wanton violation of his most sacred rights. It snatches him from his friends ( and his comforts ; terminates his state of trial, an d pre- cipitates him, uncalled for and perhaps unprepared, into the presence of his Judge. You will say the duellist feels no malice. Be it so* Malice, indeed, is murder in principle. But there may be murder in reason, and in fact, where there is no malice. Some other unwarrantable passion or principle may lead to the unlawful taking of human life. THE highwayman, who cuts the throat and rifles the pocket of the passing traveller, feels no malice. And could he, with equal ease and no greater danger of detection, have secured his booty without taking life, he would have stayed his arm oyer the palpitating bosom of his victim, and let the plundered suppliant pass. WOULD the imputation of cowardice have been inevitable to the duellist, if a challenge had not been given or accept- ed ? The imputation of want had been no less inevitable to the robber, if the money of the passing traveller had not been secured. ~~ .... .' ,. \ . } WOULD the duellist have been willing to have spared the life of his antagonist, if the point of honour could otherwise have been gained ? So would the robber if the point of pro- perty could have been. Who can say that the motives of the one are not as urgent as the motives of the other ? And the means by which both obtain the object of their wishes are the same. THUS, according to the dictates of reason, as well as the law of GOD, the highwayman and the duellist stand on ground equally untenable ; and support their gailty havpc of the humau race by arguments equally fallacious. Is duelliftg guilty ? So it is ?i : ' "V'" r "' , ABSURD... .It is absurd as a punishment, for it admits of no proportion to crimes : and besides, virtue and vice, guilt and innocence, are equally exposed by it, to death or suffering. As a reparation, it is still more absurd, for it m-akes the injured liable to a still greater injury. And as the vindication of personal character, it is absurd even be- yond madness. ONE man of honour, by some inadvertence, or perhaps with design, injures the sensibility of another man of ho- nour. In perfect character the injured gentleman resents it. He challenges the offender. The offender accepts the challenge. The time is fixed. The place is agreed upon. The circumstances, with an air of solemn mania, are arrang- ed ; and the principals, with their seconds and surgeons, re- tire under the covert of some solitary hill, or upon the mar- gin of some unfrequented beach, to settle this important question of honour, by stabbing or shooting at each other. ONE or the other, or both the parties, fall in this polite and gentlemanlike contest. And what does this prove ? It proves that one or the other, or both of them, as the case may be, are marksmen. But it affords no evidence that either of them possess honour, probity, or talents. ' i . -?. ; IT is true that he who falls in single combat, has the ho- nour of being murdered : and he who takes his life, the ho- nour of a murderer. Besides this, I know not of any glory which can redound to the infatuated combatants, except it be what results from having extended the circle of wretched widows, and added to the number of hapless orphans. **. '.-, AND yet, terminate as '.it will, this frantic meeting, by a ( 110 kind of magic influence, entirely varnishes over a defective and smutty character; transforms vice to virtue, coward- ice to courage ; makes falsehood truth ; guik, innocence.... In one word, it gives a new complexion to the whole state of things. The Ethiopian changes his skin, the leopard his spot, and the debauched and treacherous. ...having shot away the infamy of a sorry life, comes back from the field of perfectibility quite regenerated, and, in the fullust sense, an honourable man. He is now fit for the company of gentle- men. He is admitted to that company, and should he again by acts of vileness stain this purity of character so nobly ac- quired, and should any one have the affrontery to say he has done so, again he stands ready to vindicate his honour, and by another act of homicide, to wipe away the stain which has been attached to it. I MIGHT illustrate this article by example. I might pro- duce instances of this mysterious transformation of charac- ter, in the sublime circles of moral refinement, furnished by the higher orders of the fashionable world, which the mere firing of pistols has produced. BUT the occasion is too awful for irony. ABSURD as duelling is, were it absurd only, though we might smile at the weakness and pity the folly of its abettors, there would be no occasion for seriously attacking them^ But to what has been said, I add, that duelling is rash find presumptuous. LIFE is the gift of GOD, and it was never bestowed to be sported with. To each the Sovereign of the universe has marked out a sphere to move in, and assigned a part to act. This part respects ourselves not only, but others also. Each lives for the benefit of all. (116) As in the system of nature the sun shines, not to display rts own brightness and answer its own convenience, but to warm, enlighten, and bless the world ; so in the system of animated beings, there is a dependence, a correspondence, and a relation, through an infinitely extended, dying and re- viving universe- in which no man llveth to himself, and no man dielh to himself. Friend is related to friend ; the fa- ther to his family ; the individual to community* To every member of which, having fixed his station and assigned his tlary, the GOD of nature says, " Keep this trust 'defend this post. 7 * For whom ? For thy friends thy family thy country. And having received such a charge, and for such a purpose, to desert it is rashness and temerity. SIXCE the opinions of men are as they are, do you ask, Jio\v you shall avoid the imputation of cowardice, if you do not fight when you are injured ? Ask your family how you will avoid the imputation of cruelty ask your conscience how you will avoid the imputation of guilt ask GOD how you will avoid his malediction, if you do ? These are pre- vious questions. Let these first be answered, and it will be- easy to reply to any which may follow them. IF you only accept a challenge when, you believe in your conscience that duelling is wrong, you act the coward. The dastardly fear of the world governs you. Awed by its me- naces, you conceal your sentiments, appear in disguise, and act in guilty conformity to principles not your own, and that too in the most solemn moment, and when engaged in an act which exposes you to death. BUT if it be rashness to accept, how passing rashness is it, in a sinner, to give a challenge ? Does it become him y whose life is measured out by crimes, to be extreme to e w 3 ftiark, and punctilious to resent, whatever is amiss In others f Must the duellist, who now disdaining to forgive, so imperi- ously demands satisfaction to the uttermost must this man himself, trembling at the recollection of his offences, present- ly appear a suppliant before the mercy seat of GOD ? Imagine this, and the case is not imaginary, and you cannot conceive an instance of greater inconsistency, or of more presump- tuous arrogance. Wherefore, avenge not yourselves^ but rath- er give place unto wrath ; for vengeance is mine, I will repay it) salth the LORD. Do you ask, then, how you shall conduct towards your enemy who hath lightly done you wrong ? If he be hungry, feed him j if naked, clothe hinjjiif,thirscy, give him drink* Such, had you preferred your question to Jesus Christ, is the answer he had given you. By observing which, you will usually subdue, and always act more honourably than your enemy, I FEEL, my brethren, as a minister of JESUS and a teach- rr of his gospel, a noble elevation on this article* COMPARE the conduct of the Christian, acting in conform- ity to the principles of religion, and of the duellist, acting in conformity to the principles of honour, and let reason say which bears the marks of the most exalted greatness. Com- pare them, and let reason say which enjoys the most calm serenity of mind in time, and which is likely to receive the plaudit of his Judge in immortality. GOD, from his throne, beholds not a nobler object on his footstool, than the man who loves his enemies, pities their errors, and forgives the injuries they do him. This is in- deed the very spirit of the heavens. It is the image of his benignity, whose glory fills them. To return to the subject before us Guilty, absiird and rash, as duelling is, it has its advocates. And had it not had its advocates had not a strange preponderance of opinion been in favour of it, never, O lamentable Hamilton ! hadst thou thus fallen, in the midst of thy days, and before thou hadst reached the zenith of thy glory ! O THAT I possessed the talent of eulogy, and that I might be permitted to indulge the tenderness of friendship in pay- ing the last tribute to his memory ! O that I were capable of placing this great man before you ! Could I do this, I should furnish you with an argument, the most practical, the most plain, the most convincing, except that drawn from the mandate of GOD, that was ever furnished against duel- ling, that horrid practice, which has in an awful moment, robbed the world of such exalted worth. BUT I cannot do this I can only hint at the variety and exuberance of his excellence. THE MAN, on whom nature seems originally to have impressed the stamp of greatness whose genius beamed from the retirement of collegiate life, with a radiance which dazzled, and a loveliness which charmed the eye of sages. THE HERO, called from his sequestered retreat, whose first appearance in the field, though a strippling, conciliated the esteem of Washington, our good old father. Moving by whose side, during all the perils of the revolution, our young Chieftain was a contribute!* to the veteran's glory, the guardian of his person, and the compartner of his toils. \ fe .J- THE CONQUEROR, who, sparing of human blood, \vhen victory favoured, stayed the uplifted arm, and nobly said to the vanquished enemy, " LIVE ! " THE STATESMAN, the correctness of whose princi- ples, and the strength of whose mind, are inscribed on the records of congress, and on the annals of the council cham- ber; whose genius impressed itself upon the Constitution of his country ; and whose memory, the government, illus- trious fabric, resting on this basis, will perpetuate while it lasts : and shaken by the violence or" party, should it fall, which may heaven avert, his prophetic declarations will be found inscribed on its ruins. THE COUNSELLOR, who was at once the pride of the bar and the admiration of the court- whose apprehensions were quick as lightning, and whose developement of truth was luminous as its path whose argument no change of circumstances could embarrass whose knowledge appear- ed intuitive ; and who by a single glance, and with as much facility as the eye of the eagle passes over the landscape, surveyed the whole field of controversy saw in what way truth might be most successfully defended, and how error must be approached. And who, without ever stopping, ever hesitating, by a rapid and manly march, led the lis- tening judge and the fascinated juror, step by step, through a, delightsome region, brightening as he advanced, till his argument rose to demonstration, and eloquence was render- ed useless by conviction. WHOSE talents were employed on the side of righteous- ness whose voice, whether in the council-chamber, or at the bar of justice, was virtue's consolation At whose ap- R (120) proach oppressed humanity felt a secret rapture, and ther heart of injured innocence leapt for joy. WHERE Hamilton was in whatever sphere he moved, the friendless had a friend, the fatherless a father, and the poor mart, though unable to reward his kindness, found an advo- cate. It was when the rich oppressed the poor -when the powerful menaced the defenceless when truth was disre- gard^d, or the eternal principles of justice violated it was On these occasions, that he exerted all his strength it was on these occasions that he sometimes soared so high and shone with a radiance so transcendant, I had almost said, so u heavenly, as filled those around him with awe, and gave to him the force and authority of a prophet." THE PATRIOT, whose integrity baffled the scrutiny of inquisition whose manly virtue never shaped itself to cir- cumstanceswho, always great, always himself, stood amidst the varying tides of party, frm, like the rock, which, far from land, lifts its majestic top above the waves, and remains unshaken by the storms which agitate the ocean. THE FRIEND, who knew no guile whose bosom was transparent and deep ; in the bottom of whose heart was rooted every tender and sympathetic virtue whose various worth pposing parties acknowledged while alive, and on whose tomb they unite, with equal sympathy and grief, t heap their honours. I KNOW he had his failings. I see on the picture of his life, a picture rendered awful by greatness, and luminous by virtue, some dark shades On these let the tear that pities human weakness fall : on these let the veil which covers human frailty rest As a hero, as a statesman, as a patriot, he lived nobly : and would to GOD I could add, he nobiy felL UNWILLING to admit his error in this respect, I go back to the period of discussion. I see him resisting the threat- ened interview. I imagine myself present in his chamber. Various reasons, for a time, seem to hold his determination in arrest. Various and moving objects pass before him, and speak a dissuasive language. His country, which may need his counsels to guide, and his arm to defend, utters her veto. The partner of his youth, already covered with weeds, and whose tears flow down into her bosom, intercedes ! His_ babes, stretching out their little hands and pointing to a weeping mother, with lisping eloquence, but eloquence which reaches a parent's heart, cry out u Stay stay dear papa, and live for us !" In the mean time the spectre of a fallen son, pale and ghastly, approaches, opens his bleeding bosom, and as the harbinger of death, points to the yawning tomb, an4 warns a hesitat- ing father of the issue ) HE pauses. Reviews these sad objects : and reasons on the subject. I admire his magnanimity. I approve his reasoning, and I wait to hear him reject with indignation the murderous proposition, and to see hiri} spurn from his presence the presumptuous bearer of it. BUT I wait in vain. It was a moment in which his great wisdom forsook him. A moment in which Hamilton was not himself. HE yielded to the force of an imperious custom : And yielding, he sacrificed a life in which ail had an interest ( 122) and he is lost lost to his country lost to his family -lost to us. FOR this act, because he disclaimed it, and was penitent, I forgive him. But there are those whom I cannot forgive. I MEAN not his antagonist ; over whose erring steps, if there be tears in heaven, a pious mother looks down and weeps. If he be capable of feeling, he suffers already all that humanity can suffer : Suffers, and wherever he may fly, will suffer, with the poignant recollection of having tak- en the life of one who was too magnanimous in return to at- tempt his own. Had he have known this, it must have pa- ralyzed his arm, while it pointed, at so incorruptible a bosom, the instrument of death. Does he know this now ? his heart, if it be not adamant, must soften if it be not ice, it must melt But on this article I forbear. Stained with blood as he is, if he be penitent, I forgive him and if he be not, before these altars, where all of us appear as suppliants, I wish not to excite your vengeance, but rather, in behalf of an object rendered wretched and pitiable by crime, to wake your pray- ers. BUT I have said, and I repeat it, there are those whom I cannot forgive* I CANNOT forgive that minister at the altar, who has hi- therto forborn to remonstrate on this subject. I cannot for- give that public prosecutor, who, intrusted with the duty of avenging his country's wrongs, has seen those wrongs, and taken no measures to avenge them. I cannot forgive that judge upon the bench, or that governor in the chair of state, ( 123 ) who has lightly passed over such offences. I cannot forgive the public, in whose opinion the duellist finds a sanctuary. I cannot forgive you, my brethren, who, till this late hour, have been silent, while successive murders were committed. No ; I cannot forgive you, that you have not, in common with the freemen of this state, raised your voice to the powers that be, and loudly and explicitly demanded an execu- tion of your laws. Demanded this in a manner, which if it did not reach the ear of government, would at least have reached the heavens, and plead your excuse before the GOD that filleth them....in whose presence as I stand, I should not feel myself innocent of the blood that crieth against us, had I been silent. But I have not been silent. Many of you who hear me, are my witnesses the walls of yonder temple, where I have heretofore addressed you, are my witnesses, how freely I have animadverted on tliis subject, in the presence both of those who have violated the laws, and of those whose indispensable duty it is to see the laws executed on those who violate them. I ENJOY another opportunity ; and would to GOD, I might be permitted to approach for once the late scene of death. Would to GOD, I could there assemble on the one side, the disconsolate mother with her seven fatherless children and on the other, those who administer the justice of my coun- try. Could I do this, I would point them to these sad ob- jects. I would entreat them, by the agonies of bereaved fondness, to listen to the widow's heartfelt groans ; to mark the orphans' sighs and tears. And having done this, I would uncover the breathless corpse of Hamilton I would lift from his gaping wound, his bloody mantle I would hold it up to heaven before them, and I would ask, in the name of GOD, I would ask, whether at the sight of it they felt no compunction ? ( 124) You will ask, perhaps, what can be done, to arrest the progress of a practice which has yet so many advocates ? I answer, nothing-*-\f it be the deliberate intention to do no* thing. Bat if otherwise, much is within our power, LET, then, the governor see that the laws are executed j let the council displace the man who offends against their majesty ; let courts of justice frown from their bar, as un- worthy to appear before them, the murderer and his accom- plices ; let the people declare him unworthy of their confi- dence who engages in such sanguinary contests ; let this be done, and should life still be taken in single combat, then the governor, the council, the court, the people, looking up to the Avenger of sin, may say, u we are innocent ;-we are innocent." Do you ask how proof can be obtained ? How can it be avoided ? /The parties return, hold up before our eyes the instruments of death, publish to the world the circumstan- ces of their interview, and even, with an air of insulting triumph, boast how coolly, and deliberately they proceeded in violating one of the most sacred laws of earth and hea ven ! AH ! ye tragic shores of Hoboken, crimsoned with the richest blood, I tremble at the crimes you record against lls the annual register of murders which you keep and send up to GOD ! Place of inhuman cruelty ! beyond the limits of reason, of duty, and of religion, where man assumes a more barbarous nature, and ceases to be man. What poign- ant, lingering sorrows do thy lawless combats occasion to surviving relatives ! YE who have hearts of pity ye who have experienced the (125) anguish of dissolving friendship who have wept, and still weep over the mouldering ruins of departed kindred, ye can ent^r into this reflection. O THOU disconsolate widow ! robbed, so cruelly robbed, and in so short a time, both of a husband and a son, what must be the plenitude of thy sufferings ! Could we approach thee, gladly would we drop the tear of sympathy, and pour into thy bleeding bosom the balm of consolation ! But how could we comfort her whom GOD hath not comforted ? To his throne, let us lift up our voice and weep. O GOD ! if thou art still the widow's husband, and the father of the fa- therless if in the fulness of thy goodness there be yet mer- cies in store for miserable mortals, pity, O pity this afflicted mother, and grant that her hapless orphans may find a friend, a benefactor, a father, in THEE ! ON this article I have done : and may GOD add his bless- ing. BUT I have still a claim upon your patience. I cannot here repress my feelings, and thus let pass the present op- portunity How are the mighty fallen .' And, regardless as we are of rulgar deaths, shall not the fall of the mighty affect us ? A SHORT time since, and he who is the occasion of our sorrows, was the ornament of his country. He stood on an eminence ; and glory covered him. From that eminence he has fallen suddenly, forever, fallen. His intercourse with the living world is now ended ; and those who would hereafter find him, must seek him in the grave. There, cold and lifeless, is the heart which just now was the seat ( 126) of friendship. There, dim and sightless is the eye, whose radiant and enlivening orb beamed with intelligence ; and there, closed for ever, are those lips, on whose persuasive accents we have so often, and so lately, hung with transport ! FROM the darkness which rests upon his tomb, there pro- ceeds, methinks, a light in which it is clearly seen that those gaudy objects which men pursue, are only phantoms. In this light how dimly shines the splendour of victory how humble appears the majesty of grandeur ! The bubble which seemed to have so much solidity, has burst j and we again, see that all below the sun is vanity TRUE, the funeral eulogy has been pronounced ; the sad and solemn procession has moved ; the badge of mourn- ing has already been decreed, and presently the sculptured marble will lift up its front, proud to perpetuate the name of HAMILTON* and rehearse to the passing traveller his virtues. JUST tributes*of respect f And to the living useful. But to him, mouldering in his narrow and humble habitation, what are they ? How vain ! how unavailing ! APPROACH, and behold while I lift from his sepulchre its covering ! Ye admirers of his greatness j ye emulous of his talents and his fame, approach, and behold him now. How pale ! How silent ! No martial bands admire the adriotness of his movements : No fascinated throng weep- and melt and tremble, at his eloquence! Amazing change ! A shroud ! a coffin ! a narrow, subterraneous cabin ! This is all that now remains of Hamilton ! And is ^his all that re- mains of htm ? During a life so trans her}*", what lasting monument then can our fondest hopes erect ? (127) MY brethren ! we stand on the borders of : an which is swallowing up all things human. And is there, amidst this universal wreck, nothing stable, nothing abid- ing, nothing immortal, on which poor, frail, dying man, can ASK the hero, ask the statesman, whose wisdom you have been accustomed to revere, and he will tell you. He will tell you, did I say ? He has already told you, from his death-bed, and his illumined spirit still whispers from the heavens, with well known eloquence, the solemn admonition : " MORTALS ! hastening to the tomb, and once the com- panions of my pilgrimage, take warning and avoid my er- rors Cultivate the virtues I have recommended Choose the Saviour I have chosen Live disinterestedly Live for immortality ; and would you rescue any thing from final dis- solution, lay it up in GOD." THUS speaks, methinks, our deceased benefactor, and thus he acted during his last sad hours. To the exclusion of every other concern, religion now claims ah 1 his thoughts. JESUS ! JESUS, is now his only hope. The friends of JE- SUS are his friends the ministers of the altar his compa- nions. While these intercede, he listens in awful silence, or in profound submission whispers his assent. SENSIBLE, deeply sensible of his sins, he pleads no merit of his own. He repairs to the mercy seat, and there pours out his penitential sorrows there he solicits pardon. HEAVEN, it should seem, heard and pitied the suppliant's cries. Disburdened of his sorrows, and looking up to GOD, C 12* > he exclaims, * Grace rich grace." " I have,"' said hey clasping his dying hands, and with a faltering, tongue,- " / have a tender reliance on the mercy of God in Christ" In- token of this reliance, and as an expression of his faith, he receives the holy sacrament; and having done this, his mind becomes tranquil and serene. Thus he remains, thoughtful indeed, but unruffled to the last, and meets death with an air of dignified composure, and with an eye direct- ed to the heavens. THIS last act, more than any other, sheds glory on his character. Every thing else death effaces. Religion alone abides with him on his death-bed. He dies a Christian. This is all which can be enrolled of him among the archives of eternity. This is. all that can make his name great in heaven. LET not the sneering infidel persuade you that this last act of homage to the Saviour, resulted from an enfeebled state of mental faculties, or from perturbation occasioned by the near approach of death. No j his opinions concerning the Divine Mission of Jestis Christ, and the validity of the holy scriptures, had long been settled, and settled after labo- rious investigation and extensive and deep research. These opinions were not concealed. I knew them myself. Some of you who hear me, knew them ; and had his life been spared, it was his determination to have published them to the world, together with the facts and reasons on which they were founded. AT a time when scepticism, shallow and superficial in- deed, but depraved and malignant, is breathing forth its pestilential vapour, and polluting by its unhallowed touch, every thing divine and sacred ; it is consoling to a devout ( 129 ) mind to reflect, that the great, and the wise, and the good of all ages ; those superior geniuses, whose splendid talents have elevated them almost above mortality, and placed them next in order to angelic natures Yes, it is consoling to a devout mind to reflect, that while dwarfish infidelity lifts up its deformed head, and mocks, these illustrious person* ages, though living in different ages inhabiting different countries- nurtured in different schools destined to differ* ent pursuits and differing on various subjects should ail, as if touched with an impulse from heaven, agree to vindi- cate the sacredness of Revelation, and present with one accord, their learning, their talents and their virtue, on the Gospel Altar, as an offering to Emanuel, THIS is not exaggeration. Who was it, that, overleaping the narrow bounds which had hitherto been set to the hu- man mind, ranged abroad through the immensity of space, discovered and illustrated those laws by which the Deity unites, binds, and governs all things ? Who was it, soaring into the sublime of astronomic science, numbered the stars of heaven, measured their spheres, and called them by their names ? It was NEWTON. But Newton was a Christian. Newton, great as he was, received instruction from the lips, and laid his honours at the feet of Jesus, WHO was it, that developed the hidden combination, the component parts of bodies ? Who was it, dissected the ani- mal, examined the flower, penetrated the earth, and ranged the extent of organic nature ? It was BOYLE. But Boyle was a Christian, WHO was it, that lifted the veil which had for ages covert ed the intellectual world, analyzed the human mind, defined its powers, and reduced its operations to certain and fixed laws ? It was LOCKE. But Locke too was a Christian. ( 130 ) WriAT more shall I say ? For time would fail me, to speak of Hale, learned in the law ; of Addtson, admired in the schools ; of Milton, celebrated among the poets ; and of Washington, immortal in the field and the cabinet. To this catalogue of professing Christians, from among, if I may speak so, a higher order of beings, may now be added the name of ALEXANDER HAMILTON A name which raises in the mind the idea of whatever is great, what- ever is splendid, whatever is illustrious in human nature j and which is now added to a catalogue which might be lengthened and lengthened and lengthened, with the names of illustrious characters, whose lives have blessed so- ciety, and whose works form a COLUMN high as heaven a column of learning, of, wisdom, and of greatness, which will stand to future ages, an eternal monument of the tran- scendant talents of the advocates of Christianity, when every fugitive leaf, from the pen of the canting infidel witlings of the day, shall be swept by the tide of time from the annals of the world, and buried with the names of their authors in oblivion. To conclude. How are the mighty fallen I Fallen before the desolating hand of death. Alas ! the ruins of the tomb. . i . The ruins of the to wib are en emblem of the ruins of the world. When not an individual, but an universe, already marred by sin and hastening to dissolution, shall agonize and die ! Directing your thoughts from the one, fix them for a moment on the other. Anticipate the concluding scene, the final catastrophe of nature : when the sign of the Son of man shall be seen in heaven ; when the son of man himself shall appear in the glory of his Fa- ther, and send forth judgment unto victory The fiery de- solation envelopes towns, palaces, and fortresses ; the hea- vens pass away ! The earth melts ! and all those magnificent ( 131 ) productions of art, which ages, heaped on ages, have rear- ed up, are in one awful day reduced to ashes ! AGAINST the ruins of that day, as well as the ruins of the tomb which precede it, the gospel, in the cross of its great High Priest, offers you all a sanctuary ; a sanctuary secure and abiding ; a sanctuary, which no lapse of time, nor change of circumstances, can destroy. No ; neither life nor death No ; neither principalities nor powers. EVERY thing else is fugitive ; every thing else is muta- ble ; every thing else will fail you. But this, the citadel of the Christian's hopes, will never fail you. Its base is ada- mant. It is cemented with the richest blood. The ran- somed of the Lord crowd its portals. Enbosomed in the dust which it incloses, the bodies of the redeemed " rest in hope." On its top dwells the Church of the first born, who in delightful response with the angels of light, chant redeeming love. Against this Citadel the tempest beats, and around it the storm rages, and spends its force in vain. Immortal in its nature, and incapable of change, it stands, and stands firm, amidst the ruins of a mouldering world, and endures forever. THITHER fly, ye prisoners of hope ! that when earth, air, elements, shall have passed away, secure of existence and felicity, you may join with saints in glory, to perpe- tuate the song which lingered on the faultering tongue of HAMILTON, " Grace rich Grace." GOD grant us this honour : Then shall the measure of our joy be full, and to his name shall be the glory in Christ* AMEN. ( 132 ) Extract of a letter from a respectable gentleman in Virginia^ dated 16th July. u WITHIN 3 day or two past a report has pervaded this part of the country, of the death of Gen. Hamilton, in a duel with Col Burr. The report, it is said, is too well au- thenticated to be doubted, though as yet, I am uninformed of the particulars. Alas ! and was this to be the fate of a man, who would have been an honour to any country upon earth ? Execrated be the custom in general, and execrated be the hand in particular, that could aim the means of death, under sanction of this custom, at one, who when he fell, left not his equal, take him all in all, upon the surface of our globe? Alas ! Illustrious shade, farewell ! Our country's loss in you is irreparable. Your name, and well known worth and ta- lents, operated strongly in favour to our country, even upon the ambitious designs of him, who grasps in imagination, the empire of the world. He knew that your sagacity and vigilance could not be deceived, and that in times of diffi- culty and danger, when they should be apparent, ijou, like Washington, would become the bulwark of our safety- that all true American hearts in such a crisis, forgetting their former resentments and delusions, would be united. But now whither are we to turn in such an event ? Execrated be the hand that has robbed our country of this transcendant v/orth ! But, alas ! it can never be recalled !" r i HE two letters from which the following extracts are r,ow made, were received soon after their respective dates. They have not been printed before, because, as they were not designed for the public eye, they contained some ( 133 ) passage* which I thought had better be suppressed j but they are so eloquently written that I cannot refuse myself the satisfaction of presenting at least some passages from them. Extract of a letter from a gentleman, In Burlington, (N. J.) dated July 16, 1804. " No country ever deplored a greater man, nor did ever the tears of friendship embalm a memory so pregnant with* worth and honour. Alas ! how unavailing is all that admi- ration and gratitude^ which, too late, would fain reanimate him from the grave! * * * * * * * * * * * * * %* " His life has long been sought for, as the last sacrifice to malignant and criminal passions j- yet, even in his death, he presents an image of sublime heroism and virtue, terri- fying to guilty minds. What, indeed, must be the over- whelming brightness of that character, which forces the Very assassins of his reputation and life, to retract their calumnies, and wear the ensigns of mourning ! This event removes out of the way, perhaps, the only remaining obsta- cle to the domineering projects of Virginia. Two men only, lived in this degenerate country, whose opinions and energy retarded the march of cunning ambition They are gone > fortunate, perhaps, after lives of patriotism and unceasing Usefulness, not quite to have out-lived the liberties of their country. I much regret that it never fell to my lot to have even seen this truly wonderful man : his qualities were such, however, as to attract the warmest personal attachments. What American, but in his admiration of the Hero and Statesman, will mingle sighs for Hatrulton himself? ..but ihen, pleasing consolation ! (134) He's gone to Virtue's rest ! " With all his country's wishes blest. When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, Returns to deck his hallowed mould ; She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. By fairy hands his knell is rung ; By forms unseen his dirge is sung ; There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey, To bless the turf that wraps his clay ; And Freedom shall awhile repair To dwell a weeping Hermit there." COLLINS. " I CAN only add, that here, (as I suppose every where else) grief clouds every countenance." Extract of another from the same, dated July 2O. " I CANNOT disburthen my heart enough to be submissive to this punishment of God upon an ungrateful land : He that ought to have been the pride and favourite of his country, as he was its soul and saviour ; was first smitten with the death of ingratitude, and then butchered by one of your * * * * *. I am impatient and feverish with the subject. Adieu." TRIBUTE OF RESPECT. AT a special Meeting of the St. Andrew's Society, of the City of Albany, held at the Tontine Coffee-House, July 26th, 1804: Resolved unanimously, THAT in token of the sincere grief of the Society for the premature and untimely death of Ge- neral Alexander t Hamilton, and the high sense they enter- tain of his distinguished services to his country, as a Soldier and a Statesman ; of the eminent virtues which adorned him as a man, a friend, and a citizen, and the high respect in which he has justly been held by our Sister Society of the City of New-York^ of which he was one of its first mem- bers ; that they, at every meeting of the Society for six months, shall appear with an appropriate badge of mourning. Resolved, THAT the Rev. John M'Donald, Mr. Pearson, Mr. Ramsay, and Dr. M'Clelland, be a committee to pre- pare a respectful message of condolence to General Philip Schuyler, the venerable and afflicted father-in-law of our dear deceased brother, expressive of the sympathy of this Society with him and his family, in their irreparable loss, and that they convey the same in the most delicate manner to the General. GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER. SIR, THE President and Members of the St. Andrew's Society of the City of Albany, beg leave with mingled sensations of grief and indignation, to tender you their sincere and respect- ful condolence on the untimely death of Alexander Hamil- ton, a distinguished son of your family, an early member of the American St. Andrew Societies^ and the ornament and pride of the American people. You, Sir, have been long acquainted with his singular merits, and with the amiable qualities of his heart. You have never ceased, with candour and generosity, to appreci- ate and respect them. But he has fallen, cruelly fallen, at a time when your age and infirmities rendered his corres- T ( 136 ) pondence and occasional society peculiarly desirable and! soothing ; and at a time when his excellent wife and his ris- ing family, in various views, demanded his protection, his counsel, and exertion ; at a time when the situation of our country seems to require his vigilance and his warning. He has fallen by the hand of a man, whom his gentle and generous nature could only injure by eclipsing him, or by conscientiously attempting to counteract or defeat measures which he deemed dangerous to the community. His fall, though premature, will seal his own unspotted fame, and an odium on his implacable opponent, which time will not re- move.' THE fame of Hamilton will need no protecting shield, though thousands, were it necessary, would rejoice in the office : It will continue to spread with increasing glory be- yond the limits, and probably beyond the duration of the government which he eminently contributed to establish. COULD this Society, could our country in general, devise means for mitigating the grief of a brave soldier, of a faith- ful and indefatigable statesman, under your present unex- pected and heavy calamity, they would not be withheld. But in the bosom of an honourable and independent retire- ment, surrounded with a flourishing and affectionate family, and blessed with the resources of an active, capacious, and cultivated mind, we trust you will be enabled to support with dignity, what you can never cease to deplore. M AY propitious Heaven shed peculiar rays of comfort on an useful and laborious life, qualify you for the protec- tion and consolation of the afflicted relatives of the honour- able dead, and grant you a late, but joyful admission to the abodes of peace, and the society of the good* (137) SIGNED by order, and in behalf of the Society, at a Special Meeting, the 26th July, 1804. JOHN M'DONALD, GEORGE RAMSAY, GEORGE PEARSON, WM. MCCLELLAND, Committee, ALBANY, July 27. GENTLEMEN, MY warmest and unfeigned acknowledgments are due to the President, and the members of the St. Andrew's Socie^ ty, for the delicate and feeling manner in which they have condoled with me, on the irreparable loss I have sustained in the death of a son, who had endeared himself to me by the most tender solicitude : who was the kindest and most affectionate husband to my dear and distressed daughter : who, as a father, unremittingly inculcated into the tender minds of his children, that virtue which marked his life, and that love of their creator w r hom he adored, UNDER the pressure of so severe a calamity, the honour paid by the Society to the memory of the deceased, the hu- mane attempt to console and mitigate the heart-rending; dis- tress of an aged and feeble parent, are not only soothing, but will, with resignation to the divine dispensation, impart a ray of comfort to my wounded bosom. PERMIT me, Gentlemen, through you, to reciprocate with the utmost cordiality, those affectionate wishes which have evidently emanated from the hearts of the Society, and which it has pleased them so strongly to express for me and ( 138 ) my family And do you, gentlemen, be pleased to accept of my best acknowledgments for the marked and polite manner in which you have conveyed the sense of the Society, on this mournful event. ^ I am, Gentlemen, very respectfully, Your obliged and obedient servant, PH: SCHUYLER. To the Rev. John McDonald, Messrs. Ramsay, Pearson, and McClelland. THE UTICA PATRIOT. AT a numerous and respectable meeting of the inhabitants of Whitestown and the vicinity, holden at the Hotel in Utica,on the 24th of July, 1804, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted : THIS Meeting having heard, with inexpressible sorrow, of the death of Gen. HAMILTON, and being desirous of pay- ing a tribute of respect to the rare union of great virtues and transcendent talents, which have exalted and adorned his ' character ; and believing that in the death of this great and good man, our country has lost one of its greatest benefac- tors, and the world one of its brightest ornaments : Resolved Unanimously, THAT it be recommended to the inhabitants of Whitestown and its vicinity, to set apart Thursday the 26th inst. as a day of public mourning, for this melancholy and important event ; and that there be a gene- ral suspension of business on that day : I THAT minute guns be fired during the morning, under the direction of Capt. Kirkland, of the Artillery : ( 139) AND, that Mr. J. H. Lothrop be requested to deliver an Address suited to the occasion, at 12 o'clock on that day, at the new Church in White sborough, where our fellow-citi- zens are requested to attend. Resolved, THAT Mr. Jonas Platt, Mr. J. Van Rensselaer, and Mr. Gerrit G. Lansing, be a committee to carry the foregoing resolutions into effect. Resolved, THAT it be recommended to our fellow-citizens of Whitestown, to wear crape on the left arm as mourning, during thirty days. Resolved, THAT the proceedings of this meeting, signed by the chairman and secretary, be published in the next Pa- triot and Columbian Gazette. B. WALKER, Chairman. T. SKINNER, Secretary. Whitesborough, Thursday, July 26. IN pursuance of the foregoing resolutions, all business be- ing suspended, minute guns were fired during the morning from an adjacent eminence ; and the tolling of the village bell announced the death of our beloved HAMILTON. AT 12 o'clock great numbers of all classes of citizens as- sembled, and a procession was formed in the following or- der, viz. Sheriff Brodhead and his Deputies, Citizens, Physicians, Students of law, Gentlemen of the Bar, Magistrates, Orator, Committee of Arrangement. ( 140 ) THE procession then moved in solemn silence to the new Church, where an elegant and appropriate Address was de-, livered by John H. Lothrop, Esq. to a large and afflicted audience. THE public expressions of sorrow and respect every where exhibited, show that the character of HAMILTON is now appreciated as it deserves : Posterity, we know, will take care of his fame. A CITIZEN. THE RECORDER OF THE TIMES. (^Democratic. J HAMILTON is no more I....A main pillar of the state has fallen ; not by the giant arm of a Samson, but by the per- severing malice of the ruthless, the weak, and intriguing Saul....The most distant parts of our country have felt the shock. HAMILTON was virtuous, eloquent, and brave. Envy her- self drooped at the lustre of his virtues ; his opponents were melted by his eloquence, and his enemies confounded by his bravery. In justice he was an Aristides ; in eloquence a Cicero, and an Achilles in war. An opportunity would have enabled him to have astonished the world, by the splendour of his military achievements. But he has been snatched from his country in the prime of life, and has left us nothing but the remembrance of his greatness. The day which terminated Jus career, annihilated a star of the first magnitude. GENERAL HAMILTON. " THE Corporation and Citizens of Burlington, New- Jersey, are respectfully invited to attend at the Town- (141 ) House, to-morrow evening, at 7 o'clock, for the purpose of uniting in some public expression of their respect for the memory of General Hamilton. JAMES STERLING, Mayor. Friday, 20th July, 1804. IN pursuance of this request, the citizens having assem- bled, appointed the Mayor, Chairman, and Mr. M'llvaine, the Recorder, Secretary. MR. GRIFFITH introduced the melancholy subject in these terms.... A LIFE which was only devoted to Honour and its Coun- try, is no longer ours. IN the meridian of his days...of his usefulness... and of his fame... Hamilton has descended to the tomb ! WHO can look back, upon the public services, and exalt- ed virtues of the deceased, without exclaiaiing in the an- guish of despair..." Is he, too, numbered among the silent dead?" YES, the martial son of Washington, who shared with him the toils and dangers of a war for liberty, (O pious hope ! ) is united to him in the realms of eternal peace. THAT luminous and expanded mind, which embraced all knowledge, and was applied to the utmost good of his fel- low-men...is fled to the spirit which gave it. THOSE pure and tender affections, which imparted to so- cial intercourse all that could attract and delight, have dis- appeared. ( 1*2) THAT eloquence, on which a listening Senate hung, is for ever silent. Yet these shall never be forgotten. His memory will only cease to inspire and to charm, when Americans cease to honour and love the courage which achieved their independence, and the wisdom which cement- ed their Union* 4* WE are assembled for the generous purpose of uniting in the performance of some feeble expression of our gratitude, our admiration, and our grief. Alas ! in our hearts only must be sought the real extent of those feelings ; I forbear to speak ; it is enough now to iveep over the man, whom History, his Country, and the World, shall delight to rank among the Constellations of Genius, Virtue, and Valour." THE following resolution was immediately adopted : "" AT an Assembly of the Citizens of Burlington, in the Town-House, on Saturday the 21st of July, 1804 it was unanimously agreed thus publicly to express the deep af- fliction which the premature death of General Alexan- der Hamilton imparts to every bosom ; to acknowledge the debt of gratitude, which was due to him for a continued series of inestimable services in war and peace ; to avow a conscious pride in the character of an American Citizen, who lived to defend, to bless, and to adorn his Country ; and lastly, to deplore the tyranny of that custom, which has suddenly borne away domestic peace, and left a nation in tears." PUBLISHED at the special request of the citizens : JAMES STERLING, Chairman. JOS. M'lLVAINE, Secretary. END OF XO. III. ( 143) i$ A COLLECTION, N". IV. ^ PROM A BOSTON PAPER, JULY 26. Tribute of respect to the Memory of General ALEXAN- DER HAMILTON. THIS day the Committee of Arrangement respectfully give notice, that the Eulogy on the late Gen. Alexander Hamilton, will be pronounced at the Chapel Church, at twelve o'clock. THOSE of their fellow-citizens, who are disposed to unite in paying this public respect to the merits and illustrious ser- vices of the deceased, are requested to assemble at a quar- ter before twelve o'clock^ on the State-House floor; and from thence accompany the Orator to the Church. By order, J. WARREN, Chairman. Thursday, July 26, 1804. ATTENTION ! THE Independent Cadets will assemble at Faneuil-Hall, this morning at nine o'clock, in Uniform complete, with white Gaiters. The roll will be called at half past nine pre- cisely. Wm. SHIMMIN, O. S. (144) Arrangements at the Chapel. THE public are respectfully informed, that all the Galle* ries, and a part of the Wall Pews on the lower floor, in the Chapel, will be exclusively appropriated to the Ladies...The six first Pews on the Broad Aile, will be reserved for the Military Escort, and all the remainder of the Body Pewa n the lower floor, for those who compose the procession- THE forming of the procession, at a quarter before 12 o'clock, will be announced by the tolling of the Chapel bell, which will cease as soon as the procession has entered the Church. By desire of the Committee of Arrangements^ JOSEPH MAY. LAST TRIBUTE OF RESPECt. IN willing conformity to the resolutions of the respecta- ble body of citizens, who assembled on Friday Evening last, we are happy in learning that the meeting this day, at the New State-House, will be general ; that no party distinc- tions will appear j and that our citizens^ universally, will adopt the recommended Badge of Mourning^ on the occa- sion. The acknowledged pre-eminent services and talents of the illustrious deceased, would have called for these marks of respect for his memory, and regret for their cessation, if the example of our cities of New- York, Philadelphia, Wil- mington, Baltimore, &c. had not benignantly beckoned us to follow. Foremost in every good work, the citizens of Bos- ton, in the grateful homage they are about to pay, will still evince to the world, that on great occasions, they ever rise superior to party impulse; that they will recognize and rever- ence merit, services, and patriotism, wherever they may- be found : and that in native :~ k, endence, and genuine liberality, they are not inferior in any degree, to the best citizens of any other portion of the continent. Those who (145) loved and revered Washington, must respect the memory of him whom Washington respected 'as a Friend, a Confidant^ a Counsellor..** Those who esteemed tried Patriotism as one of the most exalted virtues, must weep over the bier of the Patriot " without reproach". ...and those who knew the dan- gers of the " tented feld? when Independence was the stake contended for, and are not unwilling to acknowledge servi- ces which were faithful to the end, will not decline to strew roses over the grave of the Soldier-Citizen, and Citizen-Sol- dier^ THE masters of such vessels as are lying at the wharves, as well as those at anchor in the harbour, will show their re- spect to departed merit, by hoisting their colours half mast, during the solemnities of the day. SAME PAPER, JULY 27. TRIBUTE TO MERIT. YESTERDAY was the day assigned for public demonstra^ tion of the esteem and respect of the citizens of Boston, for the merits and illustrious services of the late Gen. Hamilton. At half past 12 o'clock a procession was formed at the State-House. It consisted of the Committee of Arrange- ments, Orator, Chaplain, His Honour the Lieut. Governor, Judges of the Supreme Court, foreign Consuls, Strangers of distinction, and citizens ; and included near 1000 per- sons. The procession moved through Winter and Marlbo- rough-streets and a part of Cornhill and Court-street, to the Chapel Church, escorted by the independent Cadets, under the command of Major Pierce. The Throne of Grace was addressed in an appropriate prayer by the Rev. Chaplain of the House of Representatives, and an Anthem suited to the occasion was sung, after which an Eulogy on the Character (146) of the deceased Patriot and Statesman, was pronounced by the Hon. Harrison G. Otis, Esq. THE Hon. Mr. King, and Judge Benson, of New- York, and the Hon. Mr. Rudedge, of S. Carolina, were among the auditors at the Chapel yesterday. MOST of the public offices were closed ; the flags of the shipping in the harbour were suspended at half-mast through the day ; and during the moving of the procession, minute guns were fired from Fort Independence. SALEM PAPER. YESTERDAY were performed at Boston, the public and so- lemn ceremonies of respect to the memory of Gen. Hamil- ton. At 12 o'clock a very long procession composed of the first characters of the metropolis and the vicinity, moved from the State-House to the Chapel Church, escorted by the Independent Cadets ; where, after a prayer by the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, in a very elevated strain of devotion, and an appropriate hymn, the Honourable Mr. Otis pronounced an Eulogy on the character of the deceased. Of this com- position, which was delivered with the greatest effect, we can give but a faint outline. After a pathetic exordium, (in which it was observed with felicity that " the sod which was still wet with our tears for Washington, was now to be dis- turbed to receive the friend of Washington. ...the disciple that leaned upon his bosom,") Mr. Otis presented a rapid but glowing sketch of the life of General Hamilton. W T ith this were necessarily intervolved all the great events of our national history, from the commencement of the revolution. A forcible appeal was made to the gratitude of the nation, ( W) when the audience were reminded that in addition to the many subordinate public measures of which Hamilton was the author, he first proclaimed the necessity of an amendment of the old confederation j and, that the address to the people for calling a General Convention was the production of his pen. The unwearied patriotism which he displayed in promoting the adoption of the Constitution, and the immortal work writ- ten with that view, were next glanced at. The simplicity of his habits, and his scanty but honest earnings on his quitting public employments, were very happily contrasted with the rapacity and avarice of the Generals and Financiers of the French Republic. Those unprincipled plunderers were cal- led upon to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth to quit their gorgeous palaces, and with shame to humble themselves before the simple tomb of Hamilton. ...His errors (for he was human) were also touched upon but they were touched with the hand of a friend.. ..The delineation of his character was executed with the skill of a master....Just praise, with- out the disgusting extravagance of flattery (but indeed what could be flattery of Hamilton ?) was bestowed with a gene- rous liberality. In short, the performance in the whole was a most honourable testimonial of the distinguished virtues and resplendent talents of the departed patriot. This sketch (which we made from memory, and under the disadvantage of an unfavourable situation in the church) will, we are sensible, convey a very inadequate idea of the merit of the composition : But we shall the less regret it, as we trust the public will soon be gratified by the perusal of the Eulogy itself. ALBANY GAZETTE. IN compliance with the request of the citizens of Albany, discourses were yesterday delivered in several of the church- ( 148 ) cs of this city, on the untimely and ever to be lamented death of General HAMILTON. The concourse of peo- ple in the North Church, was the most respectable and nu- merous ever before assembled on any occasion in this city, the death of General Washington only excepted : The Rev. Mr. Nott led their devotions....and in a discourse the most luminous and impressive, he contemplated, reviewed, and made an appropriate application of that sublime passage of Holy Writ : " The Beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places.... How are the mighty fallen .' " FROM THE TRENTON FEDERALIST. IK the early part of last week, the man who has covered our country with mourning, Col. Aaron Burr, passed through the state of Jersey, on his way to Philadelphia, where, we are informed, he has had the hardihood to make a public appearance by walking in the open streets in the face of day. From Amboy he was carried by some friend to Cran- berry, and thence conveyed in a light-waggon, crossing the Delaware at Lamberton ferry, to Bristol, in Pennsylvania.... Stopping at a tavern a few miles beyond the Delaware, he was recognized by the honest landlord, who, unapprized of the desire of concealment, called him by his proper name. On this he requested the landlord no more to make use of his name while he staid at the house ! These things we are enabled to state as unquestionably true, in consequence of the correctness of the source from which we received them. How degrading to the majesty of our government, that its second officer should thus be under the real or fancied necessity of tra- velling with studied privacy, through bye-roads, and in unu- sual vehicles. It becomes the man, however, who has ex- tinguished the bright constellation of genius and worth, him- self to walk in darkness and obscurity... .It manifests some (149) deference to public opinion, and the energy of the laws. Whether the arm of justice would have been raised to stop him in his course, we know not....Nor know we whether any measures will be taken to wash out the precious blood which stains the shores of Jersey. The path of duty we apprehend is plain.. ..It is well known by him to whom is intrusted the dignity of the state, and if we are to rely on general promises of official faithfulness, he will follow it. The honour of New-Jersey demands that its shores should no longer be made places of butchery for the inhabitants of New- York and Pennsylvania. THE BALANCE. [THE heart of Croswell vents its grief in the following pathetic strain :] A Tribute:..Fno'M. the editor of this paper, something more is due to the departed HAMILTON, than common panegyric and general encomium. This, a whole nation is bound to bestow- this, not a citizen of America seems dis- posed to withhold* But to me he once rendered unequalled service, apart from that rendered to his country generally. In my defence, and in defence of the American press, he once exerted his unrivalled eloquence. In my cause, this greatest of men made his mightiest effort an effort, which might have palsied the up-lifted hand of power an effort, which might have carried terror to the bosom of a tyrant. For this service, voluntarily rendered^ I owed him a debt of gratitude which never could be cancelled never diminish- ed. But, by offering my feeble aid to the support of princi- ples which he advocated, I hoped, at least, to show my sense of the obligation under which I was laid, by his dis- interested exertions Alas ! he is gone and I have only returned him the professions of my gratitude. But " his fame is left " dear as my blood, my life shall be devoted to its protection. NEW-ENGLAND REPUBLICAN. SEVERAL editorial paragraphs, and articles of news, are omitted this week to give place to the correspondence which preceded and terminated in the death of General ALEX- ANDER HAMILTON. His funeral rites, performed on Saturday the 14th inst. with every possible solemnity, do much honour to the citizens of New-York. All know the cause of his death, and all will bear it in mind. Let the citi- zens of these States for ever remember, that his life was devot- ed to their service. Let them remember, that it was through anxiety for their welfare, that he gave the offence which [was the cause of] his death. He saw himself under the necessity of either permitting them to be deceived by profes- sions which he suspected to be false ; or, in cautioning them against their danger, of giving offence to their enemies. He did not hesitate for a moment. He cannot be suspected of being influenced by party animosity, nor of seeking pro- motion on the ruin of his adversary. He was then a private citizen, and his determination to remain so was unchanged. Seeing with concern the intrigues of men whose views he couid not justify, in the frankness of his heart he uttered his fears j and for this generous indiscretion he lost his life. Yet the cause of his death must not be sought for here [only] ; but in that pride which could not brook a superior ; that envy which bickened at his fame ; that ambition which maddened with impediments j that spirit of revenge which counted not the price of its gratification. The hand raised against him, moved by a heart which never melted at his eloquence ; and directed by an eye which lowered upon his excellence. Hamilton did not die by the hand of a Brutus ; he com- manded no power but the mild influence of his character ; he headed no army but the pacific legions of his virtues. He had never subjugated his country; nor, by his approach to absolute power, invited the offer of a crown. Yet was he branded a Caesar. His death was not the consequence of -a recent offence : it had long been desired, and a pretext long sought for. When Washington invited him to his confi- dence ; when he conferred upon him marks of his esteem as he delighted to do ; the heart which moved the hand against him, sunk in envy. Alas ! that private hatred should be able to deprive the world of such a mind as his ; such a rare versatility of talents ; such a group of mild virtues. Those who had before condemned the practice of duelling, as in- consistent with religion and the laws of the land, will now have an additional reason for their disapprobation. It has deprived his family of a husband and father ; his friends of a cheerful companion ; his profession of its proudest boast ; society of a benevolent and active member ; his country of her bravest champion, and the world of an honest man. All this mischief was the work of private revenge ! NEWPORT MERCURY, As the public appear to be highly interested in the melan- choly death of that eminently distinguished Patriot and Sol- dier, Gen. Alexander Hamilton, we have appropriated a large proportion of this day's paper to the publication of those ar- rangements made in New- York for his solemn interment, and for the general expression of that sorrow which appears to have pervaded all ranks and parties in the city. Want of room prevents our publishing the correspondence between Gen. Hamilton and Col. Burr, before next week, when the public shall be gratified, by a perusal of all the commu- nications on this subject, by which it will very evidently ap- pear, that there existed in the mind of Col. Burr, a pre- determined hostility and inveteracy of design, which no language could assuage...no honourable concession could ap- pease. ALTHOUGH we explicitly condemn the barbarous and un- christian custom of duelling, so shamefully prevalent in our country, yet it affords us much satisfaction, under this great national calamity, to ascertain the pleasing fact....that Gen. Hamilton, with extreme reluctance [only], under what he honestly conceived, imperious necessity..was induced to wave his conscientious scruples against this unequal mode of terminating disputes ; and that, such was his conduct, dur- ing the last solemn scene of his life, as to induce a belief,, that he died at peace with the world, and reconciled in sa- $red love to his God. , ' 'Tis just to give applause, where 'tis deserv'd; His virtues, sure, have stood the test of fortune ; Like purest gold, that,, tortured in the furnace, Comes out more bright, and brings forth all its weight.'* " How does the lustre of this great man's actions, Through the dark cloud of ills that covered him, Break forth, and shine with more triumphant brightness." THE CONNECTICUT GAZETTE. AT Philadelphia, Boston, and other places, we perceive* that tributes of great respect are paid to the memory of the beloved and lamented Hamilton. An eulogy is to be .*ftjft '&?** ite w . u r? t ^ &Wfp.*l- 4th. THAT the Reverend Mr. Cornell be requested to prepare and deliver a funeral discourse commemorative of his memory and services, exposing the evils of the pernici- ous custom of duelling, and enforcing also the useful and salutary evidence which the enlightened and comprehensive mind of the deceased hath given of the truth of the Chris- tian Religion. 5th. THAT a copy of the proceedings of this meeting, signed by the Chairman and attested by the Secretary, be published in one or both of the newspapers of Trenton. JAMES BRUERE, Chairman. JAMES H. IMLAY, Secretary. Allentown, New-Jersey, August llth, 1804. Trenton, City-Hotel, Sept. 5th, 1804. * c AT a meeting of the Sergeants, Counsellors, Attornies, and Solicitors of the New- Jersey Bar, at the first term of (162) the Supreme Court since the ever to be lamented fate of General Alexander Hamilton, AARON D. WOODRUFF, Esq. Attorney-General, was called to the chair, and JONATHAN RHEA, Esquire, appointed Secretary: WHEREUPON it was proposed, and by the Members of the Bar unanimously agreed, in this public manner to join their fellow-citizens throughout the United States, in expressing their deep and most unfeigned grief for the premature death of that unrivalled man. SENSIBLE that no language of theirs could comprehend his various talents and illustrious actions, and tenderly at- tached to his well earned fame, they will not diminish its lustre by inadequate conceptions. In common with the American people, they only unite to publish what theyfee^ that the pride and the hope of their][country is for ever lost. This poor and formal tribute to his memory is all that, as a profession, they can bestow but in each heart there is, erected to him a monument, inscribed with perpetual ad- miration and affection. PUBLISHED by direction of the New-Jersey Bar, A. D. WOODRUFF, Chairman. J. RHEA, Secretary. FROM THE CHARLESTON COURIER. IT may perhaps have occasioned some surprise that we should have hitherto said so little on a subject so deeply af- fecting to America, and so universally lamented, as the death of Gen. Hamilton. It might have been expected that we, whose Apolitical sentiments were so nearly allied t ( 163 ) those of that great man, should not be silent on his loss, while every paper on the continent teemed with panegyric, of one kind or other, on the splendour of his talents, and the brilliancy of his virtues. The tribute which enmity it- self refuses to the living is very rarely withheld from the dead ; for, thank God ! the cases are but few in which the human heart is not true to itself: that panegyric should be found most sparing where admiration and respect may have been conceived to be most abundant, will perhaps surprise ; but can surprise only those who have not very deeply con- sidered the workings of the soul of man in its strongest; emotions. THAT the illustrious personage at present in contempla- tion was far beyond the reach of any praise, few will refuse to allow. In that just humility which a sense of the magni- tude of the subject, veneration for the man, and the con- isciousness of our incapacity, inspired, we could not cast a glance at an attempt to delineate such excellence, without drawing back from it with awe....with fear. Standing in this posture, however, we have had ample occasion to re- joice that the abstinence which arose from instinctive im- pulse, was as correct as if it had been the result of cool rea- son and reflection, since the praise of friends so much bett ter qualified for the office than we presume to be, would have thrown our attempts into the shade j and the panegyric of candid men who were his political enemies when he liv- ed, far transcend all that we could hope to offer. The over- flowings of our hearts might be taken for the studied pane-, gyric of the partisan ; but the praise of generous adversa4 ries carries the stamp of truth upon its face, and has the passport of sincerity to every heart. We could not be wrong in abstaining from an attempt which would put the eloquence of a Flechier, a Mascaron, a Bossuet, or a Burke, ( 164) to a hard trial, and which is yet performed to greater effect by the sincerity of honest adversaries, than it could by all the eloquence of those great men united, if they were all living, and were, as such men certainly would be, the friends and enthusiastic admirers of General Hamilton. AMONG those who have done honour to themselves, and indeed to our common nature, by doing justice to General Hamilton, though opposed to his politics, Mr. Cheetham, of New- York, stands eminently foremost. His eulogy upon that illustrious personage is highly creditable to his under- standing, and still more creditable to his heart. Rarely have we read a more affecting piece of eloquence. It breathes truth and sincerity in every line. In it the heart is present- ed to view, as it were, breathless and panting, bursting through the fetters of political prejudice, standing forth to the light of day, and desiring to be understood. Gracious God 1 how lovely is truth ! how eloquent does virtue make men ! how dignified the attitude in which Mr. Cheetham stands in that honest effusion.. ..and how much more digni- fied when contrasted with that savage part which he depre- cates ; which he trusts there is no one man capable of acting - f but which we, from the very beginning, expected with some- thing approaching to certainty, would be acted, and which now impudently and ignominiously stares the world in the face. PERHAPS no illustrious personage, ancient or modem, has ever had a more glorious monument heaped upon his ashes, than General Hamilton has received from the concurrent tes- timony of all parties, and all characters and descriptions of men in America. His friends and fellow-citizens are incon- solable. The worthy men of his adversaries pour forth the voluntary tribute of regret for his death, and panegyric on ( 165 ) "his life ; and the finishing polish, the most brilliant lustre, is given to the whole by the malignity of those biped hysenas, who, as they thirst for the blood of the living, hunger for the flesh of the dead, and purvey for their ravening maws from the recesses of the sepulchre. THE time has been, when to speak irreverently of ttae mighty dead, would be looked upon as worse than sacrilege, and when the wretch who carried his animosity beyond the grave, would be hunted down as an alien and enemy to the human race. But the moral world has undergone an earth- quake shock, in which the hearts of some have been cast out of their bodies, and cinders raked from the res of Hell put into their place. What Burke said of the Jacobins and Revolutionists of Europe, may on this occasion be applied to the Jacobins of America. " They have tigers to fall upon animated strength. They have hyenas to pray upon dead carcases. The National Menagerie is collected by the first physiologists of the time, and it is -defective in no description of savage nature. Neither sex nor age....?20/ the sanctuary of the tomb is sacred to them; and they deny events the departed, the sad immunities of the grave....If all Revolu- tionists [continues he] were not proof against all caution, I should recommend it to their consideration, that no persons were ever known in history, sacred or profane, to vex the sepulchre, and by their sorceries to call up the prophetic dead with any other event than the prediction of their own dis- astrous fate.. ..Leave me, oh ./ leave me to repose" WITH the sentiments of Mr.. Cheetham respecting the person who terminated the existence of Gen. Hamilton, we most completely concur. To publish our opinions upon that subject and that person, while he lies under the cloud of un- acquitted homicide, would be injustice, and look like a de- sire to inflame the minds of those who must hereafter tiT ( 166) Jrim*...?/' there be laiv in this country. But it may be worth while to ask, Whether the Chief Magistracy of a country can Consistently with law, reason, justice, religion, morality, or Common sense, remain deposited in hands embrued in the blood of a fellow-citizen ? Much as we admired General Hamil- ton, and ardently as we wished to see the magistracy of the potent, yet gentle grasp of his mighty mind, we would have written every pen we have to the stump, to keep him for- ever from all office of which he would have been morally unfit, if he had in cold-blooded, deliberate malice, taken the life of any citizen, even of CoL Burr. As for this last men- tioned gentleman, he may say in the words of Richard, " Why now my golden dream is out" But, so far unlike Richard, he has lost the bright reivard of daring minds.,.,?ox. EVER. READERS ! whatever your political opinions may be, pre* serve your morals unstained. ...your hearts unvitiated by malice. What a frightful wreck that man presents to the moral eye, who has silenced the cries of conscience, and stopped the throbs of humanity within his bosom, certaiiY false and malicioiis observations upon General Hamilton, since his death, disseminated through the papers of Ameri- ca, will show you. Reflect upon them with abhorrence* And as on one hand I conjure you, without reference to poli- tical opinions, to applaud Mr. Cheetham for his worthy sen- timents, so I beseech you to avert your eyes from the hi- deous spectacle presented by others, and condemn, but do not <:urse them. Aspicimus populus, quorum non sufficit irsc Occklisse aliquem : sed pectora, Brachla, vulturrv Credideriut genus esse cibi. JUVEXAL, 15th SAT. An impious crew we Iravc beheld, whose rage Their en'my's very life could not assuage, Unless they banquet on the wretch they sie\v, JJevour the corpse, and lick the ulood they drew ! DRYDEN'S- JUVEJTAI;. ( 167) SAME PAPER. , As we are this day called upon, not less by inclination than duty and gratitude, to offer the last public mark of our respect to General Hamilton, it may not be amiss to say a few words respecting that illustrious personage. IF we make a fair estimate of the value of those great men who have distinguished themselves in this most im- portant era of the history of man, and judge of the services they would hereafter confer, by those they have already rendered to the states ; we must consider the death of Gene- ral Hamilton as 'the greatest loss, not only which the country has hitherto sustained, but far greater than it is possible for it to sustain at this time, by the death of any single individu- al. The reverence due to the great champion of our free- dom, and founder of our national Independence, Washington, may perhaps give occasion to some people to start with sur- prise, at a position of such wide and sweeping comprehension, as to the past... .while, on the other hand, there will not be wanting those, who, taking their opinions rather from the muddy, green-mantled pool of party prejudice and rancorous faction, than from the pure fountain of wisdom, distributive justice, and truth, will not only question but condemn it. To the former, whose noble and disinterested sentiments of gratitude for a deceased benefactor, we bow with respect, but not, in this instance, with implicit acquiescence ; we say, that the great and glorious being they revere, not more than we do, had accomplished the object of his mission, and fell into the grave by the ordinary visitation of Heaven....ripe in old age and full of honours, venerable with the hoar of many years, and covered with the blessings of a grateful people. He had lived long enough to do all which the wisdom, the valour, and the virtue, of one man could do for his country, and he died time enough to escape that ( 168 ) mortifying condition of life, in which the canker of exist- ence and decrepitude eats away the hoarded frame of vigor- ous manhood, and the truhk, leafless, bare, stripped of its verdant honours, or, perhaps, thunderstruck at the head, bears melancholy testimony of its past grandeur, only by the contrast of its present decay. To wish that Washington, were immortal would be impious, even for Americans.... to wish him to live till the rose was withered on the branch, and breathed no smell, would be ungrateful. And here lies the consolation of us all, who, with our posterity, must remain the indefeasible grantees and debtors of the powers of Washington for all we possess ; that though his death, let it happen when it would, must have shocked us like some of those natural convulsions which overwhelm our minds with horror while they spare ourselves; yet, now that it has pleased God so to will it that he is gone, we must recollect that he might, in common with some of the greatest men that ever existed, have extended the duration of his life beyond that of his powers, and ere he died, want- ed strength to sustain the weight of such a world of dignity and glory as Fortune, for that one occasion, conspiring with supreme virtues and talents, and the best of causes, had laid upon his Atlantean shoulders. THE state of Hamilton was different j a colossus of might he stood j the American commonwealth on his shoulders ; with one foot in the vigour of manhood, and the other in the counsel of ripened years. Whatever services 'he had done to his country, the growth of his talents, and the mediocrity of his time of life, gave ample hope that he would have done much more. Far from beginning to dwindle, the fruit was not yet at full melioration, and its promised growth and perfection was, to the discerning eye, greater than the past. Superlatively great as he was in retrospect, the eye to which 9 ( 169) God gives to look into the womb of time, could perceive him greater in prospective : And the Genius of America, if its splendour, glory, and felicity, were her aim, could only have wished that Hamilton were to live, and that an occa- sion should offer, in which, as has sometimes happened, the nation could be exalted to the highest supremacy of glo- ry by the virtues and talents of one individual. WHAT did Hamilton want of the essential constituents of a great man ? Who is there in the ancient or modern world that, taking in the whole round of human perfections, and moral and patriotic virtues, has surpassed him ? And which of the great men who have passed in review before us over the field of history, whose virtues have suffered so little diminution from an alloy, the vices that cling to humanity? We believe none. With the thunder of Demosthenes, the splendour of Cicero, and the patriotic fervour of both, he exhausted his last breath in the service of his country. But, unlike the former, the lustre of his mental endowments was not stained by cowardice or effeminacy....No Cheronaea witnessed the pusillanimous flight of our American orator. No Trsezene or Egina bore testimony to his slothfulness or unmanly indulgence. Nor did he, like the latter, make himself the prominent figure in his own eloquence, or dimi- nish the value of his services by unreasonable or arrogant expectations. As brave, and in sentiment and design as ex- alted, as the Macedonian Alexander, he was least in his own opinion, exempt from arrogance or pride, and unstained by complexional despotism. With the universal genius of Cae- sar, and clemency as signal, but more sincere, no alloy of ambition cheapened the composition of his heart. He ab~ horred a tyrant as much as Brutus, but he abhorred the use of the poignard more. He was as Cato, just j but unlike Cato, he was severe only to himself. And that mercy xvhich a just sense of the common infirmity of man's nature never fails to infuse into great minds, tempered down to forgiveness his judgments upon every being, and every oc- casion, but himself and his own conduct. IT is found to be almost beyond the lot of human nature to display any great quality of heart or mind without some counterbalance, some discolouration of infirmity. If "W* look to the life of this illustrious personage, we shall find more to praise and less to condemn than in almost any other person who has made so distinguished a figure. Men of such stupendous powers, as even his enemies allow he pos- sessed, have seldom been found unadulterated with some foible, some vice, or some 'oddity, which have detracted from their own general merits, and poisoned, or at least diminished the enjoyments of those about them. Johnson was rude, overbearing, and insufferable to all (and they were but few) who levelled with him, unless they had the misfor- tune to deserve from his pity what they could not obtain from his politeness. Newton was absent, and enveloped from society in clouds of abstraction. Swift was furious, sneering, harsh, and fastidious. The elder Pitt was, from excessive, capricious passion, at times the curse of his house. In short, if we examine the lives of almost all great men, we shall find them frail, feeble, and extravagant j odd and ca- pricious in some points, in proportion to the magnitude of their powers and perfections ; and the splendour of their talents in others. Not so our illustrious warrior and states- man, Hamilton. High in science, he displayed it not un- necessarily ; and when he did, disclosed it with such humi- lity and diffidence, as if he felt his superiority to be only an adventitious circumstance, for which it was his duty rather to be humbly thankful to God who gave it, than proudly overbearing to his creatures. ...and as if he considered the talents he possessed the property of his fellow- citizens, con- fided by the Giver of all to his care, to be dealt out to them not as his own and as a favour, but as their property, de- posited in his keeping for their use. In the pursuits of an arduous and abstruse professional science, he never suffered himself to be caught napping in the contemptuous affectation of absence, or bewildered in real or pretended abstraction ; never was found peevish from interruption, hasty from op- position, Or supercilious from consciousness of superiority. The friend, the fellow-citizen, the stranger who approached him, found the same serene equanimity and suavity at all times portrayed in his manners, beaming from his coun- tenance, and dropping from his lips.... Those lips on which the Bees of Hybla perched while he was yet cradled....Wife, children, friends, domestics, dependants, were made by the sweetness, the tender humility, the wise playfulness, and the eternally unruffled cheerfulness of the man, to for- get what every one else knew, namely, that they were then in contact with one of the greatest of mankind. He lived, and as he lived he died, a creature of the public, devoted to its service. No man was more teemingly filled with that enthusiasm which distinguished the Roman breast, and animated the heroes of that republic to the performance and achievements which we contemplate at this day with astonishment, doubt, and admiration ; with that patriotic enthusiasm which glow- ed in the bosom of Curtius, of Regulus, and of the Decii, and impelled them to devote their lives a willing sacrifice to the good of their country. INDEED, it is hard to tell which was most conspicuous in this extraordinary man the splendour and usefulness of his public talents, or the happy effects of his private virtues. (172) Enel-getic, disinterested, perspicacious, penetrating, stre- nuous, and intrepid, he discharged his public functions with unrivalled greatness, and without ostentation : mild, gentle, affable, sincere, unassuming, full of simple grace and natu- ral dignity, he was unsurpassed in the discharge of the so- cial duties, in every relation of domestic life, insomuch that those who only heard his eloquence at the bar, or at the public tribunals, or saw his deeds of cnterp rise as a soldier, would conclude he was born for that particular situation alone ; while those who witnessed his life at the hearth, would swear that to plunge him in the storms of public con- tention, was to misapply the man, and to rob private socie- ty of one of its brightest ornaments and greatest blessings. WE wilt not break in upon the sanctity of this hallowed day *, with any observations unworthy of the occasion, or contradictory to the spirit of mildness, meekness, charity, and Christian benevolence, which was the soul of the inimita- ble Hamilton, We will only say.... Americans ! you have lost your champion, your counsellor, and your guide. The or- nament of your country is destroyed the lustre of your state is extinguished. The head that guided your guides that clearest head that ever conceived, and that sweetest tongue that ever uttered the dictates of wisdom, which con- founded your foes, and enlightened your councils, is now mouldering to clay. That arm which from youth to death was ready raised to fall upon and crush the heads of your enemies, is now melting to a clod of the valley. And that heart which braved and fluttered even Britons, when Britons were your foes ; which now poured forth its might in a tor- rent of terror upon armed hoats, and again flowed in hea- venly mercy to the conquered and prostrate, is by the hand ft *The day devoted to a public testimonial of respect for Hamilton's memory, by the citizens of Charleston. ( ITS) of hatred and ruthless vengeance, given to the worms. Yes, Hamilton is gone, for ever gone ! No more shall his valour and military virtues flash confusion in the face of your ene- mies ; no more his sagacious and perspective wisdom guide \ our councils ; to you all those blessings are lost ; from you they are outrageously torn. Yet, fellow-citizens, profit by his death, as 'you have profited by his life. Let it awaken you from that drunken dream in which you have wasted away your honour, your morals, and your religion and, alas ! given to the grave sent to eternity for a mere tem- porary offence, so many of your fellow-creatures. Fellow- citizens, let it produce in your hearts a wholesome horror of deeds of blood ; and let it open every channel of your souls, while in sincerity we pour into them this undeniable truth, that killing by duel is inexpiable murder, against condem- nation for which no worldly custom, no fashionable habit, will be allowed by God as a plea in bar. That to take the life of another on any account but real self-defence, is a crime to which God, being all just, cannot extend mercy: that you deceive yourselves when you imagine a weapon le- velled at you by mutual agreement with an antagonist, af- fords the plea of self-defence : for that on the contrary, it enhances the damnable crime of murder by the still more damnable, if more damnable were possible, crime of sui- cide. It is no time to palter with this great moral question now, when such examples are before us. The legislators who do not oppose terrible penal laws to the perpetration of murder Iby duel, are accessories before the fact to those who commit that crime. And those who would not execute the laws, if made, and terrify die community from such a crime by repeated victims, would be in fact murderers themselves. DEVOTE this day to pious contemplation, suitable to the melancholy event let your contemplation bring forth fruits of amendment, and let Hamilton be your example in every thing but in the mode of his death. SAME PAPER. THE universal shock which the death of Gen. Hamilton has given to this country from one end to the other, suffi- ciently denotes the sense entertained of his extraordinary merits and greatness ; of the services he had done, and the services expected from him. The full extent and magnitude of the loss sustained by his death, few optics are able to measure ; and none can imagine, but those who are capable of knowing how much the wisdom of one man may do for a nation, or even for the good of the whole world ; and who at the same time know the almost unfathomable depth of that great man's mind. It seems, however, as if it was or- dained by Heaven, that nothing belonging to him should be useless to his country and his fellow-creatures, since even that most dreadful calamity, his death, is likely in one re- spect to be beneficial to them. It has roused and set in mo- tion the almost extinguished sense of humanity, which once rendered the murder of a fellow-creature a subject of unut- terably horrible contemplation. DUELLING is now looked upon with something like the detestation it deserves ; and will in all probability be put not only under the anathema of the general heart and mind of the country, but under the heavy penalty of the law. If those vices are most dangerous to society which assume the exterior appearance of excellence, and. simulate virtue, duel- ling ought to be treated with greater rigour than common murder, since it carries with it circumstances, which, to young, to light, and to superficial minds, and above all, to the boastful and vain glorious fool, render it so seductive as to overcome all scruples of conscience, all feeling for a fel- ( 1") low-creature, all sense of duty to God, and, what with some wretches is more extraordinary, all sense of their own danger. For these reasons, and since the voice of all man- kind is already raised with just and unmitigated abhorrence and vengeance, against the perpetrator of every other mode or species of murder, the law should assume an aspect of tenfold terror to the duellist, and put him by a deep, strong- ly written, black, unalterable letter, out of the pale of hu- man mercy, and offer him up an expiatory sacrifice for the many thousands of murders which cry to heaven for ven- geance on the country that suffered such deeds to be done, and let its laws lie passive. ** When by just vengeance guilty mortals perish, " The gods behold their punishment with pleasure, And lay the uplifted thunderbolt aside." ADDISOST. EXCLUSIVE of the sin of murder, duelling has other ruin- ous circumstances attending it.. .ruinous to the prosperity and peace of whole families ; ruinous to the morals, well being, and peace of society ; and ruinous to the common weal, as being often the instrumental agent of faction, and corrupting the very first principle of our constitutional freedom, and destroying the freedom of election. [THE foregoing elegant productions, from the Charleston Courier, containing many striking, correct, and original ob- servations, are from the warm heart and clear head of Mr. S. CULLEN CARPENTER, editor of that paper ; a gentleman whose pen has justly gained him celebrity throughout the United States. It was his happiness personally to know him whose virtues and transcendent talents he has here so eloquently described.] 2 A ( ire) THE following elegant and pathetic effusion is from the pen of Mr. Lathrop, editor of the Utica Patriot: DEATH OF GENERAL HAMILTON. " When the bright guardians of a country die, The grateful tear in tenderness will start ; And the keen anguish of a reddening eye, Disclose the deep afflictions of the heart !" To swell the sable triumphs of the tomb, the great Destroyer, in pointing his shaft at Hamilton, has selected a victim of no ordinary value. He has not only taken from the bosom of a beloved family its solace and support ; from the circle of his immediate friends its pride and ornament > from the forum its most distinguished advocate ; from so- siety an eminent and useful citizen ; but from his country he has taken its ablest statesman, its warmest patriot, its great benefactor. WITH talents of a superior order, the choicest in nature's gift, improved by an elegant and refined education, strength- ened by intense and laborious application, directed to use- fulness by a steady love of justice and an undeviating ad- herence to the cause of truth, as a soldier, a statesman, a public advocate, a warm friend and zealous guardian of the liberties of his country ; the invaluable life of this distinguish- ed citizen has been spent with increasing glory to himself, and incalculable usefulness to his country. As a member of the family of the illustrious Washington ; as his companion in arms ; as his counsellor and friend, he shared with him the dangers of the revolution, and reaped with him the glory of its accomplishment. The siege of York -Town, which closed the military operations of the country, witnessed the last brilliant display of his military; ( 177 ) skill arid unyielding bravery. As a soldier, he united brave- ry with humanity, skill with activity. So eminently dis- tinguished were his military talents, that he was designated on a momentous occasion by the great Washington himself, as the man of his choice, to take the active command of our armies. As a statesman, the astonishing powers of his mind had full scope for exertion, and he has left the most splendid testimony of their extent and usefulness. With talents pro- found and active, with genius acute and penetrating, with learning deep and extensive, he made unwearied researches in political science, and has left as a rich legacy to his coun- trymen, a luminous view of the most correct principles in civil policy and government. As a minister of finance and a constitutional counsellor of the executive, he shone with peculiar greatness. The fiscal regulations of our country witness his versatile and extraordinary powers, in the speedy acquisition and practical improvement of the principles of science, new and intricate. Called by^a beloved President to raise the sinking credit of a nation, to explore its resour- ces, and direct its finances to an effective application, we were astonished at the facility with which he accomplished this arduous undertaking. As an advocate at the bar, he was unrivalled. He had drained the deepest fountains of legal science, and from the more pleasing source of belles-letters learning he had acquir- ed the most commanding eloquence. In the practice of professional duty, he became the good man's friend and advocate, a terror to the oppressor, and a foe to iniquity. " He was never found to pluck down justice From its aw ful bench, To trip the cause of law, or blunt the sword That guards the peace and safety of the state." ( irs) IN the private walks of life, through all its relative duties, Hamilton was highly valued.... " His life was gentle, and the elements so mixt In him, that nature might stand up and say To ail the world this was a man." BUT to be the pride of his country and its chief ornament, availed him nothing ! Neither his greatness, nor his use- fulness, could avert the impending blow, or wrest from its purposes the counsels of the Almighty. " AH! what avail'dthat wide capacious mind, With every science accurately fraught, The keen ey'd fancy spark'ling and refin'd, The blaze of genius and the hurst of thought ? Ah ! what avail'd that magnitude of soul> Warm'd to debate by patriotic fire, Which bade the bolts of eloquence to roll, And taught astonish'd senates to admire ? Bade his lov'd country shake away the gloom, Which bound her feeble temples with disgrace ; And like the bold, but deathless chief of Rome, Twine. everlasting laurels in its place ? Ah ! nought avail'd the mind's extended power, Nor worth, nor greatness, could avert his doom j ' Snatch'd in the sun-beam swiftness of an hour, To swell the triumphs of th' insatiate tomb." YES, reader, this brilliant luminary in the literary world, this splendid orb of our political hemisphere, is set for ever ! A star of the first magnitude in the political temple is extin- guished ! A Pillar of superior strength is fallen ! Cut off in the full vigour of life, in the full possession of his faculties, and in the midst of all his usefulness, the great Hamilton now sleeps with his fathers ! That intellectual fountain, from which fiowed the richest streams of eloquence, is dried up ; the fire of that genius, whose acuteness pierced the inmost recesses of science, is quenched for ever j that eye, whose penetrating glance was the sure index of an acute and pe- ( iw) netrating mind, is now closed for ever ; that tongue, on whost eloquence listening senates hung with admiration, is now silent for ever j and dumb for ever is that voice which was the harbinger of wisdom, and the herald of instruction. . The trophies of the grave are enriched with a gem of superior worth j the world is rifled of an intellectual treasure of in- estimable value. < O ! what a fall was there my countrymen* Then you and I, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason triumph'd over us." THOUGH the grave now shrouds the mortal part of the now immortal Hamilton, his memory and his fame, are en- shrined in the bosoms of his grateful countrymen, and will be ever cherished and protected, with the warmest emotions of love and admiration. This sacred deposit will be trans- mitted to posterity in the fulness of its glory and the purity of its excellence. A distinguished page in the annals of our country, will be adorned with the record of his character, with a faithful delineation of his talents, virtues, achieve- ments, and greatness, and the admiration of posterity shall perpetuate his fame. There will the record of the sad ca- tastrophe of his death draw forth the tear of pity from the eye of tenderness, and the sigh of regret from the bosom of humanity. There will the moralist read with warm appro- bation the sentiments of a Hamilton, on the subject of the barbarous custom to which he fell a sacrifice ; there will he see the abhorrence in which he held a practice, sanctioned by the manners of the age in which he lived ; and which, from a peculiar combination of circumstances, he conceived as to himself was unavoidable. There will the Christian dwell with exquisite delight on the record of the bright ex- ample of this great man, who, in the fulness of belief, em- braced the doctrines of Christianity, partook of its ordinan- ces, and died in the consoling hope of its promises. ( 180) FROM THE BOSTON REPERTORf, TEARS OF COLUMBIA. ALTERED FROM COLLINS. WHILE lost to all her former mirth, Columbia, weeping, bends to earth, And seeks her ffero's grave- While stain'd with blood, she strives to tear, Unseemly, from her fragrant hair The wreaths that Summer gave : The thoughts that musing Pity pays, And fond Remembrance loves to raise, Shall on her steps attend ; Still Fancy, to herself unkind, Awakes to grief the soften'd mind, And paints the bleeding friend. By Hudson's broad descending wave Her ceaseless tears bedew the grave, Where Hamilton is laid - That sacred spot, with cypress crown'd, Shall jealous Honour watch around, And Truth protect the shade. O'er him whose doom thy virtues grieve, Aerial forms shall sit at eve, And bend the pensive head ; And fall'n by fate's severe command, Imperial Honour's awful hand Shall point his lowly bed. The warlike dead of ev'ry age, Who fill the fair recording page, Shall leave their sainted rest. And half reclining on his spear, Each wond'ring chief by turns appear To hail the blooming guest. Great Washington, unknown to yield ; Montgomery, from AbranCs field Shall gaze with fix'd delight ; Again their Country's wrongs they feel ; Again they snatch the gleaming steel* And wish th' avenging fight. (m) But lo ! where sunk in deep despair, Her garment torn, her bosom bare. Impatient Freedom lies ! Her matted tresses madly spread, To ev'ry sod which wraps the dead, She turns her joyless eyes. If weak to sooth thy soften'd heart, These pictur'd glories nought impart To dry thy constant tear ; If yet in sorrow's distant eye, Expos'd and pale thou see'st him lie. Where Greenwich shades appear ! Where'er from time thou court'st relief. The Muse shall still with social grief, With thee her vigils keep : Ev'n Vernon's lone sepulchral vale Shall learn the sad respected tale, Where sainted relicts sleep. FROM THE ALEXANDRIA DAILY ADVERTISER. AW ACROSTIC. H ARK ! how the toilsome noise of busy trade, A mid wan sorrow's heart-felt sighs, is lost ; M ark how the hero and the tender maid I n tears unite to mourn their country's boast; L ong has the fiend-like custom bath'd in wo T he Heav'n taught soul, the pure celestial eye O let it now to felon despots go, N or may in vain the peerless patriot die i FROM THE ALBANY CENTIKEL. THE fall of Gen. Hamilton, with its attending circum- stances, is one of the most interesting events which the hu- man mind can contemplate. He was perhaps the most ( 182) finished character in the world ; certainly there is not one of his contemporaries, however great and celebrated, who unites so many and various qualifications. Of his military talents there needs no other proof, than the confidence pla- ced in him by Washington, and the sen-ices in which he employed him during the revolutionary war. His wonder- ful intellectual resources, the extent and acuteness of his observation, the nobleness of his spirit, qualified him to command and to conquer. Had he been called to act on a military theatre commensurate with the greatness of his ge- nius, the splendours of his military character would have equalled those of the most celebrated heroes. As a States- man and Politician^ he stands among the first and greatest the world 1 has yet seen. He was the vital principle of the first administration under the constitution ; and for the establishment of that constitution we were more indebted to him than to any other man. Without his Herculean efforts, it is probable that it would not have been adopted ; that we never would have experienced the benefits of that union to which we owe our national greatness. It is not improper nor extravagant praise to say, that his Federalist and his de- bates in our State Convention, indicate an acquaintance with the science of politics superior to any thing that can be found in any political work extant. The subject of the Federalist was peculiarly interesting here ; hence, perhaps, it is not so generally known in Europe as it deserves to be. If this great work was better known abroad, Hamilton would doubtless be thought unrivalled as a political writer. In estimating his political character, his Phocion and Camillus should not be forgotten. As a Civilian and a Lawyer , his country has not his equal... .nor is it probable, that Westminster- Hall can boast of hb superior. The wonderful analytical powers of his mind, ( 183 ) fitted him for singular excellence in his profession. Whafr ever may be allowed to the eloquence of Mr. Erskine, there is not at the English Bar, as far as we are able to describe, great a man as Hamilton. fiO As an Orator, those who knew him, and who are acquaint- ed with the performances of the most celebrated public speakers of ancient and modern times, will rank him among the most able of those who have ever exercised the arts of convincing and persuading. The most admired performan- ces of Pitt and Fox, the first public speakers in Great-Bri- tain, do not indicate greater extent, more richness of mind, or elegance of manner, than the every-day speeches of Ha- milton. No man possessed a more admirable power to en- gage and preserve the attention of his audience. Such was the singular propriety of his elocution, such the fascination of his manner, that after pouring forth the abundance of his thoughts for many successive hours, every ear yet heard him... .every eye was yet fixed upon him. He generally ad- dressed himself only to the understanding : yet he could ani- mate, and warm, and melt. In the pathetic, he was indeed always successful. Sometimes he would play a little, and the elegance of his pleasantry, was not the least part of his excellence. Those whose opportunities to hear him were frequent, have lost a pleasure beyond all price. There was something in the air and port of Hamilton, uncommonly majestit and sublime. His manners and address were courteous and humane. He was well fitted t be a popular leader, and would have dignified and graced a throne. He was eloquent as Pericles, amiable and brave as Francis I. or Henry IV. and more enlightened than either. PERHAPS no man's death has ever occasioned so much affliction. When Washington died, Hamilton was left. (184) Our country grieves for the loss of her pride, her ornamenty her boast, her hope, her DEFENCE. But independent of the public calamity, each individual is personally afflicted, and feels that he is deprived of something near and dear to him. WITH respect to the motives, views, and expectations of Mr. Burr, those who are acquainted with the characters and tempers of the parties, and who have attentively consi- dered the correspondence that preceded the fatal interview, can have but one opinion. This duel has occasioned a sore public calamity, and much private affliction. To Mr. Bun- it has brought misery and ruin. His character now is no better, than it was before the death of General Hamilton, whose blood has not washed away its stains ! And all office, public honours, power, and trust, are now for ever out of the reach of Aaron Burr ! SAME PAPER. SUNDAY last was devoted, by the citizens of the village of Salem, (N. Y.) to the grateful and soul-approving purpose of contributing their manifestation of regret, at the untime- ly death, and irreparable loss of our friend and first citizen, Gen. Alexander Hamilton; whose courage aided to found, and whose wisdom protected this wide-spreading and grow- ing republic. For this purpose, a very numerous and re- spectable portion of the inhabitants of the village attended at the Meeting-House, where the Rev. Alexander Proudfit delivered a Sermon, pertinent to the afflicting occasion, from this passage of Scripture : " Now SAMUEL was dead u and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, " even in his own city" In which the inflexible patriotism, and the exemplary social virtues of the illustrious deceased, v/ere exhibited in a truy impressive manner...as was ev'mc- ':'. ',.; *. ! '.'.?& ' . *'' * BUT there were other proceedings in that session which served to develope Mr. Hamilton's peculiar disposition and character. He was chairman of the committee which intro- duced a resolution full of gratitude for the disinterested and useful services of the Baron de Steuben ; and he was the mover of the resolution for disbanding the army, and which was expressive of the well-founded confidence of Congress in the good sense and order of the troops, by allowing them a privilege, I believe totally unheard of before, that they take their arms with them. He appears also at that day to have entertained those sentiments which he, on a recent oc- casion, so eloquently enforced, respecting the full disclo- sure and free circulation of the true character and conduct of men in public trust, for he seconded the motion, stating, u That it was of importance in tvery free QQimtrij\ that the ( 198) tidiiduct and sentiments of those to whom the direction of public affairs -was committed, should be publicly known, and that in future the doors of Congress ought to be opened, unless otherwise specially ordered." AFTER the conclusion of this session of Congress, Mr. Hamilton returned to the practice of his profession, and soon drew to himself a general attention and applause, by his ta- lents and eloquence at the Bar. His mind, however, was still directed to the progress and tendency of public mea- sures. After the evacuation of New-York, the conduct of many of our citizens was intemperate and violent, and it gave currency to the pernicious doctrine, that the inhabitants of the southern district who had remained within the ene- my's lines, were not entitled to the privileges of citizens, and that they were in fact aliens, subject to such penalties and disabilities as the legislature might, in their discretion, im- pose. To meet and overthrow this opinion, full of injustice and perfidy, and propagated under the influence of angry and malevolent passions, Mr. Hamilton published in the winter of 1784, his two pamphlets, under the signature of Phocion, and addressed to the considerate citizens of New- York. In these he stated, and recommended with ardour and with energy, the genuine obligations resulting from the treaty of peace ; that no portion of our fellow-citizens were disfranchised, but that all were entitled to the full benefit of equal and impartial laws ; that a perfidious evasion of the treaty, and measures of persecution and revenge, would disgrace the cause of liberty and the spirit of whigism, which was " generous, humane, beneficent, and just." These pamphlets carried with them universal conviction, and put the contrary opinion and the spirit it was enkindling, to disgrace and silence. The last pamphlet of Phocion is in a particular manner marked with that analysis of investi- ( 199 ) gntion ; that deep basis of inquiry and logical deduction, which were peculiar to its illustrious author. IN 1 786, Mr. Hamilton was chosen a member of Assem- bly for the city of New-York, and the ensuing session he brought forward a great measure, dictated by policy and pa- triotism, and which required his talents and firmness to maintain. I allude to the bill for acceding, on the part of this state, to the assumed independence of Vermont. We were then at an awful crisis in our national affairs, without a government to protect us, and just on the eve of a momen- tous experiment to effect one. Vermont was in fact inde- pendent, but she was not confederated ; she was a stranger, and might soon become an enemy to the Union. This sU tuation was delicate and alarming, and increased the anxie- ties of this great patriot, who then declared, in a speech un- 'usually solemn and impressive, u That he was in the habit of viewing the situation of this country as replete widi diffi- culties and surrounded with danger." The bill was opposed by counsel in behalf of such of our citizens as claimed lands within that jurisdiction. Mr. Hamilton, in a prompt and masterly manner, vindicated his proceeding, and showed ' that the state was under no obligation from the principles of the social compact, whatever they might choose to do from generosity or policy, to indemnify our citizens for losses sustained by a violent dismemberment of a part of the body politic, which they had not the power to prevent or reclaim. This speech, and the one in favour of the cession of the five per cent, impost to the United States, were models of sena- torial argument and eloquence, which were greatly and just- ly admired at the time, and contributed in no small degree to his increasing fame and importance. In the last speech he took an enlarged view of the history and state of the Union, and undertook to demonstrate that there was no 2 D (200) Constitutional impediment to the adoption of the billj that there was no danger to be apprehended to the public liberty from giving the power in question to the United States ; that in the views of revenue the measure was indispensable, and that this country would soon be involved in misery and ruin, if our national affairs were left much longer to float in the chaos in which they were then involved. He at that time made a bold, frank, and affecting appeal to the uniform te- nour of his life and character. " If in the public stations I have filled, I have acquitted myself with zeal, fidelity, and disinterestedness ; if in the private walk of life my conduct has been unstained by any dishonourable act, I have a right to the confidence of those to whom I address myself." DURING 'this session of our Legislature, Mr. Hamilton was chosen one of the three members to represent this state in the General Convention at Philadelphia, and he devoted the summer of 1787 to a faithful discharge of that important trust. A revolution in our national government was now at hand, and no man of strength and maturity, and whose breast was warmed with one spark of generous sensation, but felt for the perilous situation of the country, and contem- plated with reverence the obligations it created. Mr. Ha- milton was not of a nature to shrink from the crisis. He took a great and splendid share in the responsibilities of the day, and by writing, and speaking, and acting, he acquitted himself in a manner that ensured the admiration of his con- temporaries, and will transmit his fame to posterity. His particular services in the Convention are not accurate- ly known to the public, as the doors of that body were clos- ed, and their journals have never been published. I will take the liberty, however, of mentioning a remark once made by a very respectable member of the Convention from (201 ) a neighbouring state, and leave those who can correct me to appreciate it as it may deserve. He said, that if the Con- stitution did not succeed on trial, Mr. Hamilton was less res- ponsible for that result than any other member, for he fully and frankly pointed out to the Convention what he appre,- hended were the infirmities to which it was liable : And that if it answered the fond expectations of the public, the com- munity would be more indebted to Mr. Hamilton than to any other member; for after its essential outlines were agreed to, he laboured the most indefatigably to heal those infirmities, and to guard against the evils to which they might expose it. AFTER the publication of the Constitution, Mr. Hamil- ton, in concert with Mr. Jay and Mr. Madison, commenc- ed the Federalist ; a series of Essays under the signature of PuUius, addressed to the people of this state, in favour of the adoption of the Constitution. These papers first made their appearance in the daily prints early in Novem- ber, 1787, and the work was not concluded until a short time previous to the meeting of the State Convention in June, 1788. It may be difficult to point out with precisiorj the part that Mr. Hamilton took in the composition of these Essays*. It is, however, well understood, that Mr. Jay took but a very inconsiderable share in the work \ that Mr. Madison took a deeper and more useful part, and that Mr, Hamilton was the principal author, and wrote at least three- fourths, of the numbers. This work is not to be classe4 among those ephemeral productions which are calculated to produce a party purpose, and when that purpose is answer-* ed, to expire for ever. It is a profound and learned disqui- sition on the principles of a federal representative govern-* * A key to the several writers is in our possession -~Edit. ( 202 ) ment, and combines equally an ardent attachment to public liberty, and an accurate discernment of the dangers result- ing from an excessive jealousy of power, in those unsound and unskilful institutions, under which it has perished in al- most every age and nation. This work will no doubt en- dure as long as any of the republican establishments of this country, on which it is such a luminous and elegant com- mentary. The first volume discusses these three interesting points.. ..The utility of the union.. ..The defects of the Con- federation.... And the necessity of a government as energetic, at least, as the one proposed ; and this I regard as the most fi- nished part of the work, considering the cogent and peculiarly affecting manner in which these propositions are surveyed, il- lustrated, and enforced. The Federalist was translated and published in France by Buisson, just as that people were be- ginning to run the mad career of their revolution. It was spoken of in very high terms, although one of the Paris Ga- zettes thought some parts of it had rather an aristocratical tendency. Alas \ for the cause of temperate and genuine li- berty, if the leaders of that revolution had not been vision- ary philosophists, prostituted infidels, and blood-thirsty de- magogus > the mild light of this western star might possibly have rescued that people from the tempestuous fury of the passions ; from a constant vibration between scenes of folly, and scenes of horror, and conducted them to peace, liberty, and safety. I am happy to find that a new edition of this in- valuable work has lately appeared, in a very handsome style, from the 'press of Mr. Hopkins, in New- York. It ought to be taught in our schools, and studied by our lawyers and states- men, as an elementary code of instruction and wisdom. MR. HAMILTON was a member of the State Convention, which met in the summer of 1788, and he was there active- ly employed for six weeks in enforcing, by his eloquent < 203 ) speeches, the principles he had previously, and so much at large, detailed in the Federalist. The sketch of the debates which was published, conveyed a very inadequate idea of the talents and arguments employed in the mutual discus- sions which took place in that assembly. The speeches of Mr. Hamilton, which I should select as containing the best display of his sound and pre-eminent mind, were those in vindication of the constitutional stability and permanency of the Senate of the United States. In these he undertook to demonstrate that the organization of that branch ought to be as strong, at least, as they found it ; and that from the na- ture of man and the lessons of experience, it was to be seen that a firm, stable body in the government, was essential to correct the prejudices, check the passions, and control the fluctuations of the more popular branch. THE constitution having gone into operation, and the ex- ecutive departments being established, Mr. Hamilton was appointed, in the summer of 1789, to the office of Secretary of the Treasury. This office he held between five and six years j and when we look back to the measures that, within that period, he originated, matured, and vindicated, we are astonished in the contemplation of the various powers of his vigorous and exalted mind. His reports were so many didac- tic dissertations, laboriously wrought and highly finished, on some of the most intricate and abstract subjects in political economy. Among those reports we designate as the most in- teresting, his report of January, 1790, on a provision for the support of the public credit ; of December, 1790, on the esta- blishment of a national bank ; of December, 1791, on the sub- ject of manufactures j and of January, 1795, (being his las* official act) on a plan for the further support of public credit. Mr. Hamilton may justly be regarded as the Founder of the Public Credit of this 'country, He raised it from the dust, ( 204 ) and placed it on sound foundations. His great moving principle of action in his department, was good faith was a punctual performance of contracts. ^.And that the national credit might be placed beyond the reach of any stroke that could in the least degree annoy or alarm it, he urged to Congress the express renunciation, by law, of all right to tax the public funds, or to sequester at any time, or on any pre- text, the property of foreigners therein. He enabled this country to know, feel, and develope its immense resources, and under his administration, the finances advanced to a state of prosperity beyond all expectation, and so as to en- gage the attention and command the confidence of Europe. And so far from giving colour to the vile calumny which has been insinuated against him, that he patronized the doctrine that a public debt was a public blessing, he incul- cates with great solipitude in his reports, that the progres- sive accumulation of debt was the natural disease of all go- vernments ; that it ought to be guarded against with provi- dent foresight and inflexible perseverance j that it ought to be a fundamental maxim in the system of public credit, (and which he uniformly endeavoured to enforce by prac- tice) ; that the creation of debt should always be accompanied -with the means of extinguishment ; that the observance of this axiom was the true secret to render public credit immortal, In his last report, he recommends a provision for augment-? ing the sinking fund, so as to render it commensurate with the entire debt of the United States ; and he proposed to secure that fund by a sanction the most inviolable, and which was no less than to make the application of the fund to the object, a part of the contract with the creditor. By such means, and with such efforts, did he build up and esta- blish the important interests of the nation confided to his care ; he has left to his successors little more to do than to follow his precepts, and to shine by the lustre ,pf his example. (205) His report on manufactures is a chefcTouvre of the kind, and the most laboured performance that he ever gave to the world. It is not more distinguished for knowledge and in- vestigation, than for having given a deep wound to the te- nets of the sect of the French economists, and also to an- other system of politics which had grown fashionable among political philosophers. The system I allude to, is to be met with in Smittfs Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations. This report adopts the principles of the mercantile system, and leaves the theory of Smith as amusing and beautiful in spe- culation, but which) in the present state of things, is not re- ducible to practice. That bold, profound, and systematic writer, who attacked the manufacturing and mercantile in- terests of Great Britain as founded upon an oppressive mono- poly, lays down an entire freedom of commerce and in- dustry, undiverted and unimpeded by government, as the best means of advancing nations to prosperity and great- ness. The secretary combats with great ability some of the fundamental principles of this doctrine, and he adopts the mercantile system upon the basis of self-defence, and as most wise, because Europe perseveres in the same system. ALL his principal reports are remarkable for uniting depth of research with clearness of perception, the closest logic with the utmost purity and precision of expression ; and his official labours in this department, united with the honesty with which he conducted it, and which the most penetrating- inquisition into all the avenues of his office could never question, will, perhaps, form with posterity the fairest monument of his fame. MR. HAMILTON, in his character of Secretary of the Treasury, was also one of the constitutional advisers of the President in relation generally to the duties of his office, and C 206 ) I apprehend that few, if any matters of moment, were trans- acted without the sanction of his counsel. The season dur- ing which he presided over the treasury department, was unusually critical. The French revolution progressed with a rapidity and violence that threatened to involve the whole civilized world in combustion and ruin. Not content with their own regeneration, the French rulers, in 1793, adopted the intolerance of the Koran, and began to propagate their new faith by the sword, and to carry on an universal war, cither of force or of fraud, against all the unbelieving nations of the earth, and against all the governments under which they lived, as being so many monuments of tyranny and su- perstition. At this awful crisis, a furious war is begun against Great Britian, and M. Genet is sent as minister to the United States, charged with secret instructions (which he afterwards published, and on which he faithfully acted) to excite the Americans, even if their ministers should be timid and wavering, to make a common cause with France in the new war she had then commenced. To meet this im- portant epoch, the Proclamation of Neutrality was issued by the President of the United States ; and to defend that great measure as lawful and expedient, against the prejudices and passions which the French minister had but too successfully excited, the essays of Pacificus appeared. THESE essays were written and published by Mr. Hamil- ton in the summer of 1793 ; and of all his productions, none ever appeared at a more seasonable juncture, or were cal- culated to produce a more auspicious effect. Their object was to prove that the President had competent authority to iseue the proclamation in question : That it was only a de- claration of what was the existing law of the land, the neu- trality of our government, and that as constitutional executor of the laws, it would be his duty to see that neutrality faith- (20?) fully observed : -That we were under no obligation from existing treaties to become a party in the war : That, con- sidering the peculiar origin and nature of the warfare, the United States had valid and honourable pleas against any in- terference : That the obligations of gratitude imposed upon nations the mutual returns of good-will and benevolence, but were no sufficient ground for war ; and that those obli- gations would more naturally point to the hand from whom antecedent favours had been received, and which, in this case, was the amiable and unfortunate monarch whom the revolution had just swept from the throne. IT cannot be denied that these essays were too well writ- ten, and addressed themselves too powerfully to the inter- est and good sense of the country, not to have had their in- fluence in rendering popular this important act of admini- stration ; and it is well known that the proclamation received afterwards the sanction not only of Congress, but of the community at large. IN January, 1795, Mr. Hamilton resigned the office of Secretary of the Treasury, and once more returned to' pri- vate life. But he still felt himself charged to vindicate an- other important measure of the government, of which he had no doubt been a responsible adviser ; I allude to Mr. Jay's negociation and treaty with Great-Britain. This trea- ty had to encounter inveterate prejudices and combustible materials, which spread their root as far back as the revo- lutionary war, but which had been enkindled and armed with tenfold virulence by the pestilential breath of the French Revolution. Even at this late day, the temperate historian is admonished to tread lightly over these ashes of party-spi- rit. Mr. Hamilton devoted the summer of 1795 to a de- tence of this treaty, in a series of Essay sunder the signature 2 E (208 ) of Camillus. The first twenty-two numbers were appropriat- ed to an examination of the ten permanent articles of this treaty, and which articles continue to this day the law of the land. The remainder of the treaty was commercial and temporary, and 4 has already expired. The discussion of this latter part was not equal in interest, and being written, with less attention, and by different hands, was not equal in ability to the other. But this defence, taken together, must now be considered by every competent and impartial reader, as one of the most full and satisfactory illustrations that per- haps ever was given of a complicated diplomatic question. I presume there does not exist any thing among the piles of European state papers, to be compared to it ; although one reason for this may be, that in Europe no such precise and formal vindication of any national treaty, has ever been deemed requisite. The beneficial effects of this treaty, and which are known and felt constantly, have at last accomplish- ed what argument r.lone could not do they have forced an universal conviction upon the public mind ; and all the dead spectres which were conjured up at the time to terrify the imagination, and blind the judgment, have long since dis- appeared before the light of experience. It is to be observ- ed that the question was not whether the treaty was in all respects the most desirable, (for treaties are acts of mutual accommodation) but the true question was, whether the trea- ty did not adjust, in a reasonable manner, the points in con- troversy between the two nations ; and whether our interests did not demand, and our honour permit us to adopt it. The sanction it received from our government, and the general approbation it has ultimately met with, overcoming in its progress the stream of prejudice, and the obstacles of foreign intrigue and menace, have given the definitive answer to this question. The articles upon which Camillus more empha- tically bent and exhausted the strength and resources of his ( 209 ) mind, were the 3d article, on the intercourse between the United States and Canada ; and the 10th article, providing against the confiscation of private debts in time of war. I beg leave to recommend these two heads of his performance as uncommonly excellent. The latter is a finished treatise by itself, and forms a chapter on the law of nations, equally ac- curate, didactic, and moraL It vindicates the treaty-stipu- lation on the ground of reason and principle, of policy and expediency, on the opinions of the most enlightened jurists, and the usage of nations, THE last great occasion which called Mr. Hamilton for- ward upon the theatre of public action, existed in the spring of the year 1798. It will be recollected that France had been long making piratical depredations upon our commerce ; that negociation and a pacific adjustment had been repeatedly attempted on the part of this country, without success ; that our minister had been refused an audience ; that three mi- nisters extraordinary had been treated with the grossest in- dignity, and money demanded of the United 3tates on terms the most degrading. The doors of reconciliation being thus barred, we had no honourable alternative left, but open and determined resistance. AND what was the power that had thus used us ? It was a power the most terrible in strength ; the most daring in project; the most unchecked in means; the most fatal to its victims, of any that a righteous providence had hitherto permitted to exist upon this globe, for the awful chastisement of the human race. All the States, even of the republican form, that fell within her wide-spread grasp ; the United Ne- therlands, Geneva, the Swiss Cantons, Genoa, and Venice, had already been prostrated by her arms, or her still more formidable caresses. She was at that moment busy in her (210) schemes of universal domination, and was fitting out a vast armament in the ports of the Mediterranean, for some dis- tant expedition of conquest and plunder. At this portentous period, Mr. Hamilton published The Stand) or a series of essays under the signature of Thus Manlius, with a view to. rouse the people of this country to a sense of their impend* ing danger, and to measures of defence, which should be at once vigorous and manly. IN these Essays he portrays, with the glow and colouring of a master-artist, the conduct of revolutionizing France to* wards her own people and towards other nations, and he shows that she had undermined the main pillars of civilized society ; that she betrayed a plan to disorganize the human mind itself, by attempting to destroy all religious opinion, and pervert a whole people to atheism j that her ruling pas* sions were ambition and fanaticism, and that she aimed equally to proselyte, subjugate, and debase every govern- ment without distinction, to effect the aggrandizement of the " Great Nation !" He then gave a detail of the accumu- lated injuries and insults we had received from France, and showed that her object was to degrade and humble our go- vernment, and prepare the way for revolution and conquest. He concluded, as the result of his work, that we ought to suspend our treaties with France, fortify our harbours, de- fend our commerce on the ocean, attack their predatory cruisers on our coast, create a respectable naval force, and raise, or organize and discipline, a considerable army, as an indispensable precaution against attempts at invasion, which, might put in jeopardy our very existence as a nation. He considered that militia alone would be a very inadequate and fallacious reliance against veteran troops, headed by some enterprising chief; but that when we had made the defen- sive preparations he had recommended, we could then meet their aggressions in the attitude of calm defiance, .'v- (211 ) So undeniable were all these facts, so irresistible were the conclusions which he drew from them, that in the sum- mer of 1 798, these measures suggested by Mr. Hamilton were all literally carried into execution by Congress, and received the warm and hearty sanction of the nation. An honourable, proud, and manly sentiment, was then enkindled and pervaded the continent ; it reflected high honour on our national character, and that character was transmitted to Eu- rope, as a means of respect and a pledge of security. A NEW provisional army, consisting, however, of but twelve regiments of infantry, and six troops of light dra- goons, was ordered to be immediately raised, and Mr. Ha- milton, upon the express and pointed solicitations of Gene- ral Washington, was appointed Inspector-General. On the death of that great man, he succeeded to the office of Com- mander in Chief y and continued in that character for a few months, and until this little army was disbanded in the sum* mer of 1800. DURING this military avocation, Gen. Hamilton bestowed indefatigable efforts to organize and discipline the troops ; and he improved himself greatly in the study of the science of war, and of the kindred sciences of mathematics, geome- try, and chemistry, of which he was particularly fond. And should any crisis have arisen, in the future destinies of our country, in which some hero or statesman would have been w wanted " in resisting mischief, or effecting good," the eyes of America would no doubt have been concentrated on this first and fairest of her sons. But alas ! these dreams of consolation are gone ! He has fallen by the hands of a base assassin / Accept, venerable shade, this tribute of a friend, who regards thy loss as a great national calamity, and recol- lects thy talents and virtues with the purest respect, and the fondest devotion ! s .( 212 ) THE Albany Centinel of August 29, presents us with the following affecting Article : " INCIDENTAL circumstances have prevented our noticing, of late, many passing occurrences of the day, as they de- serve. One of these, and which we consider by no means the least interesting, is the manner in which our Supreme Court testified their respect for the character of Gen. Ha- milton, and deep affliction for his death, at their session in this city, which closed on the 18th inst. By direction of the judges, the bench, the bar, including the seats of the counsellors and attornies, the clerk's desk and table, and the wall back of the judges seat, were hung in black during the term*. In no place, perhaps, could a tribute of this kind have been offered with a more striking effect. It is here, more than any where, that ah 1 who have attended court, with whatever motive, feel the deprivation of its late peerless member. It is here we recollect our first inquiries used to be, as if every gratification depended upon it, is Hamilton in town? and if present, his engaging address and his intel- ligent eye never failed to interest us 4o raise our expecta- tions.^-" When he began, we were attentive an harmo- nious voice- select expressions elevated sentiment. He divided his subject we perceived his distinctions : nothing perplexed nothing insipid nothing languid. He unfolded the web of his argument we were enthralled. He refuted the sophism we were freed. He introduced a pertinent narrative we were interested. He modulated his voice - we were charmed. He was jocular we smiled. He pres- sed serious truths we yielded to their force. He address- ed the passions the tears glided down our cheeks. And had he raised his voice in anger, we should have trembled * The same mark of respect was paid to his memory by the Mayor's Qourt in this city, where Mr. Clinton presides. ( 213 ) and wished ourselves away." Here, and in him, have we. often seen the human character raised to its " noon-tide point." -Alas ! how chilling is this sable contrast ! " WHO can read, without heartfelt emotion, the subsequent Communication, from the same paper ? " Communication* ON Sunday morning the afflicted Mrs, HAMILTON attended divine service in the Presbyterian Church in this city, with her three little sons. " AT the close of a prayer by the Rev. Mr. Nott, the eldest dropped on his face, in a fainting fit. " Two gentlemen immediately raise;. HAVING been appointed by the South-Carolina State So- ciety of the Cincinnati, and the American Revolution So- ciety, a joint committee for draughting and circulating a memorial to the Legislature, praying for legislative inter- ference to restrain the practice of duelling, we have agreed on the enclosed memorial, and transmit it to you, with our earnest request that you would use your most vigorous exer-. tions to have it generally signed. It is unnecessary to di- late on the mischievous consequences of Duelling, to induce your endeavours to check a practice so dishonourable to this state, in which it is our boast to be governed by laws, and not by men. The necessity of applying to the Legislature on the subject, is obvious ; for it is well known, that the existing laws have never brought any Duellist to serious in- conveniences, and there is well founded reason for believing that they never can, in consequence of the weight of prece- dents to the contrary. Our only alternative, therefore, is to acquiesce in the practice of Duelling, or to restrain it by a new law. The difficulties of framing any law, that may afford an adequate remedy to the evil, are great, but not in- surmountable. IT is not to be supposed that our Legislature is less wise than that of several of our sister states, whose laws have been so operative that in several of them, duels are absolutely unknown. If a respectable number of the friends of good government, morality, and religion, sign the memorial we '( 219 ) have forwarded, or any similar one, the Legislature, ever attentive to the wishes of their constituents, will enter se- riously on the business, and we doubt not of their ability to frame such regulations as will certainly abolish the evil. INDEPENDENT of any law which may be passed, the senti- ments of the most respectable part of the community, in op- position to duelling, declared and avowed by signing the me- morial, will have a very beneficial effect. It will tend to correct the public opinion, and to restrain all who wish for the esteem of their fellow-citizens, from engaging in a prac- tice which the virtue and good sense of the community have so pointedly denounced. These, and many other ar- guments, which must occur on reflection, will be sufficient to convince you, that in procuring signers to the memorial, you will do a service acceptable to God and beneficial to man. We have further to request you, to forward the me morial to Columbia, by the first Monday in November next, that they may all be presented together to the Legis- lature on the first day of their meeting ; when we hope for the sublime pleasure of seeing an abhorrence of duelling pointedly expressed by many thousands of our most deserv- ing citizens. We are, with great respect, Your most obedient servants, CHARLES C. PINCKNEY, JAMES KENNEDY, WILLIAM READ, Committee of the Cincinnati. DA- VID RAMSAY, HENRY W. DESAUSSURE, WIL- LIAM ALLEN DEAS, JAMES LOWNDES, RICH- ARD FURMAN, Committee of the American Revolution Society. P. S. IMPRESSED with a firm belief that many advantages would result from illuminating the public mind on the in- ( 220 ) consistency of the spirit and principles of the practice against which the memorial is levelled, with the spirit and princi- ples of our holy religion, we earnestly request, as a particu- lar favour, that you would, at some convenient early day, preach a sermon on the sin and folly of Duelling. When the public sentiment is correctly made up on this subject, the advocates for duelling will be struck with their inconsisten- cy, in claiming for themselves the high and honourable ap- pellation of Christians. In our opinion, public previous no- tice of the day on which the proposed sermon will be preach- ed, would, in general, be both proper and useful ; but, on this subject, you will judge for yourself. N. B. THE above postscript is omitted in all letters which are not addressed to Clergymen. To the Honourable the President and Members of the Se^ nate, and the Honourable the Speaker, and the other Members of the House of Representatives of the State of South-Carolina. i The Memorial of the Subscribers, Citizens of the said State^ SHOWETH, THAT your memorialists are deeply impressed with grief at the prevalence of the custom of duelling, which, trampling upon all laws, human and divine, sweeps off ma- ny useful citizens, leaving their families a prey to sorrow, and often to poverty and vice. THAT this custom originated in dark and barbarous ages when a regular and impartial administration of justice was unknown and unpractised but it ought not to be tolerated by the civilization of modem times, under a legislation which has provided, or may easily provide, adequate redress, for (221) all serious injuries committed against the life, liberty, fame, or property of the citizen. THAT this custom erects a tribunal for the settlement of personal differences, in which, contrary to all sound princi- ples, a man becomes the sole judge in his own cause; whence, as might have been expected from such a code, the only punishments for the lowest, as well as highest of- fences, are written in blood. THAT restraining personal resentments, by giving the at- tribute of vengeance to the laws, was the greatest victory obtained by civilization over barbarism....but the custom of duelling is too well calculated to defeat the beneficial effects of that triumph, and to weaken the authority of all laws, by accustoming men to contemn their sanctions. THAI 1 your memorialists are apprehensive from the fre- quency of the practice of late years, that this custom is gain- ing ground, and seems likely to be carried to such great lengths, as to degrade men to the condition of gladiators, and to introduce anew the reign of barbarism. THAT from the nature of the human mind, men are ever ready to follow examples, especially those set by emi- nent persons; when, therefore, the body of the community perceives great, and in other respects virtuous citizens, shed- ding "each other's blood on slight provocations, or trivial pretences, the fatal practice becomes general. Thus the barriers between virtue and vice, innocence and guilt, are broken down ; and that horror of shedding human blood wantonly, which is the best safe-guard of the peace of so- ciety, is greatly diminished, or wholly destroyed. THAT in countries where distinctions of rank are sanction- ( 222 ) tdj a pernicious custom may exist, and be confined to the higher orders of society, and be, comparatively, little de- structive...^^ that, in our country of equal laws, rights, and rank, such custom, if unchecked by the laws, will ne- cessarily become general, and spread its destructive effects far and wide in the community, to the desolation of thou- sands of families. THAT this mortal vengeance is not resorted to merely in cases of grievous injuries, for which the laws may not have provided an adequate remedy : but in many cases of trivial offence, which a generous mind would willingly par- don, this tyrant custom is supposed to impose an obligation, to call out to the field of blood even a companion or friend, who may have unguardedly given the provocation* THAT this absurd custom decides no right, and settles no point j as the religion and philosophy of modem times will not admit, that the Almighty Disposer of events will inter- pose his power on such an impious appeal to his justice ; which the credulity of the Gothic nations believed, when this custom existed among them, in the form of judicial combat. It is, therefore, conceded universally, that the innocent and aggrieved person is as likely to be the victim, as the guilty offender, and -probably more so, as a mild and peaceable man would be less inclined to acquire or ex- ert a murderous skill, the effect of which he abhors. THAT the pretence of those who would excuse this cus- tom, on the ground that it polishes society, and prevents assassination, is wholly unfounded: as the most polished nations iof ancient times, the Grecians and Romans ; and the most humane and civilized nation of modern times, the Chinese, have enjoyed society in perfection, without the adventitious aid of this pernicious and unnatural custom ; (225) which though in direct hostility to the principles of Christi- anity, prevails only in Christian Europe and America. YOUR memorialists have been informed, that although the common law of the land declares homicide in a duel, to b murder, the law has become obsolete, and a dead letter.... That all the decisions in our courts of justice, have turned wholly on the fairness with which the duel was conducted ; and verdicts of acquittal, or of man-slaughter, have con- stantly been rendered....thence arises a necessity for a clear and explicit expression of the legislative will, on this impor- tant subject, guaranteed by new and vigorous sanctions. YOUR memorialists, therefore, humbly pray that your honourable house would be pleased to take this important subject into your most serious consideration ; and that you would, in your wisdom, provide such remedies as may, ef- fectually, destroy the evil practice complained of, by regu- lations, wisely calculated to protect the fame and feelings of the innocent and insulted person ; and to punish, rigorously, the bold offender who shall dare to lift his hand against his neighbour, and shed his blood in a duel, in violation of the divine law and the law of his country. WE suspect the following affectionate tribute of the Scot- tish Muse, which is taken from a paper in the county of Washington, state of Pennsylvania, is from the well known pen of Mr. Bruce, whose litde volume of poetry has, not long since, been perused by us with high admiration. FROM THE WESTERN TELEGRAPHE. GENERAL HAMILTON having been a member of the St. Andrew's Society of the city of New- York, the following 2 * ( 224 } rerses will not be unacceptable to the members of that ciety throughout the union, particularly to such of them as. are native Scotsmen. THE subject undoubtedly claims a much higher species- of Poetry ; but there is none in which the simple and gen- uine feelings of nature can be so happily expressed as that which I have adopted. ON THE MURDER OF HAMILTON. A SCOTCH BALLAD. June " Good night, and joy be vii' ye a' I** OH ! wo betide ye, Aaron Burr ! May mickle curse upo' ye fa' ! Ye've kill'd as brave a gentleman f As e'er llv'd in America. Wi' bloody mind ye ea'd him out, Wi' practis'd e'e did on him draw r And wi' deliberate, murderous aim, Ye kill'd the flower o' America. A nobler heart, an abler head, Nor this, nor any nation saw ; He was his Country's hope and pride, The darling of America. Whanow, like him, wi' temper'd fire, His country's " sword will strongly draw ;*** And, mid the furious onset, spare The vanquish 'd foes o' America I Whanow, like him, wi' honest zeal, Will argue in the Senate ha', And 'lighten wi' his genius' rays, The interests of America ? Mild, mild was he, o' tenderest heart. Kind and sincere without a flaw ; A loving husband, father, friend i And oh ! he loy'd America, ( 225 ) Torn by a murderer's desperate arm, Frae midst his friends and family a% 'He's gone the first of men is gone The Glory of America ! Where'er ye go, O ! Aaron Burr ! The worm of conscience ay will gnaw:; Tour haunted fancy ay will paint Your bloody deed in America. But though ye flee o'er land and sea, And 'scape your injur'd country's law, The red right hand of angry Heaven Will yet avenge America. O save us, Heaven ! frae faction's rage ; Our headstrong passions keep in awe 1 . And fr-