GIFT p$ 
 SEELEY W. MUDD 
 
 and 
 
 GEORGE I. COCHRAN MEYER ELSASSER 
 DR. JOHN R. HAYNES WILLIAM L. HONNOLD 
 JAMES R. MARTIN MRS. JOSEPH F. SARTORI 
 
 to tkt 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 SOUTHERN BRANCH 
 
 JOHN FISKE
 
 * 
 
 _Si 
 
 I 84 9 .
 
 LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 
 a ^igtor? of ti&e Republic 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 AS TRACED IN HIS 
 
 WRITINGS AND IN THOSE OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN C. HAMILTON. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 " Neque enim est ulla res, In qua propius ad Deorum numen Tirtus accedat humana, 
 quam civitates aut condero noTas aut conaerrare jam condita*." Cietro, Dt Repvb. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 HOUGHTON, OSGOOD AND COMPANY. 
 Hitorrsfiue Press, CambrtDge* 
 
 1879. 
 
 88027
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by 
 
 JOHN C. HAMILTON, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. 
 
 y.
 
 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN the preface to the greatest existing profane his- 
 torical work, Gibbon remarks, " that diligence and 
 accuracy are the only merits which an historical 
 writer may ascribe to himself, if any merit can be 
 assumed for the performance of an indispensable 
 duty." 
 
 This duty it has been attempted by me to per- 
 form; and while so occupied, in order to check 
 ^ the promulgation of a hurried, imperfect narrative, 
 were published in eighteen hundred and forty and 
 forty-one, two volumes entitled " The Life of Alex- 
 ander Hamilton." These volumes were nearly all 
 burned while in the process of binding. Circum- 
 ^ stances subsequently arose which delayed the com- 
 > pletion of my labors ; and it was not until eighteen 
 hundred and fifty-seven that the task was resumed. 
 o> In eighteen hundred and sixty-four this combined 
 o biography and history was finished ; an edition of 
 P^ my father's works having been previously edited 
 by me under the authority of the Congress of the 
 United States. Meanwhile several productions 
 have come before the public, each purporting to 
 be a life of Alexander Hamilton. All of them 
 being mere outlines, or abstracts, I have felt that
 
 iv PREFACE. 
 
 a true presentation of my father's services to this 
 country could only be given by a careful study of 
 the obstacles encountered and partially overcome 
 by him, both intrinsic and extrinsic, in the great 
 office and efforts of his short life, the originating, 
 the expounding, the establishing, and administer- 
 ing, with the co-operation of others, a Republican 
 Government with the requisite powers and limita- 
 tions " to promote the general welfare," and to 
 secure to the American people " the blessings of 
 liberty." The invaluable support by which these 
 efforts were sustained is by Hamilton truly ascribed 
 in his own words to " the sage and modest " Wash- 
 ington.
 
 LIST OF PORTRAITS. 
 
 FISHER AMES. 
 FRANCIS BARBER. 
 J. A. BAYARD. 
 EGBERT BENSON. 
 ELIAS BOUDINOT. 
 WILLIAM BRADFORD. 
 JOHN BROOKS. 
 CHARLES CARROLL. 
 GEORGE CLYMERT 
 CORNWALLIS. 
 W. R. DAVIE. 
 JOHN DICKINSON. 
 JAMES DCANB. 
 OLIVER ELLSWORTH. 
 COUNT DE GRASSE. 
 NATHANAEL GREENE. 
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
 JOHN E. HOWARD. 
 DAVID HUMPHREYS. 
 SAMUEL HUNTINGTON. 
 W. JACKSON. 
 W. S. JOHNSON. 
 BARON DE KALB. 
 JAMES KENT. 
 HENRY KNOX. 
 KOSCIUSZKO. 
 LA FAYETTE. 
 JOHN LAURENS. 
 HENRY LEE. 
 
 BENJAMIN LINCOLN. 
 FRANCIS MARION. 
 
 I. McHENRY. 
 L. MclNTOSH. 
 
 DANIEL MORGAN. 
 
 ROBERT MORRIS. 
 
 WILLIAM MOULTRIE. 
 
 ANDREW PICKENS. 
 
 TIMOTHY PICKERING. 
 
 CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCK.NBT. 
 
 THOMAS PINCKNEY. 
 
 ROCHAMBEAU. 
 
 PHILIP SCHUYLER. 
 
 THEODORE SEDGWICK. 
 
 WILLIAM SMALLWOOD. 
 
 JOHN STARK. 
 
 A. ST. CLAIR. 
 
 BARON DE STEUBEN. 
 
 JAMES SULLIVAN. 
 
 THOMAS SUMTER. 
 
 TALLEYRAND. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 WILLIAM WASHINGTON. 
 
 ANTHONY WAYNE. 
 
 O. H. WILLIAMS. 
 
 HUGH WILLIAMSON. 
 
 JAMES WILSON. 
 
 OLIVER WOLCOTT.
 
 CONTENTS OF VOLUME 1. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The American Union New York under the Dutch Conquest by England 
 Religious Feuds Political Differences Taxation Liberty of Press 
 Albany Convention Plan of Union Treaty of Paris Sugar Act Com- 
 mittees of Correspondence Stamp Act Popular Excitement Stamp Ac t 
 Congress Popular Violence Repeal of Stamp Act Parliamentary Tax- 
 ation Non-Importation Episcopate in America Fanners' Letters New 
 York in Opposition Committees Philip Schuyler Virginia Massachu- 
 setts Trade with Indians Supplies to Troops Address of a Son of 
 Liberty Voted a Libel Sclmyler in Opposition Election by Ballot 
 Liberty Pole Riots in New York McDougall Imprisoned Boston Mas- 
 sacre Non-Importation abandoned McDougall at large Arrival of 
 Hamilton 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Nevis Birth-place of Hamilton His Descent and Education Letter to 
 Stevens Studies Describes a Hurricane At School in New Jersey 
 Visits Princeton Enters King's College Religious Impressions Destruc- 
 tion of Tea Boston Port Bill Quebec Bill New York Committee A 
 Congress proposed Meeting in the Fields Hamilton's Speech Election 
 of Delegates .......... 40 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 First Continental Congress Defence of Ministry, by A. W. Farmer Full 
 Vindication View of the Controversy The Farmer Refuted Ministerial 
 Ascendency in New York Unsuccessful opposition Schuyler Clinton 
 Jay Dutch population New York Assembly adjourns Provincial Con- 
 gress elected Society Library Sears imprisoned Liberated Washing- 
 ton at Fairfax Parliament Chatham's Conciliatory Bill Burke Re- 
 strictive Acts Franklin British troops march to Salem Timothy 
 Pickering Battle of Lexington Risings of the People Measures of hos-
 
 vi CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. 
 
 tility New York Commotions Capture of Crown Point and Ticonaeroga 
 Second Congress Its proceedings Address to Canada Washington 
 Commander-in-Chief General Staff Emission of Paper Money Indian 
 Departments Bunker's Hill Manifestoes by Congress New York Con- 
 gress Washington Tryon Plan of Conciliation Quebec Bill Hamil- 
 ton's " Remarks " Joins a Volunteer Corps Fire of the Asia Commo- 
 tions in New York Hamilton's Appeals to the Mob Flight of Tryon 
 Attack on the Press Hamilton's intervention .... 58 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Councils at New York Schuyler Proceedings of Congress New Army 
 Advance into Canada Death of Montgomery Evacuation of Boston 
 Burning of Norfolk Washington Parliament Fox Burke Prohibi- 
 tion of Trade Armed Subsidies Declaration by Congress Slave Trade 
 prohibited Approaches to Independence Hamilton Ripening opinions 
 of Colonies Recommendation to form Governments Declaration of In- 
 dependence Its Reception 102 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Hamilton appointed Captain of Artillery His Studies Initiative idea of a 
 National Government Howe near New York Washington in command 
 Tryon Putnam Battle of Long Island Retreat to Harlem Hamil- 
 ton's first interview with Washington Movements of Armies Battle of 
 White Plains Hamilton's conduct Armies retire Fort Washington 
 captured Washington crosses the Hudson Pursuit by the British Stand 
 at the Raritan Hamilton Battles of Trenton and Princeton Post at 
 Morristown 120 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Conduct of General Lee Remonstrances of Washington Capture of Lee Heath 
 Sullivan in command Gates John Adams, His alarm and flight 
 Return and Censure of Washington Nathaniel Greene John Sullivan 
 Henry Knox Col. Harrison Tilghman Meade Webb Hamilton 
 Aid to Washington 139 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Hamilton to Committee of New York Washington as to his Staff Hamilton 
 as Correspondent for Washington Washington to Congress Hamilton to 
 Howe To Sterling To New York Convention Washington as to Great 
 Britain France State Governments Constitution of New York Ham- 
 ilton in favor of Representative Democracies Lenity to disaffected As 
 to Prisoners To Howe ... 172
 
 CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. v ij 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Hamilton as to policy of Enemy Positions of Americans Letters to Put- 
 natn Hamilton as to policy of America Foreign Mercenaries Mirabeau's 
 appeal Letters to Trumbull Northern army Discontents of Connecti- 
 cut troops Schuyler Wooster Schuyler proposes to resign Washing- 
 ton interposes Gates ordered to Canada Schuyler s deportment Dis- 
 content of Gates Visit to Congress Burgoyne near Lake Champlain 
 Ticonderoga retaken Retreat of St. Clair Arnold to Northern array 
 Hamilton for Washington to Schuyler to G. Morris Movements ol 
 Howe 201 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Schuyler's movements Letter by Hamilton Letter of Doctor Knox Reply 
 Views as to Burgoyne Letter to Putnam Alarms at Albany Letter 
 to Trumbull Hostility of New England to Schuyler Superseded by Gates 
 Hamilton to New York Council of Safety To Governor Clinton To 
 Livingston as to Burgoyne Morgan's corps Letter for Washington to 
 Congress as to operations of army Sullivan on Staten Island Vindica- 
 tion of him , 240 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Howe at head of Elk Advance of Cornwallis Washington at Chadsford 
 Hamilton to G. Morris Battle of Brandy wine Retreat of Americana Sul- 
 livan vindicated Letter by Hamilton to Congress Fired upon when re- 
 connoitring Letters to Hancock John Adams' second flight, and cen- 
 sure of Washington Hamilton ordered to impress at Philadelphia Letter 
 to Congress Details movements of army Howe takes Philadelphia 
 Encamps at Germantown Urgent Letters by Hamilton Battle of Ger- 
 mantown McDougall promoted Admiral Howe in Delaware Letters 
 by Hamilton to Cols. Greene, Smith, Hazlewood Attack and Defence of 
 Red Bank Death of Donop 267 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Bnrgoyne's advance Schuyler retires Stark Battle of Bennington Gates 
 in command Schuyler to G. Morris Letter by Hamilton to Gutes 
 Hamilton to G. Morris Battle of Bemis Heights Arnold His contro- 
 versy with Gates Misconduct of Putnam Capture of Forts Montgomery 
 and Clinton Victory at Saratoga Gallantry of Morgan and Arnold 
 Retreat and surrender of Burgoyne Maraud of Vaughan and Tryon 
 Putnam , . 302
 
 CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Mission of Hamilton to Gates Letters to Washington Misconduct of Gates 
 and Putnam Clinton's energy Washington to Hamilton Putnam to 
 Washington Rebuked Fortification of Highlands Forts Mifflin and 
 Mercer evacuated Duplessis 337 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Hostility of Gates to Washington Lovell and Reed to Gates The Cabal 
 Conway Richard Henry Lee Mifflin Gates chosen to Board of War 
 Lovell to Gates Gates' correspondence with Washington Conway . 365 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Intrigues of Cabal Letters by Hamilton to Congress Conway to Washington 
 Committee to Head Quarters Army at Valley Forge Rush and Shippen 
 Craig to Washington Rush to Patrick Henry Gates to Washington 
 - Reply Expedition to Canada Lafayette G. Morris to Washington 
 Disgrace of Conway Mifflin resigns Gordon to Washington Reply 
 Cabal discomfited John Adams A party to it His Notions Samuel 
 Adams His instrumentality Character of Congress by G. Morris, and 
 by Hamilton 386 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The American Army Its organization Foreign officers Hamilton to Duer 
 Washington to Lee Army plan Draft by Hamilton Wants of army 
 Greene Quarter-Master-General Inspector-General Steuben Reduction 
 of corps Inspectorship draft by Hamilton Indians Prisoners Exchange 
 of Hamilton for Washington to Congress Hamilton to Sir H. Clinton 
 Appointed to negotiate cartel Half pay to officers Letter by Hamilton 
 Supplies Treaties with France Conciliatory bills Proceedings of 
 Congress Letter to Tryon Address by Congress Letter by Hamilton 
 to Greene Reorganization of Army Exchange of Prisoners . 425 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 Force and policy of Enemy Movement under La Fayette Surprised at Barren 
 Hill Council of War Hamilton's comment Enemy leave Philadelphia 
 Hamilton draws instructions to Arnold Movement of Americans Hamil- 
 ton to Putnam to Cadwallader Council of war Greene and Hamilton 
 Conduct of General Lee Order to La Fayette Hamilton sent forward
 
 CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. J x 
 
 Writes to La Fayette and to Washington Order to General Lee Battle of 
 Monmouth Enemy proceeds to Sandy Hook Hamilton to Boudinot Con- 
 duct of Washington and Lee Court-martial Lee suspended Duel with 
 Laurens Death of Otis 459 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Marine of France D'Estaing Mission of Hamilton Sullivan in Rhode Isl- 
 and Hamilton to Washington to Boudinot as to Steuben Events at 
 Rhode Island Hamilton for Washington to Greene, Sullivan and Governor 
 Clinton Dissatisfaction of La Fayette Letter to Sullivan Hamilton to 
 La Fayette Hamilton to Boudinot Resolutions of Congress Letter by 
 Hamilton to D'Estaing Washington takes position on Hudson McDougall 
 as to Gates Lovell to Gates Report by Hamilton as to conquest of 
 Canada Hamilton as to policy of the enemy Arrival and audience of 
 Gerard de Rayneval Franklin sole envoy to France Instructions Ham- 
 ilton for Washington as to movements upon Canada Hamilton commis- 
 sioner to negotiate exchange of prisoners Hamilton for Washington to 
 Congress Hamilton for Washington to McDougall and Schuyler Inva- 
 sion of Canada abandoned Washington to Harrison and to Reed Hamil- 
 ton writes essays of Publius ....... 482 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Hamilton as to recruiting and operations of army Plan of campaign Ham- 
 ilton to committee as to provisions for officers Draws plan as to supply 
 of clothing also new plan of Inspectorship Inroads of enemy upon New 
 Jersey Attempt to seize Governor Livingston Hamilton addresses him 
 in behalf of Washington Dissuades seizure of Sir Henry Clinton Hamil- 
 ton to La Luzerne for Washington Hamilton to Jay Black levies and 
 Emancipation of Slaves Army for Southern States Lanrens to Hamilton 
 Reply Hamilton for Washington to Congress Hamilton for Washing- 
 ton to Gates Reply Hamilton to G. Morris for Washington Resigna- 
 tions by officers Jersey line Letter for Washington by Hamilton Letter 
 to Congress Frontier alarms Instructions by Hamilton to Sullivan In- 
 dian campaign Exchange of prisoners . . . . . 518 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Hamilton for Washington to Wayne Expedition of Enemy to New Haven 
 Burning of Fairfield Attack and capture of Stony Point Colonel Fleury 
 "War in South Carolina Lincoln relieves Charleston Hamilton for 
 Washington to Lincoln Attack by Colonel Lee on post at Paulus Hook 
 Hamilton as to special commands Hamilton to Duane Hamilton to 
 Steuben Conference of Washington and La Luzerne Delinquency of Vir- 
 ginia Patrick Henry to Washington Reply by Hamilton Hamilton's
 
 CONTENTS OF VOLUME 1. 
 
 mission to D'Estaing Attack on Savannah and defeat Death of Pulaski 
 Hamilton contemplated for special mission to France Letter of Laurens 
 Hamilton for Washington to Congress Depreciation of currency De- 
 fective administration by Boards Crude schemes of Finance Hamilton 
 to Robert Morris, proposing an effective financial policy a foreign Loan 
 a Bank of the United States an Executive ministry of separate De- 
 partments 547
 
 THE HISTOEY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INDEPENDENCE was the natural ultimate condition of 
 colonies as vigorous and remote from the parent govern- 
 ment as were those of North America. 
 
 What form of being these independencies would as- 
 sume, whether of distinct sovereignties, or of parties to 
 one, or to several Federal compacts, or of members of 
 one controlling National system, was the problem of their 
 happiness. 
 
 As the " first idea of a real UNION or THE PEOPLE OP 
 THE UNITED STATES," is ascribed to ALEXANDER HAM- 
 ILTON ; * and as he had a large share in moulding their 
 
 * " Indeed he was the first to perceive and develop the idea of a real union 
 of the people of the United States." History of the Constitution of the United 
 States, by George Ticknor Curtis, L 413. 
 
 " Out of this boundless chaos, out of this immense mass of conflicting ele- 
 ments, the fair and majestic form of the American Federal Constitution grad- 
 ually arose, created by the masterly touch of his hand." The Life and Times of 
 Alexander Hamilton, Philadelphia, 1856. 
 
 VOL. L 1.
 
 2 THE KEPUBLIC. 
 
 destinies, it is proposed to trace in his life and writings 
 the history of the origin and early policy of this GREAT 
 REPUBLIC. 
 
 In this view it is of especial interest to advert to the 
 peculiar state and character of the colony of New York 
 the scene of his first and latest efforts where the idea 
 of an effective Union earliest took a definite shape. 
 
 Of all British America, this province had the greatest 
 natural advantages. Situate between those parallels of 
 latitude which comprise its most habitable portion Its 
 interior a part of that vast intervale which embraces the 
 great lakes that, with their cataract, form the most re- 
 markable feature of this continent an extensive shore 
 line accessible throughout the year, yet protected by an 
 island that breasts the ocean, and with head lands of 
 commanding defence. Its seaport proudly seated at the 
 mouth of a noble river, which, bursting its mountain bar- 
 rier, glides gently onward, ere long to be connected by the 
 hand of art with the far distant gulfs of Mexico and of the 
 St. Lawrence with a genial climate and a fruitful soil, 
 New York only required the exertions of unfettered indus- 
 try to render it equal to all that nature intended. 
 
 Of the English colonies, which subsequently united, 
 this alone was first peopled by persons not of English 
 descent. 
 
 Six years after * the settlement of Virginia, a grant was 
 made by the States General to " The United New Nether- 
 land Company," on the plea of its discovery, of the terri- 
 tory lying on the coast of North America, between the 
 rivers Connecticut and Delaware, by them designated as 
 the " New Netherlands." This grant conferred the exclu- 
 sive right of visiting and trading with this distant region. 
 The sole object of this colonization was trade with the 
 
 1C14.
 
 HAMILTON. ^ 
 
 Indians, to protect which, an earthen fort was erected 
 at New Amsterdam, now the city of New York ; * and 
 another of pine logs at Fort Orange, now Albany, where 
 the traffic in furs and peltry was conducted. In the be- 
 ginning, a close monopoly, it was ere long opened to pri- 
 vate merchants paying to the company fixed duties of 
 import and export. 
 
 Soon after the organization of this company, its inter- 
 ests were transferred to a more numerous association, 
 called the " Dutch West India Company," composed of 
 wealthy and enterprising merchants. 
 
 Of these, a few purchased lands from the Indians ; and 
 obtained renewable patents f from the company, whose 
 managers were termed "Lords Directors." These pa- 
 tentees were known as " Patroons ; " at whose expense 
 some of the first settlers were transferred hither, and 
 others at the joint expense of the company. 
 
 * " The colony was planted, at this time, on the Ufanhates, where a fort was 
 staked out. * * * The counting-house there is kept in a stone building, 
 thatched with reed ; the other houses are of the bark of trees. Each has his 
 own house. The Director and Koopman live together; there are thirty ordi- 
 nary houses on the east side of the river, which runs nearly north and south. 
 The Hon. Peter Minuit is director there at present ; Jan Lempo Schout (Sher- 
 iff), Sebastien Janz Cral, and Jan Huyck, Comforters of the Sick, who, whilst 
 awaiting a clergyman, read to the commonalty on Sundays, from texts of 
 Scripture with the Comment. Francois Molemaccher is busy building a horse 
 mill, over which shall be constructed a spacious room, sufficient to accommo- 
 date a large congregation, and then a tower is to be erected, where the bells 
 brought from Porto Rico will be hung.'' Wassena&r's Historic Van Europa, 
 1621-1632. In Doc. Hist, of New York, iii. 27. 
 
 f The condition of renewal was the payment within a year "of one pair 
 of iron gauntlets, and twenty guilders." This feudal acknowledgment is thus 
 referred to by Prior : 
 
 " The funeral of some valiant knight 
 May give this thing its proper light, 
 View his lice gauntlets that declare 
 That both his hands were used to wur."
 
 I THE KEPUBLIC. 
 
 These settlers were from the frontiers of Flanders and 
 France, lying between the Scheldt and the Lys, "the 
 head-quarters of the Calvinists," * chiefly peasants and 
 handicraftsmen, bound to service for a term of years 
 to remunerate the first outlay. Though poor, their 
 poverty was that of exiles banished for their devotion 
 to the rights of conscience. With them came a few 
 freemen. 
 
 Over these colonists the Patroons were vested with the 
 administration of civil and criminal justice ; with power 
 to establish towns ; to erect courts ; appoint the local 
 magistrates. Their laws were the civil code, the enact- 
 ments of the States-General, and the ordinances of the 
 company in Holland ; to whose supreme court an appeal 
 was secured. Of these settlements, some were Manors, 
 similar to those in Holland, exercising within themselves 
 a limited civil and criminal jurisdiction, and enjoying other 
 Dutch manorial rights ; and smaller " Boweries." The 
 professed religion was that of the Dutch Reformed Church. 
 
 In this simple state, this colony, though with frequent 
 small arrivals from the Low Countries, remained feeble 
 and unattractive. In the town of New Amsterdam was 
 the chief increase. 
 
 Such was the policy observed, that forty years elapsed 
 before permission was granted to it, as a boon, to nom- 
 inate persons, from whom nine men were selected, by 
 the Director and Council, to confer, as "Tribunes," on 
 questions of the welfare of the commonalty and of the 
 country three merchants, three citizens, three farmers. 
 Their successors were to be chosen by the director, with- 
 out consulting the commonalty. This was in imitation of 
 a tribunal of some antiquity in Holland. Two years after, 
 the first application was made to the States-General for a 
 
 * History of Philip the Second, by William H. Prescott, ii. 22.
 
 HAMILTON. f> 
 
 local government, the colony being invigorated by acces- 
 sions of a higher class of emigrants from other parts of 
 the Low Countries who had passed through the furnace 
 of persecution, had triumphed over the long-continued 
 tyranny of Spain,* and brought with them the invaluable 
 consciousness of their virtue and their power to resist. 
 
 Events were, meanwhile, preparing for a change that 
 soon followed. The western limits of the colony were 
 curtailed by settlements upon the Delaware. New Eng- 
 land was pressing on the east, two-thirds of the island of 
 Nassau, or Long Island, being occupied by emigrants from 
 Connecticut, called " the New England Intrusions." The 
 interior was trembling before the warlike Indian tribes, 
 who, as the Six Nations, gave to the colonists the example 
 of a Federal Republic, and, by their successes, taught the 
 benefits of union. f The townspeople became discon- 
 tented with a governor true to the duties of his situation, 
 and, in the midst of local broils, England asserted her 
 colonial claims. In sixteen hundred sixty-four, the Dutch 
 capitulated to a force they were unable to resist. This 
 capitulation secured to them freedom of conscience, their 
 own church worship and discipline, the titles to their 
 lands, and " their own customs concerning their inheri- 
 tances." 
 
 The policy of the first English governor J was equally 
 wise. To encourage new planters, their purchases were 
 to be made of the sachems, and to be recorded without 
 license of the governor ; they were to be joint and con- 
 tiguous, forming townships ; and to remain for ever free 
 lands at the disposal of the owners. Each township to 
 make its own laws, and to decide its small cases ; to pay 
 
 * By the treaty of Westphalia, 1648, the independence of the Netherlands 
 was acknowledged. 
 
 f Golden, ii. 113. \ Richard Nicolls.
 
 5 THE KEPUBLIC. 
 
 its own minister, who was to be elected by the majority 
 of the householders, the compensation stipulated ; and to 
 have the free choice of its officers, civil and military. 
 New Amsterdam, now called New York, was incorpo- 
 rated. Not long after, the colony was recovered by the 
 Dutch, but ere a twelvemonth was restored to Eng- 
 land.* 
 
 Three years after the revolution in England, the first 
 assembly of this province was convened. The English 
 common law, and all existing statutes, not local, were de- 
 clared to be in force, together with such colonial laws as 
 should be passed by the assembly and council, and ap- 
 proved by the governor and by the crown the govern- 
 ment being composed of this assembly chosen by the 
 people, and of the council and governor appointed by the 
 king. A judiciary system was established, analogous, in 
 many respects, to that of England, which continued more 
 than an hundred years, being, in all its parts, the most 
 complete that has existed in America. 
 
 Soon after the establishment of the English suprem- 
 acy, began an exhibition of that independent spirit which 
 resulted from the presence of different races, with differ- 
 ent laws and customs, and differing religious creeds, under 
 a government hated by the majority because of previous 
 national contests, and now, a subjugated people. 
 
 An early, and for a time, an unsuccessful attempt to 
 establish the supremacy of the Church of England, was 
 among the first sources of discord. It was resisted by 
 the Dutch population with all the earnestness of their 
 sincere convictions and determined spirit, as a violation of 
 the terms of their capitulation, claiming that a legal pro- 
 vision for the clergy equally contemplated Protestant dis- 
 senters. 
 
 * 1674.
 
 HAMILTON. 7 
 
 The Dutch were strengthened by the advent of other 
 dissenting settlers. French Huguenots came from Eng- 
 land and the West Indies^smarting under recent proscrip- 
 tion ;' a few poor Lutherans from the Lower Palatinate in 
 Germany, also escaping persecution, were placed, by the 
 charily of Queen Anne, in Ulster, on the Hudson, to 
 which an Irish population gave its name ; other Germans 
 were seen on the east side of that river, while some sub- 
 sequently settled on the fertile Mohawk, called the Ger- 
 man flats. A body of Scotch Calvinists from Argyle fol- 
 lowed, planting a town of that name in northern New 
 York a region as bleak as their own Highland home 
 serving as a brave frontier guard. A few emigrants from 
 Wales were scattered through the province. These, to- 
 gether with the Puritans, from Connecticut, constituted a 
 mass of discordant material,* but agreeing in one common 
 feeling of resistance to the union of Church and State ; 
 somewhat tolerant to each other, wholly intolerant to those 
 of the Romish creed, f and to the unoffending Quakers. 
 
 Before the excitement, which this moving question of 
 a paramount church caused, had subsided, for it had been 
 kept up by recent instances of religious violence, the as- 
 sembly of this province took its stand on the great ques- 
 tion of subsidies. 
 
 Dissatisfaction with the Governor had recentlyj 
 
 * Governor Dongan's Report, 1687. " In New York were a minister of 
 the Church of England a Dutch Calviuist a French Calvinist a Dutch Lu- 
 theran Church." " Here bee not many of the Church of England ; few Roman 
 Catholicks abundance of Quakers preachers men, women especially anti- 
 Sabbatarians some Anabaptists some Independents some Jews in short of 
 all sorts of opinion there are some, and the most part of none at all." 
 
 f An act was passed (1700), "for hanging every Popish priest that came 
 voluntarily into the province," excused for the reason they were " continu- 
 ally practising upon our Indians." Smith's N. F., i. 135. 
 
 i 1705.
 
 8 THE EEPUBLIC. 
 
 prompted them to appoint a treasurer of the moneys raised 
 by them, which, in an act for the defence of the frontier, 
 they made payable to him. This was objected to, and a 
 prorogation followed. The assembly was again convened 
 in seventeen hundred and eight. Its purpose was not 
 changed. Their "Charter of Liberties" had provided 
 that " no tax shall be assessed, on any pretence whatever, 
 but by the consent of the assembly." * They now pro- 
 nounced such a procedure " a grievance, and a violation 
 of the people's property ; " and, with a large view of the 
 future, declared that " any tax or burthen on goods im- 
 ported or exported, or any clog or hindrance on traffic 
 or commerce, will unavoidably prove the ruin of this col- 
 ony." The obnoxious governor was removed, but the as- 
 sembly was unmoved. They granted supplies, but limited 
 them to the year, thus asserting their control over the 
 public purse. 
 
 From this period, the history of this province exhibits 
 an almost unceasing contest between the governors and 
 the assemblies ; the former menacing or soothing, as was 
 their temperament ; the latter firm in the main, but 
 sometimes yielding from special motives or to special 
 influences. 
 
 A short time after their declaration, that they could 
 not be taxed without their own consent, the governor de- 
 clared to them, " If you have been in any thing distin- 
 guished, it is by an extraordinary measure of royal bounty 
 and care. I hope you will make suitable returns, lest 
 some insinuations much repeated of late years, should 
 gain credit at last, that, however your resentment has 
 fallen upon the governor, it is the government you dislike. 
 It is necesary at this time you be told also, that giving 
 money for the support of government, and disposing of it 
 
 * Oct. 7th, 1683.
 
 HAMILTON. 9 
 
 at your pleasure, is the same with giving none at all." 
 They were told, that, like the council, they existed "by 
 the mere grace of the crown." Not yielding, they were 
 dissolved. Their successors, more compliant, and diverted 
 by an expedition to Canada, voted a five years' support. 
 Their septennial term expiring, a new election returned a 
 more determined body. But indications of a purpose still 
 more to limit their limited commerce, alarmed them. 
 They voted a support to the government for six years ; 
 and granted out of it a salary, with emoluments, to the 
 governor.* Not meeting the full extent of his expecta- 
 tions, open insult followed. f The population of the colony 
 had doubled within thirty years. It now contained sixty 
 thousand people, seven thousand of whom were slaves. 
 
 A new governor sought to conciliate this thriving 
 province, which kept up its relations with Holland by a 
 contraband trade, especially in teas. The assembly were 
 inflexible, stigmatizing their predecessors as "betrayers 
 of the rights of the people," in granting permanent funds, 
 which, they charged, had been used with prodigality. 
 They told him, "You are not to expect that we either 
 will raise sums unfit to be raised ; or put what we shall 
 raise into the power of a governor to misapply, if we can 
 prevent it ; nor shall we make up any other deficiencies 
 than what we conceive are fit and just to be paid, or con- 
 tinue what support or revenue we raise for any longer time 
 than one year ; nor do we think it convenient to do even 
 that, until such laws are passed as we conceive necessary 
 for the safety of the inhabitants of this colony, who have 
 reposed a trust in us, for that only purpose, and which we 
 
 * 1732. 
 
 f The governor accosted Mr. Morris, one of the members, on this occa- 
 sion, in terms expressing a contempt of the vote. " Why did they not add, 
 shillings and pence? Do they think I came from England for money? I'll 
 make them know better." Smith, ii. 2.
 
 10 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 are sure you will think it reasonable we should act agree- 
 ably to ; and, by the grace of God we will endeavor 
 not to deceive them." A recent verdict vindicating the 
 liberty of the press in its American infancy,* had quick- 
 ened the heart of the colony. 
 
 As results f of their patriotism, the militia act was re- 
 modelled ; the practice of the law amended ; courts of 
 summary decision established ; a school, recently insti- 
 tuted, encouraged ; the system of annual provision reas- 
 serted ; and triennial elections ordained. Other efforts to 
 abridge the influence of the crown, and for the public 
 good were made, but failed ; and to complete the disap- 
 pointment, the triennial act was rejected by the king. 
 
 Sore at this result, the next session exhibited the same 
 determined spirit in all their acts, but denying their desire 
 for independence. Sir George Clinton was now governor. 
 With a temper little disposed to conciliation, and unable 
 to control by patronage the growing dissatisfaction, after 
 frequent altercations with, and prorogations of the assem- 
 bly, application was made by him to the crown for the 
 direct interposition of its authority. Yielding to this re- 
 quest, a new instruction was issued. It enjoined the 
 commander-in-chief "to call the council and assembly 
 together, and in the strongest and most solemn manner to 
 declare the king's high displeasure for their neglect and 
 contempt ; to exact due obedience, to recede from all 
 encroachments, to demean themselves peaceably, to con- 
 sider without delay of a proper law for a permanent 
 revenue, solid, indefinite, and without limitation, giving 
 salaries to the officials, and providing for " all such other 
 
 * The first Newspaper, it is stated, was established in New York in 1738. 
 The trial of Zenger was in 1735. Grahame's U. S. says the papur com- 
 menced in 1725. iii. 167. 
 
 f 1737.
 
 HAMILTON. 11 
 
 charges as may be fixed or ascertained." And it ex- 
 pressly directed that the assembly should have no supervi- 
 sion of the expenditure of their supplies. Clinton had 
 been recalled, but the assembly were not the less resolved. 
 Vindicating their conduct, and lamenting the discord, they 
 still declared their conviction * " that it is not for the in- 
 terest of his majesty and for the public good of this 
 colony, to raise a support in any other manner than has 
 been done for sixteen or seventeen years past, whatever 
 it may be for the private interest of the governor." Their 
 liberality, without any recompense from the crown, as 
 granted to the other colonies, was stated ; and they 
 avowed their willingness " to hazard their lives, fortunes, 
 and all that was dear to them, against all the king's ene- 
 mies whatsoever" 
 
 This language had a meaning, for unwilling as New 
 York was to surrender its rights to arbitrary mandates, 
 it was most willing to enter upon a war for the acquisition 
 of Canada. This accomplished, the pretext would no 
 longer exist for a demand of extraordinary supplies ; their 
 colonial rights would be more definitely confirmed, and 
 the terrible evils of an Indian war removed. The crown 
 was not slow to avail itself of a feeling common to the 
 British colonies. Regarding, from the recent extension oi 
 the French possessions, a contest for dominion in America 
 as not remote, instructions were now addressed from 
 England to the governor of each province, calling a Con- 
 vention of Commissioners to represent it at Albany, in 
 June, seventeen hundred fifty-four. The avowed objects 
 of this assemblage were to preserve the friendship of the 
 Six Nations of Indians, and to prevent encroachments on 
 the British dominions. The commissions from the colo- 
 nies all contemplated these ends, but their tone differed. 
 
 * 1763.
 
 12 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Most were guardedly limited to them ; Massachusetts alone 
 proposed " Articles of Union and Confederation of all the 
 Provinces for their general defence, as well in time of 
 peace as in war." At this important meeting, among the 
 commissioners were seen Thomas Hutchinson from Mas- 
 sachusetts, Meschec Weare of New Hampshire, and Roger 
 Wolcott of Connecticut, Franklin and Penn from Penn- 
 sylvania ; the lieutenant-governor of New York, James 
 Delancey, presiding. 
 
 The proposal of Massachusetts, though the first official 
 recommendation of a Colonial Federal Government, was 
 not the first suggestion of it. More than thirty years pre- 
 vious it had been publicly recommended. 
 
 Looking to the necessity of a protection prompt and 
 efficient, to be drawn chiefly from the united resources of 
 the American colonists, against the encroachments of 
 France and Spain, an inhabitant of Pennsylvania, describ- 
 ing the province of Carolina, hinted the outline of a Fed- 
 eral system in seventeen hundred and twenty-two.* 
 
 The Indians assembled at Albany from different parts 
 of the continent, in all their wild and various costumes. 
 
 * " A description of tbe English Province of Carolina, by the Spaniards 
 called Florida, and by the French, La Louisiane." By Daniel Coxe. The 
 author proposes " that all the Colonies appertaining to the crown of Great 
 Britain, on the Northern Continent of America, be united under a legal, regu- 
 lar, and firm establishment." 
 
 The lieutenant of the king, or supreme governor, to be appointed by him, 
 to reside in America, and to appoint the governors of each colony, who were 
 to be subordinate. 
 
 The council and assembly of each province were to elect annually two de- 
 puties to " a great council of the estates of the colonies," and, by the consent 
 of the supreme governor, to meet, consult, settle, and appoint the particular 
 quotas or proportions of money, men, <tc., that each colony was to raise for 
 their mutual defence and safety the supreme governor having a negative. 
 Other jurisdiction, powers, and authorities, it was intimated, might be vested 
 hi the governor and this council.
 
 HAMILTON. 13 
 
 They were told, in a general speech, "We come to 
 strengthen and brighten the chain of friendship strong 
 and bright so long as the sun and moon shall endure, and 
 in the name of the Great King, our Father, and in behalf 
 of all His Majesty's colonies, we now solemnly renew, 
 brighten and strengthen the ancient covenant chain, and 
 promise to keep the same inviolable and free from rust." 
 A chain belt was delivered, representing the king, the 
 colonies, the Six Nations, with a space for others. The 
 French advances were then stated, and they were asked 
 ' to concert how to scatter these clouds." 
 
 The Indians complained of intrusions on their lands : 
 " We find we are very poor. We thought we had yet 
 land round about us, but it is said, there are writings for 
 it all." They reminded them of "the condition of the 
 ancient covenant chain, that they be considered with a 
 brotherly regard." " We will take this chain belt," said 
 Hendrick, a sachem of the Mohawks, "to Onondaga, 
 where our council fire always burns, and keep it so securely, 
 that neither thunder nor lightning shall break it. There 
 we will consult over it, and add as many links more as we 
 can." " It is true that the clouds hang heavy over us, and 
 'tis not very pleasant to look up, but we give you this belt 
 to clear away all clouds, that we may all live in bright 
 sunshine, and keep together in strict union and friendship." 
 "You are not safe from danger one day. The French 
 have their hatchet in their hands. We don't know but 
 this very night they may attack us. When you came 
 here we were very strong, you were few and weak." 
 " We now are few and weak." " We view you as a very 
 large tree which has taken deep root in the ground, whose 
 branches are spread very wide. We stand by the body 
 of this tree, and we look round to see if there be any to 
 endeavor to hurt it, and if it should be so, that any arc
 
 14 THE EEPUBLIC. 
 
 powerful enough to destroy it, we are ready to fall with 
 it." * 
 
 With such gifts as were usual, these Indians departed, 
 waiting a summons to that war which was to precipitate 
 their melancholy destiny. Nor were they all blind to 
 their fate.f The commissioners, having stated the British 
 title to these colonies, and the aggressions of the French, 
 now considered the " plan of UNION." It proposed an act 
 of parliament to constitute a general government for 
 all the colonies each to retain its present constitution, 
 except a change might be directed, to be administered 
 by a President-General appointed by the crown, and a 
 triennial grand council of deputies to be chosen by the 
 assembly of each colony. It was to have power of war 
 or peace with, and of purchases from the Indians ; of 
 raising soldiers and equipping fleets ; of laying duties, im- 
 posts and taxes ; the product to be received by a general 
 treasurer, and subject to the president and council with a 
 proviso that the laws it passed should not be repugnant to 
 those of England, and not be disapproved by the king. 
 
 This plan originated with Benjamin Franklin, once a 
 poor printer's boy, recently elevated to the important 
 office of postmaster-general of America, who had just J 
 verified the identity of lightning and electricity, disarming 
 it of its terrors, to which American genius has since given 
 a quiet voice of intelligence, yet to circle the globe. 
 
 This first official plan of a general UNION of the Pro- 
 vinces, neither acceptable to the crown nor to the colo- 
 
 * Doc. Hist, of K Y., ii. 330. 
 
 f " One of these woodland kings, who chalked out a sketch of the interioi 
 forests, rivers, and lakes, with a clear discernment of their relations, dropped 
 the jealous hut judicious observation, that Louisburgh was one key of the in- 
 land country, and New York another, and that the power which had both, 
 would open the great chest and have Indians and all." Smith, ii. 181. 
 1752.
 
 HAMILTON. 15 
 
 nies, failed ; and England commenced a war with France, 
 relying for aid on the separate provincial assemblies. 
 
 Deeply interested as New York was in its result, 
 liberal in her supplies, and zealous in her efforts, still the 
 determination of her people to maintain their colonial 
 rights was unshaken. To secure a pure unbiassed ad- 
 ministration of justice, by giving to the judiciary an inde- 
 pendent tenure of office, was an object worthy all her 
 exertions, but they were in vain. A principle, the noblest 
 feature of the British constitution, was not to be extended 
 to colonists, however faithful or enlightened. Ministerial 
 influence would not admit such a check. Its earnest ap- 
 peal to the crown was not only rejected, but it was an- 
 nounced, that not merely the tenure of the office of chief 
 justice, but the amount and payment of his salary, would 
 be at the pleasure of the king. 
 
 The treaty of Paris in seventeen hundred sixty-three 
 terminated this war. France ceased to be a rival on this 
 continent. England triumphed. The colonies exulted. 
 Both were engrossed with the present successes. France 
 alone, looking into the future, found consolation for her 
 losses in the assurance that, through them, the birth of an 
 empire able to cope with her late enemy, was near. 
 
 The recent efforts of the colonies and the burthens 
 they had incurred, ought to have given them at least a 
 short respite from the exactions of England. But the 
 crown reasoned, as crowned heads are wont to do, for its 
 power and its prerogative ; and it found in mercenary 
 parliaments not unwilling tools. The power of the king 
 had been limited by the revolution. Despotism now took 
 refuge in the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy. 
 
 Hitherto the quarrels of government had been with 
 each separate colony. They now assumed the compre- 
 hensive and more imposing- form of a general controversy
 
 16 THE EEPUBLIC. 
 
 with them all upon a great, common, vital principle. 
 Parliament claimed the right, not merely of regulating 
 their trade, but of levying in the colonies internal taxes. 
 
 The first official proposal to carry into effect this new 
 doctrine originated at a MILITARY CONCLAVE. " At a 
 COUNCIL held at the CAMP at ALEXANDRIA in Virginia on 
 the fourteenth of April, seventeen hundred fifty-five, 
 General Braddock, in pursuance of his instructions, pro- 
 posed that ' a COMMON FUND ' be established in the colonies 
 for carrying on the services under his direction. The 
 colonial governors present advised him of their unsuccess- 
 ful efforts with the assemblies for the establishment of 
 such a fund ; gave it as their opinion that it can never be 
 done 'without the aid of parliament ;' and unanimously 
 recommended that it should be proposed to his majesty's 
 ministers to find out some method of COMPELLING them to 
 do it." * 
 
 While this suggestion was under consideration, an act 
 was passed, at the instance of the British West Indies, 
 commonly called the sugar act, to stop the illicit and lu- 
 crative trade of the American colonies with the French 
 and Spanish plantations, which the war had interrupted. 
 The folly of this legislation was not less than its arbi- 
 trary character. This traffic was most beneficial, it being 
 an exchange of British manufactures and of the surplus 
 productions of the British colonies for gold and silver in 
 bullion and other necessary articles, not interfering with 
 any branch of British or colonial industry, but stimulating 
 and fostering it. 
 
 Alarmed at a measure of such deep, extensive injury, 
 and at the contemplated parliamentary taxation, the New 
 York assembly first approached the governor, hoping he 
 would join with them "in an endeavor to secure that 
 
 * Doc. Hist, of N. Y., ii. 378.
 
 HAMILTON. 17 
 
 great badge of English liberty, of being taxed with their 
 own consent." Petitions to the king and to each House of 
 Parliament followed, remonstrating against the " Sugar 
 Act," setting forth their restricted commerce, and stating 
 the want of a paper currency, " though they had never 
 neglected to sink their emissions ; " admitting fully the 
 power of parliament to regulate their trade, but elo- 
 quently denying its right to tax them. " An exemption 
 from the burden of ungranted and involuntary taxes," was 
 their language, "must be the grand principle of every 
 free State. Without such a right vested in themselves, 
 exclusive of all others, there can be no liberty, no happi- 
 ness, no security, not even the idea of property. Life 
 itself would become intolerable. We nobly disdain the 
 thought of claiming that exemption as a privilege. We 
 found it on a basis more honorable, solid and stable. We 
 challenge it, and glory in it as our right." This emphatic 
 declaration of their colonial rights was followed by a de- 
 risive act, the initiative of all the subsequent movements 
 to express authoritatively the united sense of America. 
 Though precedence in this procedure has been claimed 
 for other colonies, it belongs to New York. 
 
 A committee of the assembly was appointed " to COR- 
 RESPOND with the other colonies, or with committees of 
 them," in relation to the sugar act ; the act restricting the 
 emission of bills of credit ; the several other acts of par- 
 liament, in relation to the trade of the northern colonies ; 
 and " on the subject of impending dangers which threaten 
 the colonies, of being taxed by laws to be passed in Great 
 Britain." * 
 
 * 1764, Oct. 18. This statement is appended to a Handbill issued in 
 1774. See N. Y. Handbills in tbe New York Historical Society Library. The 
 Committees of Correspondence proposed by James Otis, were not appointed 
 until May 31, 1765. 
 
 VOL. I. 2.
 
 18 THE KEPUBL1C. 
 
 The question of the origin, in the colonies, of commit- 
 tees of correspondence has been much debated. The first 
 was appointed by New York prior to the passage of the 
 stamp act. 
 
 Although the assembly " rejected the thought of inde- 
 pendence," its germ had begun to shoot. The press of 
 New York, cautious as it had been, uttered the momen- 
 tous thought, and gave it its true direction. " History," it 
 declared, " does not furnish an instance of revolt begun 
 by the people which did not take its rise from oppression. 
 Nothing but this, sensibly felt, can unite the several gov- 
 ernments in such a design, and without UNION they can do 
 nothing." "The colonies may, from present weakness, 
 submit to the impositions of ministerial power, but they 
 will certainly hate that power as tyrannical, and, as soon 
 as they are able, will throw it ofF." 
 
 Conscious of her strength, inflated with her successes, 
 which had not only given North America to her grasp, 
 but had laid the Indies at her feet, imperial England 
 would scarcely pause. Unwilling longer to be withheld 
 from so large a field of taxation, the petitions of the colo- 
 nies were not read that from New York no one could 
 be prevailed upon to offer,* and, on the twenty-second of 
 March, seventeen hundred sixty-five, the act was passed 
 imposing STAMP duties, and to enforce their collection, ex 
 tending the admiralty jurisdiction, and thus dispensing 
 with the trial by jury. Odious as were the provisions of 
 this act, it had been modified through the influence of the 
 agent of Connecticut f so as to bear less onerously on the 
 poor, and the period of its going into effect was postponed. 
 Franklin saw clearly its ultimate result. " Go home," he 
 
 * Letter of Agent of New York, Feb. 9, 1765. 
 
 f Jared Ingersoll, who labored to prevent its passage. Hollistcr'a Con- 
 necticut, ii. 12G.
 
 HAMILTON. 19 
 
 said to him, " and tell our countrymen to get children as 
 fast as they can." When the tidings reached New York,* 
 her press spoke out. " If the interest of the mother 
 country and her colonies cannot be made to coincide, if 
 the same constitution may not take place in both, if the 
 welfare of the mother country necessarily requires a 
 sacrifice of the most valuable rights of the colonies their 
 right of making their own laws, and disposing of their 
 own property by representatives of their own choosing 
 if such is really the case between Great Britain and her 
 colonies, then the connection between them ought to 
 cease, and sooner or later it must inevitably cease." f 
 
 " These bitter seeds are sown that will one day have 
 their growth," writes a member of the New York assem- 
 bly. " Do you like the sound of a drum ? " J " Depressus 
 surgam," was the answer from Connecticut, " may, per- 
 haps, be a proper motto for America. These severities, 
 instead of securing, as they are intended to do, the de- 
 pendency of the colonies, may perhaps fit us for, and 
 hasten the period of a glorious INDEPENDENCE upon every 
 thing but the blessing of Heaven, which will ever attend 
 a virtuous, wise, industrious and modest people. It is a 
 shrewd question which you ask me in respect to martial 
 music. I will answer you without reserve. Various 
 causes have quenched the natural ardor of my mind, yet 
 the latent spark might still be awakened. My country's 
 wrongs could rouse me readily to arms. Now we ought 
 to inculcate the principles of freedom, and we may hope 
 that hereafter a glorious SYSTEM of LIBERTY may arise 
 and flourish." 
 
 * The " terrible " news reached New York, 8th April, 1 765. 
 f A. Freeman. 
 
 \ Signed, J. W., (John WattsX New York, 9th June, 1765. 
 Keply Stratford, July 5th, 1 7G5. No signature, but believed to be from 
 Johnson. MSS. letters in possession ci' author.
 
 20 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 In Connecticut the spirit of the people rose high. The 
 " True Sons of Liberty," as they were called, met the 
 thirteenth of January at Wallingford and resolved, that 
 the stamp act " is unconstitutional and intended to enslave 
 the true subjects of America we will oppose the same to 
 the last extremity even to take the field. We will meet 
 on the third of February, to consult what is best to be 
 done, to defend our liberties and properties.* 
 
 These suggestions soon ripened into acts. The onward 
 impulse of New York was felt. At the instance of JAMES 
 OTIS, warm, intrepid, and sagacious, circular letters were 
 addressed from Boston on the last day of May to each 
 of the colonies, inviting them to meet in a congress of de- 
 puties to be held at New York in the coming October. 
 The alarm spread far and wide. Every colony was in 
 commotion every interest in clamor. " It is the first step," 
 said the land owners of New York, " a land tax for all 
 America will be thought of next." " We have a natural 
 right," her merchants exclaimed, as they surveyed her 
 spacious bay, " to every freedom of trade of the English." 
 To the churchman's exhortation of loyalty to the " Lord's 
 anointed," the Presbyterian patriot answered, " The peo- 
 ple are the ' Lord's anointed.* Though called ' mob ami 
 rabble,' the people are the darling of Providence." f 
 
 The people now arose, and from every seaport came 
 popular menace or outbreak. The stamps were scattered 
 as with a whirlwind the stamp offices destroyed the 
 stamp officers compelled to resign.J The people of New 
 
 * Connect. Hist. Coll., 256. 
 
 f New York Weekly Gazette. 
 
 \ In Boston, masked men attacked the stamp office. In Newport, men 
 without disguises destroyed it, and drove the customs' collector, for refuge, to 
 an armed vessel in the harbor. At Norwich and New London the stamps 
 were scattered in fragments, the fort at New London firing a saluts.
 
 HAMILTON. 21 
 
 York, now far in the lead, denying the whole legislative 
 power of parliament over the colonies, and vociferating 
 " Union." * 
 
 On the seventh of October, seventeen hundred sixty- 
 five, the first Congress of the colonies assembled in that 
 city, and, after careful debate, passed declaratory resolu- 
 tions, insisting upon the right of trial by jury as opposed 
 to the recently extended admiralty jurisdiction, and on 
 their immunity from taxation, except with the consent of 
 their respective assemblies, as " their inherent rights and 
 liberties." A memorial to the House of Lords was also 
 framed, and a representation to the Commons, admitting 
 their "due subordination" to parliament, its right to 
 legislate in amendments of the common law, and in the 
 regulation of trade, but denying that of imposing taxes. 
 
 The stamp act was to take effect on the first of Novem- 
 ber, and the meeting of this Congress had been deferred 
 to the latest moment, hoping the act might not be en- 
 forced. No such intelligence was received, and on the 
 last night of October, doubting the firmness of the lead- 
 ing gazette, placards were issued in New York, threatening 
 the printer, in case its issue was discontinued for want of 
 a stamp, w ; th personal violence. He obeyed the man- 
 date. 
 
 On the same day, while that city was occupied by 
 British troops, and the guns of armed vessels were bear- 
 ing upon it, a public meeting was held, and resolutions 
 were passed to prevent the distribution of the stamps, 
 and to form non-importation associations. Two hundred 
 merchants signed the agreement, and a committee was 
 raised of correspondence with the other colonies inviting 
 them to unite in this self-denying league. It was a noble 
 
 * " Join or Die " was the motto of a newspaper at this time first issued hy 
 the opposition, entitled " The Constitutional Courant."
 
 22 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 example of sacrifice of private interests to Ihe public 
 weal. 
 
 The next day, New York was in tumult. The pru- 
 dence of the city had spoken, its passion began to act. 
 The sailors left the shipping. The people rose in mass 
 with SEARS * at their head, and not a stamp was to be 
 used under the penalty of instant popular resentment. 
 The alarmed governor retired to the fort, and at night, in 
 presence of his soldiers, his carriages were burned the 
 house of a British officer sacked the colors of his regi- 
 ment borne away. The governor complied, gave public 
 notice that the stamps would not be issued, but being dis- 
 trusted, he was obliged to deliver them to the custody of 
 the mayor. Then quiet was restored. 
 
 Soon after, a large meeting of the freemen of the city 
 called upon the assembly to state the grievances under 
 which they labored. Within a few days the assembly 
 met. A petition to Parliament was adopted, following 
 the language of the late Congress ; and resolutions were 
 passed denouncing in unmeasured terms the obnoxious law 
 the extension of the admiralty jurisdiction to cases for- 
 eign to it and triable by jury, the recent mutiny or billet- 
 ing act, which required the colonies to support the troops 
 quartered there, and the restriction on their emission of 
 paper money. They also formally resolved to defer the 
 vote of supply to the troops. 
 
 In England, the determined attitude of the colonies 
 had not been anticipated by the government. The non- 
 importation agreements came with the force of lightning 
 upon her manufacturing towns. The Commons were be- 
 sieged with their petitions. In the person of PITT, the 
 majesty of the people rose above majesty itself, and ere 
 a year from its passage had worn away, the stamp act 
 
 * Popularly callel " King Sears."
 
 HAMILTON. 23 
 
 was repealed. This wise concession was welcomed in 
 every form of gratulation throughout the colonies. 
 
 There was a lull in the great storm. The clouds were 
 scattered, but it was only to gather and break in denser 
 masses. The patriot press was the great lever of Free- 
 dom. In it, the claim to tax even by regulations of trade 
 was questioned, and the language of the opposition in 
 parliament was quoted in support of this larger view. 
 The assembly of New York again met in the ensuing 
 summer.* Obeying the popular request, an equestrian 
 statue was voted to the king, and one of brass to the 
 great, idolized commoner. The claim of the obnoxious 
 governor of reparation for the injuries of the mob, was 
 disregarded, that of the officer granted. A requisition to 
 supply the troops was again formally made. The assem- 
 bly was not prepared to meet the case. They resolved 
 that the supply of troops in barracks was the office of the 
 crown as there were barracks, that " the application to 
 them appears unnecessary" there was an unexpended 
 balance of former appropriations, and part of this might 
 be used for one year, excluding some of the articles re- 
 quired by the act. Thus a formal compliance with the 
 requisition was avoided. The bill was consequently re- 
 jected by the crown, and compulsion by force was recom- 
 mended by the governor as the only remedy. 
 
 At a session of the assembly in the autumn,f after two 
 prorogations, they were informed of the negation of the 
 supply bill, and admonished of their duty. " I am or- 
 dered," said the new governor, " to signify to you, that it 
 is the indispensable duty of the king's subjects in America, 
 to obey the acts of the Legislature of Great Britain. The 
 king both expects and requires a due and cheerful obe- 
 dience to the same. I flatter myself that on a due con- 
 
 * 1766. t Nov. 17.
 
 24 THE KEPUBLIC. 
 
 sideration of this letter, no difficulties can properly arise, 
 or the least objection be made, to the provision for the 
 troops, as required by the act of Parliament." * The as- 
 sembly answered, that they understood the law as only 
 referring to soldiers when " on the march ; " that in the 
 previous vote they had contributed more than had been 
 imposed on any other colony ; that they were willing to 
 support his majesty's government as is most suitable to 
 the circumstances of the people they represent ; and said, 
 " We cannot consent, with our duty to our constituents, 
 to put it in the power of any person (whatever confidence 
 we may have in his prudence and integrity,) to lay such 
 burthens on them." This determined attitude was fol- 
 lowed by another prorogation. 
 
 While the question had assumed this grave form, the 
 public feeling of the eastern and middle colonies was 
 aroused by a discussion of intense interest. As early as 
 the reign of Anne, the project of establishing an episco- 
 pate in America had been contemplated. It was supposed 
 that the good humor consequent on the repeal of the 
 stamp act might warrant the experiment, and a sermon of 
 an English bishop,f indicating its policy, was now received 
 in America. To a vast population of Dissenters, nothing 
 could be more offensive. The press teemed. The Epis- 
 copal clergy of New York banded together in its advo- 
 cacy. The gauntlet was taken up. The dangers and 
 arrogance of a prelacy were depicted. An endowed 
 mitre, with a dependent and controlled clergy, were but 
 the prelude to an Established Church. Ecclesiastical 
 courts will follow. Where would religious freedom next 
 take refuge ? No greater error can be committed than 
 to undervalue the power of religious sentiment in this 
 great revolution. The rights of dissent were at its foun- 
 
 * Holt's Journal, 1247. -j- Bishop of Landafll
 
 HAMILTON. 25 
 
 dation. And thus it was, that in this discussion, an acri- 
 mony much sharper than all the aggressions of the crown 
 had caused, was shown ; and, ere its close, that the first 
 open declaration and prophecy of a near INDEPENDENCE 
 was uttered. 
 
 " Courage, Americans," said the American Whig, 
 " liberty, religion, and sciences are on the wing to these 
 shores. The finger of God points out a mighty empire to 
 your sons. The savages of the wilderness were never 
 expelled to make room for IDOLATERS and SLAVES. The 
 land we possess is the gift of Heaven to our fathers, and 
 Divine Providence seems to have decreed it to our latest 
 posterity. The day dawns, in which the foundation of 
 this mighty empire is to be laid, by the establishment of 
 a regular AMERICAN CONSTITUTION. All that has hitherto 
 been done seems to be little beside the collection of ma- 
 terials for this glorious fabric. 'Tis time to put them 
 together. The transfer of the European family is so 
 vast, and our growth so swift, that before seven years roll 
 over our heads, the first stone must be laid." * 
 
 Ere this prophecy was made public, England had 
 taken the decisive step. In these her palmy days of 
 power, never was more obvious the weakness of her fore- 
 sight. 
 
 The great " guerdon " of the late war she thought was 
 near, not seeing that " the thin spun life " of her colonial 
 empire was soon to end. Townshend, the premier, as 
 " a blind fury " applied " the shears." f 
 
 New York was in a state of rebellion. Her depend- 
 ence must be secured. The majesty and authority of 
 
 * American Whig, No. V., April 11,1768; begun March 14, 1768, in 
 N. Y. Weekly Gazette. These essays were by William Livingston, after- 
 wards Governor of New Jersey. Life by Theodore Sedgwick, 145. 
 
 f Milton.
 
 20 THE KEPUBLIC. 
 
 the government must be maintained. At his strong in- 
 stance, a bill was passed, in May, sixty-seven, imposing 
 duties, in America, on glass, red and white lead, painters' 
 colors and paper, and three-pence a pound on tea. Thus 
 the colonist was to behold in the light that penetrated his 
 abode, in every color that reached his eye, in every page 
 that recorded his thoughts, at his favored social meal, 
 the outstretched hand of a master. The preamble of the 
 bill declared its object to raise a revenue in America. 
 An act followed, establishing at Boston a Board of Com- 
 missioners of Customs, with powers, similar to those in 
 England, of search and seizure, to be paid, out of the 
 revenue thus collected, stipends at the pleasure of the 
 king. A third act SUSPENDED the functions of the New 
 York assembly until they should submit to the require- 
 ments of the mutiny act. 
 
 Massachusetts, a year before, had granted her usual 
 supply to the troops.* New York, under the ban, gave 
 way.f 
 
 The " Sons of Liberty " had dissolved their association. 
 But her PRESS was not silent. The great principle of tax- 
 ation and representation was argued ; and, in aid, a light 
 broke forth from Pennsylvania, as bright as it was un- 
 expected. "The Farmer's Letters," first printed thcro, 
 were reprinted widely ; and Boston, in a town meeting, 
 gave the author J a vote of thanks. The first number was 
 devoted to an exposure of the tyranny towards New York. 
 The act restraining her legislation was pronounced a 
 parliamentary assertion of the supreme authority of the 
 British Legislature over the colonies in the matter of tax- 
 ation. Had England meant less, the crown, by its pre- 
 
 * February, 1767. f February, 1768. 
 
 \ To John Dickinson, March 24. 1 768. A reply, in part, was published iu 
 London by Lord Granville.
 
 HAMILTON. 07 
 
 rogative, could have restrained the governor from con- 
 vening the assembly. In the after letters, her right to 
 raise a revenue from them in any form was denied ; but 
 that of regulating their trade acknowledged. A resort 
 to force was hypothetically indicated. 
 
 Amid all the excitement of these discussions, the New 
 York assembly, having been dissolved, a new election was 
 held, and an assembly was returned not less zealous than 
 that which they succeeded. The merchants of New 
 York now met again, and relying on their previous suc- 
 cess, entered into a non-importation agreement, which a 
 few months after was renewed. At the same moment, 
 Massachusetts having already remonstrated and petitioned, 
 as did Virginia and South Carolina, Boston invited a con- 
 vention of the towns, and passed a vote that each man 
 provide himself with arms and ammunition. For the 
 commissioners of customs had left Boston in a fright, and 
 a guard of soldiers was stationed, and cannon were 
 pointed toward the usual place of legislation. 
 
 In the last month of this year, the new assembly of 
 New York, with all these scenes before it, evinced a spirit 
 worthy the occasion. They asserted the right of petition 
 as equally belonging to their body as to the House of 
 Commons ; that the colony lawfully and constitutionally 
 has and enjoys an " internal legislature of its own, in 
 which the crown and people of the colony are constitu- 
 tionally represented ; and that the power and authority 
 of legislation cannot lawfully or constitutionally be sus- 
 pended, abridged, abrogated, or annulled by any power, 
 authority or prerogative whatever." They averred their 
 right to correspond and consult with other subjects out of 
 the colony, or in other parts of the realm, either individually 
 or collectively, on any matter wherein their rights or in- 
 terests, or those of their constituents are or may be af-
 
 23 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 fected ; and they appointed a committee of correspondence 
 to report its transactions to subsequent meetings of the 
 House. Petitions were also preferred to the king, to the 
 Lords and to the Commons, pronouncing the late acts im- 
 posing duties, " with the sole view and express purpose 
 of raising a revenue, utterly subversive of their constitu- 
 tional rights, because as they neither are, nor, from their 
 peculiar circumstances, can be represented in parliament, 
 their property is granted away without their consent." 
 Next, they remonstrated against the act suspending their 
 functions. 
 
 The governor pronounced their resolutions " flatly re- 
 pugnant to the laws of Great Britain ; " and punished 
 them by a dissolution.* The recent declaration of the 
 British prime minister, " I will never think of repealing 
 the late act of Parliament securing to us a revenue, until 
 t see America prostrate at my feet ; " and the recent in- 
 crease of troops ordered to Boston, assured him his con- 
 duct would be approved. 
 
 A new election was now held. In the city a leading 
 handbill was issued, protesting, that not a sufficient num- 
 ber of "dissenters" was included in the representation, 
 but the churchmen prevailed. 
 
 On the fourth of April the new assembly met. The 
 governor urged in a special message, that the old mode of 
 appointing an agent to Great Britain by the governor, 
 council and assembly, be restored. 
 
 The assembly, in order to have the influence of public 
 opinion, the debates being with closed doors, resolved 
 that their votes and proceedings be printed and made 
 public. And on the first day of the session they appointed 
 a grand committee of grievances a grand committee on 
 courts of justice a grand committee on trade. 
 
 "January 2, 1769.
 
 HAMILTON. 29 
 
 Four days after, Philip Schuyler, whose bold, deter- 
 mined spirit had been infused into the previous assembly, 
 moved, " as their repeated resolves and applications had 
 not been attended with success," and with a view " to re- 
 store lasting harmony," that a day be fixed to take into 
 consideration the state of the colony ; and for the appoint- 
 ment of special agents. He then reported an address, 
 insisting upon the appointment of agents by the assembly 
 alone ; stated " that the sums granted for the support of 
 the troops were very considerable, and that the governor's 
 requisition demands the most serious consideration , " la- 
 mented the decay of trade, and urged the emission of a 
 paper currency. 
 
 To check the executive influence, he also moved, that 
 no person " holding any office of honor, trust or profit," 
 should sit as a member of that body. Resolutions were 
 next passed, asserting the sole right of imposing taxes, 
 that of petition, of trial by jury, and that the sending of 
 persons for trial to places beyond the sea was " highly de- 
 rogatory to the rights of British subjects." The indocile 
 temper of the assembly indicating to the governor that a 
 longer session would only the more exhibit his weakness, 
 he forthwith prorogued it for a few weeks,* which proro- 
 gation was extended, and it did not again meet until late 
 in the autumn. 
 
 Thus far, the experiment of coercion had been unsuc- 
 cessful. The cabinet of England felt the pressure of pub- 
 lic opinion and were considering a retreat. To soothe the 
 colonies, a circular was sent forth giving promise of a 
 change of policy. 
 
 Meantime Virginia responded to the resolutions of 
 New York in like emphatic terms, and Massachusetts ap- 
 proved, remonstrating pointedly against the presence of 
 
 * Mav20. 1769.
 
 30 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 an armed force within her borders, and avowing her de- 
 termination never to make provision for the troops. 
 
 The merchants of New York, seeing in these proceed- 
 ings little promise of beneficial results, now determined 
 to appeal more strongly to the interests of England. 
 They passed resolutions that the non-importation agree- 
 ments, then only referring to the glass and tea bill, should 
 endure until ALL the obnoxious revenue laws were re- 
 pealed. In this Boston for a time concurred, but Phila- 
 delphia, taking a less enlarged view, adhered to the terms 
 of the original stipulation. 
 
 The assembly of New York again met in November.* 
 The governor intimated the probability of a repeal of the 
 revenue acts, and a bill was introduced for the issue of 
 bills of credit to be loaned for a term of years, the pro- 
 ceeds to be applied to discharge the debts and to meet the 
 exigencies of the colony. 
 
 The motives to it were the great scarcity of specie, 
 caused by the interdiction of traffic with the foreign 
 West Indies, and the total absence of a paper currency, 
 reducing values, preventing remittances to England, and 
 obstructing a provision for the public service. The bill 
 passed and received the sanction of Golden, the lieuten- 
 ant-governor. 
 
 It was not acceptable to the British ministry until 
 Golden explained it. These bills, he informed them, were 
 not made a legal tender except at the treasury and at the 
 loan offices. " It is a consideration of some importance 
 to the government, that, as the interest money cannot be 
 applied without the consent of the governor, the supply 
 for the troops quartered in this place, may for the future 
 be secured, which has at all times met with opposition in 
 the assembly, and has been with difficulty obtained." f 
 
 * 1769. f Golden to Hillsborough, February 21, 1770.
 
 HAMILTON. 31 
 
 Thus enlightened on the policy of the measure, par- 
 liament passed an act sanctioning the emission. The 
 ministry were also informed that the recent act declaring 
 the judges and other officers of government ineligible to 
 the assembly, had been so amended as to confine the ex- 
 clusion to the judges, which had been repeatedly urged. 
 
 Another measure was taken at this time of general in- 
 terest. In his speech to the assembly, stating that his 
 majesty had been pleased to direct that the regulation of 
 the trade with the Indian nations would be in future left 
 to the colonies ; Golden urged that the consideration of 
 this subject be resumed. 
 
 The assembly promised so to do, and " to frame such 
 laws as will answer his majesty's most gracious intention," 
 confirm the friendship and secure the affections of the In- 
 dian nations. Soon after a resolution was adopted that 
 the Legislature cannot pass a law that will fully answer, 
 without the harmonious co-operation of the other colo- 
 nies ; that the most proper step is to appoint commissioners 
 to meet others who may be appointed by the neighboring 
 colonies, to fix on a general plan for the regulation of the 
 Indian trade ; " that laws may afterwards be passed con- 
 formable thereto." In this view, an act passed appoint- 
 ing commissioners of conference. Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
 and Quebec, appointed like commissioners. " I now sus- 
 pect," Golden wrote, " the commissioners will not meet, or 
 not agree upon any one plan, by reason of the different 
 interests of the different colonies." * They never met. 
 
 This subject was not resumed ; fast growing exigen- 
 cies pointing the attention of the colonies to larger objects. 
 Though engrossed by these, the prominence of this inter- 
 est in the public mind, now sunk into insignificance, was 
 markedly shown at a subsequent period. 
 
 * July 7, 1770.
 
 32 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 This procedure has been interpreted into a measure 
 for the establishment of an union of the colonies. The 
 statement is not sustained by the records. 
 
 Soothed by the permission to emit paper money, for 
 without it the affairs of New York were at a stand, the 
 assembly was asked to vote a supply to the troops. The 
 conflict of opinion was high. Some in despite of the sus- 
 pending act advocated an absolute refusal others were 
 for a middle course to vote the supply without recog- 
 nizing the obligation. The chief justice and several of 
 the council, dependents of the crown, came into the 
 House, and after much entreaty, by a majority of two 
 votes, a small aid was granted without any preamble to 
 the bill, or the least reference in terms to the mutiny or 
 suspending acts. Yet this body had formally approved the 
 resolutions of Virginia, and had voted thanks to the 
 merchants for their adherence to the non-importation 
 pact. 
 
 An appeal was now openly made from the assembly 
 to the people. Two days after this vote,* an address, 
 over the signature of " A Son of Liberty to the Betrayed 
 Inhabitants of the City of New York," appeared. It 
 stigmatized the grant to the troops as an admission of the 
 authority that enacted the revenue laws. In this point of 
 view, Massachusetts and South Carolina had condemned 
 them. Was this a grateful return to the former for their 
 sympathy as to the suspending act ? No. It is betraying 
 the common cause of liberty. Can there be a greater 
 farce to impose on the people than to vote thanks to the 
 merchants for their non-importation agreement, and at the 
 same time to " counteract it by countenancing British acts, 
 and complying with ministerial requisitions incompatible 
 with our freedom ? " What is more grievous, this grant 
 
 * December 17, 17C9.
 
 HAMILTON. 3?, 
 
 is " to support troops kept here, not to protect, but to en 
 slave us. The assembly is flattered with the success of 
 a bill to emit paper money when it is known only to be a 
 snare, for it will not obtain the royal assent." The ad- 
 dress then charged a political coalition, and advised a 
 meeting in the fields, that they should go thence in a body 
 to their representatives and insist upon their joining the 
 minority. If they refuse, send the tidings to every as- 
 sembly on the continent, and publish them to the world. 
 
 This bold rebuke was presented to the assembly by 
 the speaker, and a resolution was passed declaring it " an 
 infamous and seditious libel." In a vote of a full house 
 Philip Schuyler stood alone in the negative * The next 
 day, at his instance, EDMUND BURKE was appointed the 
 agent of New York ; and a motion made by him, that all 
 elections of representatives in the assembly should be by 
 ballot, was carried. This was but a momentary triumph. 
 The ultra royalists rallied, and, though a public meeting f 
 urged " the inestimable privilege," the measure was finally 
 defeated. 
 
 With a pliant majority in an assembly elected for 
 seven years, the ministerial party felt secure of their as- 
 cendency, and boasted their strength. 
 
 The rabble, as the active patriots were called, were 
 now openly derided ; and the soldiery, justly regarding as 
 a triumph the recent vote for their support, and galled by 
 the recollection of their past humiliation, gave vent to 
 their feelings. " The Liberty Pole shall DOWN," was the 
 cry of the soldiers. 
 
 Under cover of night a party of them attempted to 
 blow it up. A few citizens interfering, the soldiers, aban- 
 doning their purpose for the present, assailed them and 
 were resisted. Attempts on the pole were repeated, and 
 
 * 20 to 1. \ The leaders were Sears, McDongall, Lamb. 
 
 VOL. I. 3
 
 34r THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 at last, though sentinels of the citizens had been stationed 
 around it, succeeded. 
 
 A public meeting was immediately called by the Sons 
 of Liberty, " Soldiers found at night with arms, or out of 
 their baracks," were denounced as " enemies to the peo- 
 ple," and a solemn engagement was formed to bring the 
 first offender to justice. 
 
 The sailors now rushed from the wharves and from 
 the ships. Successive affrays took place, until, after a 
 fight on "Golden Hill," a tardy order from the mayor 
 brought the troops to obedience. " The Liberty Pole shall 
 STAND," was the cry of the triumphant people. To quiet 
 them, a right of property in it with a plot of ground was 
 bought, and, after being drawn in procession, decorated 
 with flags and ribbons, a tall mast was raised amid cheers 
 and shouts, cased with iron and surmounted by a vane, 
 with the words inscribed in bold characters "Liberty 
 and Property." 
 
 " The persons engaged in these riots," Golden writes 
 to the ministry, " consist chiefly of Dissenters, who are 
 very numerous, especially in the country, and have a 
 great influence on the country members of assembly. 
 The most active among them are Independents from New 
 England or educated there, and of republican principles." 
 
 The excitement of the people was not permitted to 
 subside. The recent vote of the assembly as to the al- 
 leged " libel " was believed to warrant an attempt to in- 
 timidate the press, and a proclamation was issued for the 
 discovery of the author. Captain Alexander McDougall, 
 to whom it was traced, was arrested, and refusing to give 
 bail, was committed to prison. Upon his arrest he ex- 
 claimed, " I rejoice that I am the first to suffer for liberty 
 since the commencement of our glorious struggles." 
 
 This native of the lone Hebrides, who, with the perse-
 
 HAMILTON. 35 
 
 verance of a Scot, had, as a sailor, made his way to for- 
 tune, nursing, in his life of perils on the ocean, the faith 
 and education of his far home, was not to be dismayed 
 From "the new jail," again and again he addressed the 
 people through the press, sustaining his charges and vindi- 
 cating his opposition. When oppression becomes person- 
 ified it loses half its dangers. Public sympathy is then 
 awakened, directed, concentrated. The imprisoned sailor 
 was deemed the true type of an imprisoned commerce. 
 
 To soften the rigors of his confinement, to evince a 
 detestation of its authors, and in his person to plead the 
 public wrongs, became a duty of patriotism. On the an- 
 niversary of the repeal of the stamp act, his health was 
 drank with honors, and the meeting, in procession, visited 
 him in his prison. Ladies of distinction daily thronged 
 there. Popular songs were written and sung under his 
 prison bars, and emblematic swords were worn. His 
 name was upon every lip. The character of each individ- 
 ual conspicuous in the great controversy became a subject 
 of comment, and the applause which followed the name 
 of Schuyler, gave a new value to the popularity his firm- 
 ness had acquired. 
 
 McDougall was one of the people, and at a time when 
 aristocratic feelings were prevalent, the importance at- 
 tached to an individual of obscure birth, elevated the 
 commonalty above artificial distinctions, and commended 
 to the aspiring spirits of the day the lesson of resistance. 
 
 The servile instruments of the government added new 
 causes of dissatisfaction. After an imprisonment of 
 three months a grand-jury was packed, composed of the 
 dependents of the governor. De Lancey, the leader of 
 the loyalists who had been denounced in the address, and 
 De Noyelles, another member of the House who had 
 moved his arrest, took their seats with the court, and
 
 36 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 yielding to this influence, an indictment was found against 
 him. 
 
 This persecution, the more odious because under the 
 form of law, produced its natural effects. The intelli- 
 gence of these occurrences the more quickened the pulse 
 of Boston. The affrays with the soldiers here taught 
 them what to fear, the courage of McDougall what to 
 dare. 
 
 Ere the murmurs and applauses of its townsfolk at the 
 events in New York had ceased, Boston became a scene 
 of blood. The people would no longer brook the insults 
 of the soldiers. Defiances were given. Sneers arid 
 taunts provoked to blows. The soldiers discharged their 
 pieces among a crowd in a public street. Several towns- 
 men were wounded, a few killed. The bells rang. The 
 old Boston drums beat the alarm. " The troops must to 
 their barracks," was the universal cry. A town meeting 
 was called. In flocked their neighbors Samuel Adams, 
 a humble but educated man, now their fearless leader, 
 confronted the royal governor. The departure of the 
 troops was demanded, insisted upon, compelled. They 
 retired from the town. The " Boston massacre," * was in 
 the ear of every colonist far and near. 
 
 Though the question of British monarchy in America 
 was now solved, no solution of it yet appeared. Ad- 
 dresses, petitions, remonstrances all had failed ; and the 
 only effective, peaceful resistance was about to be relin 
 quished. 
 
 The merchants of New York had to this hour re- 
 mained true to their engagements, although their ware- 
 houses were empty and their harbor deserted. It would 
 seem as though they had seen in the future the buoyant 
 glories of this metropolis, and felt that theirs was a mis- 
 
 * March 5, 1770.
 
 HAMILTON. 37 
 
 sion of free trade to the whole world. But while they 
 were faithful to the great sacrifice, elsewhere it was dis- 
 regarded. Their isolated constancy was unavailing, and 
 they proposed the importation of every dutied article ex- 
 cept tea ; thus, by this reservation, to save the principle. 
 The towns which latest had adopted the non-importation 
 agreement and first had violated it, rejected the proposal. 
 The Sons of Liberty in New York uttered threats towards 
 the merchants, but the impoverished city could no longer 
 hold out. Orders were given for full cargoes of all they 
 wanted except teas ; and the voluntary resistance seemed 
 at an end. Philadelphia and Boston soon followed the 
 example. 
 
 This was the time for conciliation. But to the king, 
 who felt not, amid his royalties, the advancing spirit of 
 the age, resistance to oppression was an enigma only to be 
 solved by the sword, and thus the solution was to come. 
 At the moment when the relinquishment of the commer- 
 cial opposition was known at St. James, an order appeared 
 making Boston the rendezvous of the armed vessels sta- 
 tioned in North America, and directing its fortress, Castle 
 William, to be occupied by the king's troops. 
 
 Massachusetts was not yet prepared to meet this breach 
 of her charter and insulting parade of power. 
 
 On the eleventh of December,* the New York as- 
 sembly was again convened, Lord Dunmore having opened 
 the new seals as governor. Two days after, upon a war- 
 rant of the speaker, McDougall appeared at the bar of 
 the House. Being asked if he was the author of the " li- 
 bellous " address, he answered, that he had been arrested, 
 indicted, and held to bail, under the order of the assembly, 
 and his trial had been delayed. " Who were his accus- 
 ers ? " De Noyelles demanded a categorical reply to the 
 
 * 1770. 
 
 88027
 
 38 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 question. Attempting to state his position, McDougall 
 was threatened to be committed for contempt. George 
 Clinton interposed. McDougall waived an answer, for 
 the reason that, being under trial for the imputed offence, 
 there was no precedent for the procedure of the House. 
 The loyal member again demanded an answer, threatening 
 him with the infliction of " peine forte et dure." Clinton 
 again interposed, but in vain. McDougall was required 
 to ask pardon. His spirit was too firm to be intimidated 
 by this brutal threat. The stout patriot answered : 
 " Rather than resign the rights and privileges of a British 
 subject, I would suffer my right hand to be cut off at the 
 bar of the House. I will not ask pardon, for I have not 
 committed any crime." He was remanded to the jail, 
 whence he again set forth his wrongs to the people. A 
 writ of habeas corpus was granted. The House directed 
 the judges to take notice that he was imprisoned under 
 their warrant, and that the sheriff must detain him. 
 Warm debates arose. No record of the decision remains, 
 but ere long McDougall was at large. 
 
 All was now quiet in this province. But to insure, if 
 necessary, an unquestioning obedience, Dunmore * with 
 loaded pockets was transferred to Virginia, and Tryon 
 with loaded arms, and laurels still bloody, won in unequal 
 battle with his fellow-subjects in North Carolina, was re- 
 ceived by the now abject councils of New York with 
 welcome greetings. In January seventy-two, its assem- 
 bly again met, and the emission bill having been approved 
 by the crown, again voted a supply to the troops. 
 
 The colony felt that England had placed it in charge 
 of an unscrupulous, heartless tyrant, and trembled before 
 his presence. 
 
 No public voice of reprobation was any longer heard. 
 
 * July, 1771.
 
 HAMILTON. 39 
 
 In the dark, discontented looks of the people there was a 
 boding ; but it is a significant fact, that from the time of 
 McDougall's liberation, excepting as to a renewed propo- 
 sal of an American episcopate, the press of this colony 
 was silent. 
 
 It was during this sullen calm, that Hamilton, a youth, 
 departing from the West Indies, arrived on the shore of 
 this great continent, at the very moment, pictured as the 
 future " asylum of freedom." * 
 
 * "The Western World," Burke wrote, "was the seat of freedom until an- 
 other more western was discovered, and that other will probably be its asylum 
 when it is limited down in every other part. Happy is it that the worst of 
 times may have one refuge still left for humanity ! " Annual Register, 1772.
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 NEVIS, one of a cluster of the Antilles, was his birthplace. 
 This small island, which rises like a cone from the ocean 
 to a great height, is supposed to have been so called by 
 Columbus, from its resemblance in form and its volcanic 
 discharges to an elevation in Spain, known as the mountain 
 of " Snows." Watered with salubrious springs and rivu- 
 lets from its base to its summit, it presents in its successive 
 acclivities the luxuriance of the tropics and the growths 
 of the temperate zone. First occupied by the English, the 
 little colony never passed from their sway, and, owing to the 
 paternal cares of its earliest governor, was a model of 
 virtue, order and piety.* This beautiful spot was the quiet 
 abode of Hamilton's infancy. 
 
 His father was a native of Scotland, who looked back 
 upon his ancestry with pride, tracing his lineage in a 
 direct line to Bernard, a near kinsman of Hollo, the 
 first duke of Normandy, and progenitor of William the 
 Conqueror. Of the proud and warlike family of Hamil- 
 ton, conspicuous throughout the history of Scotland and 
 England, he was of the CAMBUSKEITH branch, the head 
 
 * History of West Indies, by Thomas Coke, LL. D. HistoSre Philosophique 
 ct Politique des etablisemens et du commerce des Europeans dans les deux 
 Indes. Par Raynat, vii. 376.
 
 HAMILTON. 41 
 
 of which was Walter, son of the first Sir David de Hamil- 
 ton, Lord of Cadyow.* 
 
 His grandfather, Alexander Hamilton of Grange, the 
 fourteenth in descent, married, about seventeen hundred 
 and thirty, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Robert 
 Pollock, and had a numerous issue, of whom James, 
 his fourth son, was the father of the American Ham- 
 ilton. 
 
 With a just value of the advantages of birth, and a 
 proper disregard of family pretensions, he wrote to a near 
 friend, " Thus my blood is as good as that of those who 
 plume themselves upon their ancestry." 
 
 His father being bred a merchant, and the West Indies 
 opening a field to enterprise, he left Scotland for St. 
 Christopher's, where, though at first successful, through a 
 too generous, easy temper, he failed in business, and was, 
 during the greater part of his life, in reduced circum- 
 stances. 
 
 On his mother's side, Hamilton's descent was French. 
 His maternal grandfather, whose name was Faucette, was 
 a Huguenot, a race to which America owes many of her 
 most illustrious sons, who, in different climes, proved how 
 warmly they had cherished the virtuous and determined 
 spirit of their exiled forefathers. 
 
 In the general expatriation of his Protestant country- 
 men which followed the revpcation of the Edict of Nantes, 
 he settled in Nevis, where he practised medicine. He 
 was a man of letters and polished manners. 
 
 Hamilton was the offspring of a second marriage. 
 His mother's first husband was a Dane, named Lavine, 
 who, attracted by her beauty, and recommended to her 
 
 * " Historical and Genealogical Memoirs of the House of Hamilton, with 
 Genealogical Memoirs of the Several Branches of the Family ; " by John An- 
 derson. Edinburgh, 1825. Appendix A. Geneology.
 
 42 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 mother by his wealth, received her hand against her incli- 
 nation. 
 
 The marriage proving unhappy, she obtained a divorce, 
 and subsequently married the father of Alexander, to 
 whom she gave birth on the eleventh of January, seven- 
 teen hundred and fifty-seven. 
 
 His mother died during his childhood, a woman of su- 
 perior intellect, elevated sentiment, and unusual grace of 
 person and manner. To her he was indebted for his 
 genius. 
 
 After her decease, the misfortunes of her husband 
 threw their only surviving child upon the bounty of his 
 mother's relations who resided at Santa Cruz, where he 
 received the rudiments of his education, commencing 
 at a tender age. As an instance of which, rarely as he 
 alluded to his personal history, he mentioned with a smile, 
 his having been taught to repeat the decalogue in He- 
 brew, at the school of a Jewess, when so small that he 
 was placed standing by her side upon a table. 
 
 There is reason to believe, from the low state of edu- 
 cation in the West Indies, that the circle of his youthful 
 studies was very limited, probably embracing little more 
 than the English and French languages, which he wrote 
 and spoke with fluency. With a strong propensity to 
 literature, he early became a lover of books ; and the 
 time that other youths devote to classical learning, was 
 by him employed in miscellaneous reading, happily di- 
 rected by the advice of Doctor Knox, a respectable Pres- 
 byterian divine, who, delighted with the precocity of his 
 mind, took a deep interest in its development. 
 
 The fervent piety of this gentleman gave a strong re- 
 ligious bias to his feelings, the topics of their conversation 
 opening to him a glimpse of those polemical controversies 
 which have called forth the highest efforts of intellect.
 
 HAMILTON. 43 
 
 In the autumn of seventeen hundred sixty-nine, he 
 was placed in the counting-house of Nicholas Cruger, an 
 opulent and worthy merchant then residing at Santa Cruz. 
 Foreign as such an avocation was to his inclinations, he 
 nevertheless gave to it his characteristic assiduity. But 
 his inward promptings looked far beyond the desk. He 
 thought of immortality ; and fondly contemplated from 
 his island home those fields of glory and summits of honor 
 which opened themselves to his imagination from beyond 
 the deep. 
 
 A letter written at this time to his schoolfellow, Ed- 
 ward Stevens, then in New York, shows his aspirations. 
 
 St. Croix, Nov. llth, 1769. 
 DEAR EDWARD, 
 
 This serves to acknowledge the receipt of yours per 
 Capt. Lowndes, which was delivered me yesterday* The 
 truth of Capt. Lightbowen and Lowndes' information is 
 now verified by the presence of your father and sister, 
 for whose safe arrival 1 pray, and that they may convey 
 that satisfaction to your soul, that must naturally flow from 
 the sight of absent friends in health ; and shall for news 
 this way, refer you to them. 
 
 As to what you say, respecting your soon having the 
 happiness of seeing us all, I wish for an accomplishment 
 of your hopes, provided they are concomitant with your 
 welfare, otherwise not ; though doubt whether I shall be 
 present or not, for to confess my weakness, Ned, my am- 
 bition is prevalent, so that I contemn the grovelling con- 
 dition of a clerk, or the like, to which my fortune con- 
 demns me, and would willingly risk my life, though not 
 my character, to exalt my station. I am confident, Ned, 
 that my youth excludes me from any hopes of immediate 
 preferment, nor do I desire it ; but I mean to prepare the
 
 44 THE KEPUBLIC. 
 
 way for futurity. I'm no philosopher, you see, and may 
 be justly said to build castles in the air ; my folly makes 
 me ashamed, and beg you'll conceal it ; yet, Neddy, we 
 have seen such schemes successful, when the projector is 
 constant. I shall conclude by saying, I wish there was a 
 war. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Dear Edward, 
 Yours, 
 
 ALEX. HAMILTON. 
 
 P. S. I this moment received yours by William Smith, 
 and pleased to see you give such close application to 
 study. 
 
 Such was his aptitude for business and his advance in 
 the confidence of his principal, that in his thirteenth year 
 he was left by Mr. Cruger, who made a visit to New 
 York, at the head of his establishment. His letters of 
 this period, preserved in the books of his employer, writ- 
 ten to various persons, evince a capacity and prudence 
 which show that this unusual trust was not misplaced.* 
 
 This occupation proved a great and lasting benefit to 
 him. Amid his various engagements in later years he 
 adverted to it as the most useful part of his education. 
 The little leisure his mercantile duties left him was well 
 employed. His knowledge of mathematics was increased ; 
 he became fond of chemistry, and in after life urged its 
 study. 
 
 Occasionally he read works upon ethics, but his favor- 
 ite authors were Pope and Plutarch, on the latter of 
 which there remain some curious observations from his 
 youthful pen. 
 
 He frequently, also, exercised himself in composition, 
 
 * Hamilton's Works, I., 2, 3.
 
 HAMILTON. 45 
 
 chiefly on moral topics, to which, at a later period, he re- 
 sorted as a relaxation. 
 
 This talent decided his fortunes. In August seventeen 
 hundred seventy-two, soon after he had returned from a 
 commercial errand to St. Eustatia, the Leeward Islands 
 were visited by a terrific hurricane. Before its terrors 
 had worn off, and while its desolating effects were still vis- 
 ible, a description of it which appeared in the neighboring 
 island of St. Christophers,* attracted general attention at 
 St. Croix. Curiosity was awakened, and it was traced to 
 Hamilton. His wishes being consulted, it was determined 
 to send him to New York to complete his education. It 
 is related that on his voyage the vessel took fire, which 
 was with difficulty extinguished. He arrived at Boston 
 in October seventy-two, and proceeded to New York, 
 where, through the kindness of his friend, Dr. Knox, he 
 was introduced to Doctors Rogers, Mason, and other gen- 
 tlemen of distinction. 
 
 Funds were provided by his relations, and he joined a 
 grammar school at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, established 
 under the patronage of Governor Livingston and Mr. 
 Boudinot, of whose families he became a frequent inmate. 
 
 The principal of it was Francis Barber, an estimable 
 man, who, full of Greek and Roman lore, fired by the 
 prospect of distinction, broke up his school at the begin- 
 ning of the Revolution, and entered the army. Rising to 
 the rank of colonel, he was often and much distinguished. 
 Among Hamilton's schoolfellows were Jonathan Dayton, 
 afterwards speaker of the House of Representatives ; 
 Brockholst Livingston, subsequently a judge of the Su- 
 preme Court of the United States, and others who became 
 of note. 
 
 * In Tiebout's paper, as stated. Five hundred houses were blown down in 
 Santu Cruz.
 
 4fi THEKEPUBLIC. 
 
 Here his industry kept pace with his wider prospects. 
 During the winter, while at the house of the governor, he 
 frequently, wrapt in a blanket, labored until midnight, 
 and in summer would resort at dawn to the quiet of a 
 near cemetery, where he was often seen preparing his 
 lessons for the day. 
 
 His habits of composition were continued. An elegy 
 by him on the death of a young lady in whose family he 
 was intimate, was remembered as possessing merit. He 
 also composed a prologue and epilogue for a play which 
 was performed by the officers of a body of British sol- 
 diers stationed in the vicinity. His friend, Mr. Boudinot, 
 having lost an infant, he sat up to watch the corpse the 
 night prior to its interment, and, during this gloomy office 
 of friendship, wrote consolatory verses which were pre- 
 sented to its mother as a tribute of regard, and were long 
 preserved with interest. 
 
 Before the end of the year he was deemed fit to enter 
 upon his collegiate course, and after returning to New 
 York, proceeded with Mr. Mulligan,* in whose house he 
 lodged, on a visit to Dr. Witherspoon, the distinguished 
 
 * Hercules Mulligan, from whose written narrative many of the incidents 
 of Hamilton's early life are derived, was a brother of Mr. Mulligan, of the firm 
 of Kortwright and Company, to whom West India produce was consigned, to 
 be sold and appropriated to the support of Hamilton. He had been very active 
 in the earlier scenes of the Revolution, aud outlived most of the Revolutionary 
 race. He was chosen one of the Committee of One Hundred, and after tin; 
 battle of Long Island, he, with many other whigs, left the city. A party ot 
 tories, it is related, seized him at midnight, threw a blanket over him, and 
 carried him to New York, where he was detained. After Hamilton entered 
 the family of Washington, Mulligan became the confidential correspondent of 
 the commander-in-chief, furnished most important intelligence, and apprised 
 him of a plot to seize him. When Arnold reached New York, Mulligan was 
 seized and thrown into the Provost, in hopes of fixing on him the evidence 
 of his having given information ; but his skill was such that he was not de- 
 tected. Upon the evacuation of that city, Washington complimented him by 
 taking his first breakfast with this zealous patriot.
 
 HAMILTON. 47 
 
 president of Princeton College. After a private exami- 
 nation, he expressed a wish to be admitted to either 
 class which his attainments would justify, but with the 
 condition that he might advance from class to class as 
 rapidly as his exertions would enable him to do. This 
 novel proposition surprised the president, and he promised 
 to submit it to the trustees. Upon Hamilton's return to 
 New York, an answer from the president regretted that 
 the usages of the college forbade a compliance with 
 his request, "inasmuch as he was convinced that the 
 young gentleman would do honor to any seminary." 
 
 Failing in his object, he entered KINGS, now Columbia 
 College, in the City of New York, an institution chartered 
 by George the Second, " for the instruction of youth in 
 the learned languages and the liberal arts and sciences," 
 and with a large view of the future, expressly declared to 
 be with " the good design of promoting a liberal education, 
 and to make the same as beneficial as may be, not only to 
 the inhabitants of the province of New York, but to all 
 our colonies and territories in America." 
 
 Under its auspices, with the aid of a tutor, Hamilton 
 prosecuted the plan he had marked out for himself, being 
 received as a private student. 
 
 To his collegiate studies he soon added that of anato- 
 my,* having entertained the idea of selecting the practice 
 of medicine as his profession. 
 
 With his early companion Stevens, and his cherished 
 and devoted friends, Robert Troup and Nicholas Fish, he 
 joined a debating club, where, they relate, " he gave ex- 
 traordinary displays of richness of genius and energy of 
 mind." 
 
 " At this time," Troup writes, " the ' General ' was at- 
 tentive to public worship, and in the habit of praying on 
 
 * He attended the Lectures of Dr. Clossey.
 
 48 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 his knees night and morning. I lived in the same room 
 with him for some time, and I have often been powerfully 
 affected by the fervor and eloquence of his prayers. He 
 had read many of the polemical writers on religious sub- 
 jects, and he was a zealous believer in the fundamental 
 doctrines of Christianity. I confess that the arguments 
 with which he was accustomed to justify his belief, have 
 tended in no small degree to confirm my own faith in re- 
 vealed religion." * 
 
 A hymn of some merit written at this time, entitled 
 " The soul entering into bliss," is preserved. These ear- 
 nest feelings were not tinged with melancholy. Consti- 
 tutionally happy, he mingled gayly with his friends, and 
 often, as Mulligan relates, " used to sit the evening with 
 my family, writing doggerel verses for their amusement, 
 and was always amiable and cheerful." His talent for 
 satire was also exercised. "John Holt," who then pub- 
 lished a whig paper in New York, Troup relates, " had, 
 by his zeal in the American cause, drawn upon himself 
 the invectives of all the ministerial writers. These in- 
 vectives Hamilton burlesqued in doggerel rhyme with 
 great wit and humor. He also presented me with a 
 manuscript of fugitive poetry, which I considered as a 
 strong evidence of the elasticity of his genius ; and have 
 often lamented that it was lost with my books and papers 
 during the war." 
 
 This pastime was soon to end. Grave events were 
 approaching which would impose on the youth of America 
 the responsibilities of manhood. Boston, about to be be- 
 leaguered, had invoked its sister towns to unite in an ex- 
 position of their wrongs, and Massachusetts was echoing 
 throughout its borders responsive voices of discontent. 
 
 * The excellent family of the Boudinots relate that he occasionally made a 
 family prayer in their presence.
 
 HAMILTON. 49 
 
 The precedent of New York, which had brought together 
 the Congress of sixty-five, was now followed by Virginia,* 
 recommending intercolonial committees of correspond- 
 ence, but as yet without effect. 
 
 In England, the agreement not to import tea had been 
 more seriously felt than was anticipated. An indirect 
 supply to America was obtained chiefly in Dutch vessels, 
 New York thus resuming in part its former commercial 
 relations. Of revenue from this source, not five hundred 
 dollars had reached the coffers of the crown. The East 
 India Company were groaning under an immense accumu- 
 lation. Unable to pay their annual bonus to the govern- 
 ment, or their private debts, they sought relief in a per- 
 mission to ship their teas free of duty, wherever they 
 could find a market. This true policy was rejected, and 
 it was resolved to maintain the tax upon the colonies. 
 The relief actually granted to the East India Company was 
 a drawback of the whole of the duties on teas which should 
 be exported by it to America. While measures were be- 
 ing taken, in England, by the appointment of consignees 
 to this company to carry this plan into effect, committees 
 of correspondence were appointed by the patriots in 
 America to defeat it. Philadelphia was earliest in action. 
 She denounced any abettors of its introduction as ene- 
 mies to their country, and required the consignees to re- 
 sign. f They yielded to the impressive command. J 
 
 On the same day, New York and Boston took similar 
 measures. The consignees in New York resigned their 
 
 * May, 1773. f Oct. 18, 1773. 
 
 \ Gordon not too accurate, i. 5r31. The States of New York and Pennsyl- 
 vania had kept to their agreement, and had used all the teas the market de- 
 manded ; but there had heen imported into Boston, from the beginning of 1768 
 to the end of 1772, not less than 2,714 chests, by more than a hundred dif- 
 ferent persons. 
 
 VOL.
 
 50 THE KE PUBLIC. 
 
 appointments. The persons selected to destroy the tea * 
 were notified to be prepared, and a few days after, the 
 association of the " Sons of Liberty " was formally reorgan- 
 ized. Their first act was to pass resolves similar to those 
 of Philadelphia. To insure their execution they declared 
 " whoever shall transgress any of them, we will not deal 
 with, or employ, or have any connection with him." f 
 
 The day prior to this reorganization, the expected tea 
 ship arrived in Boston. It was hoped that the firm exam- 
 ple of New York would induce the consignees to decline 
 their office. Not so. The governor, though alarmed, 
 was pledged to test the question, and the consignees par- 
 leyed. The people were determined. An immense meet- 
 ing resolved that the tea should not be landed that no duty 
 should be levied on it meanwhile two more tea ships ar- 
 rived. The expostulations with the consignees were con- 
 tinued. Another mass meeting was held, and at its close, 
 at a concerted signal, a party disguised as Indians rushed 
 to the wharf. Having stationed guards to prevent other 
 spoliation, they went on board the vessels and threw the 
 tea chests into the bay. The strong necessity excused 
 this destruction of private property. Expresses forth- 
 with came to New York and to Philadelphia. The latter 
 formally approved the procedure. At New York, the 
 Sons of Liberty called the citizens together. They 
 pledged their support to the other colonies, and appointed 
 a committee of correspondence. Tryon and the city au- 
 thorities interposed with an assurance that the tea, when 
 arrived, should be lodged in the fort, to await orders for 
 its delivery from the council or from the king. The citi- 
 zens rejected the proffer, insisting that the tea should not 
 touch the shore. 
 
 Nor. 29 called " Mohawks." 
 f Handbill. N. Y. Society Library.
 
 HAMILTON. 51 
 
 The New Year opened, but no countenance came from 
 England, no hope was held out. The king was more than 
 ever bent upon coercion. The English people were true 
 to their allegiance and to their pride. " The colonies," 
 was the general voice, " must be reduced to submission." 
 Even Pitt, now Lord Chatham, pronounced against them. 
 Late in March, a bill reciting the commotions in Boston, 
 closing its port, directing the armed vessels stationed there 
 to compel the departure of ships approaching its harbor, 
 until satisfaction were made for the tea destroyed, was 
 under debate. Fox urged with his characteristic liberal 
 sagacity, a total repeal of the obnoxious taxes. Burke, 
 with all his pictured eloquence, warned in prophetic tones 
 the consequences of the measure. " This bill," exclaimed 
 Johnston, who had lived in America, " endangers a revolt. 
 Its effect must be to produce a general confederacy to 
 resist the power of this country in Parliament." London 
 merchants offered to pay the loss, were the bill suspended. 
 Monition, entreaty, argument, were vain. 
 
 The passage of this bill preceded but a short time an 
 act, for the impartial administration of justice in the cases 
 of persons questioned for acts done by them in the exe- 
 cution of the law for the suppression of tumults or riots. 
 It authorized the governor of a colony to order trials in 
 other colonies or in Great Britain, and protected the pros- 
 ecutors and the witnesses and this though the indict- 
 ments were for murder. The act was to take effect in 
 June, and to continue three years. Soon after was the 
 act for the better regulating the government of Massa- 
 chusetts bay. It invaded the charter of that colony, in- 
 terdicted town meetings, except when held for the elec- 
 tion of town officers or unless permitted by the governor, 
 gave to him the appointment and removal of the sheriffs 
 who were to impanel juries. Then came a law rendering
 
 52 THE REPUBLIC. [1774 
 
 legal the quartering troops in Boston, and an act regulat- 
 ing the government of Quebec. 
 
 While England was enacting this comprehensive tyr- 
 anny, New York fulfilled her pledge to the other colo- 
 nies. 
 
 On the eighteenth of April a tea ship arrived there. 
 The captain, informed of the determination not to permit 
 its being landed, acquiesced, and was ordered to return. 
 The bells gave notice of the time of his departure. A 
 vast concourse assembled. The band played " God save 
 the King." The ships displayed their flags. That on the 
 liberty pole was unfurled amid a royal salute of artillery, 
 and the captain was escorted in a pilot boat to his vessel. 
 Thus was he to carry with him home this evidence of a 
 deliberate public sentiment. Another ship with tea ar- 
 riving, the captain denied it was on board. The hatches 
 were opened, the chests discovered, and the " Mohawks " 
 notified to perform their office. The people would not 
 wait their coming, and in the presence of men of reputa- 
 tion, to prevent unnecessary injury, the chests of tea were 
 cast into the water.* The indignation of this city was, 
 soon after, shown by burning in effigy NORTH, the new 
 premier, WEUDERBURNE and HTJTCHINSON. Handbills 
 with their coffins were distributed. The less excited of 
 the citizens were alarmed ; a meeting was called f to nom- 
 inate a committee of a more moderate temper. 
 
 The next day an express arrived from Boston, bring- 
 ing circular letters asking a general concert of non-im- 
 portation and non-exportation to Britain. A few days 
 
 * "William Backhouse to in Schenectady, April 23, 1774 : " He was 
 
 obliged, for our peace and the safety of the ship, to give it tip to the people 
 commonly called " Liberty Boys," last night, when they hove all the tea into 
 the river." 
 
 f May 16, 1774.
 
 .Er. 17.] HAMILTON. 53 
 
 after, a meeting was held to elect a standing committee of 
 fifty, to whom one was added. Of these some were ultra 
 loyalists. It was hoped that New York would falter. But 
 the proceedings of this committee were wiser than those 
 of the popular leaders. New York had already suffered 
 from the infidelity of other mercantile associations. She 
 was unwilling to incur a similar risk. This committee 
 answered Boston,* " The cause is general and concerns a 
 whole continent, who are equally interested with you and 
 us ; and we foresee that no remedy can be of avail unless 
 it proceeds from the joint act and approbation of all. 
 From a virtuous and spirited union much may be expected, 
 while the feeble efforts of a few will be attended with 
 mischief and disappointment to themselves, and triumph 
 to the adversaries of our liberty. Upon these reasons we 
 conclude that a CONGRESS OF DEPUTIES, from the colo- 
 nies in general, is of the utmost moment, that it ought to 
 be assembled without delay, and some unanimous resolu- 
 tions formed in this emergency, not only respecting your 
 deplorable circumstances, but for the security of our 
 common rights." f They paused as to the associations, 
 from want of confidence in the observance of them else- 
 where. 
 
 Three days before, Virginia had recommended an 
 agreement among the colonies for an annual Congress, but 
 the proposition from New York was of more direct influ- 
 ence. The General Assembly of Connecticut, the most 
 popular legislative body in the colonies, now ordered a 
 day of humiliation and prayer. They deprecated the 
 threatening aspects of Divine Providence, as to the liber- 
 ties of the people, and urged them to call upon " the God 
 
 * May 23, 1774. 
 
 f This letter to Boston is ascribed, with great probability, to John Jay. 
 Life by his son, i. 24.
 
 54 THE KEPUBLIC. [1774. 
 
 of all mercies to avert His judgments." Their next steps 
 were to order an inventory of the cannon, arms, ammu- 
 nition, and military stores at New London ; to appoint 
 militia officers ; to organize an artillery company in one 
 town, and a company of grenadiers in another. Pungent 
 resolutions were passed condemning Parliament. Dona- 
 tions to Boston followed.* Soon after, the city of New 
 York called upon the interior counties of the State to ap- 
 point committees of correspondence, and proposed to 
 Boston to name a day for the opening of the Congress, 
 sufficiently remote to enable South Carolina to come in. 
 The mode of electing the New York delegates to this 
 Congress caused much excitement. SEARS proposed one 
 list, the standing committee another. After repeated de- 
 lays, a meeting in the fields was called. The ministerial 
 party deprecated the measure, and, in the interval of 
 doubt, proposed, as a substitute for a Congress, an address 
 to the king, " to settle a constitution for America." They 
 were told, " To the uncorrupted patriotism of Congress, 
 we commit our cause the cause of God, the cause of na- 
 ture, the cause of America." f 
 
 On the sixth of July, the GREAT MEETING IN THE 
 FIELDS was held. As to what should then be done, 
 every heart throbbed. The loyalist trembled the patriot 
 cheered. Its action would be decisive. 
 
 To give effect to its proceedings, McDougall, who had 
 declined a nomination to Congress by the standing com- 
 mittee a man equal to the great crisis was called to 
 preside. 
 
 * Hollister, ii. 152. Windham sent two hundred and fifty fat sheep ; Nor- 
 wich, three hundred and ninety sheep, besides money, wheat, and corn ; Weath- 
 ersfield sent wheat ; Western New York, a larger supply of it ; Georgia, rice 
 and specie. 
 
 f American Archives, by Force; i. 311.
 
 JE.T. 17.] HAMILTON. 55 
 
 Resolutions * framed by him were passed. They in- 
 veighed against the Boston Port Act. An attack upon the 
 liberties or constitution of any of the colonies is an at- 
 tack upon all. The shutting of any colonial port is highly 
 unconstitutional, and subversive of commercial rights. 
 If the principal colonies stop all importation from, and ex- 
 portation to, Great Britain, till the Boston Port Act is re- 
 pealed, it will prove the salvation of North America and 
 her liberties. They pledged the colony to be governed 
 by the resolutions of the contemplated Congress, recom- 
 mending a convention of it, by deputies, to elect delegates 
 to that council, and called for subscriptions in aid of Bos- 
 ton. If such convention were not held, the counties were 
 asked to sanction the delegates chosen by the city of New 
 York, a suggestion which was approved. 
 
 It was on this momentous occasion that Hamilton, then 
 only in his seventeenth year, is stated first to have taken 
 part in the public deliberations. 
 
 It is related to have been his habit to walk several 
 hours each day under the shade of some large trees 
 which stood in Batteau, now Dey street, talking to him- 
 self in an undertone of voice, apparently in deep 
 thought. 
 
 His neighbors engaging in conversation with him, then 
 only known as the " Young West Indian," and impressed 
 with his opinions, urged him to address the meeting.f 
 From this seeming intrusion, at first he recoiled. But 
 after listening attentively to the successive speakers, and 
 finding several points untouched, he presented himself to 
 the assembled multitude. 
 
 The novelty of the attempt, his youthful countenance, 
 his slender boyish form, awakened curiosity and excited 
 attention. Overawed by the scene before him, he hesi- 
 
 * American Archive?, i. 312 f Statement of Skaats.
 
 56 THE EEPUBLIC. [1774. 
 
 tated and faltered ; but as he proceeded, almost uncon- 
 sciously, to utter his accustomed reflections, his mind 
 warmed with the theme ; his energies were recovered. 
 After a discussion, clear, cogent, and novel, of the great 
 principles involved in the controversy, he depicted in the 
 glowing colors of ardent youth, the long-continued and 
 long-endured oppressions of the mother country. Insist- 
 ing upon the duty of resistance, he pointed to the means 
 and certainty of success ; and described the waves of re- 
 bellion sparkling with fire, and washing back on the 
 shores of England the wrecks of her power, of her 
 wealth and her glory. The breathless silence ceased as 
 he closed ; and a whispered murmur, " It is a collegian ! 
 it is a collegian ! " was lost in loud expressions of wonder 
 and applause at the extraordinary eloquence of the young 
 stranger. 
 
 The proceedings of this assemblage were disavowed 
 by the standing committee, und to obtain an expression of 
 opinion that would not be disputed, a poll of the voters 
 was ordered. The popular leaders, eager for an imme- 
 diate agreement not to import, required of the candidates 
 named by the standing committee as delegates to Con- 
 gress, a pledge to favor such an agreement. Declaring 
 their opinion, that a general non-importation agreement, 
 faithfully observed, would prove the most efficacious 
 means to procure a redress of grievances, they were 
 elected. 
 
 The several colonies came into the great measure, and 
 chose their delegates, some by the people, some by con- 
 ventions, others by their assemblies. Those of New 
 York,* on their departure for Philadelphia, were escorted 
 
 * They were James Duane, John Jay, Philip Livingston, Isaac Low, John 
 Alsop. Suffolk appointed William Floyd ; Orange, Henry Wisner and Her- 
 ring ; Kings, Simon Boerum.
 
 ^ET. 17.] HAMILTON. 57 
 
 by the citizens to the ferry, with colors flying and music 
 playing, amid loud huzzas and assurances, that "they 
 would support, at the risk of every thing dear," such reso- 
 lutions as the Congress should adopt.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 ON the appointed day, the fifth of September, the first 
 Continental Congress was organized. Eleven colonies, 
 Georgia not being represented, met as equals, each having 
 one vote. The Puritan, Samuel Adams, proposed an 
 episcopal clergyman to open their solemn duties with 
 prayer. 
 
 All questions of relative importance, all local preju- 
 dices, all differences of religion, customs, manners, were 
 forgotten. Never was the cause of freedom ministered 
 to by men more worthy the great trust. From Virginia, 
 as the eldest colony, the presiding officer was selected in 
 the person of Peyton Randolph, whose black velvet suit 
 marked his precedence. 
 
 The Congress first resolved " to state the rights of the 
 colonies in general, the several instances in which those 
 rights were violated or infringed, and the means most 
 proper for a restoration of them." Next, " to examine and 
 report the several statutes which affect the trade and 
 manufactures of the colonies," not earlier than the last 
 nine years. 
 
 While these subjects were under consideration, reso- 
 lutions of Boston and its neighbors were laid before them, 
 stating their wrongs and merely defensive measures to 
 which they would adhere, " as long as such conduct may 
 be vindicated by reason and the principles of self-preser-
 
 MT 17.] HAMILTON. 59 
 
 vation, but no longer." In contemplation of the future, 
 the collectors of their taxes had been instructed not to 
 pay over the public moneys to the provincial treasury, and 
 the election of officers of militia was advised ; men " of 
 sufficient capacity for that purpose, who had evidenced 
 themselves inflexible friends to the rights of the people." 
 
 Congress unanimously approved and recommended 
 " a perseverance in this firm and temperate conduct," 
 trusting a change in the councils of the British nation. 
 The merchants were urged not to order goods, and to 
 suspend those ordered ; and it was resolved, that after the 
 first of next December there should be no importation of 
 British goods, and no consumption of, or traffic in them. 
 A loyal petition to the king was ordered, assuring him 
 that by abolishing the system of laws and regulations of 
 which the colonies complained, enumerating them, the 
 jealousies they had caused would be removed, and har- 
 mony restored. "We ask but for peace, liberty and safe- 
 ty. We wish not a diminution of the prerogative, nor 
 do we solicit the grant of any new right in our favor. 
 Your royal authority over us, and our connection with 
 Great Britain, we shall always carefully and zealously 
 endeavor to support and maintain." 
 
 General Gage was entreated to discontinue the erec- 
 tion of the fortifications on Boston Neck, and to prevent 
 all injuries on the part of the troops ; and Massachusetts 
 was asked " temporarily to submit to a suspension of the 
 administration of justice where it could not be procured in 
 a legal and peaceable manner." Persons accepting of- 
 fice under the recent act, changing the form of her gov- 
 ernment, were denounced, " as the wicked tools of that 
 despotism which is preparing to destroy those rights 
 which God, nature, and compact have given to America." 
 
 A memorial was next ordered to the inhabitants of
 
 GO THE REPUBLIC. [1VT4. 
 
 the British colonies there represented, exposing their 
 common wrongs and urging a united "commercial op- 
 position," warning them to extend their views " to mourn- 
 ful events," to be "in all respects prepared for every 
 contingency, and to implore the favor of Almighty God." 
 An appeal was made to the enlightened sympathies of the 
 British people. " Permit us to be as free as yourselves, 
 and we shall ever esteem a union with you to be our 
 greatest glory and our greatest happiness ; we shall ever 
 be ready to contribute all in our power to the welfare of 
 the empire ; we shall consider your enemies as our ene- 
 mies and your interests as our own." " Place us in the 
 same situation that we were at the close of the last war, 
 and our former harmony will be restored." 
 
 Finally, an address was made to the inhabitants of the 
 Province of Quebec, inviting their co-operation. 
 
 In the mean time, the form of a non-exportation, non- 
 consumption association was adopted, and signed by each 
 of the delegates. A desire not to injure their fellow sub- 
 jects in Great Britain, Ireland or the West Indies, in- 
 duced them to defer a twelvemonth, as recommended by 
 Virginia, the non-exportation thither of any commodity or 
 merchandise, except rice to Europe. To insure an effec- 
 tual observance of this covenant, committees of observa- 
 tion for each precinct were recommended, persons viola- 
 ting it to be punished as foes to American liberty. A 
 committee of correspondence for each colony was ad- 
 vised, and intercourse was interdicted with any province 
 not acceding to or violating this agreement, which was 
 to be in force until the specified obnoxious acts were re- 
 pealed. 
 
 A declaration of the rights and injuries of the colonies 
 was made, in which the most difficult question was dis- 
 posed of.
 
 Mt. 17.] HAMILTON. 61 
 
 The right to participate in the legislative council of 
 their common country, was declared to be the foundation 
 of English liberty and of all free government. As the 
 colonists were not represented, and from their local and 
 other circumstances, cannot properly be represented in 
 the British Parliament, they were entitled to a free and 
 exclusive power of taxation in their several provincial 
 legislatures, where their right of representation can alone 
 be preserved in all cases of taxation and internal polity, 
 subject only to the negative of their sovereign. But from 
 the necessity of the case and a regard to the mutual inter- 
 est of both countries, their cheerful consent was given to 
 the operation of such acts of Parliament as were bona 
 fide restrained to the regulation of their external com- 
 merce for the purpose of securing the commercial advan- 
 tages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the 
 commercial benefits of its respective members, excluding 
 every idea of taxation, internal or external, for raising a 
 revenue on the subjects in America, without their consent. 
 
 Of all these proceedings the language was that of 
 peace, except where other language was demanded. For 
 they approved the opposition of the inhabitants of Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay to the execution of the late acts of Par- 
 liament, and declared, "If these acts shall be attempted 
 to be carried into execution by force, in such case ALL 
 AMERICA ought to support them in their opposition," and 
 " that seizing or attempting to seize any person in Amer- 
 ica, in order to transport such person beyond the sea for 
 trial of offences committed within the body of a county 
 in America, being against law, will justify, and ought to 
 meet with, resistance and reprisal." 
 
 These were the essential resolutions. They bound the 
 colonies to a common resistance to acts of force against 
 all, or any one of them.
 
 62 THE REPUBLIC. [1774. 
 
 They also declared their opinion of the necessity, thai 
 another Congress should be held in the ensuing month of 
 May, unless the redress of grievances which they had de- 
 sired, was obtained before that time, and that all the colo- 
 nies in North America choose deputies, as soon as possible, 
 to attend such Congress. On the twenty-sixth of Octo- 
 ber, after a secret session of fifty-one days, this body 
 adjourned. 
 
 The recommendations of this Congress were received 
 with marked respect among the patriots of the colonies. 
 A public manifestation of it was now given in Maryland. 
 A vessel arrived at Annapolis laden with tea. The peo- 
 ple resolved and threatened its destruction. The alarmed 
 master sought the counsel of Charles Carroll, just begin- 
 ning his long distinguished career. He advised, as the 
 only means of quieting them, the immediate sacrifice of the 
 property. The sails were set, the colors unfurled, and 
 amid the exultations of the multitude, the vessel was a 
 mass of fire.* 
 
 It would be a great achievement so to impair the influ- 
 ence of the self-denying ordinance of Congress as to in- 
 duce its violation. This office was undertaken by the 
 same individuals, the episcopal clergy of New York, who 
 had distinguished themselves in their advocacy of an 
 American episcopate, of which New York, the head-quar- 
 ters of all the colonies, was to be the SEE. Accomplished 
 scholars and able writers, they again entered the lists of 
 controversy with unhesitating confidence and quickened 
 zeal ; " for the Presbyterians," they said, " were the chief 
 instruments of all these flaming measures." 
 
 Of these loyalists, Doctor Myles Cooper, an Oxford 
 scholar, the president of King's College, an Englishman 
 by birth, held the first rank. Among the other clerical 
 
 * Grahame's United States, iv. 330.
 
 ^ET. 17.] HAMILTON. 6.3 
 
 gentlemen, Doctor Inglis, the father of a bishop of Nova 
 Scotia, Doctor Seabury, subsequently bishop of Connec- 
 ticut, and Doctor Chandler, were the most prominent. 
 
 Of the champions for the colonies in New York, Liv- 
 ingston, afterwards governor of New Jersey, and his son- 
 in-law, John Jay, were the most conspicuous. To these 
 was added the name of Hamilton. 
 
 His " debut as a political writer, was on the necessity 
 and policy of destroying the tea at Boston. The tories 
 regarded this bold measure as a most outrageous attack 
 on private rights, and as an irrefragable proof that the 
 Whigs aimed at nothing less than the overthrow of all 
 law and government." "When he wrote it," Troup 
 states, " I was his room-mate in college." * 
 
 He also kept up in Holt's Journal, a spirited attack 
 upon the measures of the British ministry. f A more im- 
 portant controversy awaited him. 
 
 About a month after the adjournment of Congress, 
 two tracts appeared, the productions of Seabury. The 
 first bore the title of " Free Thoughts on the proceedings 
 of the Continental Congress;" the other was entitled, 
 " Congress Canvassed by a Westchester Farmer." 
 
 In the first, the writer, with much art, endeavors to 
 impress the minds of the colonists with the dangers of 
 restrictive measures ; to excite the jealousy of the farm- 
 ers against the merchants, alleging that the whole object 
 was to engross a monopoly of goods ; anticipates, as the 
 probable consequence, the closing of the port, and the 
 suspension of justice, and remarks, with great ingenuity, 
 on the inconsistency of a Congress, which, pretending to 
 
 * Letter of Colonel Troup, March 17, 1828. 
 
 f Jay writes to McDougall, Dec. 5, 1775 : " I hope Mr. Hamilton con- 
 tinues busy. I have not received Holts paper these three months, and there- 
 fore cannot judge cfthe progress he makes."
 
 64 THE KEPUBLIC. [1774. 
 
 protect the liberties of the people, had sanctioned the in- 
 vasion of every private right, and recommended inquisi- 
 torial powers to committees, to enforce their worse than 
 fruitless agreements ; artfully directing the attention of 
 the people to the assembly of the province, as the only 
 legitimate and adequate medium of redress. 
 
 In the second address, the illegality of the recent elec- 
 tions is strongly urged ; the appropriation of the proceeds 
 of goods sold for the infraction of the restrictive associa- 
 tions to the use of the people of Boston, is condemned as 
 a violation of the rights of property ; the danger of ter- 
 ritorial encroachments is strongly depicted ; and display- 
 ing in full array the omnipotence of England, the chimera 
 of a commonwealth of congresses being able to cope 
 with the vigor of the monarchy, is powerfully ridi- 
 culed. 
 
 The wide, industrious, and gratuitous circulation of 
 these pamphlets, inducing the belief that they had the 
 sanction of the government, they soon became the text 
 book of the tories, and were applauded by them as con- 
 taining irrefutable arguments against the measures of the 
 " Sons of Liberty." 
 
 The zeal with which they were extolled by the friends 
 of government, excited loud condemnations by the popu- 
 lar party. 
 
 They were believed to have been the productions of 
 a clergyman of the Church of England, who had been* 
 conspicuous in the support of the ministry. This circum- 
 stance was connected in the public mind with the recol- 
 lection of the course adopted by the spiritual lords in 
 parliament, and new feelings of quickened asperity were 
 aroused. The efforts to introduce an episcopacy into 
 America were recurred to, and the abject devotion dis- 
 played by some of the clerical dependents of the crown,
 
 ^)T. 17.] HAMILTON. 65 
 
 and their unguarded avowal of their sentiments increased 
 the odium. 
 
 In the journal of the Whigs (as they were then 
 called), the zealots of the day proposed that the author 
 and publisher should be indicted for treasonable designs ; 
 and in a neighboring colony the exasperation rose so high, 
 that, at a meeting of the county, the pamphlets were 
 tarred and feathered, and nailed to the pillory, amid the 
 shouts of the people. Within a fortnight after the second 
 tract had issued from the press,* a pamphlet appeared 
 under the title of " A Full Vindication of the Measures of 
 Congress from the Calumnies of their Enemies, in answer 
 to a letter under the signature of A. W. Farmer ; where- 
 by his sophistry is exposed, his cavils confuted, his artifices 
 detected, and his wit ridiculed, in a General Address to 
 the Inhabitants of America, and a Particular Address to 
 the Farmers of the Province of New York. Veritas 
 magna est et praevalebit. Truth is powerful, and will 
 prevail. New York. Printed by James Rivington. 
 1774." 
 
 After a just tribute to that " body, truly respectable 
 on every account, whether we consider the characters of 
 the men who composed it ; the number and dignity of 
 their constituents ; or the important ends for which they 
 were appointed ; " the writer in the outset meets the 
 question of the supremacy of parliament, as involving the 
 freedom or slavery of the American people. " All men 
 have one common original, they participate in one com- 
 mon nature, and consequently have one common right. 
 No reason can be assigned why one man should exercise 
 any power or pre-eminence over his fellow creatures 
 more than another, unless they have voluntarily vested 
 him with it. Since, then, Americans have not, by any 
 
 * December 15, 1774. 
 VOL. I. 5.
 
 66 THE REPUBLIC. [1774 
 
 act of theirs, empowered the British Parliament to make 
 laws for them, it follows they can have no just authority 
 to do it." He insists, that representation is essential to 
 the validity of a tax, according to the fundamental prin- 
 ciples of the British constitution and the express condi- 
 tions of the colonial charters. 
 
 In vindication of Congress, he observes, " When the 
 political salvation of any community is depending, it is 
 incumbent upon those who are set up as its guardians, to 
 embrace such measures as have justice, vigor, and a pro- 
 bability of success to recommend them. If, instead of 
 this, they take those measures which are in themselves 
 feeble, and little likely to succeed ; and may, through a 
 defect of vigor, involve the community in still greater 
 danger, they may be justly considered as its betrayers. 
 It is not enough, in times of imminent peril, to use only 
 possible means of preservation. Justice and sound policy 
 dictate the use of probable means." 
 
 A defence of the principle of the restrictive measures 
 follows, remonstrances and petitions having failed. " The 
 obligation to a mutual intercourse, in the way of trade, is 
 of the imperfect kind." Self-preservation warrants its 
 disregard. 
 
 Though the artisans of Great Britain and Ireland 
 " are not chargeable with any actual crime towards 
 America, they may, in a political view, be esteemed crim- 
 inal." By not preventing the wrongs, they were partici- 
 pants in them. But " we are ready to receive with open 
 arms any who may be sufferers by the operation of our 
 measures, and to recompense them with every blessing 
 our country affords to honest industry. We will receive 
 them as brethren, and make them sharers with us in all 
 the advantages we are struggling for." 
 
 He next defends the policy of the restrictive opposi-
 
 /Ei. IT.] HAMILTON. 67 
 
 tion. In a fine train of thought he again descants on the 
 value of freedom, but shows, in the conduct of Rome and 
 in that of Great Britain, that the free principles of the sov- 
 ereign were not extended to their " dependent provinces." 
 " We can have no resource," he boldly affirms, " but in a 
 restriction of our trade, or a resistance vi et armis." The 
 improbability that England would resort to force is urged, 
 and the certainty of her failure in such a resort elo- 
 quently shown. 
 
 In reply to arguments as to the impoverishing effects 
 of a commercial opposition, he indicates, as necessary 
 consequences, the encouragement of manufactures and 
 the benefits of immigration produced by the loss of the 
 American market, resulting in the " rapid growth of do- 
 mestic resources which would place the country beyond 
 the caprices of foreign powers." " If by the necessity of 
 the thing, manufactures should once be established, and 
 take root among us, they will pave the way, still more, to 
 the future grandeur and glory of America ; and by les- 
 sening its need of external commerce, will render it still 
 securer against the encroachments of tyranny." 
 
 The effect of these restrictions on the commercial in- 
 terests of Great Britain, of Ireland, and of the West 
 Indies is rapidly portrayed, as justifying the belief that 
 those interests would compel a change of measures. In 
 answer to the alarm sounded as to a blockade of New 
 York, he shows the impracticability of a permanent em- 
 bargo, as producing a permanent severance of empire. 
 
 Having controverted the general arguments of his 
 opponents, he addresses the farmers as a class. " I do 
 not address you in particular, because I have any greater 
 connection with you than with other people. I despise 
 all false pretensions and mean arts. Let those have 
 recourse to dissimulation who cannot defend their cause
 
 68 THE REPUBLIC. [1774. 
 
 without it. 'Tis my maxim to let the plain truth speak 
 for itself." " 'Tis the farmer who is most oppressed in all 
 countries where slavery exists." 
 
 He then, in glow r ing colors, displays the injustice of 
 the Boston Port Bill, and directs the confidence of the 
 colonists to the wisdom of Congress. Closing the sum- 
 mary of their injuries, he exclaims, the " Farmer " cries, 
 " tell me not of delegates, congresses, committees, mobs, 
 riots, insurrections, and associations, a plague on them 
 all ! Give me the steady, uniform, unbiassed influence of 
 the courts of justice. I have been happy under their 
 protection, I shall be so again." " I say, tell me not of 
 the British commons, lords, ministry, ministerial tools, 
 placemen, pensioners, parasites, I scorn to let my life 
 and property depend upon the pleasure of any of them. 
 Give me the steady, uniform, unshaken security of con- 
 stitutional freedom. Give me the right of trial by a 
 jury of my own neighbors, and to be taxed by my own 
 representatives only. What will become of the law and 
 courts of justice without this ? The shadow may remain, 
 but the substance will be gone. I would die to preserve 
 the law upon a solid foundation ; but take away liberty, 
 and the foundation is destroyed." 
 
 A short time after,* a reply followed, entitled "A 
 View of the Controversy, by a Westchester Farmer," 
 marked with still greater asperity than the former, and 
 pressing its object with new arguments. The inertness 
 of the colony is shown, to- prove the narrow circle of 
 factious principles ; the right of legislation in the colonies 
 is denied, on inferences drawn from the tenor of the 
 colonial charters; the effect of an embargo, to sever 
 from them their English friends, is alleged ; the dangers 
 of a civil war strongly deprecated, and a remedy pro- 
 
 * January 5, 1775.
 
 /E-r. 18.J HAMILTON. 69 
 
 posed of vesting in parliament the enactment of general 
 laws, reserving to the legislatures the mere right of tax- 
 ation. 
 
 Within a month,* this paper was followed by a more 
 elaborate answer, of seventy-eight pages, entitled " The 
 Farmer Refuted ; or, a more Comprehensive and Impar- 
 tial View of the Disputes between Great Britain and the 
 Colonies, intended as a Further Vindication of the Con- 
 gress, in answer to a Letter from A W. Farmer, entitled 
 A View of the Controversy between Great Britain and 
 her Colonies, including a Mode of determining the Pres- 
 ent Disputes finally and effectually, &c. By a Sincere 
 Friend to America. Tituli Remedia pollicentur, sed Pyx- 
 ides ipsae venena continent. The title promises Reme- 
 dies, but the Box itself poisons. Printed by James Riv- 
 ington. 1775." 
 
 The author of " The Congress Canvassed " had spoken 
 of the measures of the Congress as tending to resolve so- 
 ciety into its elementary principles, and reduce it to a state 
 of nature. His " Refuter " compares his idea of a state of 
 nature with that of Hobbes, that moral obligation is con- 
 ventional, and virtue purely artificial ; denying the exist- 
 ence and supremacy of a Deity. "For," he says, "to 
 grant that there is a Supreme Intelligence who rules the 
 world, and has established laws to regulate the actions^f 
 his creatures, and still to assert that men are in a staae of 
 nature, may be considered as perfectly free from all re- 
 straints of law and government, appear to a common\un- 
 derstanding altogether irreconcilable." He then gives a 
 just and philosophical definition of " natural rights," and 
 deduces from them the rights of the colonies, in contradis- 
 tinction to the rights of parliament. Assuming the position, 
 '.hat the principle of colonial connection is by grant from 
 
 * February 5, 1775.
 
 70 THE REPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 the crown, he distinguishes between the allegiance due to 
 a common sovereign, and the authority of the commons, 
 which is commensurate only with the sphere of their elec- 
 tion ; and admitting the incidental power of parliament 
 over the colonies as derived from their consent, he shows 
 that the extent of that consent is the only just measure of 
 their authority. The true principles of free government 
 implying a share in legislation : " You are mistaken," he 
 says, " when you confine arbitrary government to a mon- 
 archy. It is not the supreme power being placed in one 
 instead of many, that discriminates an arbitrary from a 
 free government. When any people are ruled by laws in 
 framing which they have no part, that are to bind them 
 to all intents and purposes, without in the same manner 
 binding the legislature themselves, they are, in the strict- 
 est sense, slaves, and the government, with respect to 
 them, is despotic ; and hence the authority of parliament 
 over the colonies would in all probability be a more intol- 
 erable and excessive species of despotism than the most 
 absolute monarchy, as the temptation to abuse would be 
 greater." He contends that the right of colonial legisla- 
 tion is an inherent right, " and that the foundation of the 
 English constitution rests upon the principle, that laws 
 have no validity without the consent of the people." 
 " Natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator to the 
 whole human race ; civil liberty is founded on it ; civil 
 liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by 
 civil society." In answer to the inferences, from the 
 charters, he proceeds to a survey of the political history 
 of the colonies, and proves from the terms of the charters 
 that the idea of parliamentary supremacy is excluded, arid 
 an express exemption reserved from duties on exports and 
 imports. In confirmation of the sense of the crown on 
 this question, he adverts to the historical facts, that when
 
 MT. 18.] HAMILTON. 71 
 
 a bill to give to British subjects the privilege of fishing on 
 the American coast was introduced into the House of 
 Commons, it was announced from the throne " that Amer- 
 ica was not annexed to the realm, and that it was not fit- 
 ting that parliament should make laws for those coun- 
 tries." And, that in a succeeding reign the royal assent 
 was refused to a similar bill, on the ground "that the 
 colonies were out of the realm and jurisdiction of parlia- 
 ment ; " that on the passage of the first act to impose 
 duties, it was opposed in Virginia, and, to satisfy that high 
 spirited colony, a declaration was given under the privy 
 seal, " that taxes ought not to be laid without the consent 
 of the general assembly." Canvassing carefully each 
 successive charter, he shows, that the common principle 
 extends through them all, and that a different doctrine is 
 contrary to "THE SACRED RIGHTS OF MANKIND, WHICH 
 ARE NOT TO BE RUMMAGED FOR AMONG OLD PARCHMENTS, 
 OR MUSTY RECORDS: THEY ARE WRITTEN, AS WITH A' SUN- 
 BEAM, IN THE WHOLE VOLUME OF HUMAN NATURE, BY THE 
 HAND OF THE DlVINITY ITSELF, AND CAN NEVER BE ERASED 
 OR OBSCURED BY MORTAL POWER." 
 
 Having closed the argument against the authority of 
 parliament, as founded either on the British constitution, 
 the natural rights of man, or the several charters of the 
 colony, he admits their right to regulate trade, but as a 
 right " conceded " to them by the colonies, and only to be 
 exercised on principles which induced the concession, 
 common to all the subjects of the realm. 
 
 Pursuing the argument of his adversary, he again vin- 
 dicates the proceedings of Congress ; and after reciting 
 the successive acts of usurpation, and the inefficacy of 
 petitions, from the fact that parliament had never aban- 
 doned the rig-Jit of taxation, remarks, that the violence of 
 the ministry demanded the adoption of efficacious meas-
 
 72 THE KEPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 ures as our only security. After eloquently picturing 
 the blockade of Boston, which led to the convention of 
 Congress, he thus replies to its alleged illegality : " When 
 the first principles of civil society are violated, and the 
 rights of a whole people are invaded, the common forms 
 of municipal law are not to be regarded. Men may then 
 betake themselves to the law of nature ; and if they but 
 conform their actions to that standard, all cavils against 
 them betray either ignorance or dishonesty. There are 
 some events in society to which human laws cannot ex- 
 tend ; but when applied to them, lose all their force and 
 efficacy. In short, when human laws contradict or dis- 
 countenance the means which are necessary to preserve 
 the essential rights of any society, they defeat the proper 
 end of all laws, and so become null and void." 
 
 After an able sketch of the commercial relations of 
 the two countries, he shows the means of self-dependence, 
 and confuting his antagonist, who had ridiculed the im- 
 potence of resistance, meets him on the broad ground of 
 arms and independence : confidently affirms the ability to 
 support their freedom, and by a system of protracted 
 warfare, with the aid of foreign succor, to weary out the 
 mother country, and exhaust her strength. 
 
 The following extracts show how far, at this early age, 
 he anticipated their future resources : " With respect to 
 cotton, you do not pretend to deny that a sufficient quan- 
 tity of that may be produced. Several of the southern 
 colonies are so favorable to it, that, with due cultivation, 
 in a couple of years they would afford enough to clothe 
 the whole continent. As to the expense of bringing it by 
 land, the best way will be to manufacture it where it 
 grows, and afterwards transport it to the other colonies. 
 Upon this plan, I apprehend, the expense would not be 
 greater than to build and equip large ships to import the
 
 ^ET. 18.] HAMILTON. 73 
 
 manufactures of Great Britain from thence. If we were 
 to turn our attention from external to internal commerce, 
 we would give greater stability and more lasting prosper- 
 ity to our country than she can possibly have otherwise. 
 We should not then import the vices and luxuries of for- 
 eign climes, nor should we make hasty strides to public 
 corruption and depravity. Those obstacles, which to the 
 eye of timidity and apprehension appear like the Alps, to 
 the hand of resolution and perseverance become mere 
 hillocks." In reference to the mode of conducting the 
 war, he remarks : " Let it be remembered there are no 
 large plains for the two armies to meet in and decide the 
 contest by some decisive stroke, where any advantage 
 gained by either side must be prosecuted, till a complete 
 victory is obtained. The circumstances of our country 
 put it in our power to evade a pitched battle. It will be 
 better policy to harass and exhaust the soldiery by fre- 
 quent skirmishes and incursions, than to take the open 
 field with them, by which means they would have the full 
 benefit of their superior regularity and skill. Americans 
 are better qualified for that kind of fighting, which is 
 most adapted to the country, than regular troops : should 
 the soldiery advance into the country, as they would be 
 obliged to do, if they had any inclination to subdue us, 
 their discipline would be of little use to them. Whatever 
 may be said of the disciplined troops of Britain, the event 
 of the contest must be extremely doubtful. There is a 
 certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature 
 rise above itself in acts of bravery and heroism." The 
 probability of foreign succor is adduced from the strong 
 motives of a free trade with America, of weakening 
 Great Britain and of increased strength. " Superadd- 
 ed," he remarks, "to these general and prevailing induce- 
 ments, there are others of a more particular nature.
 
 74 THE EEPUBLIC. [1775.. 
 
 They would feel no small inconvenience in the loss of 
 those supplies they annually get from us, and their islands 
 would be in the greatest distress for the want of our 
 trade. From these reflections it is more than probable, 
 that America is able to support its freedom, even by the 
 force of arms, if she be not betrayed by her own sons." 
 
 The firm, confident temper manifested in these pam- 
 phlets and the ardent love of liberty they exhibited, gave 
 them a rapid and extensive popularity. They were im- 
 mediately appealed to by the Whigs as triumphant de- 
 fences of their opinions and conduct. Who is the au- 
 thor ? was the inquiry. " They were judged to be so 
 masterly as to create a general belief in the Tory circles 
 that Jay was the author," but when they were ascertained 
 to be the productions of Alexander Hamilton, a youth 
 about eighteen, a student in the college and new to the 
 country, admiration of them was lost in surprise at the 
 discovery. By many it was doubted. " Doctor Cooper," 
 Troup relates, " assured me he had no doubt the answers 
 were from Jay's pen ; and he ridiculed the idea of their 
 having been written by such a stripling as Hamilton. I 
 well knew the contrary, as Hamilton wrote the answers 
 when he and 1 occupied the same room in college, and I 
 read them before they were sent to the press." * 
 
 Hamilton was at once regarded as a prodigy of intel- 
 lect. " Sir," said the gallant Willet, " Sears was a warm 
 man, but with little reflection ; McDougall was strong- 
 minded, and Jay, appearing to fall in with the measures of 
 Sears, tempered and controlled them ; but Hamilton, 
 after these great writings, became our oracle." 
 
 The importance of gaining such an adversary was 
 felt by the friends of the crown ; and it is related that a 
 most liberal offer was tendered to Hamilton by Cooper, if 
 
 * Letter of Colonel Troup, March 31, 1828.
 
 &t. 18.] HAMILTON. 75 
 
 lie would consent to write in behalf of the ministry. It 
 is unnecessary to say it was rejected. 
 
 When the vigor and terseness of style ; the mass of 
 information ; the closeness of reasoning ; the happy exhi- 
 bition of the weak points of his antagonist ; the clear 
 perception and exposition of the principles of political 
 liberty ; the discrimination between the rejected and 
 scarcely conceded power of Parliament ; and the compre- 
 hensive and prophetic view taken of the great questions 
 then discussed, involving the destiny of the American 
 people and the cause of liberty throughout the world, are 
 well considered ; these pamphlets will be acknowledged 
 to have merits of which a practised, philosophic states- 
 man might be proud. Regarded as the productions of 
 such a youth, the wonder they excited is not a source of 
 surprise. 
 
 During these discussions, in the first month of the new 
 year, the New York assembly again met. The preceding 
 assembly had granted a supply to the troops, and the only 
 evidence given of sympathy with their patriotic constit- 
 uents was the appointment of a committee of correspond- 
 ence as to the rights of the colonies. 
 
 Tryon having, since its adjournment, returned to Eu- 
 rope, the executive chair was again filled by Golden. His 
 tone was subdued. He lamented the disordered state of 
 the colony, and commended to the assembly a calm ex- 
 amination of the existing discontents. 
 
 The opposition was still led by two men of determined 
 resolution Philip Schuyler and George Clinton who, 
 together with John Jay, were the leading patriots of New 
 York. 
 
 When the importance of the concurrence of this pro- 
 vince, and the embarrassments they encountered are taken 
 into view, contending at the same time with the whole
 
 70 THE KEPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 influence of the ministry, with the power of the colonial 
 government adroitly exerted, a large body of its wealthy 
 proprietors actively co-operating with the timid part of 
 the mercantile community, amid a divided population and 
 distracted counsels, it is difficult to measure the value 
 of their services. 
 
 The first of these, Colonel Schuyler, had been a par- 
 tisan officer in the war of seventeen hundred and fifty- 
 six. By his fertility of resource and unyielding firmness, 
 he rendered distinguished services to the British com- 
 mander,* who fell, lamented, by his side, and to him the 
 honor of his interment was confided. Descended from 
 one of the early Dutch settlers of this province, the in- 
 fluence and respectability of whose family had been 
 transmitted through successive generations, he exercised 
 an almost unrivalled sway over the minds of a people, 
 whose frontier position had demanded the frequent exer- 
 tion of all their energies. 
 
 Possessed of great wealth, he embarked it in the con- 
 test, as a pledge of his patriotism, and, in the course of 
 the Revolution, sacrificed as much of fortune and of feel- 
 ing, as any other individual in America. 
 
 Party to the most secret councils of the continent, he 
 had staked every thing on the issue of the conflict, and 
 had acquired a weight of influence which led both Vir- 
 ginia and Massachusetts to regard him as the connecting 
 link in the high purposes at which they aimed. " On the 
 shoulders of this great man," said Judge Benson, " the 
 conduct of New York rested." 
 
 His love of fame was less than his love of country ; 
 and when the misadventures of some robbed him of the 
 glory to which he was entitled, and while artifice withheld 
 from him an opportunity of vindication, he is not seen in- 
 
 * Lori I" owe.
 
 yEx. 18.] HAMILTON. 77 
 
 dulging in invidious comments on the successes of others, 
 but continuing within the sphere of his great influence 
 and resources, to advance the cause of his early prefer- 
 ence. Thus, his strength of character sustained him 
 when other men sink, and his adversity gave him more 
 true honor than he could have derived from success. 
 Sullied by no private vices, and misled by no small pas- 
 sions, his path through life was high, unspotted, equal ; 
 and he died with a reputation, which those who knew and 
 followed him, have contended to perpetuate. 
 
 Sprung from a family of Irish descent, which counted 
 among their ancestry a gallant officer of the cavaliers 
 w r ho fell with Charles the First, George Clinton, in a 
 nobler cause, displayed the perseverance of his blooo. 
 
 In early youth he broke from the thrall of parental 
 authority, and exchanged for his father's house, a berth on 
 board of a privateer, in which he made a cruise during 
 the French war. He is next seen in service with his 
 father and brother, in an attack which resulted in the 
 capture of Frontignac. He then became a lawyer, and 
 was placed soon after in that sphere in which he was the 
 associate of Schuyler, in opposition to the influence of the 
 crown. Transferred by the popular choice to the conti- 
 nental Congress, he took part in the measures of seven- 
 teen hundred seventy-five and seventeen hundred seven- 
 ty-six, and on the formation of the constitution of the 
 State of New York, was chosen its governor, and filled 
 that station during a period of eighteen years. On the 
 first call to arms, he was appointed a brigadier-general, 
 and during the most trying years of the war commanded 
 in the Highlands, and held the keys of that natural cita- 
 del. In perseverance, and love of liberty, he was not less 
 distinguished than his great compatriot ; but in the modes 
 of attaining their objects, and in their political views.
 
 78 THE REPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 they were most unlike. By Schuyler, the declaration of 
 independence was regarded but as the first step towards 
 the creation of a great nation, pledged to the principles 
 which that instrument proclaimed. With Clinton, the 
 love of liberty was a fiercer passion. 
 
 In Schuyler, it was a principle of high benevolence; 
 enlarging with the sphere of action. With Clinton, it 
 was a jealousy of power, contracting and deforming the 
 object of his adoration. The one, conscious of his own 
 imperfections, regarded mankind with a kindred feeling, 
 as full of weaknesses from which they were to be pro- 
 tected. The other, with a profound knowledge of human 
 nature, and consummate talents for popularity, looked 
 more to the passions of men, as a field from which could 
 be gathered a store of influence for his own advance- 
 ment. The one aided in building up the constitution of 
 the United States on the basis of a firm and perpetual 
 union. The other, had he prevailed, would have doomed 
 them to perpetual anarchy. 
 
 John Jay, younger than either, was educated for the 
 bar, and had acquired celebrity in his profession. His 
 father, the descendant of a persecuted Huguenot, estab- 
 lished himself in the vicinity of New-Rochelle, where, 
 surrounded by a small community who traced their origin 
 and their adversities to the same source, he pursued an 
 agricultural life, and preserved all the simplicity of habits 
 and purity of character, which had been cultivated by 
 the Protestants in France, amid the various vicissitudes of 
 their fortunes. Educated in such a school, he espoused 
 the cause of liberty with an ardor equalled by the zeal 
 with which he defended it, and soon acquired the ascend- 
 ency, to which his probity, and the soundness of his under- 
 standing, entitled him. 
 
 By some, his jealousy of error was supposed to have
 
 fflT.18.] HAMILTON. 79 
 
 run into a proneness to suspicion ; and his strict adher- 
 ence to right to have bordered on severity ; but the basis 
 of his character was a lofty virtue and manly self-depend- 
 ence. Elevated by these qualities in the public confi- 
 dence, he rose to some of the highest stations in the civil 
 branch of the government, and long shone conspicuous 
 among the great lights which ushered this nation into 
 existence, a pure, consistent, unyielding patriot. 
 
 Sustained by the ardent feelings of the other colonies, 
 the exertions of these men to secure the concert of the 
 government of New York were unremitting, but vain. 
 The majority of the assembly would not be diverted from 
 their servile counsels, although their efforts towards con- 
 ciliation had been treated by the ministry with contumely 
 and neglect. 
 
 Though such was the temper of this body, there was 
 in New York a mass and vigor of resistance which could 
 be neither soothed nor swayed ; which favor could not 
 allure nor danger appal ; single of purpose, clear of view, 
 enduring unto the end. While from England were chiefly 
 derived those well-defined and grave opinions of liberty 
 that enter so largely into the character of the American 
 mind ; yet it was a school in which religious and po- 
 litical passions and prejudices widely ruled. The descend- 
 ant of the cavalier was still an admirer of the social dis- 
 tinctions which existed there, and of the ecclesiastic ex- 
 clusiveness which almost governed. The puritan, himself 
 an object of proscription, was in his mood and practice 
 prescriptive as to religious thought ; jealous, and not a 
 little arbitrary, as to political opinion. 
 
 The existence, therefore, in the midway of the Amer- 
 ican colonies of a race of more positive views, free from 
 the influences of prescription, familiar only with the sim- 
 plest notions of freedom, applying those notions less to
 
 80 THE EEPCJBLIC. [1775. 
 
 political philosophy and more to the practical interests of 
 society, whose religion itself was almost comprised in the 
 single idea, of confidence in God against the tyranny of 
 man, was of great moment. 
 
 Among such a people, the popular sentiment, though 
 less refined, would have a broader, fuller, quicker, stronger 
 growth. Free from mutual jealousies, for there were 
 among themselves no objects of jealousy ready to con- 
 fide, for their confidence could only be obtained by meri- 
 torious service ; looking to the good of the whole, for it 
 was a good in which each felt he would share ; not averse 
 to general, comprehensive ideas, for these were of a nature 
 to command their attention and respect they were the 
 compatriots of GROTIUS the world's man an exile for 
 the world's great truths ; and ready to act upon them, for 
 they conflicted with no local interests or preconceived 
 opinions, but were a part, and a chief part, of the very 
 strength upon which wisdom would desire to build the 
 foundations of an empire, not content with two oceans as 
 its bounds. 
 
 Encouraged by success, for the UNITED PROVINCES in 
 all their successes were before them, nor was the past to 
 them more than a promise, they had broken suddenly 
 and for ever from ancient ties. Holland was an object 
 of affectionately proud remembrance, but it was not Hol- 
 land because governed by a line of princes they revered, 
 but Holland emancipated from tyranny by the courage of 
 her own offspring, and holding forth her free hand to the 
 commerce and friendship of the world. The descendants 
 of the Dutch had grown in number relatively with the 
 other growths of population.* They were found through- 
 
 * The total population of this colony in 1774 was 168,007 of the city of 
 New York, whites, 18,726 ; of Albany, whites, 38,829. The poptJation had 
 doubled in twenty years.
 
 JET. 18.] HAMILTON. 81 
 
 out the colony,* but in small communities, not losing their 
 identity. Appeals to them were therefore made, and an- 
 swered with instant effect. These appeals were the more 
 effective because the subjects of them were few, and of 
 primary importance. 
 
 Upon this solid base of concentrated thought and feel- 
 ing, Schuyler stood, their representative. Nor were 
 other supports wanting. The Scotch, the French, the 
 Irish, the German races all warmly concurred, beholding 
 the majestic but abused power of Great Britain with 
 cherished hate. 
 
 In despite of the influences known to prevail in tho 
 assembly, Schuyler resolved that this session should not 
 pass without making the issue with the people distinct 
 and irrevocable. The address to the lieutenant-governoi 
 expressed a willingness to pursue the most probablj 
 means to obtain a redress of grievances. What wero 
 these means? Petitions and remonstrances, or limited 
 measures of opposition ? To bring the matter to a test, 
 a motion was made to consider the proceedings of Con- 
 gress. It was defeated by a single vote. Thanks to the 
 delegates were proffered. They were rejected by a larger 
 vote. A proposal to appoint delegates to the second Con- 
 gress met with the same fate by a still larger vote. Next 
 thanks were proposed to the merchants for the non-im- 
 portation association. This also was lost. Thus there 
 was to be no opposition to the arbitrary enactments of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 The report of the committee on grievances was taken 
 up in course. Schuyler, with his tall, manly form, bee- 
 tling brow, and kindling eye, then came forward, and in- 
 troduced a resolution condemning, in earnest, explicit 
 
 * In the list of militia officers, Dutch names are found in every county, 
 though fewest in those of Long Islan 1 . 
 
 VOL. I. 6
 
 82 THE KEPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 terms, the several obnoxious acts of parliament. In this 
 he prevailed. A resolution was next offered by Delan- 
 cey, declaring, with all deferential allegiance, the right 
 of parliament to regulate the trade of the colonies, and 
 to impose duties on any imports that may interfere with 
 the products of his majesty's dominions. It passed, 
 Schuyler and Clinton voting in the negative. An amend- 
 ment was then moved by Schuyler, to exclude " every 
 idea of taxation, internal or external, for the purpose of 
 raising a revenue," by the king, " on his subjects in Amer- 
 ica without their consent." It was defeated by the pre- 
 vious question. By these successive moves the proceed- 
 ings of the late Congress were marshalled in review. 
 The vote condemning the Boston Port Bill, and the act 
 violating the charter of Massachusetts, were carried in a 
 thin house by a majority of two. A request that the co- 
 lonial judges should be appointed during good behavior, 
 as in England, not during the pleasure of the king, was 
 rejected. Schuyler now moved a declaration, that " our 
 commotions are honest struggles for maintaining our con- 
 stitutional liberty, and not dictated by a desire of inde- 
 pendence." This also was defeated by a large majority. 
 He then proposed an amendment to the petition to the 
 king, " although your majesty's subjects have, in some in- 
 stances, submitted to the power exercised by the parent 
 state, they nevertheless consider themselves entitled to an 
 equal participation of freedom with their fellow-subjects 
 in Great Britain." Even this was lost by a similar vote. 
 The several adopted resolves were embodied in a petition 
 to the Lords and to the Commons, toned down to accord 
 with the feelings of the majority, and were transmitted to 
 Edmund Burke. 
 
 On the third of April the colonial assembly adjourned, 
 never to meet again.
 
 Mr. 18.] HAMILTON. S3 
 
 No option remained to the patriots. Redress was not 
 to be obtained through what claimed to be the legitimate 
 assembly, yet redress must be had. The people must be 
 represented. A new popular committee had been formed, 
 and during the session of the assembly a public meeting 
 was called to consider of the mode of electing delegates 
 to the second Congress. 
 
 The ultra loyalists objected to tne measure, for the 
 assembly had rejected a proposition to that effect. Their 
 vote ought to be decisive. 
 
 On the appointed day, the meeting assembled at the 
 Liberty Pole-, and under a banner inscribed with the 
 words, " Constitutional Liberty," moved in procession to 
 the Exchange. 
 
 The ministerial party, with several of the members of 
 the council at their head, the leaders of the majority in 
 the assembly, a few officers of the army, navy, and cus- 
 toms, appeared in a compact body. There were symp- 
 toms of an affray, but quiet was preserved, by a conscious 
 sense of the strength of the good cause ; and a resolution 
 was passed to choose deputies to a convention of the colo- 
 ny, to elect delegates to the Congress. The election was 
 held, and by an immense majority the popular movement 
 succeeded. Notice of this result was given to the other 
 counties. A provincial congress of forty members was 
 chosen, who met on the twentieth of April, and appointed 
 delegates to the general Congress. Thus New York, the 
 head-quarters of its army, the future archiepiscopal see ; 
 her college intended to be the university of North Amer- 
 ica, her library, founded by private munificence,* called 
 the " Union Society Library," all indicating it as the con- 
 templated seat of its western empire, was wrested from 
 the crown, to fulfil a higher destiny. 
 
 * Charles Ward Apthorp was a chief promoter.
 
 84 THE REPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 A meeting, over which Lamb and Willett presided, men 
 who proceeded from words to actions, was again held in 
 the city. Its object was to stop supplies for the troops 
 near Boston. This was effected ; and with a clear vision 
 of the near future, Sears, who had been displaced from a 
 small office in punishment of his zeal, proposed that the 
 people provide themselves with arms and ammunition. 
 This was agreed to. Sears was arrested for imputed trea- 
 son, and carried before the mayor. Refusing to give bail, 
 he was committed ; but the people wrested their bold leader 
 from the officers. He passed in triumph through the city.* 
 
 Not less expressive indications of the popular feeling 
 were given elsewhere. In his own county of Fairfax 
 WASHINGTON presided. Resolutions were then adopted 
 to raise money by poll, to be handed to a committee with 
 a list of those refusing to subscribe ; and all the freemen 
 of Virginia between the ages of sixteen and fifty were 
 invited to form themselves into companies, and to exercise 
 themselves in arms. 
 
 The provincial congress of Massachusetts took the 
 same measure, urging also the manufacture of arms, in 
 which Connecticut likewise promptly engaged. 
 
 Never were a people more patiently loyal than were a 
 large majority of the British American colonists. All 
 their affections and all their pride had been associated 
 with the welfare and with the glory of England. They 
 discriminated between a great and glorious people, with 
 whom there is still every motive to cultivate amicable and 
 liberal relations, and the policy of rulers who did not 
 represent the real sentiments of the people. Thus they 
 yearned for an accommodation of the disputes, and were 
 waiting anxiously for tidings of the course of the govern- 
 ment at home. 
 
 * Life of John Lamb, 100, 101.
 
 .Er. 18.] HAMILTON. 85 
 
 , * The parliament which had passed the offensive laws 
 had been dissolved. A new parliament was to meet in 
 January of this year. In that great arena of freedom its 
 honest voice might yet prevail. Pitt, now Lord Chat- 
 ham, proposed an address at the opening of its session, 
 asking the recall of the troops near Boston, as the first 
 step in a course of conciliation. The first advance, he 
 said, should corne from them. The objectionable acts 
 should be repealed. In a lofty tone the ministry replied, 
 coercion is unavoidable. If ever, now, Parliament must 
 assert its supremacy. This not sustained, all is given up. 
 The opposition denounced the Boston port bill as a wan- 
 ton tyranny. The claim of supremacy, they averred, 
 was to gratify national pride, and to delude Parliament 
 and the people. Their efforts were fruitless. The mo- 
 tion was defeated by a large vote.* Petitions from Lon- 
 don and from the great towns produced acrimonious 
 debates, but led to no result. The petition of the Conti- 
 nental Congress was stigmatized as the act of an " illegal 
 body." The Commons voted it down by an immense ma- 
 jority.f 
 
 On the first of February, Chatham, bowed under 
 physical infirmities, introduced a conciliatory bill. It 
 declared as a compromise, that no tax be levied in 
 America without the consent of the colonial assemblies ; 
 asserted the right of the king to send his armies every 
 where ; legalized the ensuing session of Congress for the 
 purposes of recognizing the supreme legislative authority 
 and superintending power of Parliament, and of making 
 a free grant to the king and to his successors of a certain 
 and perpetual revenue, subject to their disposal. It re- 
 voked the acts in controversy, and would have secured to 
 the colonies all the immunities of their charters. 
 
 * 68 to 18. f 218 to 68 -
 
 36 THE REPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 This bill of compromise was not permitted even to 
 lie upon the table. Its consideration was refused by a 
 vote of two to one. Petitions came from the West Indies 
 praying an accommodation. They were disregarded, and 
 the minister announced his policy. It was to increase the 
 armed force, to put an end to the foreign trade of New 
 England, to stop the fisheries. 
 
 An address to this effect was adopted in both houses 
 by a vote of nearly two-thirds ; and a law was enacted 
 to carry these restrictions into effect, in which the other 
 colonies, except New York, were after included. 
 
 Edmund Burke also sought to effect a conciliation. 
 He presented the memorial of the loyal assembly of 
 New York. Nothing, he observed, could be more proper 
 than its tone, though all its views might not be incontro- 
 vertible. Never was there a more fair opportunity of 
 ending these disputes. It presented claims, was the reply, 
 inconsistent with the declared authority of Parliament. 
 On that ground its reception was refused.* 
 
 The memorial to the Lords shared the same fate, as 
 did petitions from the British inhabitants of Canada against 
 the bill altering the government of that province. 
 
 Franklin, as a last hope, had been engaged in pre- 
 paring " a plan of permanent union." Conferences were 
 held with the ministers and modifications suggested. The 
 Boston port bill might be repealed, but the other acts re- 
 lating to Massachusetts were "improvements of her 
 constitution," and must therefore continue, "as well to 
 be a standing example of the power of the Parlia- 
 ment ! " 
 
 Finding every effort abortive, Franklin returned to his 
 country, where he was advised, that " whatever specious 
 pretences were offered, they were all hollow, and that to 
 
 * 186 to 67.
 
 ^ET. 18.] HAMILTON. 87 
 
 get a larger field to fatten a herd of worthless parasites 
 was all that was intended." * 
 
 In the long interval of hope and doubt, Boston had 
 well regarded the sage advice of the first Congress. 
 Without a government, without the administration of jus- 
 tice, the people of the Bay State maintained order, rea- 
 soned out their cause to its just conclusions, made more 
 apparent their grievous wrongs, while preparing for a 
 final issue, and counteracting the preparatory measures of 
 General Gage, the British governor, and commander of 
 the forces. England had passed a law to prevent the 
 shipment of powder to America. She had induced the 
 States General of the United Provinces to issue a procla- 
 mation forbidding the transport thither of all warlike 
 stores. There was a deposit of guns at Salem. Gage 
 resolved to seize them. Troops were landed there, but 
 the pieces were gone. They were followed until an arm 
 of the sea was reached, and a drawbridge to be passed. 
 The draw was ordered to be lowered. The citizens re- 
 fused as a matter of legal right. The road was private. 
 They had a right to raise an obstruction. Boats were 
 ordered to be launched. The owners scuttled them with 
 their axes. The boats were their own property. Vio- 
 lence was threatened by the commanding officer, and 
 blood would have been shed, had not a " minister" present 
 prevailed upon his congregation to lower the draw. The 
 delay had enabled the patriots, of whom the leader was 
 no less a man than Timothy Pickering, to carry off the 
 cannon. 
 
 Stores were collected at Concord, twenty miles from 
 Boston. Gage, anxious to prevent hostilities, decided to 
 destroy them. Eight hundred grenadiers and light infan- 
 try, the flower of the British army, were ordered on this 
 
 * History of Great Britain, by J. R. Miller. Fothergill to Franklin.
 
 88 THE REPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 duty. They performed it. But on their return, the peo- 
 ple had assembled, and from their coverts poured in upon 
 the retreating party a close, destructive fire. Thus oc- 
 curred what is known as the " Battle of Lexington." 
 
 A general appeal to the sword seemed inevitable. 
 And now were seen the power of the dissenting clergy, 
 and the religious temperament of the people. Farewell 
 sermons were addressed to the militia. " Play the man 
 for your country and for the cities of your God, and the 
 Lord do that which seemeth good," was a teeming text. 
 The drums beat to arms, and, followed by fathers, mo- 
 thers, wives, sisters and children, the hardy yeomanry of 
 New England marched on to the expected conflict. As 
 they passed the meeting houses on the Lord's day with 
 drums and fifes playing, the only question was, "Will 
 God be pleased with such a breach of the Sabbath ? * 
 
 In New York and in Philadelphia the Presbyterian 
 synods issued pastoral letters suited to the occasion. The 
 lawyers argued to the people the right of the cause ; and 
 the people, with bursts of passion, cried aloud " To arms." 
 In New Jersey the provincial treasury was taken posses- 
 sion of. In Philadelphia the shipping was embargoed. 
 In Maryland and in Virginia the public arms were 
 seized. 
 
 Trumbull, governor of Connecticut, wrote to Gage ; 
 " Is there no alternative but absolute submission, or the 
 desolations of war ? " and ordered the train bands to their 
 duty. 
 
 The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts collected 
 and sent to England evidence to show that the British 
 troops were the aggressors, asserted their loyalty, ap- 
 pealed to the clergy for their influence, and to Heaven as 
 10 the justice of their cause ; seized the public money and 
 
 * Hist ColL Connec. 104.
 
 ^Ei. 18.] HAMILTON. 89 
 
 raised and marched a force to Boston, exceeding in num- 
 ber the royal army. The skirmish at Lexington was 
 announced to New York in the concluding words of a 
 letter, " The crimson fountain is opened, and God only 
 knew when it would close." Tumultuous menace and 
 execrations followed. Patrols were formed, and, directed 
 by Sears and Willett, took their rounds throughout the 
 night as though an enemy were at their doors. Mobs as- 
 sembled. The keys of the custom house were taken. 
 The armory was broken open, and, dismayed by the irre- 
 sistible impetuosity of the populace, a battalion of the 
 royal troops surrendered their weapons, and left the city. 
 
 A committee of one hundred was raised. The organ- 
 ization of the militia was recommended, and an address 
 was sent to the City of London, stating, that " all the 
 horrors of civil war will never compel America to submit 
 to taxation by authority of Parliament." " The whole 
 country are ardently wishing peace. They are indefa- 
 tigable in preparing for the last appeal."* 
 
 Five days after, Crown Point and Ticonderoga were 
 surprised and taken by a volunteer expedition from New 
 Hampshire and Connecticut, " in order," as was stated, 
 " to prevent the Canadians and Indians from making in- 
 cursions into New England." f 
 
 On the same day, the tenth of May, the second Con- 
 tinental Congress met. Its proceedings were also secret. 
 
 A circular letter from Franklin and other colonial 
 agents, dated at London, advised them of the avowed de- 
 termination of the ministry " to enforce obedience to all 
 the late laws ; " and that with this purpose " a military 
 force was under orders for America " " The treatment, 
 the petitions already presented have hitherto received, is 
 
 * \merican Archives, May 5, 1775. 
 t New York Gazette, May 15, 1775.
 
 90 THE REPUBLIC. [1T75. 
 
 such, as, in our opinion, can afford you no reliance on 
 present relief through their means." 
 
 A letter from the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts 
 was also received, stating the recent hostilities, their meas- 
 ures of defence, and the evidence that the British were 
 the aggressors. 
 
 In reply to an application from New York, it was 
 recommended, if troops should arrive there, that colony 
 should " act on the defensive as long as might be consist- 
 ent with their own safety," that these troops be not suf- 
 fered to erect fortifications or to take any steps for cutting 
 off the communication between the town and country ; 
 and if they commit hostilities or invade private property, 
 the inhabitants should defend themselves, repelling force 
 by force a sufficient number of men to be embodied and 
 ready to protect from insult and injury. 
 
 A committee was ordered, of which Washington was 
 the first, to report immediately what posts in New York 
 were necessary to be occupied. Advices arriving of the 
 capture of Ticonderoga, the cannon and stores were re- 
 commended to be removed from it, and New Hampshire, 
 Connecticut, and Massachusetts to establish a strong post 
 at the south end of Lake George. 
 
 At the instance of New Jersey, a recent resolution of 
 the British House of Commons was considered. It was, 
 that if any colony shall propose to make provision for the 
 common defence disposable by Parliament, and shall en- 
 gage to provide for the support of its civil government 
 and the administration of justice, it will be proper, if such 
 proposal shall be approved by the king and Parliament, 
 as long as such provision shall be made, to forbear, in re- 
 spect to such colony, levying any duty or tax, other than 
 duties for the regulation of commerce, to be carried to 
 the account of the respective colony.
 
 JEr. IS.] HAMILTON. 91 
 
 Stating the unconstitutional and oppressive acts for 
 levying and enforcing the collection of taxes, and the 
 hostilities which had been commenced, and their ardent 
 desire of conciliation ; Congress met this overture by re- 
 solving that measures be entered upon for opening a ne- 
 gotiation, and that it be a part of their petition to the 
 king. 
 
 At the same time, doubting the success of such nego- 
 tiation, New York was urged to persevere the more 
 vigorously in preparing for her defence. To prevent ag- 
 gressions, a second letter was addressed to Canada, asking 
 peace and union in defence of their common liberties, and 
 incursions into it were dissuaded. 
 
 In return for the recent acts restricting their com- 
 merce and stopping the labors of the fishermen, exporta- 
 tions to all such parts of British America as had not ac- 
 ceded to their commercial association were " immediately 
 to cease." No provisions of any kind or other necessaries 
 were to be furnished to the British fisheries. No draft or 
 money order of any British officer, agent or contractor, 
 was to be received or negotiated, or money supplied to 
 them, and no supplies to be made to the royal forces. 
 Thus, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and 
 the West Indies, were all to be reached ; and the means 
 of supplying the British army without direct remittances 
 of specie were at an end. 
 
 These decisive measures preceded others of larger 
 scope and more pointed character. A general post was 
 established. A committee, of which Schuyler was second 
 to Washington, was directed to form an estimate of the 
 money to be raised. A general fast was ordered. Pow- 
 der mills were to be put in motion, a corps of riflemen to 
 be organized. 
 
 Having advised Massachusetts, in her pressing emer-
 
 92 THE REPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 gency to elect a temporary government, a committee, of 
 which were .Washington and Schuyler, was chosen to 
 prepare rules and regulations for an army. 
 
 Washington, on motion of Thomas Johnson, after- 
 wards governor of Maryland, was nominated General and 
 Commander-in-chief, and was unanimously elected. He 
 accepted this great trust with his characteristic modesty.* 
 Artemas Ward of Massachusetts, Charles Lee, Philip 
 Schuyler, and Israel Putnam were chosen major-generals. 
 Horatio Gates adjutant-general, eight brigadiers f and the 
 other officers of a general staff. 
 
 In this selection, while the qualities of Washington 
 gave him a just pre-eminence and clothed the prepara- 
 tions for impending war with a national character, the 
 choice of the other officers shows where the brunt of the 
 contest was expected and the military power of the colo- 
 nies that were to meet it. 
 
 To supply the public wants, an emission of two mil- 
 lions of dollars in bills of credit was ordered, for the re- 
 
 * The distinction of having first moved the nomination of Washington is 
 claimed by John Adams. Yet he writes in his diary, in which this claim is 
 preferred : " I was daily urging all these things, but we were embarrassed 
 with more than one difficulty, not only with the party in favor of the peti- 
 tion to the king, and the party who were jealous of independence, but a third 
 party, which was a outhern party against a Northern, and a jealousy uguinst 
 a New England army, under the command of a New England general. 
 Whether this jealousy was sincere, or whether it was mere pride and a haughty 
 ambition of furnishing a Southern general to command the Northern army, I 
 cannot say ; but the intention was very visible to me that Colonel Washington 
 was their object, and so many of our staunchest men were in the plan, that u-6 
 could carry nothing without conceding to it". Works of John Adams, ii. 415. His 
 letter of Aug. 6, 1822, states that Thomas Johnson subsequently nominated 
 him. Ibid, 513. 
 
 f David Wooster. Joseph Spencer, of Connecticut ; Richard Montgomery, 
 of New York; William Heath, John Thomas, Seth Pomeroy, of Massachu- 
 setts; John Sullivan, of New Hampshire; Nathaniel Greene, of Rhode Island.
 
 J*r. 18.] HAMILTON. 03 
 
 demption of which " the twelve confederated colonies " 
 were pledged. 
 
 To secure peace with the Indians, the colonies were 
 divided into three great departments. Schuyler was 
 placed at the head of the Northern. Indians were only 
 to be engaged as allies in case other Indians were induced 
 to commit hostilities, or to enter into an offensive alliance 
 with Great Britain. 
 
 Intelligence being received of the gallant repulse of 
 the British at Bunker's Hill by a body of men under 
 Prescot, whose hands were yet rough from the plough or 
 the oar, the committees on the state of the nation brought 
 forward their important reports. 
 
 A declaration setting forth the causes and necessity of 
 taking up arms ; a second petition to the king ; a second 
 address to the British people ; one to Ireland, another to 
 Jamaica, were published, fraught with indignation at the 
 wrongs perpetrated, and avowals of a determination to 
 resist, not unmingled with regrets. "What measures 
 have we taken that betray a desire of independence ? 
 Have we called in the aid of those foreign powers who 
 are the rivals of your grandeur ? Have we taken advan- 
 tage of the weakness of your troops, and hastened to de- 
 stroy them before they were reinforced ? Have we not 
 permitted them to receive the succors we could have in- 
 tercepted ? Let not your enemies and ours persuade you 
 that in this we were influenced by fear or any other un- 
 worthy motive ! The lives of Britons are still dear to us. 
 When hostilities were commenced, when, on a late occa- 
 sion, we were wantonly attacked by your troops, though 
 we repelled their assaults and returned their blows, yet we 
 lamented the wounds they obliged us to inflict ; nor have 
 we yet learned to rejoice at a victory over Englishmen." 
 
 The whole people were called upon to form themselves
 
 94: THE REPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 into a regular militia, and a committee was raised, Jay at 
 its head, to devise means to protect the trade of the colo- 
 nies. Two joint treasurers of the " United Colonies "' 
 were now appointed. Each colony was to choose its own 
 treasurer, and to provide means to sink the bills of credit 
 by an equal mode of taxation, arbitrary quotas of contri- 
 bution being fixed according to the estimated relative 
 number of their respective inhabitants. 
 
 The accession of Georgia having completed the con- 
 federacy, Congress analyzed the late resolution of the Bri- 
 tish commons for conciliation, exhibited its fallacious pro- 
 positions ; recited in brief, emphatic terms, the rights as- 
 sailed and the wrongs inflicted, concluding with the decla- 
 ration, " that nothing but our own exertions may defeat 
 the ministerial sentence of death or abject submission." 
 Having declared the non-exportation and non-importation 
 agreements to comprehend every European island and 
 settlement within the British dominions, and all the West 
 Indies, British and foreign, Congress, on the first of Au- 
 gust, adjourned to the fifth of the ensuing month. 
 
 During this period the Provincial Congress of New 
 York was also in session. Its earliest acts were to order 
 a post to be fortified at King's Bridge, near the city, and 
 for an emission of paper money. These were intended 
 as measures of prevention, not of preparative aggression. 
 For New York, though led on to its duty by a determined 
 few, from its divided sentiment, and exposed, defenceless 
 condition, was most anxious for accommodation. An ad- 
 dress was at this time made to her lieutenant-governor to 
 prevent the landing, at her seaport, of the reinforcements 
 on their way from England, and an address to the Cana- 
 dians, inviting them to unite, and thus to insure immunity 
 to her extensive vulnerable northern frontier. 
 
 Washington was now on his way to Boston accom-
 
 JEa. 18.] HAMILTON. 95 
 
 panied by Lee. Tryon was hourly expected. In their 
 dilemma, the Congress of New York ordered a body of 
 militia to receive with usual honors whichever should first 
 arrive. 
 
 Washington was the first. These honors were paid 
 him, and were followed by an address from the Congress. 
 They avowed " as the fondest wish of each American 
 soul, an accommodation with our mother country." This 
 accomplished, " you will cheerfully resign." He assured 
 them, " Every exertion of my worthy colleagues and my- 
 elf will be equally extended to the restoration of peace 
 and harmony, as to the fatal but necessary operations of 
 war." Leaving Schuyler in that city with instructions to 
 keep his eye on Tryon, whom he would have seized had 
 not Congress been in session, he proceeded through New 
 England, welcomed by its out-rushing inhabitants, and by 
 military parades. 
 
 Tryon arrived and resumed the government of New 
 York. The ultra royalists were encouraged. In answer 
 to an address from the mayor asking his intercession, he 
 assured him, " He was authorized to say, that nothing can 
 give greater satisfaction to the royal breast than to see 
 again an united and happy people." 
 
 The Provincial Congress completed, at this time, a 
 plan of conciliation. It proposed that all the offensive 
 acts of trade be repealed. Parliament to regulate their 
 trade, and the colonial legislatures annually elected to im- 
 pose taxes ; or, that a President for all the colonies be ap- 
 pointed by the crown, and a Continental Congress be 
 elected to raise and apportion the aids. 
 
 McDougall moved this plan be not transmitted to Con- 
 gress until asked for by them. But it was sent to the 
 New York delegates and acknowledged in respectful 
 terms, lamenting the " unnatural quarrel."
 
 96 THE REPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 The strong desire of this body for conciliation did not 
 prevent it declaring its dissatisfaction with the act estab- 
 lishing popery along their frontier. 
 
 The fearing, hoping mind of New York required an 
 impulse. Hamilton saw the necessity, and determined to 
 appeal to a feeling common to the breasts of all its people. 
 
 To the Churchman, papacy was not a pleasant thing. 
 He had been taught in his Book of Common Prayer to de- 
 nounce " Popish treachery," " Popish tyranny," and " ar- 
 bitrary power." By the dissenting English arid Dutch it 
 was abhorred. The red cross effaced from the flag at 
 Salem, as being " a present to the king by the pope, and 
 a relic of Anti-Christ," spoke the early puritan feeling. 
 Nor was it permitted to die away. The clergy who ac- 
 companied the New England troops to Louisburgh carried 
 with them axes to cut down the idols of the 'Catholic 
 French. The blue ribband worn over their buff vests by 
 the commander-in-chief and by his staff as the emblem of 
 their rank, was the chosen color of the Scottish Cove- 
 nanter, of Cromwell, and of William of Orange ; and 
 though Washington would not merely regard it as a Pro- 
 testant type, the exulting English and Dutch dissenters 
 associated it fondly with all their sufferings and with all 
 their triumphs. It had been ordained of God.* 
 
 New York, with its many religious modes and forms, 
 had not been ashamed to persecute the Roman Catholics. 
 The address of the City of London denouncing the 
 Quebec bill, appealed to this feeling. This bill presented 
 popery in a most odious form. For it was believed to 
 have been passed with a view to organize a province of 
 French Catholics under an arbitrary government, the mere 
 instrument of the crown to lower over and to control the 
 long hitherto undefined frontier of the British colonists. 
 " It. is necessary," was the avowal in England, "to con- 
 
 * Put upon the fringe of the borders a riband of blue. Xum. xv. 38.
 
 ^T. 18.] HAMILTON. 97 
 
 ciliate the affections of the Canadians, and thereby induce 
 them to assist administration in COERCING AMERICA." 
 
 In this light Congress had placed it before the people 
 of England and America. Thus, even without a mis- 
 guiding bigotry, it was a measure to enlist all the jealous- 
 ies and resentments of the British colonists. 
 
 While Canada was a province of France its laws and 
 customs were of course in force, and were regulated in 
 conformity with the genius and disposition of a despotic 
 government. When it fell under the dominion of Great 
 Britain, these laws gave place to the milder influence of 
 those of England. All persons settling there, were, by a 
 proclamation of the crown, assured a full enjoyment of 
 the rights of British subjects. By this act, that procla- 
 mation and the government exercised under it, were an- 
 nulled after the first of January, seventeen hundred and 
 seventy-five. 
 
 It created a legislative council appointed by the 
 crown, holding office during its pleasure. There was to 
 be no representation of the people. The French laws 
 were restored, and a power reserved to alter these laws at 
 will. In civil cases, the French laws were to govern, 
 there was to be no trial by jury. This was only to be 
 had in criminal prosecutions. A proposal to give a jury 
 at the option of the parties, and the protection of the ha- 
 beas corpus act, were both rejected. 
 
 The Roman Catholic clergy were to have the legal 
 enjoyment of their estates and of the tithes paid them by 
 the Catholics. 
 
 The support of the Protestant clergy was left to be at 
 the discretion of the crown. This government was ex- 
 tended by this act beyond the existing limits of the frozen 
 province far on to the temperate regions watered by the 
 Illinois. 
 
 VOL. I. 7-
 
 98 THE EEPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 Hamilton met the popular feeling by publishing, at this 
 time, his " Remarks on the Quebec bill." 
 
 They were brief and forcible. The first appearing on 
 the fifteenth of June, seventy-five, in a close examination 
 of the terms of the act, commented on the character of 
 this bill, which placed the laws and government of the 
 province under the sole discretion of the prince ; confer- 
 red on him the most extraordinary and dangerous prerog- 
 ative, that of creating courts of criminal, civil, and eccle- 
 siastical jurisdiction, and appointing temporary judges, 
 whose commissions were revocable at pleasure ; and that 
 of making the trial by jury dependent on the will of the 
 provincial legislature ; thus showing that an arbitrary 
 government had been established in that extensive region. 
 
 The purport of the second number, was to prove that 
 the church of Rome had the sanction of a legal establish- 
 ment in that province. It is an able refutation of an es- 
 say, which professed to show, that by this act, the catholic 
 religion was merely tolerated ; and giving a very precise 
 and accurate definition of an established religion, it de- 
 duces clearly, from the terms of the act, that the Catholic 
 religion is placed on the footing of a regular establish- 
 ment, while the Protestant is " left entirely destitute and 
 unbefriended." 
 
 The dangers to their Protestant neighbors of the vi- 
 cinity of a colony of Roman Catholics, allured in great 
 numbers by the favor of government, with a dependent 
 clergy, disposed to support absolute power, are strongly 
 portrayed, and an earnest appeal is made to the jealous 
 feelings of the Protestant colonies. 
 
 These essays are an interesting specimen of the early 
 reach of thought, and precision of language, which were 
 afterwards disclosed by him in so remarkable a degree. 
 
 The recommendation by Congress of a general organ-
 
 ^Ei. 18.] HAMILTON. 90 
 
 izaiion of the militia, and the near approach of a detach- 
 ment from Connecticut under Wooster, quickened the 
 spirit of the patriots of New York. 'Hamilton, now see- 
 ing that war approaching he had early desired as a sphere 
 of distinction, joined while in college a volunteer corps of 
 Major Fleming, formerly an adjutant in the British ser- 
 vice, an exact disciplinarian. Under his command, he 
 acquired some knowledge of the rudiments of a military 
 education, and became expert in its simpler details.* 
 
 This corps met each morning for exercise in the 
 church yard of St. George's chapel. They assumed the 
 name of " Hearts of Oak," f and under their green uni- 
 forms and leathern caps, bearing the ominous inscription 
 of " Freedom or death," felt the pulsations of the coming 
 contest. Of it were Hamilton's personal friends, Nicholas 
 Fish, afterwards distinguished in the assault at Yorktown, 
 and Robert Troup, who served in the northern department 
 and received the thanks of Congress. 
 
 An incident of this time gave them the first hint of 
 danger. While engaged in removing some cannon from 
 the Battery, a boat of the Asia, man-of-war, approached, 
 as was supposed, to prevent its removal. A musket wan- 
 tonly fired from the boat, was returned by a volley. A 
 few guns opened from the ship. The drums on the Bat- 
 tery sounded the alarm, and forth came a broadside from 
 the Asia, wounding a few citizens and injuring private 
 dwellings. 
 
 Hamilton was present at this exciting scene, and was 
 thus associated, in the minds of the people, with the first 
 act of resistance to the first act of violence offered to the 
 province. 
 
 * Troup to Pickering. 
 
 f A song under this title, composed by David Garrick, was often sung dur- 
 ing the Revolution. Songs and Ballads of the Revolution, 47.
 
 100 THE REPUBLIC. TT75. 
 
 A violent commotion was the consequence of this at- 
 tack. The king's store was broken open and plundered, 
 and the Provincial Congress invited the Connecticut 
 troops to repair to the camp near New York to protect 
 the inhabitants. Liberty boys, meanwhile, traversed the 
 streets, menacing every conspicuous adherent of the gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 In the height of their excitement they approached the 
 college, to seize the person of its loyal president, Doctor 
 Cooper. Hamilton and Troup ascended the steps of the 
 porch, and fearing some excess, to give time to the presi- 
 dent to escape, Hamilton addressed the mob, expostulating 
 with them " on the impropriety of their conduct, and the 
 disgrace they were bringing on the cause of liberty, of 
 which they professed to be the champions." He thus di- 
 verted their attention, until the affrighted clergyman, who, 
 at first imagining he was exciting the mob, exclaimed 
 from an upper window, " Don't listen to him, gentlemen, 
 he is crazy, he is crazy," took refuge in the ship-of-war.* 
 
 By a similar exhibition of rare youthful firmness, he 
 interposed with a concourse of people known as " Travis' 
 hiob," and turned their rage from Thurman, a respectable 
 merchant, whose conduct, as one of a committee, had in- 
 curred their wrath, and whose life was threatened. 
 
 Such was the distempered feeling of this city, that the 
 royalists, who had fled for safety from the other colonies 
 to New York, were compelled to leave it, and Tryon, the 
 last royal governor, a man of courage, fearful of the mob, 
 was preparing to depart. Under a threat, that if his per- 
 son were seized, his majesty's ships would compel his re- 
 lease, he asked a guarantee for his safety. Not being 
 satisfied, he went on board the Halifax packet. 
 
 The press of Rivington, the tory printer, was the last 
 
 * Troup to Pickering.
 
 JET. 18.] HAMILTON. 101 
 
 object of violence. By occasionally printing for the pop- 
 ular side, he had preserved some appearance of neutrality, 
 but as the controversy ripened, he took open part with 
 the royalists. A body of horse from Connecticut with 
 Sears at their head, came into the city, and at dusk rifled 
 his types. Indignant at this attack upon the freedom of 
 the press, which he felt was to be the great instrument 
 of his own usefulness, Hamilton renewed his appeal in 
 behalf of order, offering to unite with a party of citizens 
 to pursue the intruders, and recapture the types. The 
 Provincial Congress remonstrated with the governor of 
 Connecticut at this unlicensed entrance into their prov- 
 ince. On their return, the party carried with them to 
 New Haven the mayor of the royal borough of West- 
 chester, and Seabury, author of the " Westchester Farm- 
 er's" letters.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THIS violation of the press was prompted by the distrust 
 of Sears, who had withdrawn to Connecticut, of the 
 councils in New York, at times showing the impress of 
 the popular feeling, then relapsing into submission.* 
 
 Schuyler, pointing out the fatal consequences of aban- 
 doning Ticonderoga and Crown Point, urged them to for- 
 ward troops. " Our troops," they told him, " can be of no 
 service to you. They have no arms, clothing or ammuni- 
 tion. The officers no commissions, the treasury no money, 
 ourselves in debt. We will remove difficulties as fast as 
 we can and send you soldiers, whenever the men we have 
 raised are entitled to that name." At his instance, they 
 now ordered an artillery company to be formed, f and 
 soon after adopted a plan for organizing the militia of the 
 State each company to furnish minute men to be subject 
 to the articles of war established by the Continental Con- 
 gress, and to a penalty for absence from duty. Power 
 was given to impress arms in the hands of private citizens, 
 and, at the instance of the General Congress, mounted 
 
 * Sears called on Connecticut to raise a regiment for the express purpose 
 of expelling the tories from New York, Nov. 28, 1775. 
 
 f The uniform of this company was to be " blue, faced with buff," said to 
 be the first official designation of ft uniform in this country.
 
 ;ET. 18.] HAMILTON. 103 
 
 men were to be stationed on the public roads to give in- 
 telligence. 
 
 Schuyler also pressed them to strengthen the works on 
 the Hudson River. "Every object, as to importance, 
 sinks almost to nothing when put in competition with 
 that." Little was done. News arrived that German mer- 
 cenaries were coming, and looking to the probability of 
 their city being again taken possession of, the Provincial 
 Congress gave an assurance of protection to Tryon if he 
 would return ; avowing " their unshaken loyalty to their 
 sovereign." They deprecated the destination thither of 
 General Lee with troops, lest it should induce an attack 
 upon the city. The provincial forces then counted about 
 six hundred men. 
 
 In the mean time, the great Council of the colonies 
 were acting with a clearer vision of the future.* The ex- 
 penditure of millions had given them importance and in- 
 fluence, and they began to look at their finances. Such 
 had been the credit of the several colonial emissions, 
 guardedly issued and carefully redeemed, that the possi- 
 bility of discredit to those of the united colonies had 
 scarcely been imagined. The improvidence which had 
 been a means of power, it began to be seen, must have a 
 check ; and a committee of accounts and claims, to con- 
 sist of a member from each colony, was appointed, to 
 whom all accounts " against the Continent " were to be 
 referred. 
 
 In consequence of instructions from Rhode Island, f 
 armed vessels were to be fitted out " for the protection 
 and defence of the united colonies," or, in the language 
 of that State " for carrying on the war effectively, and 
 
 * September 13, 1775. 
 
 f August 26, 1775. Stated to have been prepared and presented by 
 Samuel Ward, a delegate from that colony.
 
 104 THE KEPUBLIC. [1775. 
 
 building an American fleet." All captured British armed 
 vessels and transports were to be forfeited. The colonies 
 were requested to institute admiralty courts with jury 
 trials, subject to an appeal to Congress or to such persons 
 as it should appoint for hearing the appeals, thus having a 
 national prize court in view. The captures by private 
 armed vessels were to enure to the owners ; those by 
 public armed vessels, one third to the captors, the residue 
 10 the colony by which they were fitted. Thus the fleet, 
 as was the army, would be of the separate colonies. But 
 it being necessary that it should be controlled by Congress, 
 rules and regulations were soon after established, chiefly 
 taken from the English code, for " the regulation of the 
 navy of the united colonies." In the same view, officers 
 were appointed by Congress, Hopkins of Rhode Island 
 being commissioned " commander-in-chief of the fleet." 
 
 A " new army " was to be raised, " intended to lie 
 before Boston," to be paid by the General Congress ; and 
 battalions of troops for the defence of North Carolina 
 and Georgia. 
 
 New Hampshire was recommended to call " a full and 
 free representation of the people to form a government 
 to exist during the present disputes" which recommenda- 
 tion, ere the close of the year, was extended to South 
 Carolina and to Virginia. 
 
 Another emission of bills of credit was ordered to be 
 sunk by the several colonies according to their quotas, for 
 which " the Thirteen United Colonies were pledged," and, 
 progressive to the final result, Virginia, Maryland, and 
 North Carolina were authorized to export their produce 
 every where, except to Great Britain and her dependen- 
 cies, and in return to import " salt." 
 
 A committee had been appointed to proceed to Canada 
 to induce the Canadians " to accede to the Union" and to
 
 JET. IS.] HAMILTON. 105 
 
 send delegates to the Congress, assuring them of their 
 purpose to obtain for them the blessings of a free govern 
 ment ; and that they " hold sacred the rights of conscience, 
 and the free enjoyment of their religion." But how could 
 be appreciated the blessings of liberty by a people 
 shrouded in ignorance, and happy in the torpor of a passive 
 obedience ? 
 
 It was in the hope of aid from the Canadians, or, at 
 least, of their neutrality, that Schuyler had been ordered 
 to advance into that province, "badly disciplined and sup- 
 plied as his army was." Roused for a moment by the 
 presence of the -colonial troops, the poor peasantry con- 
 tributed their little aids, but the Catholic clergy, won by 
 the recent Quebec act, preferred the English sway ; and 
 their influence with their votaries was decisive.* 
 
 Earnest as Schuyler's efforts were, they were too late. 
 A vigorous incursion, immediately after the capture of the 
 posts on Champlain, might have been successful. But the 
 time had passed, and the unsuccessful assault upon Que- 
 bec was only signalized by the gallantry of the combat- 
 ants and by the fall of Montgomery, deplored as a na- 
 tional calamity. 
 
 Elsewhere the scene was brighter. The heights near 
 Boston were occupied by a besieging army under WASH- 
 INGTON, if that might be called an army, a concourse of 
 men, reasoning upon every order, and discussing every 
 movement, crumbling to pieces and being renewed within 
 musket shot of their enemy. Yet that army, by the con- 
 duct and imposing presence of their commander, now in- 
 
 * Colonel Hazen to Schuyler. The clergy " are unanimous, though pri- 
 vately, against our cause, and I have too much reason to fear many of them, 
 with other people of some consequence, have carried on a correspondence the 
 whole winter with General Carleton in Quebec, and are now plotting our de- 
 struction." Washington's Writings, iii. 302.
 
 106 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 spired to duly and moulded to service, though poorly sup- 
 plied with the necessaries of war, were closely pressing 
 the disciplined, well-provided troops under Howe, with 
 whom the question was arising of a defeat or a retreat. 
 
 Nor would Washington, as ardent as he was a cautious 
 soldier, have permitted it to be long a question. He pro- 
 posed to invade the invaders. " No opportunity can pre- 
 sent itself earlier than my wishes." But a council of war 
 this time happily objected. The effusion of more blood 
 was prevented by the evacuation of Boston.* 
 
 While these events were passing, the Continental Con- 
 gress took the final stand of a severance from Great Britain, 
 a design hastened by the fatuitous policy of her arms. 
 For, though the unauthorized acts of its officers, it seemed 
 as if she had decided to pass an electric shock along the 
 whole nerve line of the colonies. 
 
 On the first day of the new year, anticipating attacks 
 upon the Carolinas and Virginia, Congress urged upon 
 them " a vigorous defence and opposition." The same 
 day, Dunmore, secure on shipboard, signalized the preda- 
 tory warfare he had begun by reducing Norfolk, the chief 
 town of Virginia, to ashes. Indignant at this wanton at- 
 tack upon his native State, Washington wrote, " I hope 
 my countrymen (of Virginia) will rise superior to any losses 
 the whole navy of Great Britain can bring on them, and 
 that the destruction of Norfolk and threatened devastation 
 of other places, will have no other effect than to UNITE the 
 whole country in one INDISSOLUBLE BOND against a nation 
 which seems to be lost to every sense of virtue, and those 
 feelings which distinguish a civilized people from the most 
 barbarous savages. A few more of such flaming argu- 
 ments as were exhibited at Falmouth and Norfolk, added 
 to the sound doctrine and unanswerable reasoning con- 
 
 * March 17. 1776.
 
 ^Ex. 19.] HAMILTON". 107 
 
 tuined in the pamphlet * Common Sense,' will not leave 
 numbers at a loss to decide upon the propriety of a sepa- 
 ration." This wanton violence is the more marked, as 
 Dunmore's force was chiefly composed of the disaffected 
 and of slaves, by the fact, that Congress was at this mo- 
 ment framing recommendations to deal kindly with the 
 misled, to enlighten them as to the justice and necessity 
 of the opposition to " ministerial tyranny," and, in despite 
 of the " execrable barbarity" of the enemy, " to continue 
 mindful that humanity ought to distinguish the brave ; to 
 take care that no page in the annals of America be stained 
 by a recital of any action which justice or Christianity 
 may condemn ; and to rest assured, that whenever retalia- 
 tion may be necessary, this Congress will undertake the 
 disagreeable task." 
 
 The only subjects, as to which the supremacy of Great 
 Britain was still admitted by the colonies, were, a commu- 
 nity of war, and peace, and the regulation of trade. Her 
 policy, now disclosed, to make war upon them in the most 
 odious form, and to put an end to their trade, removed the 
 only grounds of allegiance, or motives to longer connection. 
 
 The speech of the king to Parliament stated his readi- 
 ness " to receive the submission of the colonies, and to 
 restore them, on their return to their allegiance, to the 
 free exercise of their trade and commerce." 
 
 Fox, pointing to the premier, declared, " the noble lord 
 has lost a whole continent." Burke advised him, " no lon- 
 ger to make England appear like a porcupine armed at all 
 points with acts of Parliament, oppressive to the freedom 
 and trade of America, but to meet the colonists with open 
 arms." He offered a bill " for composing the troubles." 
 It was rejected by a vote of two-thirds of the Commons ;* 
 
 * The only persons permitted to be present at this debate were four women 
 of quality and a few foreigners. Am. Archives.
 
 108 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 and an act prohibiting all trade and intercourse during the 
 present rebellion passed without a division. A protest of 
 the Lords shows its character. That it rendered captured 
 property the property of the captors. It considered the 
 colonies as a foreign nation ; and the declaring war against 
 them had a direct tendency to effect an entire and per- 
 manent separation. It encouraged the navy to make an 
 indiscriminate prey of the property of all English subjects 
 trading with them, It obliged the unhappy men made 
 captives in this predatory war to bear arms against their 
 families, friends and country ; and after being plundered 
 themselves, to become accomplices in plundering their 
 brethren. 
 
 Preparations of war followed, assuming the odious 
 form of subsidizing foreign troops. A negotiation opened 
 to hire twenty thousand Russians was thwarted by an- 
 other power,* but treaties were concluded in January 
 with Brunswick and Hesse-Cassel, the former to sup- 
 ply four thousand three hundred men, the latter twelve 
 thousand.f 
 
 Amid all their injuries, this was regarded by the colo- 
 nists as the greatest enormity. In the minds of a vast 
 majority all thoughts of accommodation with them were at 
 an end. 
 
 Having granted bounties for the enlistment of troops, 
 and voted another emission of bills, Congress proceeded 
 carefully towards the unavoidable result. In the mean 
 time, mindful of the humanity recommended by them, 
 they resolved that " Indians should not be employed in the 
 armies of the United States before their national councils 
 
 * American Archives. 
 
 | Each foot soldier was valued at 30 crowns banco, or four and nine-pence 
 three farthings English. Each man killed to be paid for at the rate of the 
 levy money. Annual subsidies were granted.
 
 ^ET. 19.] HAMILTON. 109 
 
 had consented ; nor then, without the express approbation 
 of Congress." 
 
 The recent act of Great Britain making open war had 
 now come to their knowledge. It was met by a declara- 
 tion of wrongs,* and by resolutions permitting the fitting 
 out of private armed cruisers "on the enemies of these 
 United Colonies," declaring the captures lawful prizes, and 
 for the fortifications of ports for the protection of these 
 cruisers. 
 
 This declaration of war preceded a short time an act 
 of the highest necessity. It authorized a commerce with 
 all countries " not subject to the king of Great Britain," 
 excepting in staves and casks and East India teas, liable to 
 such duties as then were or might be laid by any of the 
 colonies, leaving open future commercial regulations and 
 prohibiting the importation of slaves,^ thus associating 
 this great act of humanity with the first national act of 
 trade. 
 
 The power of committees to regulate prices except 
 " of green tea " was rescinded, and the committee on the 
 state of the nation began to deliberate on the question of 
 independence. 
 
 Wisely had been waited evidence of the unequiv- 
 ocal necessity of the measure, and a clear expression of 
 the determination of the American people to become one 
 nation. Personal vanity and pretension have sought to 
 cast a shade on the prudence of the middle States, but 
 events soon showed that the men of calmest counsels 
 were not the least firm in purpose or intrepid of spirit. J 
 
 The rising light of the revolution has been seen. 
 
 * March 23. 
 
 f " Resolved, That no slaves be imported into any of the thirteen United 
 Colonies." April 6, 1776. 
 
 t See Life of John Adams, by C. A. Adams, i. 211, 212.
 
 110 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 Amid heavy clouds it was breaking into perfect day. 
 Relieved by the repeal of the stamp act, this future seemed 
 for a moment to have been less present, but the opposition 
 to the revenue acts forced it full upon the view. " There 
 seems to be," Hamilton writes as early as February, sev- 
 enty-five, " there seems to be already a jealousy of our 
 dawning splendor. It is looked upon as portentous of 
 approaching INDEPENDENCE. The boundless extent of 
 territory we possess ; the wholesome temperament of our 
 climate ; the luxuriance and fertility of our soil ; the va- 
 riety of our products ; the rapidity of our population ; the 
 industry of our countrymen ; and the commodiousness of 
 our ports, naturally lead to a suspicion of INDEPEND- 
 ENCE." Then predicting the success of the attempt he 
 observed, " The disjunction of these colonies from Great 
 Britain and the acquisition of a free trade with them, are 
 objects of too inviting a complexion to suffer these king- 
 doms " (France and Spain) " to remain sole spectators of 
 the contention. If they found us inclined to throw our- 
 selves upon their protection, they would eagerly embrace 
 the opportunity to weaken their antagonist and strengthen 
 themselves." " The present seemingly pacific and friendly 
 disposition of the French is merely a piece of finesse, in- 
 tended to dupe administration into some violent measures 
 with the colonies, that they may improve them to their 
 own advantage. They would undoubtedly take every 
 clandestine method to introduce among us supplies of 
 those things which we stood in need of to carry on the 
 dispute."* This prediction of clandestine aid was now 
 being fulfilled, pursuant to the advice of Turgot in the 
 cabinet at Versailles, " Let France avoid open hostilities, 
 but privately aid the Americans with arms, ammunition 
 and money." 
 
 * Hamilton's Works, ii. 49, 120. Feb. 5, 1775.
 
 -&T. 19.] HAMILTON. HI 
 
 In New Jersey, an organization was proposed of the 
 present colonies, adding three others, and altering their 
 boundaries, under a general Congress to be elected by the 
 ballots of qualified voters, including widows, and exempt- 
 ing from taxation persons not entitled to vote.* 
 
 Three months later, the people of North Carolina, 
 fired by the blood shed at Lexington, took the decisive 
 step of declaring at Mecklenburg, f "We dissolve the 
 political bands which have connected us with our mother 
 country we absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the 
 British crown declare ourselves a free and independent 
 people, are, and of right ought to be, a sovereign, self- 
 governing association, under the control of no power 
 other than that of our God, and the general government of 
 Congress to the maintenance of which Independence we 
 solemnly pledge to each other our mutual co-operation, 
 our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor." 
 Words imperishable, richer than the rich gold of their 
 hills and valleys. 
 
 Ere the close of this year, a writer with all the solem- 
 nity of religious feeling and fresh hope of the festive sea- 
 son, wrote in Philadelphia on Christmas eve, " We may 
 believe the Divine counsel to the united colonies is, Now 
 is your time to form one general plan of an American 
 union and constitution which shall dissolve only with the 
 last breath of your expiring liberty ; which under my 
 protection will form an everlasting barrier against tyran- 
 nical encroachments an American empire of liberty." 
 " The rattlesnake on the drum of a marine, ' Don't tread 
 on me,' among other its habits, is solitary, and associates 
 with her kind only when it is necessary for their preser- 
 vation. In winter the warmth of a number together will 
 
 * American Archives. " Essex, Feb. 26," 1775. f May 31, 1775. 
 
 " Salus populi," Dec. 27, 1775.
 
 112 THE REPUBLIC. [1776 
 
 preserve their lives, while singly they would probably 
 perish." * 
 
 New Hampshire exclaimed, " Thanks be to Heaven ! 
 There is yet a way open to us, not only to escape the 
 threatened ruin, but to become a happy, wealthy, power- 
 ful, respectable people. By declaring an immediate inde- 
 pendency, proclaiming a neutrality, opening and declaring 
 free all our ports, promoting manufactories," wise words 
 from the far East. 
 
 Nathaniel Greene, passing from the plough and the 
 forge where his Quaker father had taught him virtue and 
 labor, to that high place for which nature intended hirn, 
 writes in the opening year of seventy-six from Rhode 
 Island, where he had harangued, collected, and was drilling 
 troops, with all the sublimity of the theme and of his own 
 true spirit. " Permit me to recommend from the sincer- 
 ity of my heart, ready to bleed in my country's cause, a 
 declaration of independence ; and call upon the world and 
 the great God who governs it, to witness the necessity, 
 propriety, and rectitude of it. You stand the representa- 
 tives, not of AMERICA only, but of the whole world, the 
 friends of liberty and supporters of human nature." f 
 " Common sense," in language plain to every mind, was 
 now urging independence. J " Administration," another 
 writes, " has now fairly dissolved the dangerous tie. Ex- 
 ecrated will be he by the latest posterity who again joins 
 the fatal chord. It is the only step that can bring the 
 contest to a speedy and happy issue." 
 
 "Our plan is commerce," was the language of the 
 young merchant of New York, " and that will secure us 
 the peace and friendship of all Europe, because it is the 
 
 * American Archives, iv. 469. 
 
 f Jan. 4, 1776. To Samuel Ward, in Congress. $ By Thomas Paino. 
 
 gFeb. 3, 1776.
 
 ^Ex. 19.] HAMILTON. 113 
 
 interest of all Europe to have America a free port." A 
 system of government by State and General Congress 
 was proposed. " But where is the king of America ? He 
 reigns above. Let it be that in America the law is king." * 
 
 Connecticut was told to make use of her charter gov- 
 ernment as a popular ^government, carrying the elective 
 principle to its fullest extent, and upon that basis to form 
 a continental government. 
 
 " What," was asked by the Virginia planter, " if we 
 should be obliged to encumber ourselves with double the 
 load of our present expenses. A few years of free and 
 universal trade would enable us to redeem all." f 
 
 Looking to the hoped change, it was observed, " A 
 republican government hath more grandeur in it than a 
 kingly one. Every honest delegate is more than a mon- 
 arch." " Can America be happy under a government of 
 her own is short and simple ? As happy as she please. 
 She hath a blank sheet to write upon. Put it not off too 
 long." J " What do arguments avail against plain facts ? " 
 was again urged by the young statesman of New York. 
 " Upon whom do the continental bills that pass current 
 through the country depend ? By whom are they emit- 
 ted ? We are independent in fact." Judge Drayton in 
 South Carolina charged a grand jury fully on the doc- 
 trines of allegiance and abdication, and drew a part of 
 the outline of the declaration of independence in its very 
 words. || " It is my duty boldly to declare the law, that 
 George the Third, king of Great Britain, has abdicated the 
 government, and that the throne is thereby vacant ; that 
 is, he has no authority over us, and we owe no obedience 
 
 * " Plain Hints." March 13, 1776. f A Planter, April 6, 1776. 
 
 J Cato, No. 3. April 20, 1776. 
 To inhabitants of New York. April 11, 1776. 
 [ American Archives, v. 1026. April 23, 1776. 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 114: THE REPUBLIC. [1770 
 
 to him.' 1 "The Almighty created America to be inde- 
 pendent of Great Britain." 
 
 " Considering the perfidy and obstinacy of the king, is 
 not," asked New York, " a declaration of independence 
 of the crown as just a measure now, as a declaration of 
 independence upon the Parliament was some years ago? " * 
 
 " My hand and heart are full of it," wrote the clear, 
 strong-minded Hawley from among the hills of western 
 Massachusetts. " There will be no abiding UNION without 
 it. When the colonies come to be pressed with taxes, 
 they will divide and crumble to pieces. Will a govern- 
 ment stand on recommendations? Can we subsist and 
 support our trading people without trade ? It appears 
 more and more every day in the country and army that 
 we cannot. Nay, without a real continental government 
 our army will overrun us ; and people will, by and by, 
 sooner than you may be aware of, call for their old con- 
 stitutions. For God's sake, let there be a full revolution, or 
 all is done in vain. Independency and a well-planned gov- 
 ernment will save us. God bless you. Amen and amen." f 
 
 " We have passed the rubicon, there is no retreat," 
 was told to hesitating men in Pennsylvania. " My prayer 
 is, that America may rise triumphant, blossom as the rose, 
 and swell with increasing splendor like the growing beau- 
 ties of the spring, bearing in her right hand the great 
 charter of salvation the Gospel of the Heavenly Jesus ; 
 and in her left the unfolded volumes of peace, liberty and 
 truth." J 
 
 And now Rhode Island, with the wise boldness of her 
 tolerant founder, and in the free spirit a wide, now re- 
 stricted, commerce had cultured, repealed the act " for 
 
 * American Archives, New York, April 25, 1776. 
 
 f Joseph Hawley to Elbridge Gerry, May 1 A merican Archives. 
 
 | Cosmopolitan, No. x. May. Ib'd.
 
 ^T. 19.] HAMILTON. H5 
 
 more effectual securing allegiance to his majesty," and 
 enacted oaths of allegiance to " the governor and colony 
 of Rhode Island and Providence plantations." 
 
 Congress, a mere emanation of the people, felt the 
 strong tide of public feeling. On the third of March the 
 secret committee instructed Silas Deane to inform France, 
 " that if we should, as there is great appearance that we 
 shall, come to a total separation from Great Britain, 
 France would be looked upon as the power whose friend- 
 ship it would be fittest for us to obtain and to cultivate." 
 The inducements held out were the benefits of trade. 
 The immediate aids asked were clothing and arms for 
 twenty-five thousand men, with ammunition, and one hun- 
 dred field-pieces. 
 
 As the powers exercised by the Congress were .n vir- 
 tue of commissions from the popular representatives of 
 the several colonies, and revocable by them ; and as the 
 organization of a general government would be attended 
 with delay, difficulty and doubt ; the immediate step to be 
 taken was the formation of governments by each colony, 
 necessary alike to the protection of their civil rights, and to 
 the exertion of their respective energies in the prosecu- 
 tion of the war. The recommendations to South Carolina 
 and to Virginia had been, to establish governments to ef- 
 fect these objects " during the continuance of the present 
 disputes" A larger and farther view was now taken. 
 On the tenth of May, recommendations were made to 
 every colony where no government sufficient to the exi- 
 gencies of their affairs had been established, " to adopt such 
 government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives 
 of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of 
 their constituents in particular, and AMERICA IN GEN- 
 ERAL." Thus there was no limitation as to the continu- 
 ance of these governments ; and they were to embrace
 
 116 THE REPUBLIC. [1776 
 
 the welfare, not merely of the people of each colony, but 
 " of America in general." 
 
 The object of this recommendation was stated in a 
 preamble to it which was agreed to five days after.* 
 
 Referring to the late act of Parliament excluding the 
 " inhabitants of these united colonies from the protection 
 of the crown," to the entire disregard of their late peti- 
 tion, " to the exertion of the whole force of the kingdom 
 of Great Britain, aided by foreign mercenaries, for the 
 destruction of the good people of these colonies," it stated 
 as irreconcilable to reason and good conscience the taking 
 oaths of allegiance to the crown the necessity that the 
 exercise of every authority under the crown should be 
 totally suppressed ; and that all the powers of govern- 
 ment must be exerted, under the authority of the PEOPLE 
 of the colonies, for the preservation of internal peace, 
 virtue, and good order, as well as for the defence of their 
 lives, liberties and properties, against the hostile invasions 
 and cruel depredations of their enemies, and with these 
 views, and for these ends recommended, that governments 
 in each colony be formed. This resolution, ordered to be 
 published,! was * n ^ ac t a RESOLUTION of INDEPENDENCE. 
 It had been anticipated and authorized by the instructions 
 of Massachusetts, of South Carolina, North Carolina, 
 Georgia and Rhode Island. 
 
 On the day of its passage, Virginia, in convention, in- 
 structed her delegates to propose to Congress a DECLARA- 
 TION Of INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 Sanctioned by the instructions of these colonies, war- 
 ranted by decisive indications of public opinion through 
 the press, enforced by the inconveniences of their inex- 
 plicit condition, and prompted by the obvious advantages 
 
 * May 15, 1776. 
 
 + The committee were John Adams, Rutledge, R. H. Lee.
 
 /Er. 19.] HAMILTON. LIT 
 
 of open explicit acts, on the seventh of June, three reso- 
 lutions were presented to Congress for consideration. 
 The first resolved, " that these colonies are, and of right 
 ought to be, FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES, that they are 
 absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that 
 all political connection between them and the State of 
 Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." This 
 resolution was offered by Richard Henry Lee under the 
 recent instructions from Virginia, adopting as her own the 
 very language of her neighbor, North Carolina, and was 
 seconded by Massachusetts. The second resolution de- 
 clared, " that it is expedient to take the most effectual 
 measures for forming foreign alliances," and the third, 
 " that a plan of confederation be proposed and transmitted 
 to the respecive colonies, for their approval and adop- 
 tion." 
 
 On the two following days, these resolutions were 
 considered. That of independence, several of the colonies 
 not having yet authorized the measure, was postponed 
 until the first of July. " That no time be lost in case 
 Congress agree thereto," a committee was appointed the 
 next day to prepare a declaration of it. The committee 
 were Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massa- 
 chusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sher- 
 man of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New 
 York. 
 
 Committees were also ordered to prepare a form of 
 confederation, and a plan of treaties. 
 
 In the interval of their reports, a " Board of War and 
 Ordnance " was established, composed of a committee of 
 Congress, John Adams, Sherman, Harrison, Wilson, E. 
 Rutledge.* 
 
 A resolution, believed to have been suggested at head- 
 
 * June 13.
 
 118 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 quarters, was also adopted. It declared that " all persons 
 abiding within any of the united colonies and deriving 
 protection from its laws, owe allegiance to those laws, and 
 are members of such colony, and also persons passing 
 through it, or sojourning temporarily, and that all such 
 persons levying war against any of the colonies within 
 them, or adhering to the king of Great Britain or other 
 enemies of it, or any of them, within it, giving him or 
 them aid or comfort, " guilty of TREASON." The legisla- 
 tures of the several States were recommended to pass 
 laws for punishing such treasons, and also persons coun- 
 terfeiting or passing counterfeit continental bills of 
 credit. 
 
 Three days after, on the twenty-eighth of June, a 
 draught of a declaration of independence was read and 
 laid on the table. 
 
 On the first of July, all the colonies, excepting New 
 York, having now authorized the measure, the resolution 
 of independence was considered in committee, reported 
 to the House, and passed the next day, when the Declara- 
 tion of Independence was considered. It was approved 
 on the fourth by eleven colonies, the assent of New York 
 being deferred for want of power in its delegates until the 
 fifteenth, when they, being duly empowered, also gave its 
 sanction. 
 
 Being signed by all the members of Congress with two 
 exceptions,* it was duly authenticated. 
 
 This national manifesto was hailed with exultation 
 throughout the United States. Washington ordered it to 
 be published at the head of every division of the troops. 
 In New England that office Was performed by the clergy, 
 
 * January, 1777. Thomas McKean subsequently added his signature. 
 John Dickinson withheld his signature. The resolution of the N. York con- 
 vention of 9th of July, was reported by John Jay, and unanimously approved.
 
 MT. 19.] HAMILTON. 119 
 
 who, on the previous Sunday, had read it to their people 
 from their desks. 
 
 Rejoicings were heard in every city, town and hamlet, 
 and the great Presbyterian seat of learning resorted to by 
 the youth of North America, Nassau Hall, known as 
 Princeton College, was illuminated. 
 
 The New York convention ordered it to be published 
 with beat of drum. The patriots of that city exhibited 
 their zeal by mutilating the equestrian statue of the king, 
 and laying its fragments in the dust, soon to be converted 
 into bullets. 
 
 Such was the general feeling, but there were many, 
 some from unworthy, others from noble motives, unwilling 
 to abandon their allegiance, and anxious to see restored 
 the power of the crown.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ENGLAND as yet had made no advance towards her object. 
 Canada she held, but she had evacuated Massachusetts, and 
 had failed in her attempt upon Charleston. Her maraud- 
 ing incursions had only exasperated the colonists, confirm- 
 ing their opposition. Finding the resistance more deter- 
 mined than she had been led to expect, her monarch resolved 
 to make an effort commensurate with her great resources. 
 Strengthened by his German auxiliaries, he decided to 
 throw a powerful army into New York, and thus termi- 
 nate the contest in a single campaign. One body landed 
 on the seaboard, co-operating with another advancing 
 from Canada, would, it was supposed, defy all opposition 
 and dissever the colonies. At the same time an entire 
 suspension of trade was to impoverish, and reduce them 
 to submission. In this view she was complaining to 
 France and Spain of the illicit commerce with her colonial 
 ports. 
 
 Relying upon their maritime skill and prowess to force 
 a trade, the only coveted supplies throughout the United 
 States were instruments of war. The only cry was 
 " powder." 
 
 Foreseeing that the course of events was leading to an 
 open rupture, Hamilton, during the previous winter, ap- 
 plied himself to the study of arms ; and before any steps 
 were taken to organize a regular force, had by great assr-
 
 ^ET. 19.] HAMILTON. 121 
 
 duity, made such progress as books and the instruction of 
 a British bombardier would enable him, in the knowledge 
 of pyrotechnics and gunnery. Thus prepared, he asked 
 the command of the company of artillery ordered to be 
 raised by the convention of New York. 
 
 Doubts of his fitness being entertained, he was exam- 
 ined, his friend McDougall being present,* and on the 
 fourteenth of March, seventy-six, was appointed " CAPTAIN 
 of the provincial company of artillery." He "recruited 
 his men, and with the remnant of the second and last re- 
 mittance from his relatives in Santa Cruz having equip- 
 ped"! them, his company was attached to General Scott's 
 brigade. J 
 
 His first letters to the convention relate to discrimina- 
 tions between the State and Continental troops. These 
 were followed by a communication in August, asking 
 them to fill a vacancy, in which he suggested the policy 
 of advancing officers in succession from the lowest grades. 
 " I would beg the liberty," he wrote, " warmly to recom- 
 mend to your attention the first sergeant in my company 
 a man highly deserving of notice and preferment. He 
 has discharged his duty in his present station with uncom- 
 mon fidelity, assiduity, and expertness ; he is a very good 
 disciplinarian, possesses the advantage of having seen a 
 good deal of service in Germany, and has a tolerable 
 share of common sense. In a word, I verily believe he 
 will make an excellent lieutenant, and his advancement 
 will be a great encouragement and benefit to my company 
 in particular, and will be an animating example to all men 
 of merit to whose knowledge it comes." 
 
 This suggestion, of which the important principle, not 
 admitted in the routine system of Great Britain, has since 
 
 * American Archives. f Mulligan's Narrative. 
 
 % Journal of New York Provincial Congress.
 
 122 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 had a powerful influence in advancing the military ser- 
 vice of other countries, was adopted by the convention. 
 The brave sergeant was promoted to a lieutenancy, and 
 rising to the command of a company, Captain Thompson 
 fell in the battle of Springfield at the head of his men, 
 having gallantly repulsed a desperate charge of the ene- 
 my. Acting upon this suggestion, a general resolution 
 was published by the convention, assuring "promotion to 
 such privates and non-commissioned officers as should dis- 
 tinguish themselves." Hamilton seems not to have permit- 
 ted the duties of his military profession to divert him 
 wholly from the prosecution of his previous studies. The 
 " pay book " of his company gives an interesting exhibi- 
 tion of his train of thought. With minutes of works to 
 be read, are found notes relating to commerce ; to the 
 "rates of exchange ;" the "money circulation," the "pro- 
 portions in it of gold and silver ; " " the par between land 
 and labor ; " the " increase of population ; " " tables of ob- 
 servations exhibiting the probabilities of life." Among 
 these is found this striking inquiry, indicating how early 
 his mind was directed to the organization of a general gov- 
 ernment with effective independent powers. "Quere, 
 Would it not be advisable to let all taxes, even those im- 
 posed by the States, be collected by persons of congres- 
 sional appointment ; and would it not be advisable to pay 
 the collectors so much per cent, on the sums collected ? " * 
 This is the initiative idea of a general government, truly 
 such, which he first proposed to Congress, and earnestly 
 advocated. Among his papers, there also remains a care- 
 fully digested outline of a plan for the political and com- 
 mercial history of British America compiled at this time. 
 Thus early were collected those stores of knowledge 
 which his powerful intellect soon after applied to the con- 
 
 * Works of Hamilton, i. pp. 47.
 
 JET. 19.] HAMILTON. 123 
 
 dition of the rising republic, and rapidly matured into re- 
 sults of extensive utility. 
 
 But the term of these studies was soon at an end. 
 On the same day that the resolution of independence was 
 passed by Congress, General Howe, brother of the Lord 
 Howe who fell on the border of Lake George, succeeding 
 General Gage in the chief command, landed in the vicin- 
 ity of New York. 
 
 This important post had been confided to different 
 officers in rapid succession, Schuyler, Lee, Stirling, until 
 Washington in April made it his head-quarters. He 
 found some works completed, others in progress. His 
 troops, many of them badly armed, were in number eight 
 thousand fit for duty, thus reduced by detachments to 
 Canada, and by retirements from the service. 
 
 Regarding New York as " the grand magazine of 
 America," he immediately pressed for reinforcements ; 
 urged longer enlistments ; called for funds ; and indicated 
 the necessity of measures to control the disaffected. 
 
 His requests were promptly acceded to. A body of 
 fourteen thousand men were ordered to join him, and a 
 flying camp was to be formed of ten thousand men called 
 the " new levies," to operate in the middle colonies. But 
 the men to compose this force were not obtained. The 
 enemy were now strengthened by the return of the de- 
 tachment under Sir Henry Clinton, grandson of the Earl 
 of Lincoln, and son of the former obnoxious governor of 
 New York, after his repulse at Charleston ; and ere long, 
 by the arrival of a large fleet under Lord Howe, convey- 
 ing British regiments and their auxiliaries, which swelled 
 the entire number to thirty thousand disciplined troops. 
 
 Tryon exulted in the prospect of an immediate reduc- 
 tion of the colonies. He wrote Lord George Germain in 
 the beginning of August, "I expect by the courage and
 
 124: THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 strength of this noble army, tyranny will be crushed and 
 legal government restored." 
 
 Washington was at the same moment discountenancing 
 the jealousies which had arisen between the troops from 
 the Eastern and Southern provinces, now first assembled 
 under " the Great Union flag." * " Let all distinctions of 
 nations, countries and provinces, be lost in the generous 
 contest who shall behave with the utmost courage against 
 the enemy, and the most kindness and good humor to each 
 other." " They have now landed on Long Island. Re- 
 member, officers and soldiers, that you are freemen, fight- 
 ing for the blessings of liberty. Remember how your 
 courage and spirit have been despised and traduced by 
 your cruel invaders, though they have found by dear ex- 
 perience what a few brave men, contending in their own 
 land, and in the best of causes, can do against hirelings 
 and mercenaries. Be cool, but determined. Do not fire 
 at a distance, but wait for orders from your officers. It 
 is the general's express order, that if any man attempt to 
 skulk, lie down, or retreat without orders, he be instantly 
 shot down as an example." f 
 
 The reinforcements from Maryland and Pennsylvania 
 now came in, moved forward gayly to their post, giving 
 promise of the good courage they displayed. 
 
 The defenceless condition of New York, at this time 
 boasting its million of inhabitants, a great centre of na- 
 tions, then containing about twenty thousand souls, was 
 the result of the half-peace, half-war, hitherto waged. 
 
 * It combined " the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew united (the dis- 
 tinctive emblem of the united kingdoms of Great Britain), with a field com- 
 posed of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, called the ' Great Union 
 Flag.' '' History of the National Flag, by Schuyler Hamilton, Capt. by brevet, 
 U. S. A., and aide-de-camp to Gen. Winfield Scott. 
 
 f August 23, 1776.
 
 MT. 19.] HAMILTON. 125 
 
 The access to il seaward was open, nor were there means 
 to prevent it. It was at the mercy of a fleet. But the 
 approach of a land force might have been rendered diffi- 
 cult. It could only be by way of Long Island, where, 
 intrenched works thrown up along its eminences, though 
 manned by inexperienced troops, would have presented 
 formidable obstacles. A resistance such as Lexington 
 and Bunker Hill, would have sustained the confidence of 
 the people, and again have checked the enemy. 
 
 If baffled here, it would only have remained to them 
 to assail the more defenceless parts of the country, while 
 New England and New York, holding their chief resources 
 for opportune moments in aid of the Southern States, 
 might have stricken a decisive blow in Canada. 
 
 Probably in these views, the heights of Brooklyn, then 
 a small village on the eastern bank of the Sound, oppo- 
 site New York, had been in part intrenched. Though the 
 natural advantages of this post were not few, the exten- 
 sive line of approach rendered a division of the defensive 
 force unavoidable, and being assailable in several points, 
 the utmost vigilance was requisite. Unhappily, General 
 Greene, charged with the command upon Long Island, and 
 familiar with the ground, was taken ill, and it was trans- 
 ferred to Putnam. A few horsemen, employed as scouts in 
 the absence of cavalry, would have prevented a surprise. 
 This precaution was not taken,* and notwithstanding re- 
 cent written instructions to him, that " the woods should be 
 
 * General Sullivan wrote, Whitemarsh, 25th Oct., 1777 : " Gen. Putnam 
 had taken the command from me four days before the action. * * * I was 
 uneasy about a road, through which, / had often foretold, that the enemy 
 would come, but could not persuade others to be of my opinion. I went to the 
 hill near Flatbush to reconnoitre, and with a picket of four hundred men, was 
 surrounded by the enemy, who had advanced by the very road I had foretold, and 
 which I had paid horsemen fifty dollars for patrolling by night, while I had 
 the command, for I had no foot for the purpose."
 
 126 THE REPUBLIC. [ITT'J. 
 
 secured by abatis, where necessary, to make the enemy's 
 approach as difficult as possible," a small patrol of foot 
 was only ordered, which was surprised and captured. A 
 pass that opened to the intrenched works was " unoccu- 
 pied," and while the advances of the left and centre of the 
 British were disputed by raw troops with great gallantry, 
 Sir Henry Clinton, by a circuitous route, approached and 
 seized this pass. 
 
 At break of day the British columns had crossed the 
 ridge, which with a gentle eastern slope faces the ocean, 
 inclining gradually on the west towards the city, through 
 this pass, and were advanced within a short distance of 
 the American works. Nothing remained but to retreat. 
 Under cover of a fog, this retreat was effected in the 
 dark, Washington personally superintending. The whole 
 detachment crossed the Sound in boats suddenly pro- 
 vided, with the loss of a few stragglers, ere the enemy dis- 
 covered the movement. Hamilton states,* " I was among 
 the last of our army that left the city ; the enemy was 
 then on our right flank between us and the main body." 
 
 The result of this action disclosed to Washington the 
 weakness and disorganization of his command, and filled 
 his mind with a sad presage of the future. He writes to 
 Congress, " with the deepest concern I am obliged to con- 
 fess my want of confidence in the generality of the 
 troops." But the inertness of Howe, permitting the es- 
 cape of an army within his grasp, was also disclosed. 
 
 The pregnant question as to the course to be pursued 
 must be decided. In reply to apprehensions, Washington 
 had declared, prior to this engagement, that " nothing but 
 the last necessity, and such as should justify me to the 
 whole world, would induce me to give orders to fire the 
 city." He now wrote to Congress, " Till of late I had no 
 
 * Hamilton's testimony on Arnold's trial, p. 27.
 
 MT. 19.J HAMILTON". 127 
 
 doubt in my own mind of defending this place ; nor would 
 I have yet if the men would do their duty, but this I de- 
 spair of. If we should be obliged to abandon the town, 
 ought it to stand as winter-quarters for the enemy ? They 
 would derive great conveniences from it on the one hand, 
 and much property would be destroyed on the other. It 
 is an important question, but will admit of little time for 
 deliberation. At present, I dare say, the enemy mean to 
 prevent it if they can. If Congress, therefore, should 
 resolve upon the destruction of it, the resolution should be 
 a profound secret, as the knowledge of it will make a 
 capital change in their plans." 
 
 Far better would it have been, had New York been 
 consigned to flames. The disaffected, who held through- 
 out the contest the seaboard of this State in abeyance, 
 driven forth, would have felt in their wanderings there 
 would be no parley with them. England would have lost 
 all the advantages of this central position, and might 
 have been stayed in her attempt to subjugate, by this evi- 
 dence of desperate determination. " I wish," wrote Jay 
 soon after, "our army well stationed in the Highlands, 
 and all the lower country desolated." * Congress not ad- 
 vising this decisive act, the next question was, whether an 
 effort should be made to hold the city. Greene strenu- 
 ously urged an immediate evacuation. " A general and 
 speedy retreat is absolutely necessary. The honor and 
 interest of America require it ; I would burn the city and 
 suburbs. If the enemy gets possession of the city, we 
 can never recover possession without a superior naval 
 force. It will deprive the enemy of an opportunity of bar- 
 racking their whole army together, which, if they could 
 do it, would be a very great security. It will deprive 
 them of a general market. All these advantages would 
 
 * Life of Jay, ii. 7.
 
 128 THE REPUBLIC. [1770. 
 
 result from the destruction of the city, and not one ben- 
 t fit can arise from its preservation that I can conceive." 
 A council of war was called by Washington. They ad- 
 vised the attempt to hold it " a while longer," by a part 
 of the force"* On the petition of Greene and six other 
 officers, a second council was called, and a large majority f 
 declared for a removal. The reasons assigned for this 
 decision were such as ought to have governed in the for- 
 mer council.J The army was thus rescued from a ca- 
 pitulation. Nor was the decision made too soon. While 
 Washington was removing, ships of war had advanced 
 up both the waters that bound the island of New York, 
 and bodies of the enemy had crossed the Sound and land- 
 ed at Kipp's bay. At their first appearance, a party 
 of militia abandoned their breastworks, and were fol- 
 lowed " by two brigades of Putnam's Connecticut troops," 
 in a disorderly retreat, leaving the commander-in-chief, 
 who in vain sought to check them, in great danger of be- 
 ing captured, || dastard conduct, only redeemed by that 
 of the following day, when the gallant Knowlton fell. 
 
 Washington now took a strong position on the heights 
 of Haerlem, extending his lines across the Island of New 
 York, covered by temporary defences. 
 
 At this place Captain Hamilton first attracted his ob- 
 servation. On the inspection of an earthwork he was 
 
 * Washington's Writings, iii. 85. 
 
 f The dissenting voices were Generals George Clinton, Heath, and Spen- 
 cer./^. 92. 
 
 J Minutes of Council, Aug. 29, 1776. 
 
 " It crossed in open flat-boats, filled with soldiers standing erect, their arms 
 all glittering in the sunbeams. They approached the British fleet in Kipp'g 
 Bay, in the form of a crescent, caused by the force of the tide breaking the 
 Intended line of boat after boat." Watson's Annals of City of New York, 
 p. 825. 
 
 | Washington's Writings, iii. 94 note.
 
 J2T. 19.] HAMILTON. 120 
 
 throwing up, the commander-in-chief entered into con- 
 versation with him, invited him to his tent, and received 
 an impression of his military talent. 
 
 It became the policy of the Americans, while holding 
 the enemy in check, to draw him into separate detach- 
 ments, in successive skirmishes to profit of their superior 
 aim and activity, and of their better knowledge of the 
 country, and to keep up their confidence by a system of 
 short and gradual retreats from fastness to fastness from 
 river beyond river. This policy, which Hamilton is seen 
 to have indicated, their situation in every point of view 
 demanded. 
 
 An opposite line of conduct was obviously that of the 
 invader. By instant, bold and rapid movements to hem in 
 his adversary, and force him into immediate general ac- 
 tion, assured of victory by his superior numbers, discipline 
 and strategy. 
 
 The dispositions contemplated by Washington were 
 modified by a resolution of Congress, by every means to 
 obstruct the navigation of the Hudson. In this view, it 
 was determined to maintain Fort Washington situate on 
 that river, ten miles from New York. 
 
 North of that city lies the county of Westchester, 
 bounded on the west by the Hudson, east by the Sound. 
 From each bound rising towards its centre, where a series 
 of hills on either side the deep-seated Bronx continues to 
 the base of the Highland crests. The banks of the Hud- 
 son are bold. The borders of the Sound marshy, with 
 frequent inlets and projecting necks or points. 
 
 On the lowest of these, THROGS', a body of the ene- 
 my landed on the twelfth of October, which, four days 
 after, was followed by Howe, disembarking on another 
 point with the larger part of his army. 
 
 Gallant but ineffectual attempts were made to prevent 
 VOL. I. 9
 
 130 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 his progress over the causeways. Seeing the danger of 
 his rear being gained, Washington called a council, who 
 resolved to change their position. 
 
 To cover Fort Washington which was strongly gar- 
 risoned, and to command the Hudson, the Americans were 
 stationed in detached parties on the ridges along the west- 
 ern banks of the Bronx as far as White Plains, where a 
 camp was being fortified. With a body of men so undis- 
 ciplined and unprovided, no position could have been more 
 judiciously selected. Were a stand to be made, its natural 
 advantages were great ; if not, none afforded a better 
 choice of change. Of the roads passing through it, one 
 was open to Connecticut, another to Dobb's Ferry upon 
 the Hudson to New Jersey, while the higher elevations in 
 the rear offered a retreat of almost absolute security. 
 
 Waiting his artillery and baggage, Howe did not move 
 from his several posts near the Sound until the twenty- 
 first of October, when, having been joined by General 
 de Heister with the German mercenaries, and by a corps 
 of light dragoons under Colonel Harcourt, he advanced 
 with great circumspection to a well-guarded station 
 between the eminences on the Bronx and upon the M am- 
 aroneck. 
 
 At his approach, Washington gathered in his detached 
 bodies and retired to his previously selected post, east of 
 the Bronx. This, his chief encampment, was on the ele- 
 vated grounds north of the little village of White Plains, 
 protected by two nearly parallel lines, the first along a 
 road to Taivytown, the second on the brow of a hill at 
 the junction of two roads leading across the Croton River 
 into the Highlands. 
 
 The right wing, lying on a hill side on the road to the 
 west, and flanked by the Bronx, which in its winding 
 course also traversed the rear, was under the command
 
 JEi. 19.] HAMILTON. 131 
 
 of Putnam ; the left rested upon another hill side upon 
 the road leading to New England, and protected in part 
 by a small upland lake, was in charge of Heath. Though 
 the confidence of the Americans had been raised by 
 several successful skirmishes, Washington wisely doubted 
 their concert and steadiness in a general engagement ; and 
 was reconnoitring positions more difficult of access, and 
 better adapted to the kind of warfare he at this time pre- 
 ferred to wage. That he did not retire earlier and farther, 
 was owing to his inadequate means of transporting his 
 many sick, and his military stores. 
 
 Activity was not the characteristic of Howe. He idly 
 waited three days within a short distance of his enemy, 
 during which time General Lee came up from King's 
 Bridge with the rear division of the Americans, and 
 Washington was busy strengthening his defences. 
 
 Heath, in the mean time, made a skilful disposition to 
 secure the left wing, while to prevent the right being 
 enfiladed, a small party of militia was ordered to occupy 
 a height called " Chatterton's Hill," nearly half a mile 
 south-west of the Bronx, over which was a communication 
 in the rear with the camp by an easy ford. 
 
 On the twenty-seventh of October, heavy rolls of 
 cannon from below aroused the Americans to a quicker 
 sense of danger, perhaps Fort Washington had fallen 
 and the next day Washington and Lee were early out to 
 select a position less accessible, among the numerous hills. 
 
 A horseman announced that the enemy had attacked 
 the out-guards, and that the troops were formed for ac- 
 tion. Washington galloped to the camp, and so it was. 
 At the dawn of this soft autumnal day, the haze still hang- 
 ing on the distant heights, Howe in two columns began 
 his march, the right chiefly British under Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton, the left chiefly Hessians under De Heister. The
 
 132 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 chasseurs and light-infantry in advance drove the fore- 
 most parties of the Americans back into their intrench- 
 ments. The columns then divided, Heister moving to the 
 west, Clinton along the eastern highway to the village, 
 with a few dragoons in front. 
 
 The commanding position on Chatterton's Hill at- 
 tracted the attention of Sir William Howe, who, from its 
 being separated by the Bronx from the right flank of the 
 American intrenchments, supposed its defenders might 
 be captured or dislodged with ease. Orders to effect 
 this were immediately given by De Heister. Seeing this 
 hill was the object of the enemy, Washington ordered 
 Colonel Haslet with his Delaware regiment * to join the 
 militia posted there and to defend it, until McDougall, who 
 had been directed to cover the division under Lee, took 
 the command. His brigade consisted of four regiments, 
 Smallwood's " blues and buffs " from Maryland, Ritzema's 
 of New York, Brooks's Massachusetts militia, and a corps 
 from Connecticut. Attached to it was the single New 
 York company of artillery commanded by Captain Ham- 
 ilton. The defenders of the hill were now sixteen hun- 
 dred men, whom McDougall disposed for action Brooks 
 on the extreme right behind a stone wall, the residue 
 composing the centre and left. 
 
 Towards noon, after a reconnaissance and a council, 
 Howe seeing the strong position of Heath, resolved to 
 concentrate his efforts upon McDougall. A battery placed 
 in position now opened an incessant fire upon " Chatterton's 
 Hill," and the enemy's left deployed towards the Bronx 
 flowing at its foot. Rahle then moved forward, forded 
 the river a short distance below, and took possession of an 
 elevation opening upon McDougall's right. A battalion 
 of Hessians was now directed to pass the Bronx above, 
 
 * Called " The Blue Hen's Chickens."
 
 vEr. 19.] HAMILTON. 133 
 
 supported by a brigade under General Leslie, and by the 
 Hessian grenadiers under Count Donop, ordered hither 
 from the right, and to attack the Americans in front. 
 
 An hour after noon, the head of the advancing column 
 was on the eastern bank of the Bronx, swollen by recent 
 rains, its bed filled with frequent wood drifts. The Hes- 
 sians refused to wade the tangled stream, and a temporary 
 bridge was begun. 
 
 McDougall saw the hesitation, and instantly Ritzeina 
 and Srnallwood were ordered onward, and Hamilton to 
 open his artillery upon them as they crossed. He forth- 
 with descended the hill, planting his two field-pieces upon 
 a ledge of rock bearing upon the bridge, and screened 
 from the British guns by a covert of trees. Thence he 
 poured his fire upon the bridge. The effect was instan- 
 taneous. The bridge was repeatedly struck. Several of 
 the workmen killed, fell headlong into the rapid stream. 
 The Hessians were in great disorder. Fearing the check, 
 Leslie appealed to the loyalty of the British regiments to 
 follow their commander. Leading them a short distance 
 below, they crossed the little river by a ford, and, resolved 
 to capture Hamilton's guns, rushed up the hill with bayo- 
 nets fixed. Again and again Hamilton's pieces flashed, 
 riving the ascending columns down to the river's edge, 
 Smallwood discharging repeated rounds of musketry. 
 Leslie's troops reeled, and fell back upon the soldiers 
 moving to his support. The Hessian infantry and Do- 
 nop's grenadiers now crossed the completed bridge, emu- 
 lating the impetuous courage of the British troops. The 
 enemy united, formed a line parallel with the Americans, 
 and again rushed up the hill, checked by the warm com- 
 bat in their determined progress. Rahl now appearing 
 from his covered height, Brooks changed the front of his 
 militia, faced, and threw a volley in upon him. They
 
 134 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 reloaded and were about to repeat their fire, when Har- 
 court's light dragoons, with kettle drums beating and 
 trumpets braying, came charging on. The militia, panic- 
 stricken by the novel sight, fled before the hurrying 
 horse, except a few Massachusetts men, who formed in 
 solid mass, and offering a vain resistance, were sabred or 
 escaped. 
 
 A slight diversion was attempted upon the American 
 centre, which ought to have been the point of attack, but 
 a few shot dispersed the uncertain horse. 
 
 As soon as the militia were scattered by the British 
 dragoons, a part of McDougall's brigade, most of the in- 
 fantry, and Hamilton's artillery, were ordered to retire 
 over the hill side towards the road leading in their rear. 
 The hill top being meanwhile gained, the Delaware troops 
 were attacked ; a part were driven across the Bronx, the 
 residue, placed by Haslet behind a fence, were firm. 
 Twice the foremost chasseurs and light-infantry were re- 
 pulsed, when the dragoons, returning from the chase of 
 the flying men, mounted the hill and were again about to 
 charge. Few in number, and despairing of the hill, the 
 militia first, and then Haslet's remaining men retired, 
 joining the troops of New York and Maryland who had 
 formed near by. 
 
 Washington, seeing the fierce attack upon the hill, had 
 ordered Putnam with Beall's brigade to the support of its 
 defenders, but coming up too late, he took a position on 
 the plain, the Bronx on his right, serving as a diversion 
 while McDougall marched into the camp. The judicious 
 choice of his position, the precision, rapidity and steadi- 
 ness of Hamilton's fire, his cool courage in this, the first 
 military action of his life, excited admiration towards a lad 
 of only nineteen years. With the gallant Brooks a last- 
 ing friendship was formed, and McDougall, amid his own
 
 2Ki. 19.] HAMILTON. 135 
 
 well-earned laurels, triumphed in the young soldier for 
 whom he had vouched, and not the less that Scotland was 
 his fatherland. 
 
 The determined resistance upon this hill was felt by 
 Howe. This contest, short as it was, had been attended 
 with a loss on each side, of killed and wounded, of about 
 three hundred men. 
 
 Howe's right and centre lay upon their arms during 
 the night, the left holding the hill they had won. Wash- 
 ington spent the night throwing up ledoubts, felling trees, 
 forming abatis, fraising his breastworks. 
 
 So formidable were the defences, Howe deferred his 
 intended assault upon them, waiting the arrival of Lord 
 Percy with his own brigade and part of another, raising 
 in the mean time redoubts to command the American lines. 
 Late on the thirtieth the reinforcements came up, and the 
 next morning an assault was to be made. A storm arising, 
 Howe postponed the attempt. 
 
 Washington, while preparing against a sudden onset, 
 was removing his hospital and baggage to the eminences 
 in his rear. The increased strength of the enemy showed 
 no time was to be lost. Having fired several buildings 
 containing forage and stores that could not be removed, 
 he retired in the night of the thirty-first, leaving a rear- 
 guard on the hills and in the woods, and formed his new 
 lines along a chain of rocky heights towards North Castle, 
 facing south, on which, in anticipation of his purpose, 
 earthworks were begun. 
 
 The next morning Howe awakened to learn his enemy 
 had decamped. A reconnaissance was ordered, columns 
 were advanced, and a canonnade was opened on the rear- 
 guard, who retired. Four days after, not caring to incur 
 the loss and risk of an assault upon the Americans in their 
 strongholds, on the fifth of November, he abandoned
 
 136 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 " Chatterton's Hill," marched to Dobb's Ferry, and ere 
 sunset of the sixth encamped on the elevated bank above, 
 which overlooks the fluted palisades of the Hudson. 
 
 After the retreat of Washington to North Castle, and 
 the advance of Knyphausen to King's Bridge, it is stated 
 that Hamilton was selected to cover a post in the vicinity 
 of Fort Washington. This is believed to be an error, he 
 was not detached. 
 
 Washington had formed an opinion which was an- 
 nounced to Congress, "of the absolute necessity! of 
 two armies being organized, one to act in''the States lying 
 on the east, the other in those south of the Hudson, both 
 to be raised on a general plan, and not to be confined to 
 any place by the terms of enlistment." This probably 
 was a concession to the obstinate jealousies of the recent 
 colonists. Under this opinion, Howe being in motion 
 towards New York, he left the eastern troops with Lee at 
 North Castle, and retired to Peekskill. There, having 
 posted a corps under the trusty Heath for the defence of 
 the Highlands, on the twelfth of November, with his 
 small force he crossed the Hudson at King's Ferry, this 
 movement being sanctioned by Congress. 
 
 The body with him was composed of troops from 
 States west of that river. 
 
 Believing that the enemy would move into the Jerseys, 
 his plan now was, in order to check incursions, to quarter 
 his men at a post opposite Fort Washington, and also at 
 Newark, Elizabethtown, Amboy and New Brunswick, ex- 
 pecting the reinforcements promised by Congress. 
 
 At this moment he felt a heavy blow in the fall of 
 Fort Washington with the loss of two thousand men, ar- 
 tillery and arms. His letters depict his discouragement 
 
 f Col. Harrison to Congress, Oct. 25. Washington's Writings, iv. 524.
 
 ^ET. 19.] HAMILTON. 137 
 
 and mortification. A British detachment crossing into 
 Jersey, he retired first beyond the Hackensack, and thence 
 to Newark. Here was held a council of war. By a 
 force so unequal and insufficient, retreat was inevitable. 
 The direction was differently viewed. By some of the 
 members it was proposed to move to Morristown, there 
 to form a junction with the troops who were expected to 
 wind their way from New York along the mountains of 
 Sussex. But Washington and Greene united in the more 
 hazardous and intrepid determination, if possible, to make 
 a stand at Brunswick ; but, at all events, to dispute the 
 passage of the Delaware. 
 
 After a short repose, with a body not exceeding three 
 thousand men, half-clothed, many badly armed, without 
 cavalry, debilitated by fatigue, Washington again retreat- 
 ed, closely pursued by eight thousand troops under the 
 command of Lord Cornwallis. 
 
 This retreat was undisturbed until New Brunswick 
 was approached. There, as the rear of the Americans 
 crossed the Raritan, the van of the British came in sight. 
 A "spirited cannonade," in which Hamilton took part, 
 checked the advance of the enemy. On the morning of 
 the second of December Howe entered New Brunswick, 
 the Americans, only half their number, having reached 
 Princeton. 
 
 " Well do I recollect the day," said a friend, " when 
 Hamilton's company marched into Princeton. It was a 
 model of discipline ; at their head was a boy, and I won- 
 dered at his youth ; but what was my surprise when 
 struck with his slight figure, he was pointed out to me as 
 that Hamilton of whom we had already heard so much." 
 " I noticed," a veteran officer relates, " a youth, a mere 
 stripling, small, slender, almost delicate in frame, march- 
 ing beside a piece of artillery, with a cocked hat pulled
 
 138 THE EEPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 down over his eyes, apparently lost in thought, with his 
 hand resting on a cannon, and every now and then pat- 
 ting it, as if it were a favorite horse or a pet plaything." * 
 
 He continued at the head of his company, which, 
 from its exposure and losses in the brilliant enterprises 
 of Trenton and Princeton was reduced to twenty-five 
 men, until the first of March, seventy-seven. On that 
 day, having, at the instance of Washington, accepted a 
 place in his staff, after declining the overtures of other 
 general officers,f he was announced, in orders, aide-de- 
 camp to the commander-in-chief with the rank of lieuten- 
 ant-colonel. 
 
 The American head-quarters were now at Morris- 
 town, whither Washington had retired early in January, 
 as a place of temporary safety, with fragments of regi- 
 ments. " Here was seen," as Hamilton stated with regard 
 to the enemy, " the spectacle of a powerful army strait- 
 ened within narrow limits by the phantom of a military 
 force, and never permitted to transgress those limits with 
 impunity ; in which skill supplied the place of means, and 
 disposition was the substitute for an army." 
 
 The advantages of this post, selected at the instance of 
 St. Clair, decided his remaining there until the opening of 
 the next campaign. Protected by heights difficult of ac- 
 cess, and by extensive heavy forests from the approach of 
 any large force, it was within striking distance of Amboy, 
 New Brunswick and Newark, the present positions of the 
 enemy, thus held in check, while a retreat was secured by 
 various defiles in its rear, leading to a fertile, well-peopled 
 country, 
 
 * Irving's Washington, ill 88. f Elias Boudinot to Lord Stirling.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEFICIENT as the American army was in numbers, and thus 
 reduced to inactivity, the severe campaign through which 
 it had passed, had the happy effect of disclosing to the com- 
 mander-in-chief the character of his officers, and of draw- 
 ing around him in a common devotion to its cause, the most 
 gallant patriots of this infant nation. 
 
 Environed by difficulties, they had learned, and their 
 example had taught the American people the all-important 
 lesson, that their enemy was not invincible ; while their 
 common dangers inspired a mutual confidence, which, to- 
 wards the person of their chief, rose to enthusiasm. 
 
 Indeed, in his long life of true glory, this was the mo- 
 ment when Washington's popularity was greatest. The 
 reverses at the beginning of the campaign had scarcely 
 left a hope for America of successful resistance. But 
 when, in the language of Hamilton, " after escaping the 
 grasp of a disciplined and victorious enemy, this little 
 band of patriots were seen skilfully avoiding an engage- 
 ment until they could contend with advantage ; and then, 
 by the masterly enterprises of Trenton and Princeton, 
 cutting them up in detachments, rallying the scattered 
 energies of the country, infusing terror in the breasts of 
 their invaders, and changing the whole tide and current
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 of the war," * a new confidence pervaded the nation, and 
 every bosom swelled with gratitude to Washington and 
 to his illustrious companions. 
 
 Time with its unerring contrasts more and more opens 
 to the view their difficulties and their merits. Of the 
 former a narrative in some detail must now be given. 
 
 The appointment of Charles Lee, a native of England, 
 who had served in America in the war of fifty-six, was at 
 the instance of Washington. 
 
 Of a romantic temper, this soldier of fortune sought 
 distinction in the most remote and opposite regions of 
 Europe, serving with equal zest in Portugal against the 
 Spaniards and in Poland against the Turks. Confident of 
 his superiority, he endured with bitter discontent the pre- 
 ference, he alleged, on his native soil, interest enjoyed 
 over unassisted merit. This sense of disappointment 
 rankled in his breast. Yielding to this feeling and to the 
 impulses of a wayward nature, he became an impetuous 
 republican. Thus swayed, the New World suddenly 
 opened an unlimited sphere to his ambition. It \vas the 
 more attractive as it presented to him the prospect of 
 contending in arms with those whom patronage had pre- 
 ferred to him ; and of avenging himself upon the privi- 
 leged orders which he imagined had been the only obsta- 
 cles to his advancement. Opinions so congenial with 
 those beginning to prevail in America strongly recom- 
 mended him, and from an over value of his experience he 
 was placed on the general staff, next in rank to Artemas 
 Ward, upon whose resignation he became second in com- 
 mand. 
 
 Among the soldiery of New England, the preferment 
 
 * When Colonel Rahl wrote to General Grant for more troops to enable him 
 to hold his posts on the Delaware, he laughed at his application, and sent him 
 word that " he could keep the whole Jersies with a corporal and four men."
 
 ^E-r. 19.J HAMILTON. 141 
 
 of Washington to the chief command was at first' regard- 
 ed with jealousy.* The very qualities which fitted him 
 for that command were not kindred to a people extremely 
 jealous of their individual independence, the less so, be- 
 cause exerted to reduce that independence to a due subor- 
 dination. The conflict to either party was sore. Ward 
 was believed to have resigned, unwilling to admit Wash- 
 ington his superior, and discontented feelings clothed 
 Lee with an importance he little deserved. "You ob- 
 serve," wrote John Adams of Lee, " the oddity of a great 
 man. He is a queer creature, but you must love his dogs 
 if you love him,f and forgive a thousand whims for the 
 sake of the soldier and the scholar." * 
 
 The great man resolved to become greater, and only 
 waited some reverse of Washington to mount to supreme 
 command. The casualties of an unprovided war often 
 demanded the intervention of Congress. Supposed to 
 wear fortune in his crest, Lee was ordered to Canada to 
 retrieve the mishaps there. "We want you at New 
 York," writes John Adams, " we want you at Cambridge, 
 we want you in Virginia, but Canada seems of more im- 
 portance than any of those places, and therefore you are 
 sent there." Ten days after he was sent to Charleston. 
 " After a warm contest," Hancock writes, " occasioned by 
 the high estimation the members of Congress have of your 
 w r orth and abilities, every one wishing to have you where 
 he had most at stake, Congress have this day come to a 
 
 * J. Adams writes, x. 36 : " The appointment of Washington to the com- 
 mand in 1775 of an army in Cambridge, consisting altogether of New England 
 men, over the head of officers of their own flesh and choice, a most hazardous 
 step, was another instance of apparent unanimity, and real regret in nearly one 
 half." 
 
 f On his journey to Boston with Washington, his suite was eleven poodle 
 dogs. 
 
 \ American Archives, July 24, 1775.
 
 142 THE EEPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 resolution that you shall take the command of the south- 
 ern department." * From Charleston he was ordered to 
 the camp at Haerlem, having received the thanks of Con- 
 gress, and a loan for his success at the South. 
 
 Amid all this intoxicating favor, such were his eccen- 
 tricities, that he soon alarmed those who guided the early 
 councils of this country by the most arbitrary acts and 
 startling indiscretions. But, nevertheless, he enjoyed the 
 confidence of the people, who mistook his extravagances 
 for genius, and imagined they saw, in the roughness of his 
 manners and in the irregularities of his mind, evidences of 
 natural resources which only waited an opportunity for 
 their display. Led away by the impetuosity of his tem- 
 per, he often transcended the strict bounds of duty. Yet 
 for every violation his ready wit furnished a plausible ex- 
 cuse, while his reputed knowledge gave him an influence 
 with the uninformed, to whom he was the more recom- 
 mended by the pointed sarcasms always at his command, 
 which would have been withheld from an open avowal of 
 disapprobation. Had this been all, it would have been 
 enough to offend a just sense of the great importance of 
 confidence in the person selected to lead the armies of 
 America at such a crisis. But Lee's was not merely a 
 hostility of words. It rose to acts which, jeoparding the 
 fate of the country, merited the severest penalty of mar- 
 tial law. 
 
 On the tenth of November, f from his head-quarters at 
 White Plains, two days before he crossed the Hudson, 
 Washington stated in instructions to Lee, "if the enemy 
 should remove the whole, or the greatest part of their 
 force to the west side of the Hudson River, I have no 
 doubt of your following with all possible despatch, leaving 
 the militia and invalids to cover the frontiers of Connec- 
 
 * Lee's Memoirs. 203. 1776.
 
 &T. 19.] HAMILTON. 
 
 ticut in case of need." On the twentieth he informed him 
 through an aide-de-camp that the enemy had landed west 
 of the Hudson in great numbers, as was reported, and 
 that " it would be advisable in him to remove the troops 
 under his command " across the North River, " and there 
 wait further orders." An order was at the same time 
 sent to Heath to hold himself in readiness to march at a 
 moment's warning, and to forward this order to Lord Stir- 
 ling and General Stephen, who were to make the same 
 preparation. On the same day, at evening, Reed, late a 
 member of Washington's staff, now adjutant-general, sent 
 Lee an express ; " we are flying before the British, I 
 pray," and the pencil broke, then added verbally, " you 
 push and join us." On receiving similar advice from 
 Heath at Peekskill, Lee wrote him, " Col. Reed has writ- 
 ten me a short billet that I do not well understand," in- 
 quiring the condition of his barracks, the number of his 
 men, and the state of his defences in case he were at- 
 tacked. No intimation was given of his own purposes. 
 
 The next day,* Washington wrote to him himself, 
 " With respect to your situation, I am very much at a loss 
 what now to determine. There is such a change of cir- 
 cumstances since the date of your letter, as seems to call 
 for a change of measures. * * Upon the whole I am 
 of opinion, and the gentlemen about me concur in it, that 
 the public interest requires your coming over to this side 
 of the Hudson, with the continental troops, leaving Fel- 
 lows and Wadsworth's brigades to take care of the stores 
 during their short stay, at the expiration of which, I sup- 
 pose, they will set out for home. My reasons for this 
 measure, which I think must have weight with you, are, 
 that the enemy is evidently changing the seat of war to 
 this side of the North River ; and that the inhabitants of 
 
 * Nov. 21.
 
 144 THE REPUBLIC. Ji776. 
 
 this country will expect the continental army to give them 
 what support they can ; and, failing in that, they will 
 cease to depend upon or support a force from which no 
 protection is derived. It is therefore of the utmost im- 
 portance, that at least an appearance of force should be 
 made, to keep this province in connection with the others." 
 He at the same time pressed Livingston, governor of New 
 Jersey, to call out his militia, and dispatched General 
 Mifflin to Congress, to urge " the necessity of early suc- 
 cors." Lee immediately* wrote a second letter to Heath. 
 " I have just received a recommendation, not a positive 
 order, from the general, to move the corps under my 
 command to the other side of the river. This recom- 
 mendation was, I imagine, on the presumption that I had 
 already moved nearer the Peekskill. There is no possibility 
 of crossing over Dobb's Ferry, or at any place lower than 
 King's Ferry, which would be such an immense round that 
 we could never answer any purpose. I must, therefore, 
 desire and request that you will order two thousand of 
 your corps to cross the river, apprise the general, and 
 wait his further orders. As soon as we have finished a 
 necessary job, I will replace this number from hence, 
 which job, will, I believe, be finished to-morrow." At the 
 same moment, he replied in the same terms to Reed, 
 stating his order to Heath, " a mode," he said, " which I 
 flatter myself will answer better what I conceive to be 
 the spirit of the orders than should I move the corps from 
 hence. Withdrawing our troops from hence would be 
 attended with very serious consequences, which, at 
 present, would be tedious to enumerate." 
 
 On the same day Reed wrote to Lee from Hackensack, 
 " Dear General, the letter you will receive with this con- 
 tains my sentiments with respect to your present situation. 
 
 * Nov. 21.
 
 /Er. 19.] HAMILTON. 145 
 
 But besides this, I have some additional reasons for most 
 earnestly wishing to have you where the principal scene 
 of action is laid. I do not mean to flatter nor praise you 
 at the expense of any other, but I confess, I do think that 
 it is entirely owing to you, that this army, and the liberties 
 of America, so far as they are dependent on it, are not 
 totally cut off. You have decision, a quality often wanting 
 in minds otherwise valuable : and I ascribe to this our 
 escape from York Island, from King's Bridge, and the 
 Plains ; and I have no doubt, had you been here, the garri- 
 son of Mount Washington would now have composed a part 
 of this army ; and from all these circumstances, I confess, 
 I ardently wish to see you removed from a place where I 
 think there will be little call for your judgment and ex- 
 perience, to the place where they are likely to be so 
 necessary. Nor am I singular in my opinion ; every gen- 
 tleman of the family, the officers and soldiers generally, 
 have a confidence in you : the enemy constantly inquire 
 where you are, and seem to be less confident when you 
 are present. 
 
 " Colonel Cadwallader, through a special indulgence 
 on account of some civilities shown by his family to 
 General Prescott, has been liberated from New York 
 without any parole. He informs that the enemy have a 
 southern expedition in view ; that they hold us very cheap 
 in consequence of the late affair at Mount Washington, 
 where both the plan of defence and execution were con- 
 temptible. If a real defence of the lines was intended, 
 the number was too few ; if the fort only, the garrison 
 was too numerous by half. General Washington's own 
 judgment, seconded by representations from us, would, I 
 believe, have saved the men and their arms ; but, unluck- 
 ily, General Greene's judgment was contrary. This kept 
 the general's mind in a state of supense till the stroke was 
 VOL. I. 10
 
 l6 THE REPUBLIC. [17T6. 
 
 struck. Oh, general ! an indecisive mind is one of the 
 greatest misfortunes that can befall an army : how often 
 have I lamented it this campaign. 
 
 "All circumstances considered, we are in a very awful, 
 alarming state, one that requires the utmost wisdom and 
 firmness of mind. As soon as the season will admit, I 
 think yourself and some others should go to Congress, and 
 form the plan of the new army, point out their defects to 
 them, and, if possible, prevail on them to bend their whole 
 attention to this great object, even to the exclusion of 
 every other. If they will not or cannot do this, I fear all 
 our exertions will be vain in this part of the world. 
 Foreign assistance is soliciting, but we cannot expect they 
 will fight the whole battle. 
 
 " I intended to have said more, but the express is wait- 
 ing, and I must conclude with my clear and explicit opin- 
 ion, that your presence is of the last importance. I 
 am, with much affection and regard." * Six days after, 
 the army being in rapid retreat, Reed resigned his office 
 of adjutant-general. Sensible of the injurious effect upon 
 the army of such an act by the head of his staff, and 
 probably moved by a regard to Reed's reputation, Wash- 
 ington induced him to withdraw his resignation. 
 
 Lee was resolved in his purpose to withhold the re- 
 quired reinforcements, though he had under his command 
 more than five thousand five hundred effective men.f As 
 to their condition he had recently written to Franklin : J 
 " The spirit of our present troops is, upon the whole, good^ 
 and if America is lost, it is not. in my opinion, owing to 
 want of courage in your soldiers, but, pardon me, to want 
 of prudence in your high mightinesses." 
 
 * The Life and Memoirs of the late Major General Lee, p. 227, duodecimo, 
 f Returns Nov. 24, 1776, present fit for duty, 5,589, exclusive of militia, 363. 
 } White Plains, Nov. 6, 1776. 
 
 or .1 ,j<>v
 
 ^ET. 10.] HAMILTON. 147 
 
 That his intention was to hold a separate command ; 
 to disseminate distrust of Washington ; to permit his 
 army to be sacrificed ; to win more upon the confidence 
 of the New England States; and in certain contingen- 
 cies to hold his power from a convention of those States 
 throwing off the authority of Congress, looking to the 
 then not improbable event of a severance of the imper- 
 fect union, may be inferred from his conduct and his cor- 
 respondence. At the same date with the letter from 
 Reed, he writes to Bowdoin, president of Massachusetts ; 
 to Trumbull, governor of Connecticut ; and through his 
 aid, to Weare, president of New Hampshire. 
 
 To Bowdoin he observed, " Before the unfortunate 
 affair of Fort Washington, it was my opinion, that the two 
 armies, that on the east and that on the west side of 
 North River, must rest each on its own bottom ; that the 
 idea of detaching and reinforcing from one side to the 
 other, on every motion of the enemy, was chimerical : but 
 to harbor such a thought in our present circumstances, is 
 absolute insanity. In this invasion, should the enemy alter 
 the present direction of their operations, and attempt to 
 open the passage of the Highlands, or enter New Eng- 
 land, I should never entertain the thought of being suc- 
 cored by the western army. I know it is impossible. 
 We must, therefore, depend upon ourselves. To Con- 
 necticut and Massachusetts I shall look for assistance. 
 The time of the men who compose the little corps under 
 my command is near expiring. I must repeat, therefore, 
 that I hope not only the legislative body, but the whole 
 gentlemen of the New England provinces, will exert 
 themselves to forward the completion of the continental 
 regiments. * * I hope the cursed job of Fort Wash- 
 ington will occasion no dejection ; the place itself was of 
 no value. For my own part, I am persuaded, that if we
 
 14-8 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 only act with common sense, spirit, and decision, the day 
 must be our own." His letters to Trumbull are not ob- 
 tained, but the answer * shows the impression he had 
 made. "Your favors of the twenty-first and twenty- 
 second were duly received, and I now answer, that for 
 the reasons and events you mention, I do fully concur in 
 the sentiment, that we must, very much, if not altogether, 
 depend upon ourselves on this side the river for prevent- 
 ing the enemy from penetrating this way. In this view 
 of the matter, the assembly have ordered four battalions 
 for march, as soon as possible, properly equipped, to con- 
 tinue till the fifteenth of March next ; in the mean time 
 our quota of regulars will be raising and forwarding." 
 That eloquent, steadfast patriot was not content with ex- 
 erting his well-deserved influence over Connecticut ; he 
 wrote to Massachusetts, " What means that languor, iner 
 tion and dispiritedness, that seems to overwhelm the New 
 England States ? Our army to the westward barefoot, 
 fleeing before the enemy. * * A fleet of the enemy of 
 upwards of one hundred sail pushing up Narraganset Bay, 
 and no doubt a large land force on board, to get footing 
 in that quarter. We have the strongest intimations of 
 General Lee and others, besides the same demonstrations 
 in our own breasts, that unless the New England colonies 
 renew their exertions by redoubled vigor, all is lost." He 
 then urges, as soon as the army are retired to winter 
 quarters, a convention of the New England States, " to 
 consult on the great affairs of our safety, and of counter- 
 acting the enemy in their future operations. We have a 
 hint of this in a late letter from General Lee." On the 
 same day Lee advised Weare of the probability o'f the 
 nemy paying a visit " very soon" to New Hampshire, 
 (founded on the tale of a deserter ; and that they had 
 
 * Nov. 30.
 
 JET. 19.] HAMILTON. 149 
 
 landed five thousand men in the Jerseys. The next day* 
 he again writes to Bowdoin, taking up the theme of Reed. 
 " Indecision bids fair for tumbling down the goodly fabric 
 of American freedom, and with it, the rights of mankind. 
 'Twas indecision of Congress prevented our having a 
 noble army and on an excellent footing. 'Twas indecision 
 in our military councils which cost us the garrison of Fort 
 Washington, the consequence of which must be fatal, 
 unless remedied in time by a contrary spirit. Enclosed I 
 send you an extract of a letter from the general, on which 
 you will make your comments, and I have no doubt you 
 will concur with me on the necessity of raising immedi- 
 ately an army to save us from perdition." He calls for 
 reinforcements and clothing, disclosing his own purpose, 
 " as / am determined, by the help of God, to arrest 'em, 
 even in the dead of winter." Two days after, f he thus 
 acknowledges the extraordinary letter of Reed : " I re- 
 ceived your most obliging, flattering letter, lament with 
 you that fatal indecision of mind which in war is a much 
 greater disqualification than stupidity, or mere want of 
 personal courage ; accident may put a decisive blunder in 
 the right, but eternal defeat and miscarriage must attend 
 the man of the best parts, if cursed with indecision. The 
 general recommends, in so pressing a manner as almost to 
 amount to an order, to bring over the continental troops 
 under my command, which recommendation or order 
 throws me into the greatest dilemma from several con- 
 siderations. Part of the troops are so ill furnished that 
 they must inevitably perish in this wretched weather. 
 Part of them are to be dismissed on Saturday, and this 
 part is the best accoutred for service. What shelter we 
 are to find on the other side of the river is a serious con- 
 sideration ; but these considerations should not sway me." 
 
 * Nov. 22. f Nov. 24.
 
 150 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 He assigns as his chief reason, the prospect of capturing 
 a party of the enemy, which "being over, I shall then 
 fly to you ; for, to confess a truth, I really think our 
 chief will do better with me than without me." He at 
 the same time writes to Washington, "I have received 
 your orders, and shall endeavor to put them in execution ; 
 but question much whether I shall be able to carry with 
 me any considerable number, not so much from a want of 
 zeal in the men, as from their wretched condition with 
 respect to shoes, stockings and blankets, which the present 
 bad weather renders more intolerable." He then informs 
 him, that he had ordered Heath to cross the river with 
 two thousand men, and wait his orders ; " but that great 
 man (as 1 might have expected) intrenched himself within 
 the letter of his instructions ; that he should march that 
 day with Glover's brigade, but for his projected expedi- 
 tion against a party of the enemy, which, if successful, 
 would have a great effect and amply compensate for 
 two days' delay." Lee then had advanced to North 
 Castle. 
 
 A third letter * from Washington was now received by 
 him. "You seem," he said, "to have mistaken my views 
 entirely, in ordering troops from General Heath to cross 
 Hudson's river to this side. The importance of the posts 
 and passes through the Highlands is so infinitely great, 
 that I never thought there should be the least possible 
 risk of losing them. Colonel Reed's second letter will 
 have sufficiently explained my intention upon this subject, 
 and pointed out to you that it was your division I w ant 
 to have over." He urged him to avoid being intercepted, 
 by choosing some back way for his approach, and to 
 advise him by frequent expresses. The same day he 
 wrote him a fourth letter, indicating, but not prescribing, 
 
 * Nov. 24.
 
 Mi. 19.] HAMILTON. 151 
 
 his route, except " by all means to keep between the ene- 
 my and the mountains ; " and to advise him by frequent 
 expresses. Nor was Washington's reluctance to with- 
 draw troops from the Highlands without sufficient, ex- 
 clusive of military, reasons ; for George Clinton, always 
 looking intently on New York, wrote to its Committee of 
 Safety, " Should the orders be to move, all's over with the 
 river this season, and, I fear, for ever." " No particular 
 accounts yet from head-quarters, but I am apt to believe, 
 retreating is yet fashionable." This committee communi- 
 cated these objections to Washington and to Heath. Lee 
 replied the next day,* stating that the motive of his order 
 to Heath was to gain time, giving excuses for his own 
 delay, that a part of his troops had advanced, and that he 
 would follow the next day, obeying the orders as to his 
 march " as exactly as possible." While Lee was thus 
 loitering on his way, Schuyler, in despite of the decision of 
 a council of war to proceed northward, instructed Gates 
 to detain his troops at Albany. The ensuing day,f at the 
 moment of learning the loss of Fort Washington, he 
 ordered all the troops that " had passed or were passing," 
 to join the commander-in-chief, " as he may stand in need 
 of them, with all possible despatch ; " thus anticipating the 
 orders of Washington, who, in the mean time, had taken 
 measures to suppress the Tories in the lower part of Jer- 
 sey, and was urging Congress to forward volunteers from 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Lee was still looking eastward. He again, at this 
 time,J writes to Bowdoin, indicating his paramount regard 
 for New England. " Would it not be prudent to order 
 all the continental stores to a more central place than 
 Boston, should the enemy take it in their head to send a 
 fleet before Boston ? " 
 
 * Nov. 25. -I- Nov. 25. | Nov. 25.
 
 152 THE REPUBLIC. [1770. 
 
 Washington could brook no further delay. Two days 
 after, he wrote him a fifth letter. " My former letters 
 were so full and explicit as to the necessity of your 
 marching as early as possible, that it is unnecessary to 
 add more on that head. I confess, I expected you would 
 have been sooner in motion. The force here (Newark), 
 when joined by yours, will not be adequate to any great 
 opposition. At present it is weak, and it has been owing 
 more to the badness of the weather, that the enemy's pro- 
 gress has been checked, than to any resistance we could 
 make. They are now pushing this way ; part of them 
 have passed the Passaic." He thought Philadelphia might 
 be their object, and wished success to his enterprise. 
 
 Nothing could be more dreary than Washington's sit- 
 uation. Including the raw militia suddenly gathered, his 
 numbers, as stated, were but four thousand. So destitute 
 their condition, a British officer writes, " I believe no na- 
 tion ever saw such a set of tatterdemalions. There arc 
 but few coats among them but what are out at elbows, 
 and in a whole regiment there is scarce a pair of breech- 
 es. Judge, then, how they must be pinched by a winter's 
 campaign." 
 
 The term of service of some of the best troops had 
 expired. Efforts to intercept the numerous deserters 
 were fruitless. Again he must retreat, and there seemed 
 no alternative but to cross the Delaware with the enemy 
 in hot pursuit. Even this might not be practicable. 
 
 Lee answered Washington from Peekskill,* " You 
 complain of my not being in motion sooner. I do assure 
 you that I have done all in my power, and shall explain 
 my difficulties when we both have leisure. * * * I 
 am in hopes I shall be able to render you more service 
 than if I had moved sooner. I think, I shall enter the 
 
 * Nov. so.
 
 ^Ex. 19.] HAMILTON. 153 
 
 province of Jersey with four thousand firm and willing 
 troops, who will make a very important diversion. Had 
 I stirred sooner, I should have only led an inferior num- 
 ber of unwilling. The day after to-morrow we shall pass 
 the river, when I should be glad to receive your instruc- 
 tions ; but I could wish you would bind me as little as 
 possible ; not from any opinion, I do assure you, of my 
 own parts, but from a persuasion that detached generals 
 cannot have too great latitude, unless they are very in- 
 competent indeed." On the same day, seeing no escape 
 from taking part in the impending hazards, Lee wrote to 
 Bowdoin,* " The affairs of America are in a more alarm- 
 ing situation every day. The enemy have passed the 
 Passaic ; unless, therefore, the New England provinces 
 exert themselves, not only vigorously but essentially, we 
 are lost. General Washington has ordered me with the 
 continental troops over the river. This measure may be 
 necessary for Philadelphia, but the hardships that the men 
 must encounter this season of the year, will, I apprehend, 
 prevent very considerably the recruiting the new army ; 
 and unless an army is formed, and immediately, you 
 must submit to the yoke prepared." He proposed drafts 
 of men. The following day f Washington wrote him a 
 sixth letter, dated Brunswick. " The enemy are advanc- 
 ing, and have got as far as Woodbridge and Amboy, and 
 from information not to be doubted, they mean to push 
 for Philadelphia. The force I have with me is infinitely 
 inferior in numbers, and such as cannot give or promise 
 the least sucessful opposition. It is greatly reduced by 
 the departure of the Maryland flying camp, and by sun- 
 dry other causes. I must entreat you to hasten your 
 march as much as possible, or your arrival may be too 
 late to answer any valuable purpose. I cannot particu- 
 
 * Nov. 30. t Dec - !
 
 154 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 larize your route, or the place at which you will join me. 
 In these respects you must be governed by circumstances, 
 and the intelligence you receive." * The day after, Lee 
 crossed the Hudson and moved on slowly. The third of 
 December, Washington, having reached Treaton, wrote 
 him a seventh letter. " You will readily agree, that I have 
 sufficient cause for my anxiety and for wishing your arrival 
 as early as possible. * * The sooner you can join mt. 
 with your division, the sooner the service will be benefited. 
 As to bringing any of the troops under General Heath, I 
 cannot consent to it. The posts they are at, and the 
 passes through the Highlands, being of the utmost impor- 
 tance, they must be guarded by good men." He then 
 writes Congress, " I have not heard a word from General 
 Lee since the twenty-sixth of last month ; which sur- 
 prises me not a little, as I have despatched daily expresses 
 to him, desiring to know when I may look for him. * * 
 I have this minute despatched Colonel Stewart (General 
 Gates' aid-de-camp), to meet General Lee and bring me 
 an account." The day previous, Congress had instructed 
 a committee to send an express to Lee to learn the situa- 
 tion of his army. On the fourth of December, Lee 
 writes Washington from Haverstraw, on the western bank 
 of the Hudson, "I have received your pressing letter, 
 since which, intelligence was sent to me, that you had 
 quitted Brunswick, so that it is impossible to know where 
 I can join you. But, although / should not be able to join 
 you at all, the service which I can render you, will, I hope, 
 be full as efficacious. The northern army has already 
 advanced nearer to Morristown than I am. I shall put 
 
 * Wayne writes at this time from Ticonderoga to Gates : " My heart 
 bleeds for poor Washington. Had he but Southern troops, he would not be 
 necessitated so often to fly before an enemy, who, I fear, has lately had but 
 too much reason to hold us cheap." Dec. 1.
 
 JET. 19.] HAMILTON. 155 
 
 myself at their head to-morrow. We shall, upon the 
 whole, compose an army of five thousand good troops in 
 spirits. I should imagine, dear General, that it may be of 
 service to communicate this to the troops immediately 
 under your command. It may encourage them and startle 
 the enemy. In fact, their confidence must be risen to a 
 prodigious height, if they pursue you, with so formidable 
 a body hanging on their flank and rear. * . * * It is 
 paltry to think of our personal affairs when the whole is 
 at stake ; but I entreat you to order some of your suite to 
 take out of the way of danger my favorite mare, which 
 is at that Wilson's three miles beyond Princeton." 
 
 Two days after, Greene wrote to Washington from 
 Princeton ; " Major Clarke reports General Lee is at the 
 heels of the enemy. I should think he had better keep 
 upon the flanks than the rear of the enemy, unless it were 
 possible to concert an attack at the same instant of time 
 in front and rear. I think General Lee must be confined 
 within the lines of some general plan, or else his opera- 
 tions will be independent of yours." On the same day,* 
 Lee writes to Cooke, governor of Rhode Island, from 
 Pompton. After speaking of the appointments of offi- 
 cers, he observes, " Theory joined to practice, or a heaven- 
 born genius, can alone constitute a general. As to the 
 latter, God Almighty indulges the modern world very 
 rarely with the spectacle ; and I do not know, from what 
 I have seen, that he has been more profuse of this ethereal 
 spirit to the Americans than to other nations." He inti- 
 mates that Rhode Island will probably be attacked. 
 
 To excuse himself with Congress, he next wrote f to 
 Richard Henry Lee and Benjamin Rush, his friends in 
 that body, having at last reached Morristown. " My 
 corps that passed the North river will amount (for we are 
 
 * Dec. 7. Dec - 8 -
 
 156 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 considerably diminished) to seven and twenty hundred ; 
 in fact our army may be estimated at four thousand. If 
 I was not taught to think that the army with General 
 Washington had been considerably reinforced, I should 
 immediately join him; but as I am assured he is very 
 strong, I should imagine we can make a better impression 
 by beating up and harassing their detached parties in the 
 rear, for which purpose a good post at Chatham seems 
 the best calculated. It is at a happy distance from New- 
 ark, Elizabethtown, Woodbridge and Boundbrook. We 
 shall, I expect, annoy, distract, and consequently weaken 
 them in a desultory war ; but we are so ill-shod and desti- 
 tute of light horse, that the troops are in a bad condition 
 for that species of service. I must do 'em justice to say 
 that they have noble spirits ; and will, I have no doubt, 
 render great service to their country." On the same day 
 he wrote to Washington a letter nearly in the same 
 words. Washington, writing to Congress of this date, 
 remarks, " I have no certain intelligence of General Lee, 
 although I have sent frequent expresses to him, and lately 
 Colonel Hampton, to bring me some accurate accounts of 
 his situation. I last night despatched another gentleman 
 to him, Major Hoops, desiring he would hasten his march 
 to the Delaware, in which I would provide boats near a 
 place called Alexandria, for the transportation of his 
 troops. I cannot account for the slowness of his march." 
 His great solicitude was the defence of Philadelphia. Lee 
 wrote to Washington again on the same day * from Chat- 
 ham. " Major Hoops has just delivered to me your ex- 
 cellency's letter. I am extremely shocked to hear that 
 your force is so inadequate to the necessity of your situ- 
 ation, as I had been taught to think you had been consid- 
 erably reinforced. Your last letters proposing a plan of 
 
 * Doc. 8.
 
 ^T. 19.J HAMILTON. 157 
 
 surprise* and forced marches, convinced me thai there 
 was no danger of your being obliged to pass the Dela- 
 ware, in consequence of which proposals, I have put my- 
 self in a position the most convenient to co-operate with 
 you, by attacking their rear. I cannot persuade myself 
 that Philadelphia is their object at present, as it is almost 
 certain their whole troops lately embarked have directed 
 their course to the eastern provinces. * * * It will 
 be difficult, I am afraid, to join you, but cannot I do you 
 more service by attacking their rear ? I shall look about 
 me to-morrow, and inform you further." The following 
 day * Lee addressed General Heath, who had written to 
 Washington in terms prompted unquestionably by what 
 he had seen of the policy of Lee ; " any orders from 
 your excellency to move the troops or any part of them, 
 shall be instantly obeyed." To this effect " I sent an ex- 
 press to you last night from General Washington, order- 
 ing your division to cross the river, which, I confess, for 
 my own part, I am heartily sorry for, as I think we shall 
 be strong enough without you, and New England, with 
 your district, will be too bare of troops. I am in hopes 
 here to reconquer (if I may so express myself) the Jerseys. 
 It was really in the hands of the enemy before my arrival." 
 The day after, f Washington wrote to Lee from Tren- 
 ton Falls an eighth letter. " I last night received your 
 favor by Colonel Hampton, and were it not for the weak 
 and feeble state of the force I have, I should highly ap- 
 prove of your hanging on the rear of the enemy, and es- 
 tablishing the post you mention ; but when my situation 
 is directly the opposite of what you suppose it to be, and 
 when General Howe is pressing forward with the whole 
 of his army (except the troops that were lately embarked, 
 and a few besides left at New York), to possess himself 
 
 * Dec. 9. t Dec. 10.
 
 158 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 of Philadelphia, I cannot but request and entreat you, and 
 this, too, by the advice of all the general officers with me, 
 to march and join me with your whole force with all pos- 
 sible expedition. The utmost exertions that can be made, 
 will not be more than sufficient to save Philadelphia. 
 Without the aid of your force I think there is but little, if 
 any, prospect of doing it. * * * Do come on ; your ar- 
 rival may be fortunate, and if it can be effected without 
 delay, it may be the means of preserving a city, whose 
 loss must prove of the most fatal consequence to the cause 
 of America. Pray exert your influence, and bring with 
 you all the Jersey militia you possibly can. Let them not 
 suppose their State is lost because the enemy are pushing 
 through it." Congress at this moment issued an address 
 to revive the desponding spirits of the people, in which 
 they said, " General Lee is advancing with a strong rein- 
 forcement, and his troops in high spirits." The day after * 
 he wrote him a ninth letter. " Philadelphia, beyond all 
 question, is the object of the enemy's movements ; nothing 
 less than our utmost exertions will be sufficient to prevent 
 General Howe from possessing it. The force I have is 
 weak and entirely incompetent to that end. I must, 
 therefore, entreat you to push on with every possible suc- 
 cor you can bring. Your aid may give a favorable com- 
 plexion to our affairs. You know the importance of 
 Philadelphia, and the fatal consequences that must attend 
 the toss of it." The same day a note was addressed to 
 Washington from M orristown in the handwriting of Lee. 
 "We have three thousand men here at present, but they 
 are so ill-shod, that we have been obliged to halt these two 
 days for want of shoes. Seven regiments of Gates' corps 
 are on their march, but where they actually are, is not 
 oer'ain. General Lee has sent two officers this day, one 
 
 * Dec. 11
 
 .Ex. 19.] HAMILTON. 
 
 to inform him where the Delaware can be crossed above 
 Trenton, the other to examine the road towards Burling- 
 ton. As General Lee thinks he can, without great risk, 
 cross the great Brunswick post road, and by a forced 
 night's march make his way to the ferry below Burling- 
 ton, where boats should be sent up from Philadelphia to 
 receive him ; but this scheme he only proposes if the head 
 of the enemy's column actually pass the river. The mili- 
 tia in this part of the province seem sanguine. If they 
 could be sure of an army remaining amongst them, I be- 
 lieve they would raise a very considerable number." 
 
 Congress now * adjourned in haste to Baltimore. 
 Washington answered with suppressed indignation in a 
 tenth letter. f " I am much surprised that you should be 
 in any doubt respecting the route you should take, after 
 the information you have received upon that head as well 
 by letter as from Major Hoops, who was despatched for 
 that purpose. A large number of boats was procured 
 and is still retained at Tinicum, under a strong guard, to 
 facilitate your passage across the Delaware. I have so 
 frequently mentioned our situation and the necessity of 
 your aid, that it is painful for me to add a word upon the 
 subject. Let me once more request and entreat you to 
 march immediately for Pittstown, which lies on the route 
 that has been pointed out, and is about eleven miles from 
 Tinicum ferry. That is more on the flank of the enemy 
 than where you now are. * * * The Congress have 
 directed Philadelphia to be defended to the last extremity. 
 The fatal consequences that must attend its loss are but 
 too obvious to every one. Your arrival may be the 
 means of saving it." On the same day J he writes Gov- 
 ernor Trumbull, moved by an expedition of the enemy to 
 Newport : " General Lee's division is so necessary to sup- 
 
 * Dec. 12. t Dec. 14. J Dec. 14.
 
 j(3Q THE REPUBLIC. 11770. 
 
 port this part of the army, that without its assistance we 
 must inevitably be overpowered and Philadelphia lost." 
 His desire of aid was the more earnest, as from the dis- 
 persed state of the enemy, the advance extended along 
 the Delaware, the reserve at Princeton and Brunswick, an 
 opportunity was offered of turning upon them. " A lucky 
 blow in this quarter," he says in the same letter, " would be 
 fatal to them, and would most certainly raise the spirits of 
 the people, which are quite sunk by our late misfortunes." 
 On the day of his late note to Washington, Lee moved 
 from Morristown and reached a point eight miles from it, 
 where he left his troops under command of Sullivan, tak- 
 ing up his own quarters at a tavern in Baskenridge, three 
 miles distant from his force, whence he addressed this let- 
 ter to General Gates pregnant with the theme suggested 
 by Reed : " The injurious manoeuvre of Fort Washington 
 has completely unhinged the goodly fabric we had been 
 building. There never was so damned a stroke ; entre 
 nous, a certain great man is most damnably deficient. 
 He has thrown me into a situation where I have my choice 
 of difficulties. If I stay in this province, I risk myself 
 and army, and if I do not stay, the province is lost for 
 ever. I have neither guards, cavalry, medicines, money 
 shoes or stockings. I must act with the greatest circum- 
 spection. Forces are in my front, rear, and on my flanks. 
 The mass of the people is strangely contaminated. In 
 short, unless something which I do not expect turns up, 
 we are lost. Our councils have been weak to the last de- 
 gree. As to what relates to yourself, if you think you 
 can be in time to aid the general, I would have you by 
 all means go.* You will at least save your army. It is 
 
 * So intent was he on his own designs, that of the seven regiments under 
 Gates, ordered by Schuyler to the relief of Washington, he had ordered Are* 
 to join his force at Morristown.
 
 ^Ei. 19.] HAMILTON. 161 
 
 said that the whigs are determined to set fire to Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 " If they strike this decisive stroke, the day will be our 
 own ; but unless it is done, all chance of liberty, in any 
 part of the globe, is for ever vanished. Adieu, my dear 
 friend ; God bless you." 
 
 This was probably in reply to a letter from Gates ad- 
 dressed to Washington, delivered to him by Wilkinson, 
 the aid of Gates, who, on his route to the commander-in- 
 chief, had sought and found the second in command. Lee 
 had just finished his epistle when a party of British dra- 
 goons advanced upon the tavern in which he was, at full 
 charge. Lee called for the guard. " Where is the guard ? 
 damn the guard, why don't they fire ? Do, sir," to Wil- 
 kinson, "see what has become of the guard." The 
 guards, reposing in the sun, were scattered by the dra- 
 goons. The women proposed to put Lee to bed, but he 
 refused. Wilkinson took refuge in a hiding-place, Lee 
 was captured, and without hat or coat, in slippers, and 
 covered with a blanket, mounted on Wilkinson's horse, 
 he terminated this campaign, a prisoner at Brunswick. 
 Thus was he relieved from " a choice of difficulties." 
 
 " It was an aggravation of the misfortune," wrote an 
 English soldier, " to lose him under such circumstances, 
 which favored an opinion, that despairing of the Ameri- 
 can cause he suffered himself to be taken prisoner." * 
 
 On receiving tidings of his capture, his friends de- 
 plored his loss as irreparable. John Trumbull, adjutant- 
 general to Gates, wrote from Bethlehem to Governor 
 Trumbull : f " Lee's army cross at Easton this day. Our 
 affairs have never been in so critical a situation. New 
 York and Jersey totally lost except the back woods ; 
 
 * Journal of occurrences, by R. Lamb, p. 130. " Qui se fait brebis, le 
 loup le mange." f Dec* 16. 
 
 VOL. I. 11
 
 162 THE REPUBLIC. [1776 
 
 the army inferior, and at the same time when most want- 
 ed deprived of the best, almost the only, officer who could 
 rescue them from a situation so nigh desperate." 
 
 Benjamin Rush of the medical staff thus condoles with 
 Richard Henry Lee.* " Since the captivity of General 
 Lee a distrust has crept in among the troops of the abili- 
 ties of some of our general officers high in command. 
 They expect nothing now from heaven-taught and book- 
 taught generals." 
 
 Hancock, president of Congress, wrote to Robert 
 Morris from Baltimore,! " I am afraid his loss will be se- 
 verely felt, as he was in great measure the idol of the 
 officers, and possessed still more, the confidence of the 
 soldiery." 
 
 The day after Lee's capture,J and before the tidings 
 had reached him, Washington wrote to Gates : " I have 
 heard that you are coming on with seven regiments. This 
 may have a happy effect, and let me entreat you not to de- 
 lay a moment in hastening to Pittstown. You will advise 
 me of your approaches. I expect General Lee will be 
 there this evening or to-morrow, who will be followed by 
 General Heath and his division. If we can draw our 
 forces together, I trust, under the smiles of Providence, 
 we may yet effect an important stroke, or at least prevent 
 General Howe from executing his plans." At the same 
 time he writes to Heath, " I am extremely pleased by the 
 ready attention you have paid to my orders, and have 
 only to request that you will proceed with your troops, 
 with all possible despatch, to Pittstown, pursuing General 
 Lee's route, and where I expect you will join him. Lose 
 not a moment. The situation of our affairs demands in- 
 dustry and despatch on all hands. If we can collect our 
 force, and speedily, I should hope we may effect something 
 
 * Dec. 21. f Dec. 2.1. J Dec. 14.
 
 ^Ex. 19.] HAMILTON. 163 
 
 of importance, or at least give such a turn to our affairs 
 as to make them assume a more pleasing aspect than they 
 now have." 
 
 He had ordered him to leave a body of twelve or fif- 
 teen hundred men to secure the passes in the Highlands. 
 
 Sullivan,, now in command of Lee's division, united in 
 the urgent call. Abandoning the intended route of Lee, 
 he pressed on to Easton, and on the seventeenth of De- 
 cember, the troops, delighted with their new commander, 
 crossed the Delaware. Gates also was coming up with 
 nine hundred men. A junction of these forces being 
 made on the twentieth, Washington proposed to Gates to 
 take command at Bristol, and thence to co-operate with 
 him. Unwilling to hold other than an independent com- 
 mand, pleading ill health, Gates asked permission to pro- 
 ceed to Philadelphia. The commander-in-chief requested 
 him to stop at Bristol a day or two, in order to concert 
 with Cadwallader and Reed a plan of operations. He 
 preferred not to obey this request. The day before the 
 battle of Trenton he proceeded to the seat of Congress, 
 indulging, on his way, gloomy vaticinations as to Wash- 
 ington's army ; and arriving in time to learn its resolves,* 
 investing Washington with almost unlimited military pow- 
 er, communicated in terms of well-deserved confidence. 
 " Happy is it for this country, that the general of their 
 forces can safely be intrusted with the most unlimited 
 power, and neither personal security, liberty or property, 
 be in the least degree endangered." f "I shall constantly 
 bear in mind," Washington replied, " that as the sword 
 was the last resort for the preservation of our liberties, 
 so it ought to be the first thing laid aside when those lib- 
 erties are firmly established." 
 
 It was the arrival of the troops recently under Lee 
 
 * Doc. 27, 1776. f Washington's Writings, iv. 552.
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1776 
 
 that enabled him to rescue Philadelphia, to turn the tide 
 of the war, and terminate the campaign with highest dis- 
 tinction. In this great extremity, unhappily, Lee and 
 Gates were not alone wanting to their duty. They were 
 foreigners by birth, education, habit. If the liberties of 
 America were lost, they could seek elsewhere a home 
 and an easy solace. But there was another individual 
 whose conduct, only recently recorded on the page of 
 history, startles with surprise. 
 
 The son of a " laboring farmer " of Massachusetts, a 
 witness of her grievous wrongs, raised from his humble 
 state to high distinguished trust, chosen to Congress ex- 
 pressly to draw the other colonies to aid her noble efforts, 
 claiming pre-eminence in inciting the American people 
 to independence this favored person was among the 
 first to abandon, and the latest to resume his trust. 
 
 When a battle near New York was approaching, a 
 sudden change came over the mind of JOHN ADAMS. He 
 began to sigh for the modest quiet of private life. " I had 
 rather," he wrote, " build stone wall on Penn's Hill, than 
 to be the first prince in Europe, or the first general or 
 first senator in America." * 
 
 He would at this time four days before the landing 
 of Howe upon Long Island f have abandoned his seat in 
 Congress ; but a sense of shame restrained him, and per- 
 haps the result might be fortunate. It proved to be " un- 
 fortunate," and as the consequences became more serious, 
 more menacing, he could no longer resist his yearnings 
 for " Penn's Hill." On the thirteenth of October, at the 
 moment Washington was writing from Haerlem heights 
 that his army was "on the eve of dissolution," when 
 Howe was advancing to strike a decisive blow, he left 
 Congress, followed by the triumphant scoffings of the 
 
 * Aug. 18, 1776. f Aug. 22, 1776.
 
 ^ET. 19.] HAMILTON. 165 
 
 enemy.* In his route he avoided the army, keeping 
 above the Highlands, nor did he return until the first of 
 the following February after the victories of Trenton and 
 of Princeton had turned the scale, f Yet at this crisis John 
 Adams was chairman of the Board of War ! One of his 
 first utterances after his return was a censure of Wash- 
 ington addressed to a general officer, J " What is the army 
 at Providence about? What is become of the army at 
 Peekskill, or on the White Plains ? What numbers have 
 they ? Are we to go on for ever in this way, maintain- 
 ing vast armies in idleness, and losing the fairest opportu- 
 
 * Irving's Washington, ii. 447 : " The two Adamses are in New England.' 
 f The knowledge of these facts is derived from the " Life of John Adams, 
 by his grandson, Charles Adams." Works, i. 453 : " If it had not been for tht, 
 critical state of things," J. Adams writes, " I should have been at Boston ere 
 now. But a battle being expected at New York, as it is every day, and liar 
 been for some time, I thought it would not be well to leave my station here. 
 Indeed, if the decision should be unfortunate for America, it will be absolutely 
 necessary for a Congresx to be sitting, and perhaps I may be as well calculated 
 to sustain such a stroke as some others. It will be necessary to have some 
 persons here who will not be seized with an ague fit." J, Adams to James War- 
 ren, Aug. 17, 1776. J. Adams to his wife, ii. 43, Oct. 11 : "I yesterday asked 
 and obtained leave of absence." Diary, ii. 243 : " Oct. 13. Sunday, set out 
 from Philadelphia towards Boston ; rode thirty miles, crossing the Delaware 
 at Trenton." P. 257: " Worn out with constant labors in his department and 
 in Congress, after the adoption of the measures to reorganize the army, which 
 were the most urgent (see, in contradiction, Journals of Congress for Nov. 19, 
 22, 25, 26, 27, Dec. 1, 9, 10, 27, 1776), Mr. Adams, availing himself of his 
 leave of absence for the rest of the year, on the 13th, of the same month (October) 
 mounted his horse and returned home. Congress removed to Baltimore, 
 whither Mr. Adams directed his steps on the 9th of January, 1777, winding 
 his way through Connecticut to Fishkill, finding, as he said, not one half the 
 discontent nor of the terror among the people that he left in the Massachusetts." 
 P. 258 : " The round-about journey to Baltimore took three weeks to accomplish. 
 He arrived on the evening of the 1st of February." P. 259 : "I have been," 
 he wrote, " so long absent, that I seemed to have lost all my correspondents 
 in the army." 
 
 { Adams to Gen. Sullivan, Feb. 22, 1777.
 
 166 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 nity that ever offered of destroying an enemy completely 
 in our power ? " * 
 
 In strongest contrast with these delinquent persons 
 stood, next to Washington in real and deserved pre-emi- 
 nence, General NATHANIEL GREENE. "Descended," as 
 Hamilton stated, " from reputable parents, but not placed 
 by birth in that elevated rank, which, under a monarchy, 
 is the only sure road to those employments that give acti- 
 vity and scope to abilities, he must in all probability have 
 contented himself with the humble lot of a private citi- 
 zen, or at most, with the contracted sphere of an elective 
 office, in a colonial and dependent government, scarcely 
 conscious of the resources of his own mind, had not the 
 violated rights of his country called him to act a part on 
 a more splendid and more ample theatre. 
 
 Happily for America he hesitated not to obey the call. 
 The vigor of his genius, corresponding with the importance 
 of the prize to be contended for, overcame the natural 
 moderation of his temper ; and, though not hurried on by 
 enthusiasm, but animated by an enlightened sense of the 
 value of free government, he cheerfully resolved to stake 
 his fortune, his hopes, his life, and his honor upon an en- 
 terprise, the danger of which he knew the whole magni- 
 tude, in a cause, which was worthy of the toils and of the 
 blood of heroes. 
 
 The sword having been appealed to at Lexington, as 
 the arbiter of the controversy between Great Britain and 
 America, Greene shortly after marched, at the head of a 
 regiment, to join the American forces at Cambridge, de- 
 
 * " In other words, Congress contemplated the transformation of a delegate 
 from their own body into a WAR MINISTER ! " Ibid. p. 250 : " With the ex- 
 ception of the brilliant actions of Trenton and Princeton, there was little in 
 the military department, while he had the superintendence of it, that was calcu- 
 lated to cheer his spirits. But he never despaired."
 
 /Ex. 19.] HAMILTON. 107 
 
 termined to abide the awful decision. He was not long 
 there before the discerning eye of the American FA.BIUS 
 marked him out as the object of his confidence. His abil- 
 ities entitled him to a pre-eminent share in the councils of 
 his chief. He gained it, and he preserved it, amidst all 
 the checkered varieties of military vicissitude, and in de- 
 fiance of all the intrigues of jealous and aspiring rivals. 
 
 As long as the measures which conducted us safely 
 through the first most critical stages of the war shall be 
 remembered with approbation, as long as the enterprises 
 of Trenton * and Princeton shall be regarded as the 
 dawnings of that bright day, which afterwards broke 
 forth with such resplendent lustre, as long as the almost 
 magic operations of the remainder of that memorable 
 winter, distinguished not more by these events than by 
 the extraordinary spectacle of a powerful army straitened 
 within narrow limits by the phantom of a military force, 
 and never permitted to transgress those limits with impu- 
 nity, in which skill supplied the place of means, and dis- 
 position was the substitute for an army ; as long as these 
 operations shall continue to be the objects of curiosity and 
 wonder, so long ought the name of Greene to be revered 
 by a grateful country." 
 
 This was but the opening of his brilliant career, whom, 
 after its termination, Hamilton pronounced "THE FIRST 
 
 SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION." f 
 
 In important service with the main army, John Sulli- 
 van was next. This dauntless soldier was of a race dis- 
 
 * Greene to Governor Cooke, Dec. 21, 1776 : " The fright and disaffection 
 was so great in the Jersies, that in our retreat of one hundred and odd miles, 
 we were never joined by more than a hundred men. * * * We arc now on 
 the west side of the Delaware ; our force, though small, collected together : but 
 small as it is, I hope to give the enemy a stroke in a few days." 
 
 f Graha;ne's Hist. U. S., iv. 463 : " Nathaniel Greene, the greatest mili- 
 tary genius tluit America produced in the Revolutionary War."
 
 168 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 tinguished for their impetuous courage. His descent was 
 good : O'Sullivan, the paternal ancestor, was Lord of 
 Beerhaven in County Kerry, " well known as the most 
 beautiful tract in the British isles." * On his mother's side 
 were men who had fallen in the defence of Ireland when 
 it was reduced by the Prince of Orange. His father was 
 a scholar, and, emigrating to America, acquired a liveli- 
 hood giving instruction in the classics. 
 
 From him Sullivan obtained an education above that 
 of his fellows, and caught the fire which lighted him 
 along his distinguished career. 
 
 In December seventy-four, receiving news of the pro- 
 hibition to export gunpowder to the colonies, at the head 
 of a small party, in a bright, freezing night, with a " two- 
 oared gondola," Sullivan dropped down the Piscataqua, 
 increased his numbers at Portsmouth, scaled the fort at 
 the entrance of the harbor, overpowered the garrison, and 
 carried off its powder and small arms, secreting a part 
 under the pulpit of the old meeting house at Durham.f 
 
 Here he commenced the practice of the law, and sig- 
 nalized by his ardent temper, was, at the outbreak of the 
 revolution, elected to represent New Hampshire in the 
 first Continental Congress. There he commanded respect 
 and confidence. Having been chosen a delegate to the 
 second Congress, in the selection of the general staff, he 
 was commissioned one of the eight brigadiers first ap- 
 pointed, and took the command of a brigade then on duty 
 near Boston. His influence induced the New Hampshire 
 troops to continue in the service while others were de- 
 parting, and he was active in obtaining supplie.8 and am- 
 munition in this early time of need. Ordered to Canada 
 when the posts could be no longer held, his retreat was 
 
 * See Macaulay's exquisite description. Hist, of England, iv. 107. 
 f Capt. Bennett's Narrative. See also Force.
 
 Mr. 19.] HAMILTON. 169 
 
 masterly. Thence he joined the army at New York, and 
 was captured in the battle of Long Island. Being ex- 
 changed, he resumed his command. He entered Trenton 
 at the head of his column and carried it while the other 
 bodies were coming up ; and at Princeton was in the front 
 of his line, under the fire of the enemy. 
 
 Washington describes him as "active, spirited, and 
 ardently attached to the cause. That he does not want 
 abilities, many members of Congress can testify ; but he 
 has his wants and his foibles. The latter are manifested 
 in his little tincture of vanity, and in an over-desire of 
 being popular, which now and then lead him into embar- 
 rassments," but he has " an enterprising genius." 
 
 Of strong purpose, never shrinking from duty, he was 
 selected for stations which demanded energy and intre- 
 pidity, qualities that never failed him. 
 
 The first regiment of artillery on the continental estab- 
 lishment had been confided to HENRY KNOX, a native of 
 Boston. Taking an early and an active part in concerting 
 opposition to the restrictive acts of Parliament, he showed 
 his devotion to liberty by leaving a lucrative employment, 
 and joining the army as a volunteer in the battle of Bun- 
 ker's Hill. 
 
 Alarmed at the deficiency of ordnance, which gave the 
 enemy vast superiority, Knox, full of ardor, hastened to 
 the Canadian frontier, where, by his personal exertions, 
 amid the depths of winter, he was enabled in some meas- 
 ure to supply this want. His enterprise received the 
 grateful approbation of the commander-in-chief. He was 
 appointed a colonel of artillery, and upon the increase of 
 that corps, was promoted to the command of a brigade. 
 
 Of high integrity, a sound understanding, a warm, 
 brave heart, gay among his comrades, cool in battle, he 
 was soon classed among those individuals to whom the
 
 THE KEPUBLIC. [1770. 
 
 country might look with confidence in its greatest perils. 
 Frank, liberal and sincere, he won and preserved the re- 
 gard of his brother officers, and could boast that which 
 was a passport to consideration, of being a man whom 
 " Washington loved." 
 
 Another officer had also gained much of his confi- 
 dence, General John Cadwallader, a gentleman of power- 
 ful connections in Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania. 
 At the head of a body of volunteers from the latter State, 
 he marched to the aid of the commander-in-chief in his 
 retreat through New Jersey, and a most important and 
 difficult share of the enterprise which expelled the enemy 
 from the borders of the Delaware was confided to him. 
 Upon the new organization of the army, the command of 
 a brigade was offered to him and declined. But in all 
 moments of difficulty he instantly repaired to head-quar- 
 ters, his patriotism, nobleness, and ample fortune leaving 
 no opening for a thought of personal interest, and ensur- 
 ing him the welcome of the army. 
 
 The gentlemen who at this time composed the personal 
 staff of the commander-in-chief, were Colonel Robert II. 
 Harrison, a native of Maryland, who at an early age re- 
 moved to Alexandria. There, as a member of the bar, 
 he was employed by Washington, and soon after he had 
 taken the command at Cambridge, was urgently invited 
 by him to join his military family. " Sensible, clever, and 
 perfectly confidential," he sacrificed his health to the ar- 
 duous duties of his station. He was commonly known as 
 the " Old Secretary." Discreet, ingenuous, fearless, an 
 officer in whom every man had confidence, and by whom 
 no man was deceived, he commanded universal respect. 
 The other members of the staff were the generous and 
 accomplished Tilghman of Maryland, and the amiable, 
 chivalrous Meade of Virginia. Hamilton was now ap-
 
 ^)T. 19.] HAMILTON. 171 
 
 pointed to the staff, and, as Washington states, became 
 " his principal and most confidential aid." The inter- 
 course of this military family was most kind ; and the 
 relation of Lafayette, that, during a familiar association 
 of five years, no instance of disagreement occurred, is 
 evidence of the tone of feeling which prevailed. 
 
 Harrison, who was much the elder, treated Hamilton 
 with especial kindness, and soon after he joined the staff 
 gave him the epithet by which he was familiarly known, 
 of " the Little Lion."
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON his appointment to the staff of Washington, Lieuten- 
 ant-colonel Hamilton, immediately after his recovery from 
 a severe indisposition, induced by the hardships of the 
 campaign, apprised the convention of New York of his 
 change of situation, suggesting the transfer of his com- 
 pany to the Continental establishment. He did not omit 
 to recommend to promotion an officer of merit. 
 
 A reply from Governeur Morris and Allison informed 
 him that they, with Robert R. Livingston, had been ap- 
 pointed a committee of the convention to correspond with 
 him at head-quarters, and concurred with him as to the 
 disposal of his company. A frequent correspondence 
 ensued. 
 
 Having served through the most arduous campaign of 
 the Revolution, and having thus entitled himself to promo- 
 tion in the line of the army, Hamilton hesitated much be- 
 fore he decided to relinquish this advantage for a place in 
 the staff. He had already, as has been stated, declined a 
 similar invitation from two general officers, but influenced 
 by the reputation of the commander-in-chief, he entered 
 upon the discharge of his new duties with all the devo- 
 tion due to his early and illustrious friend. 
 
 The situation of aide-de-camp to the commander-in- 
 chef, from the position he held, not merely of head of the
 
 ^Er. 20.] HAMILTON. 173 
 
 army, but as intermediate between Congress and numer- 
 ous sovereign Slates * whose relations were not defined, 
 was extremely arduous. 
 
 The pressure of the correspondence Washington prin- 
 cipally felt. In the selection of his staff, he stated to Col- 
 onel Harrison, " as to military knowledge, I do not find 
 gentlemen much skilled in it ; if they can write a good let- 
 ter, write quick, are methodical and diligent, it is all T 
 expect to find in my aides." 
 
 Of these the changes had been frequent. As yet but 
 one individual approached the desired standard in respect 
 to education and ability Colonel Joseph Reed of Penn- 
 sylvania. " That I feel the want of you," Washington 
 wrote to him during a temporary absence, " yourself can 
 Judge, when I inform you that the peculiar situation of 
 Mr. Randolph's f affairs obliged him to leave this soon 
 after you did ; that Mr. Baylor, contrary to my expecta- 
 tion, is not in the smallest degree a penman, though spir- 
 ited and willing, and that Mr. Harrison, though sensible, 
 clever, and perfectly confidential, has never yet moved 
 upon so large a scale as to comprehend at one view the 
 diversity of matter which comes before me, so as to afford 
 that ready assistance which every man in my situation 
 must stand more or less in need of." J A few weeks after 
 he again writes him : " Real necessity compels me to ask 
 you whether I can entertain any hopes of your returning 
 to my family ? If you can make it convenient, and will 
 hint the matter to Col. Harrison, I dare venture to say 
 that Congress will make it agreeable to you in every 
 shape they can. My business increases very fast, and my 
 
 * Washington to Congress, July 25, 1776. 
 
 f Edmund Randolph appointed A. D. C. in place of Mifflin, at the instance 
 of R. H. Lee. 
 
 \ Life of Reed, i. 127. Nov. 20, 1775.
 
 174: THE KE PUB LIC. [1777. 
 
 distresses for want of you along with it. Mr. Harrison is 
 the only gentleman of my family that can afford me the 
 least assistance in writing." " At present my time is so 
 much taken up at my desk, that I am obliged to neglect 
 many other essential parts of my duty : it is absolutely 
 necessary, therefore, for me to have persons that can think 
 for me, as well as execute orders." * 
 
 It was to meet these requirements that he sought the 
 services of Hamilton, to whom the preparation of most of 
 the elaborate and important communications was confided. 
 The extent of his services in this line, though not fully, 
 is partially ascertained by reference to the records in the 
 Department of State, where the original drafts of most of 
 the correspondence from head-quarters during the Revo- 
 lution exist, with the transcripts made by order of the 
 government. 
 
 A few days before Hamilton retired from his staff, on 
 the fourth of April, seventeen hundred and eighty-one, the 
 commander-in-chief wrote to the President of Congress, 
 from New Windsor. " The business that has given con 
 stant exercise to the pen of my secretary, and not only 
 frequently but always to those of my aides-de-camp, has 
 rendered it impracticable for the former to register the 
 copies of my letters and instructions in books ; by which 
 means, valuable documents, which may be of equal public 
 utility and private satisfaction, remain in loose sheets, and 
 in the rough manner in which they were first drawn. This 
 is not only attended with present inconvenience, but has a 
 tendency to expose them to damage and to loss. Unless 
 a set of writers are employed for the sole purpose of re- 
 cording them, it will not be in my power to accomplish 
 this necessary work ; and it will be equally impracticable, 
 perhaps, to preserve from injury and loss such valuable 
 
 * Life of Reed, i. 146. Nov. 20, 1775.
 
 JET. 20.] HAMILTON. 
 
 papers." * The letter concludes with a request of per- 
 mission to engage copyists, which was granted. 
 
 The amount and extent of the labor of his staff is 
 stated in a letter from Washington to Congress. " I give 
 in to no kind of amusements myself, and consequently 
 those about me can have none, but are confined from 
 morning till evening, hearing and answering the applica- 
 tions and letters of one and another, which will now, I 
 expect, receive a considerable addition, as the business of 
 the northern and eastern departments, if I continue here, 
 must, I suppose, pass through my hands. If these gentle- 
 men had the same relaxation from duty as other officers 
 have in their common routine, there would not be so much 
 in it. But to have the mind always upon the stretch, 
 scarce ever unbent, and no hours for recreation, makes a 
 material odds. Knowing this, and at the same time how 
 inadequate the pay is, I can scarce find inclination to im- 
 pose the necessary duties of their office upon them." f 
 
 Amid the various high duties which engrossed him, the 
 attention of Washington was at this time particularly di- 
 rected to a negotiation relative to the exchange of prison- 
 ers a matter of not easy adjustment and in a civil war, 
 such as this, which England could only treat as a rebel- 
 lion, attended with great embarrassments. 
 
 The capture of St. Johns in the preceding autumn, 
 first placed this matter before Congress. In a spirit not 
 less dictated by a liberal view of the interests of nations 
 at war, than by the calls of humanity, they immediately 
 directed an equal exchange of prisoners, which was fol- 
 lowed by successive resolutions, giving them a choice of 
 residence, directing them to be treated with kindness, 
 making the same provision for them as for their own 
 
 * Washington's Writings, vii. 467. 
 
 f Washington's Writings, i-i. 809. April 23, 1776.
 
 176 THE REPUBLIC. (1777. 
 
 troops ; appointing a commissioned officer to protect them 
 from neglect, and assigning the punctual payment of their 
 allowances as the especial duty of the president of each 
 convention, or of the speakers of the assemblies. 
 
 These regulations were strictly enforced, and every 
 instance of inattention promptly redressed. 
 
 The measures of the commander-in-chief fully corre- 
 sponded with the policy of Congress. 
 
 An opposite line of conduct had been adopted by the 
 enemy, little in consonance with the character and feel- 
 ings of the British people. The greatest indignation was 
 excited in both countries by recitals of the indignities to 
 which the captured Americans had been subjected. Of 
 these the most flagrant instance was that of Ethan Allen 
 by General Prescott, which led to a correspondence on 
 the part of Washington with Howe, in the tone of which 
 the latter had the advantage. Terms of exchange had 
 been settled with him before the preceding campaign, but, 
 in his successful career, they had been departed from. 
 
 The capture of Fort Washington had much increased 
 the number of American prisoners, showing, at the end of 
 seventy-six, a considerable aggregate in favor of the Brit- 
 ish. Being chiefly a class of men who had suffered few 
 privations, the captured colonists clamored loudly at re- 
 strictions unavoidable, and excesses without palliation. 
 The situation of General Lee, who had been taken to New 
 York, was at this moment of especial interest. Congress, 
 on learning this event, had offered in exchange six field- 
 officers of inferior rank, one of whom was Colonel Camp- 
 bell, a Highland soldier and member of Parliament. This 
 offer was rejected, and Lee was placed in confinement, 
 with an intimation that his treatment would be different 
 from that of prisoners of war. 
 
 Indignant at this procedure, Congress instantly or-
 
 ^Er. 20.] HAMILTON. 177 
 
 dered Campbell and the Hessian officers into close cu- 
 tody ; and threatened retaliation for every indignity of- 
 fered to the Americans. Campbell, being confined to the 
 jail in Concord, wrote to Washington. The reply, dated 
 on the day of his appointment as aide, was written by 
 Hamilton : " I am not invested with the powers you sup- 
 pose, and it is incompatible with my authority as with my 
 inclination to contravene any determination Congress may 
 make. But as it does not appear to me that your present 
 treatment is required by any resolution of theirs, but is 
 the result of misconception, I have written my opinion of 
 the matter to Colonel Bowdoin,* which I imagine will 
 procure a mitigation of what you suffer. I shall aiways 
 be happy to manifest my disinclination to any undue se- 
 verities towards those whom the fortune of war may 
 chance to throw into my hands." A letter was also writ- 
 ten to Congress : " Retaliation is certainly just, and some- 
 times necessary, even where attended with the severest 
 penalties ; but, when the evils which may and must result 
 from it exceed those intended to be redressed, prudence 
 and policy require that it should be avoided." " The 
 present state of our army, if it deserves that name, will 
 not authorize the language of retaliation or the style of 
 menace." Congress did not yield, having refused a re- 
 quest of Lee for a conference with him ; of which refusal 
 he complained sorely. An effort was again made to es- 
 tablish a cartel, but the English commissioner displayed a 
 temper little favorable to a happy issue. It seemed rather 
 to have been his design to indulge in arrogant crimination, 
 than to promote an object mutually beneficial. The im- 
 portance of meeting the charges made was strongly felt, 
 and the task of vindicating the course which had been 
 adopted, was confided to Hamilton. " The pen for our 
 
 * President of Massachusetts. 
 
 VOL. I. 12
 
 178 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 army," says Troup, " was held by Hamilton ; and for dig- 
 nity of manner, pith of matter, and elegance of style, 
 General Washington's letters are unrivalled in military 
 annals." 
 
 The negotiation of a cartel failed in consequence of 
 the determination of Howe not to include Lee within the 
 class of American prisoners, but was attended with flat- 
 tering consequences. The correspondence increased the 
 esteem in which the American character was held in 
 Europe, and was proudly referred to as another evidence 
 that the advocates of liberty were not less accomplished 
 with the pen than with the sword. 
 
 Previous to the opening of the campaign, delayed by 
 the severity of winter and by hoped reinforcements on 
 the part of the enemy, Hamilton in behalf of Washing- 
 ton wrote to the governor of Georgia informing him of 
 orders given to the American General Howe, command- 
 ing there, to consult w r ith him and with the president of 
 South Carolina as to " the propriety of making an attempt 
 upon St. Augustine. The good consequences," he ob- 
 served, " that will certainly result from such an expedi- 
 tion, if attended with success, are too obvious to escape 
 your notice, and lead me to hope for a ready compliance 
 with the requisition ; if it shall appear, after due consid- 
 eration had of all circumstances, that the enterprise would 
 have a fortunate and favorable issue." This was the first 
 step towards an extension of the southern bounds of this 
 republic and the command of the Gulf of Mexico, of 
 which Hamilton was a steadfast advocate. 
 
 When the season for military operations approached, 
 the greatest anxiety pervaded the United States, in their 
 defenceless condition, as to the movements of the enemy. 
 
 Hamilton, having expressly cautioned the convention 
 of New York to distinguish between his own sentiments
 
 HAMILTON. 179 
 
 and those of " the General," again wrote them. The con- 
 centration of an army in the north, and the obvious policy 
 of seizing the passes in the Highlands of the Hudson, 
 seemed to indicate these as a first object. Thus the cam- 
 paign might be commenced earlier than in Pennsylvania, 
 as the army would in one case move by water, and, having 
 the command of that important river, might in a few 
 hours destroy the boats provided on its banks, prevent 
 Washington from crossing until they had reached Albany, 
 and after ravaging the interior of Ne .v York, enter Con- 
 necticut on the western side, where the disaffection of a 
 part of the people would ensure them many friends. This 
 course, it is stated, had been indicated in the instructions 
 from London, which directed a squadron to make a diver- 
 sion on the coast of New England, thus to induce the 
 withdrawal of a part of the troops composing the northern 
 army, and to check the progress of enlistment for the 
 main body.* This view Hamilton did not take. " It 
 seems to be an opinion," he wrote on the second of March, 
 " supported by the best reasons, that the main object with 
 which they will open the campaign will be the capture of 
 Philadelphia. If so, they will have a greater probability 
 of success by co-operating both by sea and land ; and the 
 preparations for this, added to the dangers of making an 
 attempt by water at too early a season, will in all likeli- 
 hood protract the execution of their project, at least till 
 the time I have mentioned the beginning of May." 
 
 An expedition to Peekskill late in March, where large 
 munitions of war were supposed to be collected, and 
 which the gallantry of Colonel Willett prevented from 
 being more disastrous, and the destruction of the stores at 
 Danbury where Wooster fell, shook this opinion. " I 
 congratulate you," Hamilton wrote, " on the late impor- 
 
 * Hamilton's Works, I 15.
 
 180 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 tant arrivals to the eastward. We consider them as 
 immense acquisitions. I congratulate you, also, on the 
 Danbury expedition. The stores destroyed there have 
 been purchased at a pretty high price to the enemy. The 
 spirit of the people on the occasion does them great honor, 
 is a pleasing proof that they have lost nothing of that 
 primitive zeal with which they began the contest ; and 
 will be a galling discouragement to the enemy from re- 
 peating attempts of the kind. Such an opposition, under 
 such circumstances, was not to be expected. By every 
 account, both from our friends and from themselves, they 
 cannot have sustained a loss of less than five hundred, 
 killed, wounded, and taken." 
 
 The enemy about this time made a movement upon 
 Amboy. Hamilton, immediately on learning their pur- 
 pose, wrote in behalf of Washington this cautionary 
 letter to Lord Stirling, in command of a body of Con- 
 tinentals and some Jersey troops.* 
 
 :'*il have just now received information, and I believe 
 it is well founded, that the enemy have formed a design 
 during the suspension of more important operations, to 
 amuse themselves in endeavoring to surprise our outposts. 
 I communicate this, to put you upon your guard, that you 
 may take proper steps to counteract them, and secure us 
 from the disagreeable consequences of a surprise at any 
 of the posts under your direction. 
 
 " Let me recommend to you as much as circumstances 
 will permit, to make your parties change their quarters 
 every night or two. The deception arising from this 
 measure will embarrass the enemy, and by making it diffi- 
 
 * William Alexander, called Lord Stirling, by courtesy. He served in the 
 war of 1756, and claimed the earldom of Stirling, but was unsuccessful. He 
 was appointed from New Jersey, where he had exerted an important influence 
 in the movements to Independence.
 
 ^Kv. 20.] HAMILTON. 181 
 
 cult for them to find you out, will enable you not only to 
 disappoint them in their project, but perhaps make the 
 intended surprise react upon them, and derive advantages 
 from it to ourselves. In order to this, it will be proper 
 to have scouts or spies continually near their quarters to 
 give the earliest notice of any movement of the kind. 
 
 " I have been likewise informed that they have spies at 
 our several posts. I must beg you will exert yourself to 
 detect them, and prevent the evil effects that must attend 
 their being among us. To have your artillery in order for 
 every casualty that may happen, it will be highly neces- 
 sary to have them immediately and frequently put into a 
 condition for marching ; to see that the number of horses 
 is completed, the tackling, waggons and carriages, suffi- 
 cient and sound, and every thing else in proper order." 
 
 "This advance of the enemy," Hamilton wrote the 
 convention of New York, "it is conjectured, is with a 
 view to the Delaware, and the supposition is confirmed 
 by the circumstance of a confederacy lately detected 
 at Philadelphia, who, among other things, were endeavor- 
 ing to engage persons as pilots up that river. 
 
 " The extreme difficulties they must labor under for 
 want of forage, and the infinite hazard they must run by 
 moving with a small body of about five thousand men, 
 with an enemy in the rear, incapable of sparing any con- 
 siderable body of troops to form a post behind, and be an 
 asylum to them in case of accident ; these circumstances 
 will hardly allow me to think they will be daring enough 
 to make the attempt at this time. But on the other hand, 
 as they know we are in a progressive state as to numbers, 
 and other matters of importance, and as they have no 
 prospect of early reinforcements, and are in a state of 
 uncertainty as to any, from the bustling aspect of Euro- 
 pean affairs, it is possible they may conceive a necessity
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 of making a push at all risks. Perhaps, however, this 
 embarkation is intended for some other purpose ; to make 
 a diversion, or execute some partisan exploit elsewhere. 
 On the whole, I find it difficult to believe they are yet. 
 ready for any capital operation. 
 
 " As to your apprehensions of an attempt up the North 
 River, I imagine you may discard any uneasiness on that 
 score, although it will be at all times advisable to be on 
 the watch against such a contingency. It is almost re- 
 duced to a certainty, that the principal views of the ene- 
 my, in the ensuing "campaign, will be directed towards the 
 southward, and to Philadelphia more immediately ; of 
 which idea, the discovery before mentioned, with respect 
 to pilots, is no inconsiderable confirmation. Philadelphia 
 is an object calculated to strike and attract their attention. 
 It has all along been the main source of supplies towards 
 the war, and the getting it into their possession would de- 
 prive us of a wheel we could very badly spare, in the 
 great political and military machine. They are sensible 
 of this, and are equally sensible, that it contains in itself, 
 and is surrounded by a prodigious number of persons at- 
 tached to them, and inimical to us, who would lend them 
 all the assistance they could in the further prosecution of 
 their designs. It is also a common and well-grounded 
 rule in war, to strike first and principally at the capital 
 towns and cities, in order to the conquest of a country. 
 
 " I must confess I do not see any object equally inter- 
 esting to draw their efforts to the northward. Operations 
 merely for plundering and devastation can never answer 
 their end ; and if they could, one part of the continent 
 would do nearly as well as another. And as to the notion 
 of forming a junction with the northern army, and cut- 
 ting off the communication between the Northern and 
 Southern States, I apprehend it will do better in specula-
 
 ^T. 20.] HAMILTON. 183 
 
 tion than in practice. Unless the geography of the coun- 
 try is far different from any thing I can conceive, to effect 
 this would require a chain of posts, and such a number of 
 men at each, as would never be practicable or maintain- 
 able, but to an immense army. In their progress, by 
 hanging upon their rear, and seizing every opportunity of 
 skirmishing, their situation might be rendered insupporta- 
 bly uneasy. 
 
 " But for fear of mistake, the general has determined to 
 collect a considerable body of troops at or about Peeks- 
 kill, which will not be drawn off till the intentions of the 
 enemy have acquired a decisive complexion. These will 
 be ready, according to conjunctures, either to proceed 
 northerly or southerly, as may be requisite. Every pre- 
 caution should be taken to prevent the boats from being 
 destroyed, by collecting them at the first movement of the 
 enemy under cover of one of the forts, or into some 
 inlet, difficult of access and easily defensible with a small 
 number of men. The loss of them would be an irrepara- 
 ble disadvantage. 
 
 " The enemy's attempt upon Peekskili is a demonstra- 
 tion of the folly of having any quantity of stores at 
 places so near the water, and so much exposed to a sud- 
 den inroad. There should never be more there than suffi- 
 cient to answer present demands. We have lost a good 
 deal in this way at different times, and I hope experience 
 will at last make us wiser. 
 
 " His excellency lately had a visit from the Oneida chief 
 and five others. He managed them with a good deal of 
 address, and sent them away perfectly satisfied. He per- 
 suaded them to go to Philadelphia, but they declined it, 
 alleging their impatience to return, and remove the erro- 
 neous opinions of their countrymen, from the misrepre- 
 sentations of British emissaries, which they were appre-
 
 184: THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 hensive might draw them into some rash proceedings. 
 They parted, after having made the most solemn protesta- 
 tions of friendship and good will. His excellency has 
 been very busy all day in despatching the southern post, 
 which has prevented me giving him your resolve. It will, 
 no doubt, be very acceptable ; and it is with pleasure I 
 inform you, that the zeal and abilities of the New York 
 convention hold the first rank in his estimation. 
 
 " No news from France, save that the Congress have 
 obtained a credit there, for which they can draw bills to 
 the amount of 100,000 sterling. This will be extremely 
 serviceable in carrying on a trade with the French. The 
 new troops begin to come in. If we can shortly get any 
 considerable accession of strength, we may be able to 
 strike some brilliant stroke." 
 
 A few days after he again wrote : " By several per- 
 sons who have come out of New York within these few 
 days, it is pretty well confirmed that they have con- 
 structed a bridge to be laid upon boats, for the purpose, in 
 all probability, of crossing the Delaware. 
 
 "The new levies begin to come in from the southward, 
 but not in such large numbers as could be wished. It is 
 to be hoped, however, that we shall shortly be sufficiently 
 reinforced to give an effectual obstruction to their de- 
 signs. 
 
 The Congress have resolved, if the general approves, to 
 form a cii,np on the west side of the Delaware, and have 
 called upon Pennsylvania to furnish three thousand militia 
 to join the same. Every nerve must and will be strained 
 to prevent Philadelphia falling into the enemy's hands. 
 It is a place of infinite importance." 
 
 On the seventeenth of April he again addressed the 
 committee, giving a particular account of an attack at 
 Boundbrook upon the troops under General Lincoln ; in-
 
 ^Ex. 20.] HAMILTON. 185 
 
 forming them that three of the enemy's vessels had en- 
 tered the Delaware ; that a vessel from France had been 
 attacked in the river, and to prevent her falling into their 
 hands, had been blown up. 
 
 A letter of the same date from a member of Con- 
 gress* in Philadelphia depicts the state of feeling there at 
 this time. " I am extremely sorry to inform you, that 
 notwithstanding the invasion which threatens this city, a 
 languor prevails amongst the inhabitants of almost all 
 ranks. The disputes about their constitution and a want 
 of vigilance and vigor in detecting and defeating the de- 
 signs of the disaffected, have given the malignants a dan- 
 gerous ascendency. The depreciation of the continental 
 money is astonishingly rapid, and I see, with concern, 
 that no attempts are made to check so fatal a measure. 
 You will see by the enclosed resolutions of Congress of 
 the fourteenth and fifteenth of April, that they have been 
 under the necessity of supplying an executive authority in 
 this State. 
 
 " By the recess of the supreme executive council, there 
 was an absolute interregnum ; and if Congress had not 
 interposed, this State would have fallen an easy prey to a 
 very small body of the enemy's army. I have the pleas- 
 ure to assure the convention, that the State of New York 
 stands in a very high point of light in the eyes of the con- 
 tinent, and that General Washington, in his public letters 
 to Congress, gives the most honorable testimonials in its 
 favor. These, sir, are the happy effects of its unanimity 
 and vigor." He adds : " The disputes in Pennsylvania 
 grew out of no want of attachment to the cause, but from 
 disputes about the constitution. I wish the establishment 
 of new forms of government had been deferred. The 
 union, vigor and security, derived from conventions and 
 
 * William Ducr to Abraham Ten Broeck.
 
 186 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 committees are not to be found in any State under it* 
 new constitution." 
 
 In a private letter of this period,* Washington also 
 adverts to the state of the currency. " That Great Brit- 
 ain will exert every nerve to carry her tyrannical designs 
 into execution, I have not the smallest doubt her very 
 existence as a nation depends now upon her success, for 
 should America rise triumphant in her struggle for inde- 
 pendence, she must fall. It is not to be wondered at, 
 therefore, after she has departed from that line of justice 
 which ought to characterize a virtuous people, that she 
 should descend to such low arts and dirty tricks as will 
 for ever remain a reproach to her ; none of which has she 
 practised with more success, and, I fear, with more dan- 
 gerous consequences to our cause, than her endeavors to 
 depreciate the continental bills of credit. Nothing, there- 
 fore, has a greater claim to the close attention of Con- 
 gress than the counteraction of this part of her diabolical 
 scheme. Every thing depends upon it." Urging there 
 should be no relaxation in measures of resistance, he adds, 
 " I profess myself to be of that class who never built san- 
 guinely upon the assistance of France, farther than her 
 winking at our supplies from thence for the benefits de- 
 rived from our trade, and how far the measures and offers 
 of Great Britain may contravene this, time only can dis- 
 cover, and is somewhat to be feared." 
 
 The constitution of New York, recently established f 
 by the convention of that Stale, was made public at this 
 (ime. Hamilton's attention was called to it in a letter 
 from Gouverneur Morris, a member of the body. 
 
 Looking to the recent proceedings as to Pennsylvania 
 and to this act, there is presented to the view one of the 
 most remarkable scenes in the drama of the American 
 
 * Washington to R. H. Lee. Lee's Memoir, ii. p. 12. f April 20, 1777.
 
 yE-r. 20.] HAMILTON. 187 
 
 revolution. At the same moment, the Congress of the 
 United States, by their assumed unlimited power, unhesi- 
 tatingly submitted to, are seen instituting an executive 
 authority in a State ; and the other States are beheld, in 
 the midst of a war for their existence, forming strictly 
 limited governments, in all of which were provisions to 
 hold the general Congress under their absolute control. 
 At the same moment, this Congress are seen conferring 
 upon a military chief of their own creation, dictatorial 
 powers, and the separate States are beheld tenaciously 
 reserving to themselves the appointment of the officers to 
 execute the commands of that chief. 
 
 The former were acts of high necessity,' expressly 
 avowed to have been done to provide " for the general 
 welfare of the United States." The latter indicate the 
 pervading distrust of a general governing power conse- 
 quent to abuses by a sovereign they had rejected, and 
 were resisting. 
 
 Magna Charta and the succeeding guards to liberty 
 established by the wisdom of England, formed the basis 
 of these State constitutions. But their structure shows 
 the quick vibration from confiding devotion to a monarch, 
 to the jealous caution of democracy. Contests with the 
 representatives of the monarch had prepared the colo- 
 nists, in a measure, for self-government ; and had taught 
 them that safety would only be found in a government by 
 representatives of the people. Thus, representative de- 
 mocracies were the natural fruits of the revolution ; and 
 in organizing them, the prevailing effort would be to ren- 
 der the executive authority, dependent, feeble, of short 
 duration. 
 
 The first government instituted under a recommenda 
 tion of Congress was that of New Hampshire in January, 
 seventy-six.
 
 1S8 THE REPUBLIC. [177T 
 
 A letter from General Sullivan, who had been con- 
 sulted as to the form to be established, shows the state of 
 public opinion. " I can by no means consent to lodge too 
 much power in the hands of one person, or suffering an 
 interest in government to exist separate from that of the 
 people, or any man to hold office for the execution of 
 which he is not, in some way or other, answerable to that 
 people to whom he owes his political existence." 
 
 The course of New Hampshire showed the extent of 
 this feeling. Its constitution did not provide a governor. 
 A House of Representatives, elected annually by the towns, 
 chose a council of twelve persons, who chose a presiding 
 officer. This officer, called the " President of the Coun- 
 cil," performed the undefined duties of a governor, and 
 was, at the same time, appointed judge of the superior 
 court. This imperfect scheme existed until near the end 
 of the revolution. 
 
 In March, the Provincial Congress of South Carolina 
 organized themselves as a general assembly of the colo- 
 ny, framing a constitution. This assembly was author- 
 ized to elect by ballot from its own body a legislative 
 council, and these jointly were to choose a president and 
 a privy council by ballot. This temporary constitution 
 gave place soon after to another, by which a rotation in 
 office was secured, and more popular elements introduced. 
 
 In New Jersey, a legislature of two branches was also 
 elected annually, and they chose an annual governor. In 
 Virginia, one branch of the legislature and the governor 
 were annually chosen, the latter by the legislature, who 
 was only re-eligible for three successive years, and was 
 controlled by a council chosen by joint ballot of the 
 legislature, whose term of office was of several years. 
 His powers were few, his patronage small. Maryland 
 also chose her governor annually by her legislature of
 
 yET. 20.] HAMILTON. ISO 
 
 two branches, who was likewise controlled by a council 
 elected annually by the same body. He also was re-eli- 
 gible for only three consecutive years : his powers very 
 limited and guarded. The constitutions of Delaware and 
 jNorth Carolina were in these respects similar. All these 
 frames of government were made in the course of the 
 year seventy-six. Connecticut and Rhode Island re- 
 mained, under their charter systems a little modified, of a 
 very popular cast, and in part models of those recently 
 instituted. 
 
 The constitution of New York, at this moment com- 
 pleted, established a legislature of two branches, the sen- 
 ate, like that of Virginia and of Maryland, being of longer 
 duration than the other branch, and changed successively 
 by rotation ; chosen, as was the governor, by freeholders 
 
 His term of office was three years, and his powers 
 were larger than those conferred by the other States. 
 Here his patronage, power and responsibility were sought 
 to be checked by councils, one exercising conjointly with 
 him, the power of revising and rejecting the acts of legis- 
 lation, the other that of appointments. 
 
 This plan of government was believed to be chiefly 
 the production of Jay, to whom Rutledge of South Caro- 
 lina wrote : " Vest the executive powers of government 
 in an individual, that they may have vigor, and let them 
 be as ample as is consistent with the great outlines of 
 freedom." 
 
 The larger executive powers conferred by it was the 
 result of obvious causes. The seaboard of the State was 
 at this moment in possession of the enemy, its interior 
 frontier was menaced by them, many of its inhabitants 
 were disaffected. Its safety demanded a prompt exertion 
 of all its resources, to which it had been habituated during 
 its colonial existence. "Our constitution," Jay writes,
 
 190 THE KEPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 " is universally approved, even in New England, where 
 few New York productions have credit." 
 
 Hamilton's views of it are given in his letters to Gou- 
 verneur Morris. 
 
 " I thank you for the favor of the pamphlet containing 
 your form of government, which, without flattery, I con- 
 sider as far more judicious and digested than any thing of 
 the kind that has yet appeared among us ; though 1 am 
 not so unreserved in my approbation as to think it free 
 from defects. While I view it in the main as a wise and 
 excellent system, I freely confess it appears to me to have 
 some faults which I could wish did not exist. Were it 
 not too late to discuss particulars for any useful end, or 
 could my judgment have any weight in a matter which is 
 the work of so many far more able and discerning than I 
 can pretend to be, I should willingly descend to an exhi- 
 bition of those parts I dislike, and my reasons for disap- 
 proving. But, in the present situation of things, it would 
 be both useless and presumptuous." 
 
 Morris answered, " I am very happy to find that our 
 form of government meets with your approbation. That 
 there are faults in it is not to be wondered at, for it is 
 the work of men, and of men, perhaps, not the best quali- 
 fied for such undertakings. I think it deficient for want 
 of vigor in the executive ; unstable, from the very nature 
 of popular elective governments ; and dilatory, from the 
 complexity of the legislature. 
 
 " For the first, I apologize by hinting the spirit which 
 now reigns in America, suspiciously cautious. For the 
 second, because unavoidable. For the third, because a 
 simple legislature soon possesses itself of too much power 
 for the safety of its subjects. God grant it may work 
 well, for we must live under it." 
 
 Hamilton answered : " I partly agree and partly disa-
 
 JET. 20.J HAMILTON. 191 
 
 gree with you respecting the deficiencies of our constitu- 
 tion. That there is a want of vigor in the executive, I 
 believe will be found true. To determine the qualifica- 
 tions proper for the chief executive magistrate requires 
 the deliberate wisdom of a select assembly, and cannot 
 safely be lodged with the people at large. That insta- 
 bility is inherent in the nature of popular governments, I 
 think very disputable ; unstable democracy is an epithet 
 frequently in the mouths of politicians ; but I believe that, 
 from a strict examination of the matter from the records 
 of history, it will be found that the fluctuations of govern- 
 ments in which the popular principle has borne a consid- 
 erable sway, have proceeded from its being compounded 
 with other principles ; and from its being made to operate 
 in an improper channel. Compound governments, though 
 they may be harmonious in the beginning, will introduce 
 distinct interests, and these interests will clash, throw the 
 State into convulsions, and produce a change or dissolu- 
 tion. When the deliberative or judicial powers are vested 
 wholly or partly in the collective body of the people, 
 you must expect error, confusion and instability. But a 
 REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY, where the right of election 
 is well secured and regulated, and the exercise of the 
 legislative, executive, and judiciary authorities is vested in 
 select persons, chosen really and not nominally by the 
 people will, in my opinion, be most likely to be happy, 
 regular and durable. That the complexity of your 
 legislature will occasion delay and dilatoriness is evident, 
 and I fear may be attended with a much greater evil ; as 
 expedition is not very material in making la\tfs, espe- 
 cially when the government is well digested and ma- 
 tured by time. The evil, I mean, is, that in time your 
 Senate, from the very name, and from th<; mere circum- 
 stance of its being a separate member of the legislature,
 
 192 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 will be liable to degenerate into a body purely aristo- 
 cratical. 
 
 And I think the abuse of power from a simple legisla- 
 ture would not be very great in a government where the 
 equality and fulness of popular representation is so wisely 
 provided for as in yours. On the whole, though I think 
 these are the defects intimated, I think your government 
 far the best that we have yet seen, and capable of giving 
 long and substantial happiness to the people. Objec- 
 tions should be suggested with great caution and re- 
 serve." 
 
 The qualified opinion here expressed of the durability 
 of representative democracies is not without color of au- 
 thority.* 
 
 The distrust of a Senate, as verging towards aristo- 
 cracy, was the transient emotion of a youthful mind, to 
 which the vista of human happiness in modern institutions 
 was opening in all its beauty and grandeur. It soon gave 
 place to wiser views. 
 
 The efforts of the disaffected Americans were now a 
 source of serious alarm. In New York the enemy had 
 formed bodies of troops composed of them and of British 
 and Irish refugees under the command of men driven 
 from their colonial stations ; and with embittered feelings, 
 eager to wage unrelenting hostilities upon those they had 
 recently governed. Of these was Tryon, with the rank 
 of major-general, conspicuous in the recent incendiary in- 
 roads upon Connecticut. Hamilton, sensible of the great 
 importance of marking the true line of policy to be 
 adopted as to so delicate and difficult a matter, now wrote 
 to the convention of New York, deprecating the substitu- 
 tion of tyranny for discriminating energy. " The dispo- 
 sition of the convention, with respect to the disaffected 
 
 * Montesquieu's Esprit des Loix. " Republiquo Federative," i. 391.
 
 Mr. 20.] HAMILTON. 193 
 
 among you, is highly commendable, and justified by everv 
 principle of equity and policy. The necessity of exem- 
 plary punishment throughout the States, is become evi- 
 dent beyond a doubt, and it were to be wished every one 
 of the thirteen would imitate the judicious conduct of 
 New York. Lenity and forbearance have been tried too 
 long to no purpose ; it is high time to discard what the 
 clearest experience has shown to be ineffectual. 
 
 " But in dispensing punishment, the utmost care and 
 caution ought to be used. The power of doing it, or 
 even of bringing the guilty to trial, should be placed in 
 hands that know well how to use it. I believe it would 
 be a prudent rule to meddle with none but those whose 
 crimes are supported by very sufficient evidence, and arc 
 of a pretty deep dye. The apprehending innocent per- 
 sons, or those whose offences are of so slender a nature as 
 to make it prudent to dismiss them, furnishes an occasion of 
 triumph, and a foundation for a species of animadversion 
 which is very injurious to the public cause. Persons so 
 apprehended generally return home worse than they 
 were, and by expatiating on their sufferings, first excite 
 the pity towards themselves and afterwards the abhor- 
 rence towards their persecutors, of those with whom they 
 converse. I believe it would also be, in general, a good 
 rule, either to pardon offenders entirely, or to inflict capi- 
 tal and severe punishments. The advice given by a cer- 
 tain general to his son, when the latter had the Roman 
 army in his power, was certainly very politic ; he advised 
 him either to destroy them utterly, or to dismiss them 
 with every mark of honor and respect. By the first 
 method, says he, you disable the Romans from being your 
 enemies ; by the last, you make them your friends. So 
 with respect to the tories ; I would either disable them 
 from doing us any injury, or I would endeavor to gain 
 VOL. L 13
 
 194 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 their friendship by clemency. Inflicting trifling punish- 
 ments only embitters the minds of those on whom they 
 fall, and increases their disposition to do mischief without 
 taking away the power of doing it. 
 
 " I shall communicate your additional resolve to the 
 general, and consult him on what you mention, and shall 
 let you know his opinion in my next ; mine, however, is, 
 that those who appear to be of such a character as to be 
 susceptible of reformation, should be employed ; but it is 
 a delicate point. 
 
 " As to news, the most material is, that from intelligence 
 received from Rhode Island, it appears the enemy are 
 abandoning it. This is a preparatory step to the intended 
 operations of the enemy. 
 
 " In a private letter from Philadelphia, I am informed 
 that a treaty of a very particular nature is on the point 
 of being concluded between the court of France and the 
 States of America. There is a prospect of opening a 
 trade with Sweden." 
 
 The same spirit is seen in a letter written by Hamilton 
 to Governor Livingston : 
 
 " A number of disaffected persons having been taken 
 up and brought to his Excellency, he has ordered an ex- 
 amination into their cases to know who of them were sub- 
 ject to a military jurisdiction, and who came properly 
 under the cognizance of the civil power ; also to discrimi- 
 nate those who were innocent or guilty of trivial offences 
 from those whose crimes were of a more capital and 
 heinous nature, directing that those of the former char- 
 acter should be dismissed, and those of the latter referred 
 to you for further trial and punishment. The examina 
 tion, at which I was present, has been accordingly made, 
 and the enclosed list of names will inform you of those 
 who have been deemed proper subjects for a legal prose-
 
 ^Er. 20.] HAMILTON. 195 
 
 cution ; and who are herewith sent under guard to be 
 disposed of as you shall direct. I have transmitted you a 
 bundle of papers, in which you will find the information 
 and evidence that support the charges against them, and 
 the confession they made in the court of inquiry. Many 
 of them have nothing against them but what is to be 
 found in their own acknowledgments. How far these 
 may operate in fixing their guilt you can best determine. 
 Several of them have been taken in arms, and others 
 were beyond a doubt employed in enlisting men for the 
 service of the enemy. You will readily concur with his 
 Excellency in the obvious necessity of inflicting exemplary 
 punishment on such daring offenders, to repress that inso- 
 lent spirit of open and avowed enmity to the American 
 cause, which, unhappily, is too prevalent in this and some 
 of the States." 
 
 " The examination," he also writes, " in this instance is 
 somewhat irregular and out of the common order of 
 f hings. But in the present unsettled state of government, 
 the distinction between the civil and military powers can- 
 not be upheld with that exactness which every friend 
 to society must wish. His Excellency desires to avoid 
 nothing more, I flatter myself you will believe me, than 
 deviations from the strict rules of propriety in this re- 
 spect, or the least encroachments either upon the rights of 
 the citizen or of the magistrate. It was necessary to 
 make inquiry for the sake of the discrimination before 
 mentioned, and tenderness to the innocent to save them 
 from long and unmerited confinement, commended the 
 measure." 
 
 A few days after, he again wrote : " A spirit of disaf- 
 fection shows itself with so much boldness and violence 
 in different parts of this State, that it is the ardent wish 
 of his Excellency, no delay which can be avoided might
 
 196 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 be used in making examples of some most atrocious of- 
 fenders. If something be not speedily done, to strike a 
 terror into the disaffected, the consequences must be very 
 disagreeable. Among others, all security to the friends 
 of the American cause will be destroyed ; and the natural 
 effect of this will be an extinction of zeal in seconding 
 and promoting it. Their attachment, if it remain, will be 
 a dead, inactive, useless principle. And the disaffected, 
 emboldened by impunity, will be encouraged to proceed 
 to the most dangerous and pernicious lengths." Soon 
 after he wrote in behalf of Washington to Congress : 
 " In this State " (New Jersey), " I have strong assurance 
 that the spirit of disaffection has risen to a great height ; 
 and I shall not be disappointed, if a large number of the 
 inhabitants in some of the counties should openly appear 
 in arms, as soon as the enemy begin their operations. I 
 have taken every measure in my power to suppress it, but 
 nevertheless, several from Jersey and Bergen have joined 
 their army, and the spirit becomes more and more daring 
 every day." The correspondence as to the exchange oi 
 prisoners having been resumed by General Howe, his let- 
 ter was enclosed to Congress, with a comment in behalf 
 of Washington by Hamilton. 
 
 " As General Howe has called upon me again for my 
 final decision upon the subject, and Congress are folly 
 possessed of it, having received transcripts of every paper 
 respecting it, I wish them to take the matter under their 
 earliest consideration, and to inform me as soon as they 
 can, whether the grounds on which it has been conducted 
 by me, are agreeable to their ideas, and whether my ob- 
 jections are or are not to be departed from. * * * 
 The dispute, so far as General Lee is concerned, rests at 
 present on their declaring him exchangeable, as other pris- 
 oners are, on the principle of equality of rank, to ensure
 
 .T. 20.] HAMILTON. 197 
 
 which, or his safety, Lieutenant-colonel Campbell and the 
 Hessian field officers are detained. The. other objection 
 to returning their prisoners is, that a great proportion of 
 those sent out by them were not fit subjects of exchange 
 when released, and were made so by the severity of their 
 treatment and confinement, and, therefore, a deduction 
 should be made from the list. 
 
 " Good faith seems to require that we should return as 
 many of theirs, at least, as we received effectives from 
 them ; I mean such as could be considered capable of 
 being exchanged ; and perhaps sound policy, that the 
 agreement subsisting for exchanges would continue. On 
 the other hand, it may be said, that our prisoners, in gen- 
 eral, in the enemy's hands at present, will have greater 
 security by our retaining them, and that General Howe 
 will be less apt to relinquish any part of his claim the 
 more the number in our hands is diminished by an ex- 
 change. 
 
 " I confess I am under great difficulty in this business. 
 But what is more particularly the cause of this applica- 
 tion, is the latter part of the first paragraph of the en- 
 closed copy . ' and for your determination respecting the 
 prisoners now here, that I may make my arrangements 
 accordingly.'' This is couched in terms of great ambigu- 
 ity ; and I am really at a loss what interpretation to give 
 it ; whether he intends that his conduct respecting them 
 shall be as I advise (this appears more favorable than can 
 well be expected), or that, if the previous demand is not 
 answered in a satisfactory manner, he shall consider them 
 on a different footing from that on which our former pris- 
 oners were, and the agreement totally dissolved. We are 
 told Government offered the prisoners they took to the 
 India Company, and they have procured an act dispensing 
 with that of the habeas corpus in particular cases of per-
 
 198 THE KEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 sons supposed inimical to them. How far they or their 
 commanders may adopt these measures, remains to be 
 known. I have only mentioned them as respects the 
 general subject of my letter. 
 
 " Notwithstanding my recommendation, agreeably to 
 what I conceived to be the sense of Congress, Lieutenant- 
 colonel Campbell's treatment continues to be such as can- 
 not be justified either on the principles of generosity or 
 strict retaliation ; as I have authentic information, and I 
 doubt not you will have the same, that General Lee's situ- 
 ation is far from being rigorous or uncomfortable. Ex- 
 cept his not being permitted to go at large on parole, he 
 has reason to be content with every other circumstance 
 of his treatment." 
 
 General Lee had recently stated that he had been 
 " treated in all respects with kindness, generosity, and ten- 
 derness." 
 
 On being apprised of this, Congress resolved that 
 similar conduct be observed towards Campbell and the 
 Hessian officers. 
 
 Four days after the date of this letter, " the enemy," 
 as Hamilton states, " perpetrated a most barbarous butch- 
 ery upon a Lieutenant Martin of ours. He was out with 
 a scouting party, and met some of the British light-horse ; 
 his men, it is said, quitted him. But however other mat- 
 ters may be, it is certain his dead body was found most 
 horribly mangled. He had not a single bullet-wound, but 
 was hacked to pieces with the sword ; he had several cuts 
 on his head, each of which was sufficient to despatch him, 
 besides a number of more inconsiderable scars about his 
 body and hands. It is evident that the most wanton and 
 unnecessary cruelty must have been used towards him ; 
 for the greater part of his wounds must have been given 
 him when utterly out of a condition to resist. This may
 
 >ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 199 
 
 be relied on as a fact, for I saw his corpse, as did also 
 every officer and soldier in camp that chose it. The gen- 
 eral sent him down to their lines with a letter to Lord 
 Cornwallis, as an undeniable evidence of their brutality, 
 but the letter was taken from the flag and sent in ; the 
 flag and the body not permitted to pass their outposts." 
 It * was brought to the post of Sir George Osborne, who 
 with much admired sang froid, simply returned for an- 
 swer, " that he was no coroner." 
 
 The letter, written by Hamilton for Washington, was 
 in these terms : " It is with infinite regret I am again 
 compelled to remonstrate against that spirit of wanton 
 cruelty that has in several instances influenced the con- 
 duct of your soldiery. A recent exercise of it towards 
 an unhappy officer of ours, Lieutenant Martin, convinces 
 me that my former representations on this subject have 
 been unavailing. That gentleman, by the fortune of war, 
 on Saturday last, was thrown into the hands of a party 
 of your horse, and unnecessarily murdered with the most 
 aggravated circumstances of barbarity. I wish not to 
 wound your lordship's feelings by commenting on this 
 event ; but I think it my duty to send his mangled body 
 to your lines as an undeniable testimony of the fact, should 
 it be doubted, and as the best appeal to your humanity 
 for the justice of our complaint." 
 
 The answer is not known, but its character may be 
 inferred from this reply in the close of a letter, also from 
 Hamilton's pen: "I cannot forbear taking this occasion 
 to remark, that it appears to me not a little singular to 
 find a gallant discharge of duty in an officer, assigned as 
 a reason for exercising the greatest barbarity towards him. 
 I confess I should imagine that the eye of generosity 
 would rather view it as a motive for applause and tender- 
 
 * Graydon's Memoirs, 266.
 
 200 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 ness." "The fact," he states, "was admitted and jus- 
 tified." 
 
 Howe at this time pressing a final decision as to the 
 exchange of prisoners, Hamilton, in behalf of Washing- 
 ton answered him in full.* This letter is a fine specimen 
 of retaliatory vindication, not a little quickened in its tone 
 by this recent outrage. It closed with the declaration of 
 a wish that the difference between them should be " ad- 
 justed on a generous and equitable plan." 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 It will be perceived that in the course of this History, when introducing 
 the letters written by Hamilton for Washington, the phrases are used " in 
 behalf of Washington," and " in the name of Washington." This language 
 became, immediately after the appearance of this volume, the subject of much 
 inconsiderate and indecorous comment by the public press. Of the warrant 
 for, and the propriety of, the use of these phrases, a brief vindication will be 
 seen in the Preface to the second volume of this work. The purpose of this 
 note is merely to adduce an instance of an ascription of authorship in terms 
 similar to those employed in this history, to which no exception is believed 
 ever to have been taken. 
 
 The letters written by Milton for Cromwell are thus described, both in the 
 Oxford edition of the " Prose Works by John Milton," by Charles Symmons, 
 and in the Paris edition. 
 
 " Literae Senatus Anglican! nee non Cromwellii," &c. 
 
 "Nomine ac jussu conscriptae." Letters of the English Senate, also of 
 Cromwell, &c., written " in his name and by his ardtrr." 
 
 " June 10. 1777.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AMID the conflicts of opinion between Congress and the 
 State governments, its spasmodic action, now of energy, 
 then of weakness, their confidence and their fears ; it be- 
 came obvious, that the success of the struggle would 
 chiefly depend on skill to avoid and patience to endure, 
 rather than on power to resist the aggressions of the ene- 
 my. What direction their force would take was still un- 
 certain. Hamilton wrote to the convention of New 
 York, the seventh of May : " From some late appearances, 
 my opinion is greatly shaken as to the enemy's intention 
 to move to Philadelphia. I begin to fear they will disap- 
 point us with a contrary movement. The general is 
 aware of this possibility, and will do every thing he can 
 to provide for the event ; and I trust the convention of 
 your State will co-operate with him by every exertion in 
 their power. By intelligence received yesterday and to- 
 day, from Generals Putnam and Lincoln at the outposts, 
 we have reason to suspect the enemy will soon evacuate 
 Brunswick and push for Amboy, whence they will no 
 doubt embark for some expedition by water. This may 
 be either to Philadelphia or up the North River. Or, per- 
 haps, the appearances that indicate this, may be only 
 feints to perplex and deceive us. The testimony of 
 every person that comes from them confirms this fact,
 
 202 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 that their horses are in such miserable condition as to ren- 
 der them incapable of any material operations by land. 
 If, therefore, proper care be taken, wherever they shall 
 point their efforts, to prevent their collecting supplies cf 
 good horses among ourselves, I know not how it will be 
 possible for them to penetrate any distance into the coun- 
 try. As far as it may depend upon them, I hope the 
 convention will attend to this circumstance, and will take 
 effective measures to put it out of their power to gain such 
 supplies in any part of your State towards which they 
 may direct their movements. Nothing particular from 
 Europe." He soon again wrote : " It seems now fully the 
 opinion of our generals that the last year's project for 
 uniting the two armies by the conquest of your State will 
 be prosecuted this campaign. To confirm this supposi- 
 tion, all the later intelligence we have received from the 
 enemy, strongly indicates an intention to evacuate the 
 Jerseys ; and it is thought there will be very great obsta- 
 cles to an attempt upon Philadelphia by way of the Dela- 
 ware ; it is concluded that the North River must be the 
 object. And, upon this principle, Generals Greene and 
 Knox, in whom his Excellency has great confidence, are 
 sent to examine the situation of things with you, and, in 
 concert with General McDougall, who is in equal estima- 
 tion, to adopt every proper expedient for putting you in 
 the best state of defence. They set out this day. 
 
 " If the enemy do not, in fact, aim at Philadelphia, 
 they have been very artful in throwing out appearances 
 well calculated to deceive, and which, though they have 
 not had so full an effect as at any time to cause our cau- 
 tious general to lose sight of the other object which it is 
 now imagined they propose to themselves ; yet they have 
 so far deceived as to beget pretty universally the opinion 
 they wished to impose. But, for rny own part, though 1
 
 /ET. 20.] II A M I L T O X . 203 
 
 am staggered in my conjectures, yet I by no means give 
 up my first supposition. I think it very probable they are 
 only evacuating the Jerseys to be out of danger of an at- 
 tack from us, which they have reason to fear from the 
 increasing strength of our army, and mean to encamp on 
 Staten Island till reinforced. It would be madness in 
 them, weak as they are in numbers, to risk all in any capi- 
 tal attempt ; and I am confident they will not do it unless 
 they have a desperate game to play, and have no expec- 
 tation of reinforcements. Such a conduct would be con- 
 trary to every principle of war or policy. Howe cannot 
 take the field with more than eight thousand men ; let him 
 go where he will, the probability of a defeat will be 
 strong, the consequences of it would be absolutely fatal. 
 How can he hope to penetrate far with so small a force, 
 and with such a miserable supply of horses to convey his 
 artillery and baggage ? It seems to me, too, with respect 
 to the supposed design upon your State, if it really exist- 
 ed, they would have taken care to have seized your forts, 
 and other important posts, when they might have been 
 apprised you were in no condition to defend them. 
 
 " We have lately had one or two little skirmishes here. 
 A party from Boundbrook beat up some of the enemy's 
 advanced pickets from Brunswick. An attack was made 
 upon their pickets near Bonumtown. We have no regu- 
 lar account of this matter, but what we have is to this 
 purport : ' that a party under Col. Cook attacked one of 
 their pickets and drove it in ; that it was reinforced and 
 sallied out again, and was beaten in a second time ; that it 
 received a second reinforcement and made a second sally ; 
 and that General Maxwell, who conducted the affair, per- 
 ceiving the latter grow too serious hy continual succors 
 coming to them from Brunswick a nd Amboy, thought it 
 best to retire which he did in good order, the enemy
 
 201 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 keeping at a respectful distance during the whole time of 
 their retrogradation. The royal Highlanders had taken 
 possession of a wood by way of ambuscade, out of which 
 they were expelled by our troops. Here, I believe, the 
 principal loss was sustained on both sides." 
 
 A few days later Hamilton observes : " Nothing par- 
 ticular in the military line. The enemy still in the Jer- 
 seys, though they have been some time sending away their 
 stores, baggage, and are raising new works of defence. 
 All this may be preparatory to an evacuation at all events, 
 and they may be only intended to pave the way for a re- 
 treat, in case of an attack or any accident. 
 
 " Advices from the West Indies that have an appear- 
 ance of authenticity, mention a French vessel bound for 
 the continent, being taken up by the British ship Perseus, 
 and carried in to Dominique ; and a remonstrance being 
 made by the governor of Martinique, threatening repri- 
 sals in case of a detention. Nay, some accounts say, he 
 has actually seized all the English vessels in the harbor 
 of Martinique, and imprisoned their seamen till restitution 
 shall be made. If these accounts be true, they are im- 
 portant, and may be considered as an earnest of more 
 general hostility. Perhaps your next favor will find me 
 at Boundbrook. Head-quarters will soon be moved there. 
 Our family seem desirous of cultivating a closer acquaint- 
 ance with the enemy than we have had the pleasure of 
 for some time past." 
 
 The army now moved from Morristown to Middle- 
 brook. The motives to this change of position are given 
 in a letter of Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris : " June 
 second ; I received your favor per express, and as the 
 absence of my former respectable correspondents has 
 made a change necessary, I am happy that you have been 
 substituted in their room.
 
 ^ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 205 
 
 " Except a body of militia at and about Princeton, and 
 a few detachments of observation, our whole army is now 
 collected at two points ; the main body here, and a divi- 
 sion under General Sullivan at Princeton. Though this 
 alteration of circumstances takes off in a great measure 
 the restraints imposed upon the enemy during the winter, 
 gives them a more ample field to range in, and exposes 
 the country more to their ravages, yet the measure is 
 abundantly justified by every wise military maxim. The 
 rigor of the season has been heretofore our chief securi- 
 ty against those advantages which might have been taken 
 of our dispersed state ; and this disposition was necessary 
 both for the conveniency of winter-quarters, and with a 
 view to confine and distress the enemy, which was the 
 most capital object we could then propose to ourselves. 
 It was also necessary by this method, to second the check 
 to that torrent of influence which their successes in the 
 Jerseys had given them. Many other justifying reasons 
 might be assigned, which I doubt not you will easily con- 
 ceive ; and which it would be indiscreet to commit to 
 paper. 
 
 " But now that a more active season is arrived, and 
 something of importance must be done on one side or the 
 other, it becomes our business to put ourselves in the best 
 posture both for defence and offence. Common sense 
 dictates that the best way to effect this is to collect our 
 strength. In a collected state we can best repel a gen- 
 eral attack ; we can best make one, if circumstances war- 
 rant it ; and we can move with greater expedition to dis- 
 concert any sudden push not immediately upon us, which 
 the enemy are likely to make. It is needless to enlarge 
 on a subject which your own judgment will enable you of 
 itself to view in a just light. 
 
 " As to the designs of the enemy, appearances are so
 
 THE KEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 intricate, fluctuating, and seemingly inconsistent, that it 
 is difficult to form any certain conclusion from them. 
 Either they do not understand themselves, and are very 
 irresolute and fickle, or they very artfully manage matters 
 to deceive us. I am rather inclined to suppose the for- 
 mer. This, however, I may say with tolerable certainty, 
 that my ideas of their intending to operate to the south- 
 ward, derive just support from such parts of their conduct 
 lately as are most intelligible. We have a variety of 
 concurring intelligence that they have lately drawn more 
 troops into the Jerseys ; that they have brought over a 
 large number of wagons, and all the boats prepared for 
 bridges, with several other particulars of less importance, 
 all which denote a preparation to operate this way. Per- 
 sons who have been among them assert confidently that 
 they mean to attack us. But we are divided in sentiment 
 as to the probability of that, or of their making a forced 
 march to Philadelphia. If they act wisely, they will 
 neither attack us in our present situation, strongly posted 
 as we are, nor will they attempt to cross a river where 
 they may certainly expect opposition in front, and leaving 
 at the same time a formidable army in the rear. He 
 should endeavor to draw us off from here, and fight us 
 upon more equal ground. But after all, if he expects any 
 timely reinforcements, upon what rational principle can 
 he risk his own reputation and all the hopes of his cause, 
 in an attempt with his present force, so extremely impor- 
 tant and hazardous ? Perhaps he only means to get every 
 thing in readiness against the arrival of the reinforce- 
 ments looked for, that he may immediately commence his 
 operations. Things, however, will hardly bear this con- 
 struction. We are told that in seventeen sail lately ar- 
 rived from Europe, there were about two thousand raw 
 recruits. This from deserters."
 
 ^ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 207 
 
 On the same day he wrote an official letter to Con- 
 gress over Washington's signature. Alluding to advices 
 of a probable attack by General Carleton, and to the 
 probability that Gates had 'written to Congress, he re- 
 marked : " The shameful deficiencies in all our armies 
 afford but too just grounds for disagreeable apprehen- 
 sions. If the quotas assigned the different States are not 
 immediately filled, we shall have every thing to fear. We 
 shall never be able to resist their force, if the militia are 
 to be relied on, nor do I know whether their aid, feeble 
 and ineffectual as it is, is much to be expected. Can no 
 expedient be devised to complete the regiments, and to 
 arouse our unthinking countrymen from their lethargy ? 
 If there can, the situation of our affairs calls loudly for 
 it." 
 
 The views as to the probable movements of the ene- 
 my and the measures to be taken, are more fully shown 
 in a letter addressed by Hamilton to General Arnold, 
 then stationed near the Delaware, in the name of the 
 commander-in-chief, dated the seventeenth of the same 
 month from the camp, still at Middlebrook : 
 
 "I have received your favor of the 16th inst. Ycu 
 mentioned a want of intelligence respecting my situation 
 and that of the enemy. As to mine, the main body ot 
 our army are encamped at Middlebrook, and a considera- 
 ble body under General Sullivan at Sourland Hills. The 
 position here is very strong, and with a little labor which 
 will be bestowed upon it, will be rendered a great deal 
 more so. The passes in the mountains are for the most 
 part extremely difficult, and cannot be attempted with 
 any degree of propriety. Our right is our most accessi- 
 ble and weakest part, but two or three redoubts will ren- 
 der it as secure as could be wished. The enemy are 
 strongly posted, having their right at Brunswick and their
 
 208 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 |pft at Somerset. Besides being well fortified on the right 
 they have the Raritan all along their front, and the Mill- 
 stone on their left. 
 
 " In this situation, an attack upon them would not be 
 warranted by a sufficient prospect of success, and might 
 be attended with the most ruinous consequences. My 
 design, therefore, is to collect all the force that can prop- 
 erly be drawn from other quarters to this post, so as to 
 reduce the security of this army to the greatest possible 
 certainty, and to be in a condition of embracing any fair 
 opportunity that may offer, to make an advantageous at- 
 tack upon them. In the mean time, I intend by light 
 bodies of militia, countenanced by a few continental 
 troops, to harass them, and weaken their numbers by 
 continual skirmishes. 
 
 " I have ordered all the continental troops at Peekskill, 
 except the number requisite for the security of the post, 
 to hasten on to this army ; and shall draw a part of Gen- 
 eral Sullivan's troops to reinforce our right, leaving the 
 rest at and about Sourland Hills to gall the flank and rear 
 of the enemy ; with orders, in case of any movement 
 towards us, to endeavor to form a junction, or if this 
 should not be practicable, to fall briskly upon their rear 
 or flank. 
 
 "The views of the enemy must be to destroy this 
 army, and get possession of Philadelphia. I am, how- 
 ever, clearly of opinion that they will not move that way, 
 till they have endeavored to give a severe blow to this 
 army. The risk would be too great to attempt to cross a 
 river, where they must expect to meet a formidable oppo- 
 sition in front, and would have such a force as ours in 
 their rear. They might possibly be successful, but the 
 probability would be infinitely against them. Should they 
 be imprudent enough to do it, I shall keep close upon
 
 JET. 20.] HAMILTON. 
 
 their heels, and do every thing in my power to make the 
 project fatal to them. But besides the argument for their 
 intending, in the first place, a stroke at this army, drawn 
 from the policy of the measure, every appearance coin- 
 cides to confirm the opinion. Had they designed for the 
 Delaware in the first instance, they would probably have 
 made a secret, rapid march for it, and not halted as they 
 have done, to awaken our attention, and give us time to 
 prepare for obstiucting them. Instead of that, they have 
 only advanced to a position necessary to facilitate an at- 
 tack upon our right, which is the part they have the 
 greatest likelihood of injuring us in ; and, added to this 
 consideration, they have come out as light as possible, 
 leaving all their baggage, provisions, boats and bridges at 
 Brunswick ; which plainly contradicts the idea of pushing 
 for the Delaware. 
 
 " It is an happy circumstance that such an animation 
 prevails among the people. I would wish to let it operate, 
 and draw as many as possible together, which will be a 
 great discouragement to the enemy, by showing that the 
 popular spirit is at such a height ; and at the same time 
 will inspire the people themselves with confidence in their 
 own strength, by discovering to every individual the zeal 
 and spirit of his neighbors. But after they have been 
 collected a few days, I would have the greater part of 
 them dismissed as not being immediately wanted, desiring 
 them to hold themselves in readiness for any sudden call, 
 and concerting signals with them, at the appearance of 
 which they are to fly to arms. I would have every means 
 taken to engage a couple thousand of them for a month, 
 or as much more as they can be induced to consent to. 
 In this case they will be able to render essential service, 
 both by an addition of strength for the present, and by 
 lessening the fatigue and duty of the continental army, 
 VOL. I. 14
 
 210 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 which will tend to preserve them both in health and 
 spirits. 
 
 " You will forward on all the continental troops by a 
 safe route as fast as they arrive. But you need send over 
 no more of the militia till further orders. 
 
 " I approve of your fortifying such places as you judge 
 most likely to frustrate any attempt of the enemy to pass 
 the river." 
 
 Three days after, Colonel Hamilton, over Washington's 
 signature, wrote to General Putnam at Peekskill : 
 
 "General Howe has suddenly quitted his new post 
 between Somerset and Brunswick, and has returned to 
 his old situation. The whole design of his making his late 
 movement this way, may possibly have been to induce us 
 to draw off our troops from Peekskill though I think it 
 most probable that he was disappointed in his expecta- 
 tions of the manner in which we should act and finding 
 the people turn out with great spirit to strengthen the 
 opposition we should give him, concluded it most prudent 
 to relinquish his intentions, and resume his former position. 
 But, lest the former should be the case, I have ordered 
 Generals McDougall and Glover not to proceed. If they 
 are at a distance from you, they are to halt where they 
 are, and if they are near Peekskill they are to go back 
 to it. 
 
 " General Schuyler writes to me, that from some intelli- 
 gence he had lately received, there was reason to appre- 
 hend that General Burgoyne was making preparations for 
 an immediate attack upon Ticonderoga, and on that 
 account requests a reinforcement. But as the alarm may 
 very likely prove false, until we have fuller evidence that 
 such an event is about to take place, I do not think it 
 advisable to lessen our force in this quarter, by sending 
 them to where they may perhaps not he wanted. 
 
 M .1 .aoY
 
 ^ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 211 
 
 " I would, however, have some disposition made to re- 
 inforce him with speed in case it should be necessary ; and 
 with this view I have to desire you will hold four of the 
 strongest Massachusetts regiments under General Nixon, 
 in constant readiness to march at the shortest notice. 
 They, however, are not to be sent off without an order 
 from me for the purpose. 
 
 " You will have a sufficient number of vessels ready 
 at your post to transport those troops, their baggage, <fcc., 
 by water to Albany. They must oe so disposed, as that 
 they can be made use of and forwarded without the least 
 delay. If these vessels are not to be had at and about 
 Peekskill and Fishkill, you must immediately send to 
 Albany to procure a supply of what may be deficient, and 
 have them brought down to you. If you should receive 
 any information that appears to you authentic, and makes 
 it necessary to despatch the reinforcement, you can have 
 the troops, baggage and provisions embarked, waiting 
 only for my orders to sail ; acquainting me immediately 
 by express of the intelligence you may have received. 
 
 " It will be proper you should keep in view, that the 
 enemy's motions must of necessity be in concert, and, if 
 they operate to the northward, you must undoubtedly 
 expect a visit to your post. Besides being continually 
 prepared for this casualty, it will be highly useful to use 
 every method of gaining intelligence from New York. 
 The most effectual means of doing this, is hiring persons 
 continually going in to, and coming out from the city." 
 
 A letter written by him, for Washington, to Generals 
 McDougall and Glover was to the same effect. aifj 
 
 Two days afterwards, he again wrote to Putnam in 
 Washington's name **'*' You have mistaken the 
 orders I gave, according to which General McDougall 
 should have halted at Pompton ; because he was then at a
 
 212 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 considerable distance from Peekskill, and was to have 
 returned only in case he had been near that post. How- 
 ever, as matters have turned out, I am not sorry he is 
 gone back : for it may now be concluded with tolerable 
 certainty, that the enemy are about to quit the Jerseys 
 and make some expedition by water. The North river 
 may probably be the object, and if it is, General McDou- 
 gall with his brigade cannot too soon return to reinforce 
 you. Your utmost vigilance and industry are necessary 
 to be in all respects prepared to give as much opposition 
 as possible. Of all things, you cannot take too much care 
 to secure the boats that they meet with no accident, and 
 may be always ready on a sudden emergency, to trans- 
 port this army across the river. 
 
 " The enemy abandoned Brunswick this morning, and 
 seem to be pushing all their force for Amboy, which there 
 is no doubt they will speedily evacuate also. Having 
 gained intelligence yesterday of their hasty preparations 
 for this purpose, I sent down last night and early this 
 morning strong parties to fall upon their flanks and rear, 
 who served to precipitate their retreat, but could not 
 have a fair opportunity of doing them as much injury as 
 I could wish. There have been several smart skirmish- 
 ings, the effect not certainly known. 
 
 "The difficulties you mention in the removal of the 
 stores from Fishkill to the places pointed out, ought to 
 have had no weight. As it was a positive order of Con- 
 gress, it ought to have been complied with, though at- 
 tended with some inconveniencies ; and the security of 
 the magazines is of so much consequence, that the ex- 
 pense and trouble of removing them should not be put 
 in competition with it. The present movements of the 
 enemy make it necessary the order should be immediately 
 -executed. It will be proper to have sufficient guards
 
 ^Er. 20.] HAMILTON. 
 
 over them to prevent their being injured by the disaf- 
 fected inhabitants ; but the continental troops should be 
 spared from this duty, as much as is consistent with pru- 
 dence. There ought to be some of them at the most im- 
 portant and least secure places ; but the others should be 
 committed to the trustiest of the militia. It would be 
 advisable to have small convenient works thrown up 
 about them, which will make it less necessary to have 
 large guards, and will discourage any attempt to destroy 
 them." 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of June, Hamilton wrote to 
 Robert R. Livingston this interesting letter : " Since my 
 last, addressed to Mr. Morris, the enemy have been trying 
 a second experiment to tempt us to an engagement, on 
 equal terms of ground. Under the supposition of their 
 intending to evacuate the Jerseys immediately, in order 
 to keep up the idea of a pursuit, and to be in a posture to 
 take advantage of any critical movement that might pre- 
 sent itself, to give them a blow ; the chief part of our 
 army, after their retreat from Brunswick, was marched 
 down to Quibbletown, and parties detached thence further 
 towards the enemy. Finding this disposition take place, 
 and expecting that, elated by what has passed, we might 
 be willing to enter upon a general engagement, which is 
 Howe's only hope, he came out with his whole army from 
 Amboy, only on Thursday morning, and made a forced 
 march towards our left, with design, if possible, to cut off 
 some of our detachments, particularly one under Lord 
 Stirling ; and probably, if we were not expeditious in re- 
 gaining the heights, to get there before us by rapidly en- 
 tering the passes on our left. Lord Stirling's party was 
 near being surrounded, but after a smart skirmish with 
 the enemy's main body, made their retreat good to West- 
 field, and ascended the pass of the mountains back of the
 
 214 THE REPUBLIC. [1V77. 
 
 Scotch plains. The other parties, after skirmishing on 
 their flanks, came off to join the main body and take pos- 
 session of the heights. The enemy continued their march 
 towards our left as far as Westfield, and there halted. In 
 the mean time, it was judged prudent to return with the 
 army to the mountains, lest it should be their intention to 
 get into them, and force us to fight them on their own 
 terms. They remained at Westfield till the next day, and 
 perceiving their views disappointed, have again returned 
 to Amboy, plundering and burning as usual. We had 
 parties hanging about them on their return ; \>ut they 
 were so much on their guard, no favorable opportunity 
 could be found of giving them any material annoyance. 
 Their loss we cannot ascertain ; and our own in men is 
 inconsiderable, though we have as yet received no returns 
 of the missing. I have no doubt they have lost more men 
 than we, but unfortunately, I won't say from what cause, 
 they got three field-pieces from us which will give them 
 room for vaporing, and embellish their excursion in the 
 eyes of those who make every trifle a matter of importance. 
 It is not unlikely they will soon be out of the Jerseys ; but 
 where they will go to next is mere matter of conjecture, 
 for, as you observe, their conduct is so eccentric, as to 
 leave no certain grounds on which to form a judgment of 
 their intentions. I know the comments that some people 
 will make on our Fabian conduct. It will be imputed 
 either to cowardice or to weakness. But the more dis- 
 cerning, I trust, will not find it difficult to conceive, that 
 it proceeds from the truest policy, and is an argument 
 neither of the one nor the other. 
 
 "The liberties of America are an infinite stake. We 
 should not play a desperate game for it or put it upon the 
 issue of a single cast of the die. The loss of one general 
 engagement may effectually ruin us, and it would certain-
 
 ^Er. 20.] HAMILTON. 215 
 
 ly be folly to hazard it, unless our resources for keeping 
 up an army were at an end, and some decisive blow was 
 absolutely necessary ; or unless, our strength was so great 
 as to give certainty of success. Neither is the case. 
 America can, in all probability, maintain its army for 
 years ; and our numbers, though such as would give a 
 reasonable hope of success, are not such as should make 
 us entirely sanguine. A third consideration, did it exist, 
 might make it expedient to risk such an event the pros- 
 pect of very great reinforcements to the enemy ; but 
 every appearance contradicts this, and affords all reason 
 to believe they will get very inconsiderable accessions of 
 strength this campaign. All the European maritime pow- 
 ers are interested for the defeat of the British arms in 
 America, and will never assist them. A small part of 
 Germany is disposed to make a market of its troops, and 
 even this seems not over fond of being drained any far- 
 ther : many springs may be put in motion even to put a 
 stop to this. The king of Prussia may, perhaps, without 
 much difficulty, be engaged to espouse views unfriendly to 
 the court of Britain, and a nod of his would be sufficient 
 to prevent all future German succors. He, as well as 
 most other powers of Europe, feels the necessity of com- 
 merce and a large maritime force, to be generally respect- 
 able. His situation till lately has been unfavorable to 
 this ; but the reduction of Poland and the acquisition of 
 Dantzig in the Baltic, have put it very much in his power 
 to pursue commercial schemes and may tempt him to be 
 propitious to American independence. Russian assistance 
 is still infinitely more precarious ; for besides that it can- 
 not be the true interest of that ambitious empire to put its 
 troops to sale, it is at present embroiled with the Turks, 
 and will want all its men to employ in its own wars. 
 England herself, from the nature of her policy, can fur-
 
 216 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 nish few soldiers, and even those few can ill be spared, to 
 come to America in the present hostile appearance of 
 affairs in Europe. On whatever side it is considered, no 
 great reinforcements are to be expected to the British 
 army in America. It is, therefore, Howe's business to 
 make the most of his present strength ; and as he is not 
 numerous enough to conquer and garrison as he goes, his 
 only hope lies in fighting us, and giving a general defeat 
 at one blow. 
 
 " On our part, we are continually strengthening our 
 political springs in Europe, and may every day look for 
 more effectual aids than we have yet received. Our own 
 army is continually growing stronger in men, arms and 
 discipline ; we shall soon have an important addition of 
 artillery, now on its way to join us. We can maintain 
 our present numbers good, at least by enlistments, while 
 the enemy must dwindle away ; and at the end of the 
 summer the disparity between us will be infinitely great, 
 and facilitate any exertions that may be made to settle the 
 business with them. Their affairs will be growing worse, 
 ours better ; so that delay will ruin them. It will serve 
 to perplex and fret them, and precipitate them into meas- 
 ures that we can turn to good account. Our business, 
 then, is to avoid a general engagement, and waste the 
 enemy by constantly goading their sides in a desultory, 
 teasing way. In the mean time, it is painful to leave a 
 part of our inhabitants a prey to their depredations ; and 
 it is wounding to the feelings of a soldier, to see an enemy 
 parading before him and daring him to fight, which he is 
 obliged to decline. But a part must be sacrificed to the 
 whole, and passion must give way to reason. You will 
 be sensible that it will not be advisable to publish the sen- 
 timents contained in this letter as coming from me ; be- 
 cause this will make the enemy more fully acquainted with
 
 MT. 20.] II A MILT ON. 217 
 
 pur views ; but it might not be amiss to have them cir- 
 culated as those which ought to govern the conduct of the 
 army, in order to prepare the minds of the people for 
 what may happen, and take off the disagreeable impres- 
 sions our caution may make." 
 
 The hoped-for interposition of Frederick the Great to 
 prevent the traffic in German troops was confirmed by his 
 subsequent conduct. He publicly condemned this nefa- 
 rious trade in the lives of men, and forbade the march of 
 these mercenaries through his dominions 
 
 Mirabeau also came to the rescue of humanity. In an 
 address entitled a " Counsel to the Hessians and other 
 people of Germany sold by their sovereigns to England," 
 he appealed with his wonted eloquence to the pride of the 
 German people, denounced the policy of their rulers, and 
 awakened their sympathies to the cause of America. 
 " Ye people, betrayed, debased and sold, you should blush 
 at your errors ! Let the cover fall from your eyes, quit 
 the soil that is stained with despotism. Cross the seas ? 
 flee to America ; but embrace your brothers, defend this 
 generous people against the haughty rapacity of their 
 persecutors ; share their good fortune ; multiply their 
 strength ; aid them by your industry ; appropriate to 
 yourselves their riches while increasing them. Such is the 
 end of society, such is the duty of man, whom nature has 
 made to love his neighbors, and not to butcher them. 
 
 " Learn from the Americans the art of being free, of 
 being happy, of turning social institutions to the profit of 
 each member of society. Forget, in the capacious asylum 
 which they open to suffering humanity, the infatuation of 
 which you were the participators and the victims. Un- 
 derstand what is true greatness, true glory and true hap- 
 piness." 
 
 To this appeal the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel dared
 
 218 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 an answer, which drew from the gifted Frenchman a 
 withering reply. 
 
 Though diminished, these subsidies of men continued to 
 the end of the Revolution, torn from the bosoms of their 
 families and kidnapped on the public highways. The 
 youth, the student, the poet was not safe in the land of 
 his birth. The return of America to this grievous wrong 
 has been, as Hamilton early proffered, " to receive them 
 as brethren and make them sharers with us in all the ad- 
 vantages we were struggling for."* 
 
 On the sixth of July he again wrote to Gouverneur 
 Morris : " If I recollect how far my last went, it did not 
 announce the return of the enemy from Westfield to Am- 
 boy, nor their evacuation of that place since. After rest- 
 ing and refreshing themselves a night, they decamped the 
 following day, and proceeded to Amboy, from which 
 place they went to Staten Island as expeditiously as they 
 could, where they still remain. 
 
 " The news from the northward wore so serious a face 
 that our generals thought the enemy were about to oper- 
 ate in earnest against our posts in that quarter ; and as, 
 supposing this the case, General Howe might certainly be 
 expected to co-operate by way of the North river, it was 
 judged necessary to move the main body of the army 
 from Middlebrook to M orristown ; to advance a division 
 under General Sullivan to Pompton, and another under 
 General Parsons as far as Peekskill. A brigade at that 
 post, under General Nixon, was ordered, so soon as Par- 
 sons' division arrived near its destination, to proceed im- 
 mediately as a reinforcement to the northern army. This 
 disposition is deemed advantageous to prevent the success 
 of a coup de main on the Highland passes, and not incon- 
 sistent with a proper attention to Philadelphia, should the 
 
 * Hamilton's Works ii 8.
 
 yEr. 20.] HAMILTON. 219 
 
 northern alarm prove nothing more than a diversion, and 
 Howe return to the charge that way. 
 
 " I am loath to risk a conjecture about Mr. Howe. He 
 is such an unintelligible gentleman, that no rule of inter- 
 pretation can possibly be found out by which to unravel 
 his designs. If he acted like a man of sense, he would 
 wait quietly on Staten Island, and there concentrate all 
 his forces. He would draw round him all the men that 
 could be spared from Canada, and all that are now at 
 Rhode Island. With these, and the reinforcements he 
 may receive from Europe, he would make a point of 
 forcing us, by some means or other, to an action. In this 
 his only hope lies. If he could defeat our army and im- 
 prove the moment of success, he would go very near 
 effecting his purpose ; but, let him go to the northward 
 or to the southward, every new post he takes weakens his 
 main body, and makes it the more liable to be ruined by 
 our collective strength. Any object short of our army is 
 a bad one ; and that plan is the worst, where, by a divi- 
 sion of his forces he runs the hazard, in case of an acci- 
 dent either way, of having his whole scheme overturned. 
 
 "We have different accounts of the present situation of 
 his army. Some tell us that the whole is now encamped 
 on Staten Island ; others, that the greater part of the 
 Hessians are on board the ships. By some sailors who 
 came from them yesterday, we are told that the ships are 
 taking in water and provisions for two months, and that 
 conveniences for transporting horses are fitting up in them. 
 All this is rather vague, and may or may not be true. 
 Their flourishes in the Jerseys, I believe, cannot have cost 
 them less than six or seven hundred men. We have not 
 lost above a hundred. This is the best way of ruining 
 them without risking any thing. Our present situation is 
 embarrassing. Their ships give them a vast advantage,
 
 220 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 and we shall probably be much puzzled when they begin 
 their operations again. We shall, however, act cautiously, 
 and do the best we can. We are anxiously waiting for 
 northern intelligence. Please forward the enclosed to 
 General Schuyler per first opportunity." 
 
 A few days previous he had written to Governor 
 Trumbull, over Washington's signature, as to the disposi- 
 tion of the public arms, and the movements of the enemy. 
 He stated, orders were given to four of the strongest 
 Massachusetts regiments to relieve Ticonderoga, and to 
 Clinton, " without loss of time to call out a respectable 
 body of the New York militia to join General Putnam. 
 I have," he added, " the fullest confidence that you will do 
 every thing you can to second my endeavors, by forward- 
 ing as fast as possible the remaining troops of your State, 
 or whatever else may be in your power. Our greatest 
 exertions will be requisite to counteract the enemy in their 
 first attempts, on which their success chiefly depends." 
 In a letter to Governor Rutledge over Washington's sig- 
 nature, he gave a similar view of the purposes of the 
 British, and acknowledged the reasons assigned for de- 
 clining the attempt on St. Augustine previously proposed, 
 to be " entirely solid and satisfactory." 
 
 These letters are not only important in themselves, 
 but also to show the systematic care observed throughout 
 the whole of Hamilton's participation in public affairs to 
 diffuse correct information of public measures. 
 
 Learning the preparations of Howe to embark, Col- 
 onel Hamilton again wrote over Washington's signature 
 to Governor Trumbull : "I have thought it my duty to 
 communicate to you the information I have received, that 
 in case any thing should be meditated against the eastern 
 States you may not be taken by surprise, and may have 
 warning to put matters in the best situation you can to
 
 ;ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 221 
 
 give them a proper reception. On my part no vigilance 
 nor exertion shall be wanting to ascertain their intentions 
 and give effectual assistance wherever they may direct 
 their efforts." He expressed surprise as to the discontents 
 of the eastern States in respect to the supply of arms, 
 which they had received " in much greater proportion than 
 the other States." 
 
 A scene of much interest was now opening to the 
 view on the northern frontier of New York where the in- 
 fluences of the previous campaign were most inhappy. 
 
 While " the levies " in the other colonies had submitted 
 to the assumed powers of the Continental Congress, those 
 of Connecticut refused to sign the articles of war it had 
 established. Wooster, who was present at the taking of 
 Louisburg, and had commanded a regiment of Connecti- 
 cut militia during the war with France, was, in seventy- 
 five, promoted, with the rank of major-general, to the 
 command of all the troops raised by that colony. On 
 the organization of an army by Congress, he was com- 
 missioned by them as brigadier-general. The spirit of 
 the Connecticut soldiers alarmed Schuyler. He was 
 compelled to call upon Wooster to state on what ground 
 he stood, that of a provincial or a continental officer. 
 Wooster met the question in a proper spirit, and avowed 
 his purpose to be governed by the articles of war. His 
 decision, felt by himself to have involved a sacrifice of 
 rank, was not in consonance with the temper of his men. 
 
 This was seriously felt by Montgomery and by 
 Schuyler. 
 
 Early in September, seventy-five, the latter, on his 
 incursion into Canada, proceeded, though ill with the 
 gout, from the Isle aux Noix along the Sorel to the vi- 
 cinity of St. Johns, where a cannonade from its fort was 
 opened upon him. A short distance farther on, having
 
 222 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 landed his troops, he attacked a party of tories and In- 
 dians, losing a few men. The night was passed near the 
 fort, from which infrequent shells broke near him with 
 trifling injury. Advices of the increased strength of this 
 work determined a council of officers to retire to the Isle 
 aux Noix until reinforcements came up.* 
 
 These arriving, the investment of St. Johns was re- 
 sumed. At the moment Schuyler was about again to lead 
 on his troops, he was again taken seriously ill and com- 
 pelled to confide the conduct of the expedition to the 
 brave Irishman, Montgomery, his second in command. 
 Schuyler's bed was placed in a covered batteau and he 
 returned to Ticonderoga to forward aid. Montgomery 
 moved on to the investment, which proceeded slowly, 
 until Colonel Lamb, a leader, as has been seen, in the 
 early popular commotions of New York, now an intrepid 
 soldier, arrived with a small train of artillery. St. Johns 
 ultimately surrendered. During the siege, a letter from 
 Montgomery to Schuyler shows the insubordination of a 
 part of his command. " Were I not afraid the example 
 would be too generally followed, and that the public ser- 
 vice might suffer, I would not stay an hour at the head of 
 troops whose operations I cannot direct." 
 
 Schuyler also complained of " the want of subordina- 
 tion " and inattention to his orders, and of the impatience 
 to return home. 
 
 Washington felt the same difficulties. " The Connec- 
 ticut troops," he wrote to Reed from Cambridge, " will 
 not be prevailed upon to stay longer than their term, 
 saving those who have enlisted for the next campaign, and 
 are mostly on furlough ; and such a mercenary spirit per- 
 vades the whole that I should not be surprised at any dis- 
 aster that may happen." They " are exceedingly turbu- 
 
 * Irving's Washington, ii. 59.
 
 JEi: 20.] HAMILTON". 223 
 
 lent and even mutinous," Montgomery writes the day 
 after the capture of Montreal. " I am weary of power, 
 and totally want that patience and temper so requisite for 
 such a command. I wish some method could be fallen 
 upon of engaging gentlemen to serve. A point of honor 
 and more knowledge of the world to be found in that 
 class of men, would greatly reform discipline, and render 
 the troops much more tractable." The discontent had 
 extended to those of New York. 
 
 The repulse at Quebec and the disasters that fol- 
 lowed increased this spirit, which was exhibited more 
 openly when, by the fall of Montgomery, the command 
 devolved upon Wooster. 
 
 The generous warmth of Schuyler gave new cause of 
 dissatisfaction. A party of an hundred persons, ice- 
 bound, starving, applied to him for aid. Schuyler ordered 
 three captains of Wooster's men " to attempt a relief to 
 the unhappy sufferers." Their reluctant frivolous excuses 
 drew from him a public rebuke which was not forgotten.* 
 
 Some time after, Schuyler, seeing the full extent of 
 the alienation, wrote to Washington : " I have already 
 informed you of the disagreeable situation I have been in 
 during the campaign ; but I would waive that, were it not 
 that it has chiefly arisen from prejudice and jealousy; for 
 I could point out particular persons of rank in the army, 
 who have frequently declared that the general command- 
 ing in this quarter, ought to be of the colony from whence 
 the majority of the troops came. But it is not from opin- 
 ions or principles of individuals that I have drawn the 
 following conclusion, that troops from the colony of Con- 
 necticut will not bear with a general from another colony ; 
 it is from the daily and common conversation of all ranks 
 of people from that colony, both in and out of the army." 
 
 * Irving's Washington, ii. 55.
 
 224 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 He laments it as " an unbecoming jealousy," and adds, 
 " although I frankly avow that I feel a resentment, yet I 
 shall continue to sacrifice it to a nobler object the weal 
 of that country in which I have drawn the breath of life, 
 resolved ever to seek with unwearied assiduity for oppor- 
 tunities to fulfil my duty to it." 
 
 This prejudice did not subside. The desire to serve 
 under Wooster grew, yet Washington had been early 
 apprised that he was " not of such activity as to press 
 through the difficulties with which the service " in which 
 he was employed, " was environed." 
 
 The dangers of a retreat demanded an officer of 
 greater energy. Schuyler censured Wooster was of- 
 fended. The troops of New England partook of his 
 feelings, and along the frontier, threatened with all the 
 ravages of an invasion, alarms were followed by clamors, 
 and clamors by accusations. The tories felt the importance 
 of driving from the command a man of Schuyler's vigor 
 and resource. Charges were circulated, not only against 
 his military conduct, but against his integrity. Commit- 
 tees were raised and resolves published of grossest impu- 
 tation. Schuyler demanded " an immediate inquiry " into 
 his conduct. " Your excellency will therefore please," he 
 wrote to Washington, " to order a court of inquiry the 
 soonest possible, for I cannot sit easy under such an in- 
 famous imputation. It is peculiarly hard, that at the very 
 time that assassins and incendiaries are employed to take 
 away my life and property, as being an active friend to 
 my country ; at the very time when I had taken measures 
 and given orders, some of which are actually executed, to 
 secure the tories and to send them down to your excel- 
 lency, a set of pretended whigs (for such they are that 
 have propagated these diabolical tales) should proclaim me 
 through all America a traitor to my country." Wash-
 
 JEx. 20.] HAMILTON. 225 
 
 ington declared his " disbelief, detestation and abhorrence " 
 of these calumnies, viewing them as designed " to excite 
 disorder and confusion." 
 
 An immediate remedy was necessary. Commissioners* 
 were sent by Congress to the northern line. Their dis- 
 patch from Montreal describes the army as "broken and 
 disheartened," " without discipline " and without supplies. 
 " General Wooster is, in our opinion, totally unfit to com- 
 mand your army and conduct the war. His stay is un- 
 necessary and even prejudicial to our affairs. We would 
 therefore advise his recall." Congress ordered Washing- 
 ton to call him to New York. Wooster demanded an 
 inquiry, which was favorable to him. He then resigned 
 his continental command, and was appointed first major- 
 general of the Connecticut militia. 
 
 To meet the great emergency, six thousand militia 
 seven-eighths from New England, the residue from New 
 York, were ordered to reinforce the northern army ; and 
 Washington was directed to order Gates to the command 
 in Canada.f "His great ability and virtue," Richard 
 Henry Lee writes to Washington, "will be absolutely 
 necessary to restore things there, and his recommendations 
 will always be readily complied with. You will find that 
 great powers are given to the commander in that distant 
 department." "We have ordered you," John Adams 
 wrote to him, " to the post of honor, and made you dic- 
 tator in Canada fcr six months." J "The affairs of Can- 
 ada," Gerry, also a delegate from Massachusetts, remarked 
 to him, " have evidently been suffering for the want of an 
 experienced officer to take the command." 
 
 Gates proceeded to Albany, where Schuyler had re- 
 turned, being received by the people with their accus- 
 
 * Chase and Carrol. t June 17, 1776. 
 
 ^ Force's American Archives, June 18-28, 1775. 
 
 VOL. I. 15
 
 226 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 tomed affection. He immediately sought an interview 
 with Gates, and, as the post of first importance within his 
 own command, tendered him the charge of Ticonderoga. 
 
 Gates, unwilling to serve in a subordinate capacity, 
 claimed the command of the northern department. The 
 question was referred to Congress. A resolution was 
 immediately passed that Gates be " informed that it was 
 their intention to give him the command of the troops 
 whilst in Canada, but that they had no design to vest him 
 with a superior command to General Schuyler, whilst the 
 troops should be on this side Canada." 
 
 The eastern States opposed this resolution, and had 
 Rhode Island been present, would have prevailed in favor 
 of Gates.* He had repaired to Ticonderoga, and thence, 
 with wounded pride, wrote to Samuel Adams : " I desire, 
 if Chace is returned to Congress, he may know how much 
 I have been deceived and disappointed in being removed 
 from a place where I might have done the public service, 
 and fixed in a situation where it is exceedingly doubtful if 
 it will be in my power to be more than a wretched spec- 
 tator of a ruined army." 
 
 Overlooking what had passed, Schuyler declared to 
 Gates his desire to cultivate " mutual harmony." 
 
 Soon after Gates had taken the command, the troops 
 stationed at Crown Point were withdrawn. His appoint- 
 ment having been made with a full purpose to recover 
 the ground lost early in the year, Washington condemned 
 this retrograde movement, as a relinquishment of the lakes 
 would open an " uninterrupted passage into three of the 
 New England governments." Gates gave a sharp reply : 
 " I must now take the liberty to animadvert a little upon 
 the unprecedented behavior of the members of your 
 council to their compeers in this department. They, sir, 
 
 * Roger Sherman to Trumbull, May 26, 1777.
 
 /ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 227 
 
 having every ample supply at hand, make no allowance 
 for the misfortunes and wants of this army, nor for the 
 delay and difficulty that attend the procuring every thing 
 necessary here. Had we a healthy army, four times the 
 number of the enemy, our magazines full, our artillery 
 complete, stores of every kind in profuse abundance, with 
 vast and populous towns and country close at hand to 
 supply our wants, your Excellency would hear no com- 
 plaints from this army ; and the members of your coun- 
 cil, our brethren and compeers, would have as little reason 
 then, as they have now, to censure the conduct of those 
 who are in nothing inferior to themselves." 
 
 The tone of this letter is the more remarkable, as the 
 command had been conferred upon Gates with Washing- 
 ton's warm approval. He replied : " In answer to those 
 parts of your letter in which you so highly resent the con- 
 duct of the general officers here, I would observe, sir, that 
 you are under a mistake when you suppose a council of 
 officers had sat upon those, who composed the board at 
 Crown Point." " No event of which I have been informed 
 for a long time, produced a more general chagrin and con- 
 sternation. But yet there was no council called upon the 
 occasion, nor court of inquiry, nor court martial, as has 
 been suspected by some. I will not take up more time 
 upon the subject, nor make it a matter of further discus- 
 sion, not doubting but those who determined that the post 
 ought to be abandoned, conceived it would promote the 
 interest of the great cause we are engaged in. By the 
 bye, I wish your description perfectly corresponded with 
 the circumstances of this army." 
 
 His knowledge of a party formed in his favor in Con- 
 gress doubtless had encouraged Gates to insubordination. 
 At the time of this correspondence he received another 
 letter from Gerry, written at Hartford : " We want very
 
 228 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 much to see you in the sole command in the northern 
 department, but hope that you will not relinquish your 
 station until a favorable opportunity shall effect it." 
 
 In this post he remained until ordered by Schuyler to 
 hasten with a body of troops to the aid of Washington at 
 the, close of the year. 
 
 To avail himself of his services in a position in which 
 he could be most useful, Washington urged him soon after, 
 and Congress requested him, to resume the office of adju- 
 tant-general, retaining his rank and pay. He declined it 
 with displeasure, and was ordered again to Ticonderoga.* 
 His letters to Washington were still peevish, and drew 
 from him a mild rebuke. 
 
 Gates was not to be satisfied, and Congress felt them- 
 selves compelled to define precisely the extent of the 
 northern department. They declared "that Albany, Ti- 
 conderoga, Fort Stanwix and their dependencies be hence- 
 forward considered " as that department, and ordered 
 Schuyler to take the command. This vote was passed 
 late in May. Gates decided to appeal to them in person, 
 and on the eighteenth of June he was at the door of that 
 body, asking admittance on the plea of communicating 
 information. 
 
 At the instance of Roger Sherman, an influential 
 member from Connecticut, he was received into their 
 presence. 
 
 After some desultory statements of little moment, 
 vaunting his merits in relinquishing a life of ease to enter 
 the field in behalf of the liberty of America, and his ex- 
 ertions in its defence, Gates opened his grief. He had 
 been superseded in a command to which he had been so 
 recently appointed without cause, and without opportunity 
 of vindication. His ire rose. Reproaches of Congress 
 
 * March 25, 1777.
 
 JE-r. 20.] HAMILTON. 229 
 
 followed, even to the inculpation of a delegate from New 
 York a friend of Schuyler. Duane called upon the 
 president to interpose. A motion that he withdraw was 
 seconded, but was opposed by some of the eastern dele- 
 gates. 
 
 In the midst of a warm discussion, Gates, in high tem- 
 per, left the House. A sense of their own dignity at last 
 prevailed. It was resolved he should not be again ad- 
 mitted, that a written representation from him be made. 
 Gates was soon after ordered to repair to head-quarters. 
 
 During this scene of folly, events at the northward 
 were hastening to an issue. Ere the public pulse had 
 calmed after the celebration in the principal towns, " with 
 much pomp and illuminations," of the first anniversary of 
 American Independence, a great reverse took place. 
 
 The results of the campaign of the preceding year, 
 though finally disastrous to the Americans, had not met 
 the expectations of the English public, unused to defeat, 
 and taught to believe that a junction of their two armies 
 from opposite points would terminate the contest. The 
 command of the active column of the force to operate 
 from Canada was intrusted to Lieutenant-general Bur- 
 goyne, who now resolved to achieve his fame. With this 
 view he had repaired to England during the winter, sub- 
 mitted his plans to the war office, and aided by high family 
 influence to which his claim was not legitimate,* obtained 
 all he asked of troops and muniments of war. 
 
 From the gay saloons of London he returned to Que- 
 bec early in the spring, and pressed on with ardor the 
 preparations for the campaign. Leaving behind him un- 
 der Carleton for the protection of Canada a mixed body 
 of three thousand men, on the twenty-hrst of June, two 
 
 * "He was a natural son of Lord Bingley, high in confidence." Lossiny't 
 Pictorial Field Book, i. 37.
 
 230 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 days after Gates's scene with Congress, he took post with 
 his well appointed army on the western bank of Lake 
 Champlain. Hence he proceeded to the Boquet near 
 Crown Point. His regular force consisted of nearly seven 
 thousand men, exclusive of the artillerists, British and 
 German. The former under Major-general Philips of the 
 artillery, Brigadiers Fraser, Hamilton and Powell, the lat- 
 ter commanded by Major-general the Baron Riedesel of 
 Brunswick, and Brigadiers Gall and Specht. A heavy 
 train of artillery was the lieutenant-general's chief reli- 
 ance, destined to become a principal cause of his mishaps. 
 A few Canadians and a crowd of painted Indians, allured 
 by a war feast, by presents and hope of spoils, were his 
 auxiliaries. These he addressed, enjoining them to abstain 
 from bloodshed, when not opposed in arms to hold sa- 
 cred the aged and young promising reward for prisoners, 
 but punishment for scalps. 
 
 An aged Iroquois assured him his commands would be 
 obeyed. " We have been tried and tempted by the Bos- 
 tonians,* but we have loved our father, and our hatchets 
 have been sharpened on our affections." A detachment 
 of rangers and a few Indians under Colonel St. Leger 
 were ordered to penetrate by Oswego to the Mohawk, 
 capture and hold Fort Schuyler at the head of its boat 
 navigation, and thence, reinforced by Sir John Johnson 
 with his numerous adherents, to join Burgoyne with the 
 main body, when arrived at Albany. 
 
 Burgoyne, whose pride of pen was a besetting vanity, 
 issued a manifesto, suasive to those who should renounce 
 their erring disloyalty, menacing the contumacious with 
 the horrors of civilized and savage warfare. Neither his 
 pomp of style nor his array of arms affected the hardy 
 borderers, confiding in their mountains and morasses, their 
 
 * Alluding to the mission of the previous year by Congress.
 
 <ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 231 
 
 wooded defiles and unerring rifles for their protection. 
 Affright was soon to take place of this confidence. 
 
 Ticorideroga was directly in his path. Here was St. 
 Clair, a native of Scotland, who had served under Wolfe, 
 behaved well at Trenton and Princeton, and was recently 
 raised to the rank of major-general, with a garrison of 
 Americans consisting of thirty-three hundred men, of 
 whom one-third were unfit for duty, " many of them mere 
 boys," " naked and ill armed, not above one bayonet to 
 every tenth man." * 
 
 Yet this post had been the care of the States. Its 
 capture had been hailed with rapturous joy as among the 
 earliest triumphs of the revolution. Prodigies of labor 
 had been applied to give it strength. It was the barred 
 door to Canada, and must be defended at every hazard. 
 
 Hither, on tidings of Burgoyne's advance, Schuyler 
 instantly repaired. Relying too much upon its artificial 
 strength, and overlooking its disadvantage of position, he 
 returned to Fort George, forwarded provisions and addi- 
 tional workmen from the upper shores of the Hudson, 
 hoping a repulse if it were attacked, but believing the 
 enemy, deterred from the attempt, would move upon the 
 eastern States. That they would endeavor, without taking 
 this fort, to penetrate to Albany, he thought almost " im- 
 possible." 
 
 But this important post required a numerous garrison 
 to man it. That of St. Clair was wholly inadequate. 
 Only twenty days had elapsed since he took the com- 
 mand. He saw his danger. " Should the enemy invest 
 and blockade us, we are infallibly ruined. * * * Nor 
 do I see that a retreat will in any shape be practicable." 
 It was entirely commanded by a precipitous height which, 
 while extending their lines of investment, was scaled by 
 
 * Letter of St. Clair, July 9, at Manchester.
 
 THE EEPUBLIC [1777. 
 
 the British. The neglect to fortify this eminence is the 
 more remarkable, as, in the preceding year when Gates 
 was in command, Arnold and Wayne had clambered to 
 its top, pronounced it accessible, and communicated to 
 him the fact.* Though this was known to Gates, he took 
 no measures to occupy it ,with a small battery, but wrote 
 to Congress that " the works were in the best order, the 
 boom and bridge of communication finished, and every 
 necessary preparation for defence made." 
 
 The case was now desperate. St. Clair, confirmed in 
 his opinion by a council of officers, resolved to evacuate 
 a place no longer tenable. An immediate retreat ere 
 break of day was ordered. On the sixth of July, the 
 water force with the artillery and stores proceeded to 
 Skenesborough, now Whitehall, and were captured. 
 Thither also St. Clair was about to march, but anticipated 
 by the enemy, he was compelled to abandon his purpose, 
 and he retreated by a circuitous route, in search of pro- 
 visions, of six days' march through Vermont to Fort Ed- 
 ward, his rear guard retarded by a brisk engagement. 
 
 Schuyler, astounded at this unexpected reverse, wrote 
 in the month of July to Washington from Fort Edward. 
 " I am here at the head of a handful of men, not above 
 fifteen hundred, without provisions, little ammunition, not 
 above five rounds to a man, having neither ball nor lead 
 to make any ; the country in the deepest consternation, 
 no carriages to move the stores from Lake George, which 
 I expect every moment to learn is attacked. And what 
 adds to my distress is, that a report prevails that I had 
 given orders for the evacuation of Ticonderoga, whereas 
 not th? most distant hint of such an intention can be 
 drawn from any of my letters to General St. Clair or any 
 other person whatever. What could induce the general 
 
 * Trumbull's Autobiography, p. 31, 32.
 
 ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 233 
 
 officers to a step that has ruined our affairs in this quarter, 
 God only knows." 
 
 On receiving advices of these events, Colonel Hamil- 
 ton, in the name of Washington, wrote from head-quar- 
 ters at Pompton to Putnam : 
 
 " In consequence of the disagreeable event which has 
 taken place in the evacuation of Ticonderoga and Fort 
 Independence, though our situation does not make it pru- 
 dent to send on any considerable reinforcements immedi- 
 ately, besides those already gone, yet it is necessary we 
 should be preparing to throw them in when it can be 
 more safely done, and the true state of affairs in that quar- 
 ter is more clearly unfolded. I have therefore to desire 
 you will order General Glover to hold his brigade in con- 
 stant readiness to embark at a moment's warning ; and, 
 at the same time, that you will collect at your post, as fast 
 as possible, a sufficient number of vessels to transport 
 them with their baggage, tents, &c., to Albany. 
 
 " You will also send forward immediately some active, 
 trusty officer, to meet such detachments as may be com- 
 ing on, belonging to the regiments that compose General 
 Nixon's brigade, with orders if he meets them where they 
 can be sent by a short route, and in an expeditious man- 
 ner to join their corps, to hasten them on accordingly, 
 without letting them come to Peekskill. But such as he 
 may find so far advanced towards it as to render it more 
 conducive to despatch, to come on and to go thence by 
 water, he is to make them continue their march with all 
 speed, and on their arrival with you, you are without the 
 least loss of time to forward them to their regiments. 
 
 " I mean that you should act in this in the manner best 
 calculated, according to circumstances, to answer the end 
 of their joining the corps they belong to with the greatest 
 expedition possible.
 
 234 THE REPUBLIC. [1T77. 
 
 " I have determined that ten field-pieces, with the 
 necessary apparatus, shall be sent on from your post to 
 General Schuyler. General Knox will send up an officer 
 with particular directions about them. You will be 
 pleased to give every assistance requisite to the forward- 
 ing them with dispatch. 
 
 " I have just received intelligence that General Howe's 
 army is nearly all embarked. They will certainly pro- 
 ceed very soon to the place of their destination. Our 
 misfortune to the northward makes it of the last impor- 
 tance you should take every precaution to avoid one at 
 your post, which could not fail to produce consequences 
 almost, if not entirely, irremediable. As a very material 
 step towards this, I would recommend to you to contract 
 the points of defence, and secure your flanks and rear as 
 much as possible, by stopping up all roads by which you 
 are accessible in any part, that are not absolutely neces- 
 sary to keep open your communication with the country 
 from whence you draw your supplies. Attend particu- 
 larly to the cross-roads leading from the valley on the 
 right of the great road leading from Peekskill to Fishkill 
 into that road, and do not content yourself with slight 
 impediments easily removed ; but endeavor to make them 
 effectual. Be attentive also to the roads that lead from 
 Croton by the way of Danbury or elsewhere towards 
 Fishkill. The fewer the avenues of approach to you, the 
 more certain the judgment you can form of the enemy's 
 intentions and operations, the more easily you can adapt 
 your measures to them, and the greater will be your force 
 at the place of attack." 
 
 Colonel Hamilton also wrote to Schuyler in the name 
 of Washington, who was pressing on to the Highlands, in- 
 forming him of the supplies sent forward, commenting 
 with much solicitude on the fete of St. Clair, of whom no
 
 HAMILTON. 235 
 
 advices had been received, and urging him, as difficulties 
 grew, to greater efforts. He also requested Congress to 
 order Arnold to join Schuyler. " I need not enlarge," he 
 wrote, " upon the well known activity, conduct and 
 bravery of General Arnold. The proofs he has given of 
 all three have gained him the confidence of the public and 
 of the army, the eastern troops in particular." 
 
 This soldier, whose story, had he possessed virtue 
 equal to his genius and his courage, would have filled 
 some of the most brilliant pages in the history of the 
 revolution, had been only requited for his great services 
 by greater wrongs. 
 
 His gallantry in the capture of Ticonderoga and 
 Crown Point, his expedition through the wilderness to 
 Quebec, his conduct and wound in its assault, his roman- 
 tic resource and daring on Lake George, seemed to have 
 made no impression upon Congress. 
 
 In the first appointments of major-generals after these 
 achievements, five officers, juniors in rank, one only an 
 officer of militia, were elevated to that station. Arnold 
 was unnoticed. Washington felt the undeserved injury, 
 and wrote him a soothing letter, promising his interposi- 
 tion. It failed of success, for the alleged reason, that each 
 State claimed the number of general officers proportioned 
 to the troops it furnished, and Connecticut having two, 
 there was no vacancy.* 
 
 This was a policy early condemned by the delegates 
 from the southern States, who avowed and acted upon 
 the principle of removing the " attachment of the officers 
 
 * W. to R. H. Lee : " I am anxious to know whether General Arnold's 
 non-promotion was owing to accident or design, and the cause of it. Surely a 
 more active, a more spirited, and sensible officer, fills no department in your 
 army. It is not to be presumed (being the oldest brigadier) that he will con- 
 tLiuj iu the service under such a slight."
 
 "36 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 and men to their respective colonies," and making " them 
 look up to the continent at large for their support or pro- 
 motion." * 
 
 In this policy Washington concurred. I confess," he 
 wrote to Arnold, " this is a strange mode of reasoning, 
 but it may show you, that the promotion which was due 
 to your seniority, was not overlooked for want of merit." 
 
 On his way to Congress to obtain redress, the incur- 
 sion to Danbury gave him another opportunity to exhibit 
 his prowess. Congress now bestowed upon him the com- 
 mission he claimed, but left him, in its date, below the five 
 generals who had been promoted before him. Again 
 Washington interposed, offering him a command upon the 
 Hudson as a special mark of confidence. This he declined, 
 and proceeding to Philadelphia demanded an investigation 
 into his conduct. The result was a declaration by the 
 Board of War that he had been " cruelly and groundlessly 
 aspersed." Their report was approved, but his rank was 
 not restored. An unpleasant question of his accounts 
 arose, and while they were yet unsettled, he was called 
 by Washington to the aid of Schuyler. " Waiving," as 
 Washington stated, " for the present all disputes about 
 rank," he proceeded instantly on his way. 
 
 On the twenty-second of July Schuyler was told : 
 "From your accounts, he" (Burgoyne) "appears to be 
 pursuing that line of conduct, which of all others is most 
 favorable to us ; / mean acting in detachment. This con- 
 duct will certainly give room for enterprise on our part, and 
 expose his parties to great hazard. Could we be so happy, 
 as to cut one of them off", supposing it should not exceed 
 four, five, or six hundred men, it would inspirit the people, 
 and do away much of their present anxiety. In such 
 an event, they would lose sight of past misfortunes, and, 
 
 * Letter of Sam. Ward, Nov. 21. 1775.
 
 MT. 20.] HAMILTON.' 337 
 
 urged at the same time by a regard for their own se- 
 curity, they would fly to arms and afford every aid in 
 their power." 
 
 On the same day Colonel Hamilton wrote him in 
 Washington's name : " Since mine of this date I have 
 come to a resolution to send you a further reinforcement, 
 in order the more effectually to enable you to give the 
 enemy a seasonable check, and have accordingly directed 
 General Putnam immediately to forward General Glover's 
 brigade to you." He added that every tent that could 
 possibly be spared would be sent. "You may depend 
 upon having every supply you want which it is by any 
 means in my power to afford." 
 
 At the same time, Hamilton wrote to Gouverneur 
 Morris, who had recently visited Fort Edward. To this 
 post great importance had been attached during the 
 French war. It was built of logs and earth, with a 
 deep fosse, at the junction of a creek flowing into the 
 Hudson. 
 
 " Your favor of the eighteenth from Saratoga, reached 
 me yesterday. Your pronouncing Fort Edward among 
 the other forts, indefensible, surprised me a little, as it is 
 entirely contrary to the representations of several gentle- 
 men of judgment who have had an opportunity of seeing 
 and considering its situation ; by whom we have been 
 taught to believe that it would be an excellent post, at 
 least for checking and retarding Burgoyne's progress. I 
 agree with you that our principal strength in the quarter 
 you are, will be in the forests and natural strength of the 
 country, and in the want of forage, provisions, carriages, 
 etc., in which the enemy may easily be thrown by taking 
 away what there are of those articles, which, you observe, 
 have never been in great abundance. 
 
 I am dou'-tfu! whether Burgoyne will attempt to pene-
 
 238 THE EEPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 trate far, and whether he will not content himself with 
 harassing our back settlements by parties assisted by the 
 savages, who, it is to be feared, will pretty generally be 
 tempted, by the enemy's late successes, to confederate in 
 hostilities against us. 
 
 " This doubt arises from some appearances that indi- 
 cate a southern movement of General Howe's army, 
 which, if it should really happen, will certainly be a bar- 
 rier against any further impressions of Burgoyne ; for it 
 cannot be supposed he would be rash enough to plunge 
 into the bosom of the country without an expectation of 
 being met by General Howe. Things must prove very 
 adverse to us indeed, should he make such an attempt and 
 not be ruined by it. I confess, however, that the appear- 
 ances I allude to do not carry a full evidence in my 
 mind ; because they are opposed by others of a contra- 
 dictory kind ; and because I cannot conceive upon what 
 principle of common sense or military propriety, Howe 
 can be running away from Burgoyne to the southward. 
 
 " It is much to be wished he may, even though it should 
 give him the possession of Philadelphia, which by our re- 
 moteness from it may very well happen. In this case, we 
 may not only, if we think proper, retaliate by aiming a 
 stroke at New York, but we may come upon him with the 
 greatest part of our collective force to act against that 
 part which is under him. We shall then be certain that 
 Burgoyne cannot proceed, and that a small force of con- 
 tinental troops will be sufficient for that partisan war 
 which he must carry on the rest of the campaign. 
 
 "A small force will also be sufficient to garrison the 
 posts in the Highlands, and prevent any danger there ; so 
 that we shall be able to bring nearly the whole of the 
 continental army against Mr. Howe. The advantages of 
 this are obvious. Should he be satisfied with the splendor
 
 JET. 20.] II A M I L T N . 239 
 
 of his acquisitions, and shut himself up in Philadelphia, 
 we can ruin him by confinement. Should he leave a gar- 
 rison there and go forward, we can either fall upon that 
 or his main body, diminished as it will be by such a meas- 
 ure, with our whole force. There will, however, be 
 many disagreeable consequences attending such an event, 
 amongst which the foremost is, the depreciation of our 
 currency, which, from the importance in which Philadel- 
 phia is held, cannot fail to ensue."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SCHUYLER now made the dispositions best adapted to the 
 policy of his situation. He immediately advanced Nixon's 
 brigade just arrived, supported by militia, to Fort Anne, a 
 small work near the head of Wood Creek to obstruct its 
 passage and that of the road to Fort Edward. Another 
 party of militia he stationed near Fort George, incom- 
 plete and indefensible, situate upon an elevation sloping 
 to the lake of that name, to cover the retreat of the gar- 
 rison. These timely precautions proved of the utmost 
 moment. 
 
 He wrote to the president of Massachusetts Bay : 
 'Should it be asked what line of conduct I mean to 
 hold amidst such a variety of difficulties and distress, 
 I would answer to dispute every inch of ground with 
 General Burgoyne, and retard his descent into the coun- 
 try as long as possible, without the least hope of being 
 able to prevent it ultimately, unless reinforced by General 
 Washingon or by a respectable body of militia." 
 
 On the same day Hamilton wrote to him in behalf of 
 Washington in a tone of provident confidence from the 
 head-quarters at Ramapaugh : 
 
 " I am sorry that you have not yet been joined by 
 a larger number of militia, and that it has been found
 
 ^T. 20.] HAMILTON. 
 
 necessary to dismiss a part even of those that have come 
 to your assistance, though their presence is, at this time, 
 so urgently wanted. I am in hopes, however, that your 
 situation will soon be more respectable, as I cannot but 
 think the Eastern States who are so intimately concerned 
 in the matter, will exert themselves to throw in effectual 
 succors to enable you to check the progress of the enemy, 
 and repel a danger with which they are so immediately 
 threatened. I informed you in a letter of the 23d that J 
 had ordered a further reinforcement in General Glover's 
 brigade to be dispatched to you. This is all the aid in 
 continental troops that I can possibly afford you in the 
 present state of affairs, which you will be sensible is the 
 case if you will endeavor to form an idea of my strength 
 from a consideration of that of the two brigades which 
 have been sent to reinforce you. You may make a toler- 
 ably exact estimate from them of the force I have to op- 
 pose the enemy's main army ; and you will plainly per- 
 ceive that I cannot with the least propriety render it less, 
 however strong my inclinations to put you upon the foot- 
 ing you desire. 
 
 " You seem to apprehend that the artillery sent up to 
 you will be useless from a want of a sufficient number of 
 hands to manage them ; but I see no reason to imagine 
 this will be the case, as by your last return, including 
 non-commissioned officers, you will have nearly twelve 
 men to each piece, which are as many as we make use of 
 here, and are sufficient for the purpose. Not more than 
 six artillerists are required to load and fire a piece in ac- 
 tion, and you will have six others to each to make good 
 any loss that may happen. For the crag-ropes and for 
 any thing else, besides loading and firing, active men 
 drafted from the batalions will answer extremely well ; 
 and a very few days are necessary, if diligence is used, to 
 VOL. I. 16
 
 242 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 make men, tolerably intelligent, capable of performing 
 every part of a private artillerist. 
 
 " The information of the prisoners and others, trans- 
 mitted to you, do not make the numbers of the enemy to 
 exceed the ideas first entertained of them, nor do I see 
 any thing in it to induce a belief that their progress will be 
 so rapid as not to give you time to make proper prepara- 
 tions, and receive sufficient accessions of force to enable 
 you to give them a vigorous and successful opposition. 
 They do not appear to be much more than five thousand 
 strong, and seem to be unprovided with waggons to trans- 
 port the immense quantity of baggage and warlike appa- 
 ratus, without which they cannot pretend to penetrate 
 the country. You mention their having a great number 
 of horses, but they will nevertheless require a consider- 
 able number of waggons, for there are a great many 
 things that cannot be transported on horses. As they 
 can never think of advancing without securing their rear, 
 by leaving garrisons in the fortresses behind, the force 
 with which they can come against you will be greatly 
 reduced by the detachments necessary for the purpose. 
 And as they have to cut out the road and remove impedi- 
 ments you have put in the way, this circumstance, with 
 the incumbrance they must feel in their baggage, stores, 
 &c., will inevitably retard their march a considerable 
 time, and give you leisure and opportunity to prepare a 
 good reception for them. If they continue to act in de- 
 tachments, you will have it in your power to improve it 
 to the very greatest advantage, by falling vigorously upon 
 some one of them with your whole force, which, if you 
 are fortunate enough to succeed in, will be fatal to them. 
 
 " I have directed General Lincoln to repair to you as 
 speedily as the state of his health, which is not very per- 
 fect, will permit him. This gentleman has always sup-
 
 ^T. 20.] HAMILTON. 243 
 
 ported the character of a judicious, brave, active officer, 
 and as he is exceedingly popular and much respected in 
 the State of Massachusetts to which he belongs, he will 
 have a degree of influence over the militia, which cannot 
 fail being advantageous. I have destined him more par- 
 ticularly to the command of them, and I promise myself 
 it will have a powerful tendency to make them turn out 
 with more cheerfulness, and to inspire them with perse- 
 verance to remain in the field, and fortitude and spirit to 
 do their duty while in it. The confidence they have in 
 him will certainly go a great way towards producing these 
 desirable ends. You intimate the propriety of having a 
 body of men stationed somewhere about the Grants. The 
 expediency of such a measure appears to me evident ; for 
 it would certainly make General Burgoyne very circum- 
 spect in his advances, if it did not totally prevent them. 
 It would keep him in continual anxiety for his rear, oblige 
 him to leave the posts behind him much stronger than he 
 would otherwise do ; and would answer other very valu- 
 able purposes. General Lincoln could not be more ser- 
 viceable than in command of this body, and no person 
 could be more proper for it than he. 
 
 " From the view I have of the matter I should also 
 think it necessary to send General Arnold, or some other 
 sensible, spirited officer to Fort Schuyler, to take care of 
 that post, keep up the spirit of the inhabitants, and cul- 
 tivate and improve the favorable disposition- of the In- 
 dians. This is recommended on the supposition that any 
 thing favorable should appear in that quarter." 
 
 Colonel Hamilton at this time received a letter from 
 his early friend Dr. Knox, written at Santa Cruz, who 
 observed : " You must be the annalist and biographer, as 
 well as the aide-de-camp of General Washington, and the 
 historiographer of the American war. * * * This
 
 244 THE REPUBLIC. [1777- 
 
 may be a new and strange thought to you: but if you 
 survive the present troubles, I aver, few men will be as 
 well qualified to write the history of the present glorious 
 struggle." A fragment of his answer is preserved. 
 " This event," (the evacuation of Ticonderoga,) he wrote. 
 " redounds very little to our credit. For if the post was 
 untenable, or required a larger number of troops to de- 
 fend it than could be spared for that purpose, it ought long 
 ago to have been foreseen and given up. Instead of that 
 we have kept a large quantity of cannon in it, and have 
 been heaping up very valuable magazines of stores and 
 provisions, that, in the critical moment of defence are 
 abandoned and lost. This affair will be attended with 
 several evil consequences ; for besides the loss of our 
 stores, which we cannot well afford, it opens a new and 
 easy door by which to penetrate the Northern States. It 
 will fix the hitherto fluctuating disposition of the Indians 
 in that quarter in their favor, and expose the frontiers of 
 the adjacent country to their depredations. But though 
 it is a misfortune we have reason to lament, I dare say it 
 will be regarded with you as much more important than 
 it really is, and as materially endangering the success of 
 our cause, which is by no means the case. Our opposi- 
 tion is at this time too well matured and has too great 
 stability, to be shaken by an accident of that kind. While 
 we have a respectable army in the field, and resources to 
 feed, clothe and arm them, we are safe. We have had a 
 force sufficient for the foregoing part of the campaign, to 
 maintain such a superiority over the main army of the 
 enemy as effectually to hinder them from attaining any of 
 their purposes. And, to the northward, with the rein- 
 forcements sent up to succor the retreating garrison of 
 Ticonderoga, and the militia flocking in from New Eng- 
 land, I think there is little doubt we have by this time a
 
 JiT. 20.1 HAMILTON. 245 
 
 force adequate to give Mr. Burgoyne a seasonable check. 
 One good effect will result from the misfortune, which is, 
 that it will stimulate the Eastern States to greater exer- 
 tions than they might otherwise make. By our last ad- 
 vices, the enemy were in possession of all the country be- 
 tween Ticonderoga and Fort George; and our army, 
 nearly equal in number to them, were about to take post 
 somewhere between Fort Edward and Saratoga. The 
 consequences of this northern affair will depend much 
 upon the part that Howe acts. If he were to co-operate 
 with Burgoyne it would demand our utmost efforts to 
 counteract them. But if he should go towards the south- 
 ward, all or most of the advantages of Burgoyne's suc- 
 cess will be lost. He will either be obliged to content 
 himself with the possession of Ticonderoga and the de- 
 pendent fortresses, and with carrying on a partisan war 
 the rest of the campaign, or he must precipitate himself 
 into certain ruin by attempting to advance into the coun- 
 try with a very incompetent force." 
 
 Hamilton, over the signature of Washington, now 
 wrote to General Heath at Boston : " The British fleet 
 sailed out of Sandy Hook the twenty-third instant. The 
 prevailing, and perhaps the most probable opinion is, that 
 they are destined for Philadelphia. But it is not impossi- 
 ble they may intend for the eastward. Proper attention 
 to this should not be wanting. But the bare possibility of 
 it must not prevent your forwarding the remaining conti- 
 nental recruits to their respective regiments with all the 
 diligence you can. The urgency of the occasion to the 
 northward indispensably calls for them. I am sorry to 
 say, that, had the Eastern States, all of them, taken effec- 
 tual measures to fill and send on expeditiously their sev- 
 eral quotas, the misfortune of Ticonderoga could not have 
 happened. But I have the consolation to reflect that 1
 
 246 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 have used the most pressing and repeated instances to 
 induce them to do it." 
 
 The next day Hamilton wrote a private letter to Gou- 
 verneur Morris from head-quarters at Coryell's Ferry. 
 
 From a minute examination of the probable strength 
 of Burgoyne, he concluded that he could not " advance 
 after taking the necessary precautions in his rear, with 
 more than between five and six thousand men, supposing 
 him to act with his whole collective force, except Cana- 
 dians and Indians, not by any means numerous." 
 
 He then took a view of the American force under 
 Schuyler, which, with Glover's brigade and the recruits 
 would amount to five thousand continentals. " Surely," 
 he observed, " the Eastern States cannot sleep so soundly 
 when the danger is so imminent, but they will reinforce 
 him with eight or ten thousand militia. If this happens, 
 and he cannot stop General Burgoyne's progress, it must 
 proceed from other causes than the want of men. Gen- 
 eral Washington kept Howe with sixteen or seventeen 
 thousand men at bay. 
 
 " Perhaps it may be said there will not be time to collect 
 this force, as the enemy are advancing with very great 
 rapidity. I am much mistaken if there will not be abun- 
 dant time. The nature of the ground, the difficulty of 
 transporting the immense quantity of bagage, provisions, 
 <fcc., necessary to accompany an army of five thousand 
 men penetrating an enemy's country ; the want of wag- 
 gons for the purpose ; the impediments thrown in their 
 way by cutting off the roads all these obstacles will re- 
 tard their march much more than is at first sight imagined, 
 and will give full time to prepare them a good reception. 
 
 " On the whole, I am clearly of opinion, that unless 
 Howe co-operates with Burgoyne against your State, it 
 has very little to fear ; and I even doubt if he goes to the
 
 yET. 20.] HAMILTON. 
 
 southward whether Burgoyne will attempt to penetrate 
 far. At present there is every appearance of a southern 
 expedition. Seventy sail of the enemy's fleet have been 
 seen passing by Little Egg Harbor, making short tacks 
 towards the capes of Philadelphia. Three divisions of the 
 army are arrived here and at Howel's Ferry, four miles 
 up. One is coming on by way of Princeton, &c. Ano- 
 ther coming after us by way of Morristown I wish this 
 last to halt there. Two brigades more had been ordered 
 to cross the North River, and wait further orders. We 
 shall not, however, pass the Delaware till we hear of the 
 arrival of the enemy in the capes of Philadelphia. Nor 
 will those two brigades be ordered on till the same event 
 takes place. We shall act the most cautious part possible 
 in our circumstances. I communicated your letter to the 
 general. He agrees with me in point of the enemy's 
 numbers. With respect to animating the Eastern States, 
 he has written the most urgent letter to their several as- 
 semblies, which, I am in hopes, will answer the end you 
 propose from sending persons to each of them. 
 
 " It were to be wished your forts and ships were well 
 supplied with cannon, but it is wholly out of the general's 
 line to strip the ships to the eastward of their cannon for 
 that purpose. If your convention were to make applica- 
 tion to the Congress or Board of War, it might succeed ; 
 but I should have very little hope of it." 
 
 Two days after,* he wrote to Putnam for Washington 
 stating that the enemy's fleet had sailed out of the capes 
 in an eastern course. " This surprising event gives me 
 the greatest anxiety, and, unless every possible exertion 
 is made, may be productive of the happiest consequences 
 to the enemy and the most injurious to us. I have desired 
 General Sullivan's division and two brigades that left you 
 
 * August 1.
 
 248 rilE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 last, immediately to return and recross the river, and shall 
 forward on the rest of the army with all the expedition in 
 my power. 1 have also written General Clinton request- 
 ing him instantly to reinforce you with as many militia of 
 the State of New York as he can collect, and you are, on 
 the receipt of this, to send on an express to Governor 
 Trumhull, urging it upon him to assist you, with as many 
 of the Connecticut militia as he can get together, and 
 without a moment's loss of time. The importance of pre- 
 venting Mr. Howe's getting possession of the Highlands 
 by a coup de main is infinite to America ; and in the pre- 
 sent situation of things every effort that can be thought o< 
 must be used. The probability of his going to the east- 
 ward is exceedingly small, and the ill effects that might 
 attend such a step inconsiderable in comparison with those 
 that would inevitably attend a successful stroke upon 
 the Highlands. Connecticut cannot be in more dangei 
 through any channel than this, and every motive of its 
 own interest and the general good demand its utmost 
 endeavors to give you effectual assistance. Governor 
 Trumbull will, I trust, be sensible of this." 
 
 The uncertainties produced by the seaborne move- 
 ments of the British, and the consequent harassing changes 
 of position between the Hudson and the Delaware were 
 not the only perplexities of the moment. The situation 
 of the northern frontier was made more alarming by the 
 jealousies which long had existed between the people of 
 New York and New England. A letter from the Albany 
 committee mentions: "Our affairs grow more gloomy 
 every day. The New England States are still indifferent 
 to all entreaty. All the militia of Albany are sent to the 
 army. The people in Schoharie say they must lay down 
 their arms if Albany falls. Only two hundred savages 
 have driven in the inhabitants within fifty miles. What
 
 JEr. 20.] HAMILTON. 249 
 
 would be the case if a thousand are let loose ? Trumbull 
 writes that no aid is to be expected from Connecticut." 
 
 The urgency of their situation is also shown in a letter 
 addressed to Governor Trumbull by Van Cortlandt, pres- 
 ident of the New York Council of Safety : " The condi- 
 tion of the northern department has become alarming and 
 critical. The evacuation of Ticonderoga was a very un- 
 expected event, and has been attended with an unhappy 
 influence on our affairs. The people are disgusted, disap- 
 pointed and alarmed. The council are constrained to ob- 
 serve that it is not in their power to afford General 
 Schuyler much aid. Five counties of this State are in the 
 possession of the enemy, three others are disunited by 
 malcontents who meditate a revolt, and are attempting to 
 avail themselves of the present troubles to advance their 
 interested purposes, insomuch that all order and govern- 
 ment has ceased among them. Of the remaining six 
 counties, a third part of the militia of three of them, 
 namely Orange, Ulster and Dutchess, has been in actual 
 service since May, and are yet in the field. Westchester 
 has been so harassed by the invasions of the enemy from 
 New York, that, during the last winter and almost ever 
 since, their militia have been obliged to provide for their 
 own defence. A third part of the county of Tryon are 
 ordered to embody without delay, and a considerable pro- 
 portion of Albany are already marched and marching to 
 the field. Add to this the number of inhabitants con- 
 stantly employed on the communications, in transporta- 
 tion, &c., &c., and the still greater number who, tempted 
 by prospects of ease or profit, have quitted this invaded 
 State, and sought inglorious quiet among our more peace- 
 ful neighbors ; and your excellency will perceive how 
 greatly our strength is exhausted. Heaven has blessed us 
 with a plentiful harvest, and it deserves consideration that
 
 250 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 other States, besides this, will be affected by the loss 
 of it. 
 
 " It is unnecessary to observe to your excellency thai 
 the destruction of this State will bring the horrors of war 
 to the doors of many who now seem idle spectators of it. 
 We hope that the State of Connecticut will, on this occa- 
 sion, exert herself in a manner becoming the cnaracter 
 she hath hitherto sustained in the scale of American im- 
 portance, and that New York will not be left unsupported 
 in this day of trial." 
 
 " The characters of our generals who were at Ty., 
 particularly St. Glair's," writes a son of Trumbull,* " are 
 suffering perhaps irretrievably. The minds of the people 
 are much inflamed. Some cry ' Treachery,' some ' Cow- 
 ardice,' all blame, not without too great reason. My heart 
 is full. General Schuyler is distressed almost to death 
 with vexation. Sir John (Johnson) with McKoy, some 
 regulars, Canadians and savages, are at Oswego waiting 
 to be joined by Butler f from Niagara." 
 
 The council of Albany prepared a declaration stating 
 " the pain it gave them to find that a measure so absurd 
 and probably chimerical as the surrender of Ticonderoga, 
 should be imputed to the directions of General Schuyler, 
 in whose zeal, vigilance and integrity," they expressed the 
 highest confidence. 
 
 The friends of Schuyler felt the delicacy of his situa- 
 tion. Jay wrote him in urgent terms to cause a statement 
 to be made of the causes of that event. He soon received 
 a letter from St. Clair: "The calumny that has been 
 thrown upon General Schuyler, upon account of that 
 matter, has given me great uneasiness. I assure you, sir, 
 
 * Joseph Trumbull. 
 
 J- Walter Butler, colonel of a party of rangers in pay of the British Govern- 
 ment, and marked for his cruelty. Ann-i'* ofT.-jyt V> i.'.'j, 117.
 
 JET. 20.[ HAMILTON. 
 
 there never was any thing more unjust or cruel, for he 
 knew nothing of the matter until it was over. It was 
 done in consequence of a consultation with the other gen- 
 eral officers without the possibility of General Schuyler's 
 concurrence ; and had the opinion of council been oppo- 
 site to what it was, it would nevertheless have taken place, 
 as I knew it to be impossible to defend the post with our 
 numbers. * * * I proposed to General Schuyler to 
 send a note to the printer, to assure the people that he 
 had no part in abandoning what they thought their strong- 
 hold. He thought it not so proper at that time." * Aware 
 of the exasperated state of feeling towards St. Clair, and 
 now apprised of the necessity of his retreat, Schuyler 
 preferred temporary obloquy should fall upon himself, 
 rather than concentrated hostility towards an unfortunate, 
 but, blameless, gallant, unvindicated fellow soldier. 
 
 On the twenty-ninth of July, two days after the date 
 of St. Clair's letter, Congress resolved an inquiry " into 
 the reasons of the evacuation of Ticonderoga, and into 
 the conduct of the general officers who were in the 
 northern department at the time." The wide compass of 
 this inquiry discloses its object. Schuyler was first or- 
 dered to repair to head-quarters, and then a committee of 
 inquiry was appointed, composed of five members, three 
 of whom were from New England and a fourth under its 
 influence.! Washington was directed to order an officer 
 to replace him. The next day, a letter was addressed to 
 him from the pen of Samuel Adams, signed by seven 
 eastern members of Congress, pressing the appointment 
 of Gates. Washington asked " to be excused from mak- 
 ing the appointment." He assigned as his reasons, " that 
 
 * St. Clair to Jay, July 25, 1777. 
 
 f Laurens, of South Carolina ; John Adams, Dyer, and Folsom, of New 
 England ; Roberdeau, of Pennsylvania.
 
 252 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 the northern department, in a great measure, had been 
 considered as separate, and more peculiarly under the di- 
 rection of Congress, that its present situation was delicate 
 and critical, and the choice of an officer to the command 
 might involve very interesting and important conse- 
 quences." His impressions as to Gates had changed ; he 
 was reluctant to evince diminished confidence in Schuy- 
 ler, whose conduct was unexplained. 
 
 During their intercourse in Congress these two great 
 patriots had formed for each other a mutual respect and 
 confidence proceeding from their similar traits of charac- 
 ter energy, method, an exacting punctuality, an uncom- 
 promising sense of justice. The difficulties which the in- 
 subordination of the Connecticut troops had caused on 
 the northern frontier, Washington is seen to have felt in 
 his own immediate command. As Montgomery had be- 
 fore written, he also wrote from Cambridge to a colonel 
 of the Virginia line : " I earnestly recommend to you to 
 be circumspect in your choice of officers. Take none but 
 gentlemen. Recollect that no instance has yet happened 
 of good or bad behavior in a corps in our service that has 
 not originated with the officers." 
 
 Schuyler had seen the ill effects which the jealousies 
 of the colonial troops had produced in the recent war with 
 France. In the controversy as to the disputed lands of 
 New York and New Hampshire, he had taken a conspic- 
 uous, decided part. While asserting the rights of New 
 York in his direct mode, he probably partook of the pre- 
 judices of that colony, and encountered the prejudices of 
 its eastern neighbors. The extent to which these had 
 proceeded towards him has been shown. He was re- 
 garded as the type of the Dutch population, between 
 -vhom and the " Yankees," as they called them, these long- 
 cherished prejudices had risen to antipathy. The pos-
 
 JET. 20.] HAMILTON. 353 
 
 sessors of the fertile alluvials of the Mohawk believed the 
 eastern people, from their hard, bleak hills, were looking 
 towards them with too inquiring eyes. Their enterprise 
 pressing upon them in every direction, threatened not 
 merely loss of property, but an inroad upon their ancient, 
 habits and a subversion of their ancient institutions. All 
 threatened to be new, all was to be changed to a people 
 most averse to change. They hated the restless energy 
 they could not withstand, and shrank from a cleverness 
 with which they could not cope. Their pride also was 
 roused. They were indignant at the influence which 
 would supplant their much loved chief to make room for 
 one whose capacity the discerning denied, and whom 
 many regarded with aversion. " General Gates," the New 
 York delegates wrote, " is far from partial to our State. 
 You cannot be at a loss for the reason. Our revolters 
 seem to possess his esteem, and he has left a most extra- 
 ordinary recommendation in their favor." 
 
 On the fourth of August, the day after Washington 
 declined to select an officer for the northern department, 
 Gates was elected to its command by Congress. " Gen- 
 eral Schuyler," Duane wrote, " to humor the eastern peo- 
 ple, who declare that their militia will not fight under him, 
 is recalled." Gouverneur Morris, who with Jay had hast- 
 ened to Philadelphia, wrote to Schuyler : " So confident 
 were they " (the eastern members) " in their assertions 
 that their militia would not turn out while you presided, 
 and such, from your own representation, was the gloomy 
 aspect of our affairs there, that the southern members 
 were alarmed, and thought it prudent not to attempt to 
 stem the torrent." * Schuyler answered, " my crime con- 
 
 * " That the hostility to Schuyler did not proceed from his imputed mis- 
 conduct in respect to Ticonderoga, is shown by a letter of Samuel Adams tc 
 John Adams, dated Baltimore, .Ian. 1777, six months previous to its capture:
 
 254 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 sists in not being a New England man in principle, and 
 unless they alter theirs, I hope I never shall be. General 
 Gates is their idol, because he is at their discretion." 
 
 Governor Clinton writes, " Connecticut and Massachu- 
 setts have not furnished a man for the southern depart- 
 ment ; nay, scarcely answered the letters sent to them. 
 General Gates is ordered to the command of the northern 
 army, and General Schuyler to join General Washington. 
 The New England men will now be gratified, and ought 
 to turn out, but I fear they will riot behave better under 
 any command. The New York militia have turned out 
 with the greatest alacrity, leaving their harvests in the 
 fields." 
 
 The people of New England had also their grounds 
 of complaint. They could not forget that the traders of 
 Albany had been instigators of the incursions upon them 
 by the savages ; while the fact was forgotten that Colonel 
 Schuyler, the father of the general, had exerted his influ- 
 ence over them to prevent, and had announced to Massa- 
 chusetts the menaced danger.* 
 
 Men of Connecticut felt the growing prejudice and 
 their growing strength. " Any thing New England hard- 
 ly goes down," was the language of a delegate of that 
 State to its governor. " Early in the dispute they cried 
 out that we were going to cram Presbyterians down their 
 throats. In short there is a fixed aversion to our man- 
 ners. May it not be a presage that our manners and our 
 arms will sooner or later overcome them ? My prudence 
 may be questioned for speaking words tending to dis- 
 union, but I consider to whom I write." 
 
 This serious discord caused serious alarm at head- 
 
 * General Gates is here. How shall we make him head of that army ? * the 
 northern. Works of John Adamg, ix. 449. 
 * Grahame's U. S iii 27.
 
 MT. 20.] HAMILTON. 255 
 
 quarters, where the necessity of reconciling a various peo- 
 ple at variance with each other, would be felt as the most 
 urgent, as it was the most difficult of duties. 
 
 To compose this feud, Hamilton, over the signature of 
 Washington, replied to the Council of Safety of New 
 York . on the day of Gates' election to the northern 
 command. 
 
 " The misfortune at Ticonderoga has given a very dis- 
 agreeable turn to our affairs, and has thrown a gloom 
 upon the happy prospects which the campaign, previous 
 to that event, afforded. But I am in great hopes the ill 
 consequences of it will not continue long to operate, and 
 that the jealousies and alarms, which so sudden and unex- 
 pected an event has produced in the minds of the people, 
 both of your State and to the eastward, will soon subside, 
 and give place to the more rational dictates of self-preser- 
 vation and a regard to the common good. In fact, the 
 worst effect of that event is, that it has served to produce 
 those distrusts and apprehensions, for, if the matter were 
 coolly and dispassionately considered, there would be 
 found nothing so formidable in Mr. Burgoyne and the 
 force under him, with all his successes, as to countenance 
 the least languor or despondency ; and experience would 
 show, that even the moderate exertions of the States 
 more immediately interested, would be sufficient to check 
 his career, and, perhaps, convert the advantages he has 
 gained into his ruin. But while people continue to view 
 what has happened through the medium of suspicion and 
 fear, there is no saying to what length an enterprising 
 man may push his good fortune. I have the fullest confi- 
 dence that no endeavors of the council will be wanted to 
 bring your State (with the distresses of which I am deeply 
 affected) to every effort it is capable of making in its pre- 
 sent mutilated situation, and they may rely upon it, that
 
 256 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 no means in my power shall be unemployed to co-operate 
 with them in the danger that presses upon the State, and 
 through it, threatens the continent. If I do not give so 
 effectual aid as I could wish to the northern army, it is 
 not for want of inclination, nor from being too little im- 
 pressed with the importance of doing it. It is because the 
 state of affairs in this quarter will not possibly admit of 
 it. It would be the height of impolicy to weaken our- 
 selves too much here, in order to increase and strengthen 
 there ; and it must certainly be considered more difficult, 
 as well as of greater moment, to control the main army of 
 the enemy than an inferior, and I may say, dependent 
 one ; for it is pretty obvious that if General Howe can be 
 completely kept at bay and prevented effecting his prin- 
 cipal purpose, the successes of Mr. Burgoyne, whatever 
 they may be, must be partial and temporary. 
 
 "Nothing that I can do shall be wanting to rouse the 
 Eastern States and excite them to those exertions which 
 the exigency of our affairs so urgently demands. I lament 
 that they have not yet done more ; that so few of their 
 militia have come into the field, that those few have be- 
 haved so inconsistently with the duty they owe their 
 country, at this critical period. But I have, nevertheless, 
 great reliance upon those States. I know they are capa- 
 ble of powerful efforts ; and that their attachment to the 
 cause, notwithstanding they may be a little tardy, will not 
 allow them long to withhold their aid at a time when their 
 own safety, that of a sister State, and in a great measure 
 the safety of the continent calls for their greatest zeal and 
 activity. I flatter myself the presence of Generals Lin- 
 coln and Arnold in the northern department will have a 
 happy effect upon them. Those gentlemen possess much 
 of their confidence, particularly the former, than whom 
 there is, perhaps, no man from the State of Massachusetts
 
 -Ex. 20.] HAMILTON". 257 
 
 who enjoys more universal esteem and popularity. And, 
 in addition to that, they may both be considered as very 
 valuable officers. You intimate a wish that some assist- 
 ance could be drawn from the Southern States at this 
 time. But while things remain in their present posture, 
 and appearances, however illusory they may prove, afford 
 the strongest reason to keep their force at home, to coun- 
 teract the seeming intentions of General Howe, I could 
 neither ask nor expect them to detach any part of it to the 
 succor of the Northern States, who are so well able to de- 
 fend themselves against the force they now have to oppose. 
 
 " I hope an exaggerated idea of the enemy's force may 
 have no injurious influence on our measures. There is no 
 circumstance I am acquainted with that induces me to 
 believe Gen. Burgoyne can have more than five or six 
 thousand men ; and if the force left in Canada is so in- 
 considerable as the information you send me makes it, he 
 cannot have even so many. 
 
 " The representations of prisoners and deserters in this 
 respect are of little validity ; their knowledge is always 
 very limited, and their intention, particularly the former, 
 is very often bad. Beyond what regards the state of 
 their companies, no attention is due to what they say. 
 The number of regiments your informant mentions agrees 
 with other accounts, but the number of men in each com- 
 pany which he gives the establishment is not, I am per- 
 suaded, the actual state. The British army in Canada 
 last campaign, though they suffered little by action, must 
 have decreased materially by sickness and other casual- 
 ties ; and if the recruits both from England and Germany 
 bore any proportion to those which have reinforced Gen- 
 eral Howe, the state of their regiments must be greatly 
 inferior to what your information supposes. Reasoning by 
 analogy, as far as it will apply, I cannot imagine the Brit- 
 VOL. I. 17
 
 258 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 ish regiments can exceed two hundred and fifty men each, 
 fit for the field, or that the foreign troops can amount to 
 much more than three thousand men. 
 
 " The appointment of General Clinton to the govern- 
 ment of your State, is an event that in itself gives me 
 great pleasure, and very much abates the regret I should 
 otherwise feel for the loss of his services in the military 
 line. That gentleman's character is such as will make 
 him peculiarly useful at the head of your State in a situa- 
 tion so alarming and interesting as it at present expe- 
 riences. For the future, agreeably to your desire, I shall 
 direct my applications to him."^,^ 
 
 Imperfect intelligence of the investment of Fort 
 Schuyler, of the steadiness of Gansevoort and repulse of 
 the relieving party, of the fall of Herkimer, and the gal- 
 lant sortie of Willett and defeat of the besiegers, was at 
 this time communicated by Clinton. Hamilton, in the 
 name of Washington, wrote him in terms similar to those 
 addressed to the Council of Safety. " If the loss of some 
 of their most spirited leaders which happened on the oc- 
 casion, do not operate too forcibly on the minds of the 
 people in that quarter, I should imagine these little suc- 
 cesses might be productive of valuable consequences. 
 The Indians, we know, are not a very persevering people, 
 but, on the contrary, are apt to be discouraged by the 
 most trifling miscarriages, and two rebuffs like these would 
 be no inconsiderable inducement with them to abandon 
 the British troops. * * * These little reverses of for- 
 tune will also have their influence in abating that confi- 
 dence which his former uninterrupted successes have in- 
 spired into the enemy, and will tend proportionally to 
 revive the drooping spirit of our army. * * * I see 
 with the most sensible pleasure the exertions of your 
 State, dismembered as it is, and under every discourage-
 
 JEr. 20.] HAMILTON. 259 
 
 rnent and disadvantage. I lament that any causes are 
 sufficiently powerful to prevent that effectual aid from 
 your eastern neighbors which the interest of the public 
 cause and the immediate safety of your particular State 
 so pressingly demand at this time. But though it is dila- 
 tory in coming, I cannot but hope it will come before it is 
 too late. I imagine one cause and not the least material, 
 of their delay is, an apprehension of General Howe's 
 army. * * * I am, however, advised, that a body of 
 New Hampshire militia under General Stark had joined 
 General Lincoln at Bennington, and another of Massa- 
 chusetts militia was partly arrived, and the rest arriving 
 at the same place. A tolerable body of men once col- 
 lected there, could make Mr. Burgoyne anxious for his 
 rear, oblige him to advance circumspectly, and to leave 
 such strong posts behind as must make his main body 
 very weak, and extremely capable of being repulsed by 
 the force we shall have in front. I should not be very 
 uneasy for the issue, if I could see our northern army re- 
 covered from their present dejection and restored to a 
 tolerable degree of confidence and animation." "In ad- 
 dition to the two regiments that are gone from Peekskill, 
 I am forwarding, as fast as possible, to join the northern 
 army, Colonel Morgan's corps of riflemen, amounting to 
 about five hundred. These are all chosen men, selected 
 from the army at large, well acquainted with the use of 
 rifles, and with that mode of fighting which is necessary 
 to make them a good counterpoise to the Indians, and have 
 distinguished themselves on a variety of occasions since 
 the formation of the corps in skirmishes with the enemy. 
 I expect the most eminent services from them, and I shall 
 be mistaken, if their presence does not go far towards 
 producing a general desertion among the savages." He 
 advised the circulating of these ideas with proper em-
 
 260 THE REPUBLIC. [1Y77. 
 
 bellishments before their arrival. "It would not be 
 amiss, among other things, to magnify numbers." 
 
 Two days after this almost prophetic letter, on the 
 eighteenth of August, Hamilton wrote to Robert R Living- 
 ston from the camp at Cross Roads. This communication 
 contains a fuller exposition of the same views, and shows 
 his agency in the measures taken, especially the forward- 
 ing of Morgan's corps, nor is it less interesting for the 
 deep and earnest feeling he evinces towards New York, 
 his " political parent." 
 
 " I most sincerely and heartily sympathize with you in 
 the distress and danger under which your State is laboring 
 at this critical period. I lament its misfortunes as they 
 are wounds to the common cause, as they more nearly 
 interest those for whom I feel the warmest regard, and as 
 they are suffered by a State which I consider in a great 
 measure as my political parent. I wish any thing in my 
 power could contribute to its relief. 
 
 " I am fully sensible, with you, that Mr. Burgoyne's 
 successes involve the most important consequences to 
 America, and that a further progress in your State may 
 bring on all the evils you delineate, and most deeply affect 
 the common cause. I agree with you, that the loss of 
 your State will be a more afflicting blow to America than 
 any that could be struck by Mr. Howe to the southward ; 
 and I can assure you it is regarded in the same light by 
 others, whose thoughts of the matter are of much more 
 consequence than my own. I may also add that his ex- 
 cellency has afforded the northern army all the assistance 
 he could in his circumstances give, with the least degree 
 of propriety ; and were you as well acquainted with those 
 circumstances as I am, you would be perfectly convinced 
 of the truth of what I assert. 
 
 " Though I have differed, and still differ, and, I believe.
 
 /ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 2(jj 
 
 on the most substantial grounds, with you, as to the num- 
 bers of the enemy, yet I clearly perceive from the spirit 
 reigning in our army, and from the unpardonable back- 
 wardness of your eastern neighbors, that you have every 
 thing to fear, notwithstanding your most strenuous ex- 
 ertions, which, to the honor of your State, are justly 
 admired, as far surpassing what might naturally be ex- 
 pected from you under so many discouragements. I am. 
 so thoroughly impressed with your true situation, that I am 
 fully of opinion if Burgoyne is not speedily checked in 
 his career, he will become the first object to this army, 
 especially if Howe operates so far to the southward as 
 every appearance seems to indicate. Charleston is now 
 thought to be the place of his destination. He has been 
 seen passing by Sinnipinxint, steering southward, twelve 
 days ago ; and, as he has not been since heard of, 'tis 
 concluded he must be bound pretty far in that course, and 
 no object short of Charleston is supposed at all worthy 
 his attention. However common sense is against Mr. 
 Howe's going so far to the southward, facts are so strongly 
 in favor of it, that we must give credit to them. It is an 
 inadmissible supposition, that he can be keeping a large 
 fleet so long at sea, merely as a feint, or that he would 
 steer so far out of his way if he really intended to operate 
 to the northward ; the more as the season is at hand when 
 he would be liable to heavy gusts on the southern shores, 
 and contrary winds on his return. 
 
 "If he goes so far southward, we cannot think of fol- 
 lowing him with this army ; and if Burgoyne continues 
 to penetrate, we must find means to stop him. This will . 
 point out the propriety of uniting this with the northern 
 army, and falling upon him with their joint force ; and 
 perhaps nothing is more to be wished than that affairs 
 should run into this train.
 
 262 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 -*-* Before this reaches you, you will be informed that 
 two regiments have gone from Peekskill to reinforce the 
 northern army, and that Morgan's corps of riflemen are 
 on their march for the same purpose. They left Trenton 
 yesterday morning, and as they march light, and vessels 
 are ordered to be ready waiting for them at Peekskill, 
 they will soon be at the place of their destination. It has 
 been my wish and endeavor for some time past, that this 
 corps might be sent to your assistance. I expect much 
 from them; they are a picked corps, well used to rifles 
 and to wood-fights, commanded by officers of distinguished 
 bravery, and have been very serviceable in frequent 
 skirmishes with the enemy. I dare say these people will 
 soon chastise the forwardness of the Indians, and I should 
 not be surprised if, after a little time, they make them de- 
 sert their British friends. Their known inconstancy and 
 want of perseverance give great reason to hope a few 
 drubbings will exceedingly discourage them, and send the 
 greatest part of them home. From every account I am 
 led to believe our misfortunes are greatly owing to a panic 
 dread of the Indians. If this be so, the presence of 
 Morgan's corps will not fail to have the most happy effect. 
 It would be well to propagate through the country and 
 army, such ideas of this corps as will tend to revive the 
 spirits of both inhabitants and soldiers. If their number, 
 which is about five hundred, is exaggerated,* it would do 
 no harm. But of all things, my dear sir, let every topic 
 be carefully avoided, that may tend to breed jealousies 
 beween this corps and the northern troops ; such jealousies 
 have been, are, and will be more detrimental to our affairs 
 than any thing besides." 
 
 Two objects now presented themselves, an attack upon 
 
 * The original is defective ; the word " exaggerated " was that probably 
 nsed.
 
 JET. 20.] HAMILTON. 263 
 
 New York, or a junction with the northern army. In 
 view of these, Hamilton instructed Colonel Dayton to ob- 
 tain intelligence of the situation of the enemy near New 
 York, their strength and motions, the number of wagons 
 they were collecting, and of boats that might be gathered 
 " for any sudden secret expedition." 
 
 Soon after,* over Washington's signature, he wrote to 
 Congress. From the time which had elapsed since ad- 
 vices were received from Howe, it was presumed that he 
 meditated an attack upon Charleston. " The extensive 
 commerce, the vast accumulations of military and other 
 stores in that town and its dependencies, with the eclat it 
 would give his arms, if he should unfortunately take it, 
 afford him stronger inducements to direct his operations 
 there than he could possibly have elsewhere. Matters 
 being thus circumstanced, an important question arises. 
 How this army is to be employed if his intentions are such 
 as I suppose them ? It appears to me that an attempt to 
 follow him would not only be fruitless, but would be at- 
 tended with the most ruinous consequences." Having 
 pursued this train of thought, he observes : " We have no 
 other alternative left than to remain here idle and inac- 
 tive on the remote probability of his returning this way, 
 or to proceed towards Hudson River with a view of op- 
 posing General Burgoyne, or making an attempt upon 
 New York Island, as the situation of affairs shall point out. 
 A successful stroke, with respect to either, woud be at- 
 tended with the most signal advantages, and would be the 
 best compensation we could make for any losses we may 
 sustain at the southward. Besides these considerations, if, 
 after all our conjectures and reasoning upon the subject, 
 General Howe should be gone to the eastward to co-oper- 
 
 * Ang. 21.
 
 2t54 THE EEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 ate with Mr. Burgoyne, the army will be, by the move- 
 ment proposed, so far on its way to prevent, I hope, the 
 success of his enterprise. The above reasons led me to 
 call a council of general officers this morning to take the 
 subject of removing the troops hence into consideration, 
 and I am happy to inform Congress they were in senti- 
 ment with me upon the occasion as they will perceive by 
 a copy of the proceedings there had. * * * Never- 
 theless, as it is a movement which may involve the most 
 important consequences, I have thought proper to submit 
 it to Congress for their deliberation and decision. If it is 
 deemed expedient, we have perhaps not a moment to lose 
 in carrying it into execution ; and, under this persuasion, 
 I have sent Colonel Hamilton, one of my aids, who will 
 have the honor of delivering this, to bring me the result 
 of their opinions." Having in view the temper of Gates, 
 he added : " As the northern department has been all along 
 considered separate, and in some measure distinct, and 
 there are special resolves vesting the command in partic- 
 ular persons, in case it should hereafter appear eligible to 
 unite the two armies, it may perhaps be necessary that 
 Congress should place the matter upon such a footing 
 as to remove all scruples or difficulties about the com- 
 mand, that could possibly arise on my arrival there. This 
 I request from a disposition to have harmony, and from 
 my knowing the ill and fatal consequences that have often 
 arisen from such controversies, and not from the most dis- 
 tant apprehension that one would take place upon such an 
 event. The thing, however, is possible, and to guard 
 against it can do no injury." These operations were 
 abandoned in consequence of advices received of the ap- 
 proach of General Howe. His original design was to sail 
 up the Delaware, but on entering the capes, deterred by 
 the supposed difficulties of reaching Philadelphia by water,
 
 _T. 20.] HAMILTON. . ; 265 
 
 among which were the fire ships and rafts, he resolved to 
 pass up the Chesapeake. Baffling winds prevented his 
 coming into the bay until the middle of August, when he 
 made his course, entered the Elk, and, on the twenty- 
 fifth of August, began to disembark his troops at its 
 head. 
 
 Three days before, General Sullivan made a descent 
 upon Staten Island with a body of troops chiefly composed 
 of Jersey militia. Here were stationed in a fortified camp 
 more than two thousand men one regiment of British 
 regulars, two of Hessians, the residue new raised levies 
 of provincials. Sullivan crossed over in the night, sur- 
 prised part of the enemy, made prisoners two colonels, a 
 number of officers and one hundred and thirty privates. 
 On an alarm he hastened to withdraw, but from an in- 
 sufficiency of boats, his rear guard was attacked before 
 they could embark. They made a brave resistance, and 
 the American loss was equal to the British. Hamilton 
 wrote him over the signature of Washington, " It is unfor- 
 tunate that an affair that had so prosperous a beginning 
 should have terminated so disagreeably as in a great 
 measure to defeat the good consequences that might have 
 attended it. * * * I am not sufficiently acquainted 
 with circumstances to form a correct judgment of what 
 might have been expected from this expedition, but from 
 the view I have of them, and from your own representa- 
 tions of the matter, the situation of the enemy seems 
 to have been such as afforded an opportunity of reap- 
 ing much more decisive advantages than were in fact 
 gained." 
 
 The incompleteness of this gallant attempt having 
 given rise to censure, Sullivan demanded a court of in- 
 quiry. It was composed of Lord Stirling, McDougall, 
 Knox, Spencer and Clark. The sentence of the court
 
 266 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 drawn up by Hamilton, states, that " the expedition was 
 eligible, and promised great advantage to the cause of 
 America ; and that General Sullivan's conduct in planning 
 and executing it was such, that he deserved the approba- 
 tion of his country and not its censure."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE scene of the operations of the armies under Wash- 
 ington and Howe was between the head waters of the 
 Elk and the Schuylkill, running nearly parallel. The 
 southern border was the Delaware. 
 
 This generally level country was intersected by sue 
 cessive small streams, known as the Christiana, White 
 Clay, and Red Clay Creeks, separated from each othei 
 by gentle elevations and flowing transversely into the 
 Christiana River, which, uniting with the Brandywine 
 near Wilmington, empties into the Delaware. Of more 
 volume than the other water-courses, the Brandywine, 
 from its forks, near which is a ford called Buffington's, to 
 its mouth, takes a southern direction parallel to the 
 Schuylkill. 
 
 Below its forks are four other fords, Wistars's, Jones's, 
 Brinton's, and Chad's ford, nearly equidistant from each 
 other, within a few miles. 
 
 The enemy moved from their place of disembarkation 
 in two divisions, that under Cornwallis to the west of the 
 Elk, that of Knyphausen, who, on the recent return of 
 Heister to Europe, commanded the German auxiliaries to 
 the east of that stream. 
 
 The design of this separation of the force computed
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 at fifteen * thousand men, was supposed to be to prevent 
 the militia from the eastern shore of Maryland repairing 
 to Washington's assistance, and also to hold the command 
 of an extensive country within which to collect their sup- 
 plies. In this view, Hamilton, on the third of September, 
 in the name of Washington, then at Wilmington, wrote 
 to General Maxwell, who, at the head of a light corps 
 selected from the army at large, was thrown forward to 
 skirmish with and harass their advancing parties. Ap- 
 proving his taking possession of Christiana Bridge, thus 
 only exposing his front, he observed : " I wish you very 
 much to have the situation of the enemy critically recon- 
 noitred to know as exactly as possible how and where 
 they lie, in what places they are approachable, where 
 their several guards are stationed ; and the strength of 
 them, and every thing necessary to be known to enable 
 us to judge with precision whether any advantage may be 
 taken of their present divided state. No pains should be 
 omitted to gain as much certainty as can be had in all 
 these particulars." The two divisions of the enemy 
 formed a junction, at the date of this letter, at Iron Hill. 
 Here they encamped. An animating general order was 
 issued by Washington at Wilmington. " Now is the time 
 to reap the fruits of all our toils and dangers. If we be- 
 have like men, this campaign will be our last. Ours is the 
 main army. To us our countrymen look for protection. 
 Here glory waits to crown the brave. Peace, Freedom 
 and Happiness, will be the rewards of Victory. Ani- 
 mated by motives like these, soldiers fighting in the cause 
 of innocence, humanity and justice, will never give way, 
 but with undaunted resolution push on to conquest. And 
 this, the general assures himself, is the part the American 
 forces now in arms will act, and thus acting, he will cn- 
 
 * By some statements, 18,000.
 
 JEr. 20.] HAMILTON". 260 
 
 sure them success." On the route of Cornwallis, Max- 
 well being attacked, fell back, after several close, well- 
 directed fires, across the White Clay Creek. The body 
 of the Americans now advanced from Wilmington to 
 Newport on the Christiana behind the Red Clay Creek, 
 distant from the enemy about nine miles. At this post, 
 Washington waited an attack. The British, after an in- 
 terval of five days, recruiting their horses and gaining 
 intelligence, approached, apparently for this purpose ; 
 presenting a heavy column in his front and extending 
 their main body some distance upon his right. During 
 their approach, an enterprise was projected to be accom- 
 plished by Maxwell, that was not pursued, as to which 
 Hamilton gave him strict injunctions of precaution and 
 secrecy. Believing that the real intent of the British was. 
 while amusing him in front, to march by his right, pass 
 the Brandywine, gain the heights north of that river, and 
 thus take a position between himself and Philadelphia, 
 Washington changed his position early in the night, and 
 the next morning crossed the Brandywine at Chad's ford. 
 Here he entrenched himself, throwing up two small bat- 
 teries which commanded this ford, that being the route the 
 enemy would most probably take towards Philadelphia. 
 
 " This country," Hamilton wrote to Morris from this 
 place, " does not abound in good posts. It is intersected 
 by such an infinity of roads, and is so little mountainous, 
 that it is impossible to find a spot not liable to capital ob- 
 jections. The one we now have is, all things considered, 
 the best we could find ; but there is no great dependence 
 to be put upon it. The enemy will have Philadelphia if 
 they dare make a bold push for it, unless we fight them a 
 pretty general action. I opine we ought to do it, and that 
 we shall beat them soundly if we do. The militia seem 
 pretty generally stirring. Our army is in high health and
 
 270 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 spirits. We shall, I hope, have twice the enemy's num- 
 bers. I would not only fight them, but I would attack 
 them; for I hold it an established maxim that there is 
 three to one in favor of the party attacking." 
 
 The desired opportunity was soon offered. 
 
 On the tenth of September, the enemy reached Ken- 
 net's Square, a few miles north-west of Washington's po- 
 sition, and eight o'clock the next morning their right wing, 
 under Knyphausen, advanced towards him and began a 
 cannonade whch continued on both sides nearly two 
 hours. . fffi 
 
 They were attacked by Maxwell, who, crossing the 
 Brandy wine for that purpose, took post on gome high 
 grounds on each side of a road. The attack was brisk, 
 the fire severe, and destructive. Twice he repulsed them, 
 but pressed by their superior force, he at last retreated. 
 The enemy then halted on the heights south of the fiver, 
 Knyphausen reconnoitring, and making dispositions to in- 
 duce a belief that he intended to cross with his whole 
 force. 
 
 While this semblance of a purpose to give battle here 
 was kept up, a column composed of British and Hessian 
 grenadiers, light infantry, mounted and dismounted chas- 
 seurs, and the artillery, in number nearly seven thousand, 
 under Cornwallis, filed off to the left. With the twofold 
 purpose of avoiding interruption by the creeks to the 
 movement of his artillery, and to insure a surprise, Corn- 
 wallis took a circuitous route and crossed the Brandy wine 
 about two in the afternoon by easy fords above its forks, 
 six miles to the right of the Americans. 
 
 The previous evening, Sullivan was ordered with his 
 division to Brinton's ford, next above Chad's, with direc- 
 tions to post guards at each of the three other fords below 
 the junction of the forks. This he did. With only four
 
 JET. 20.] HAMILTON. 271 
 
 light horse at his command found at Brinton's ford, two 
 of whom were sent to the fords above him, and two re- 
 tained to carry intelligence to head-quarters ; Sullivan 
 being informed, in the presence of Washington, by a per- 
 son probably employed to give false information, that 
 there were no other fords within a distance of twelve 
 miles, did not extend his observation farther. 
 
 About noon, intelligence was received by him, and 
 communicated to Washington, that .five thousand men 
 with sixteen field-pieces were marching towards certain 
 fords over the forks, and beyond the fords 'guarded by 
 him. 
 
 Washington immediately decided to take advantage of 
 this disjunction of the enemy's force. Orders were issued 
 to Sullivan to cross the Brandywine and attack the ad- 
 vancing column, while he, crossing at Chad's ford, should 
 engage those in his front. At this moment he was advised 
 by Sullivan of later information contradicting the former, 
 that there was no appearance of troops moving towards 
 the upper fords, which was confirmed from another 
 source, and that he had sent to ascertain the truth. 
 
 The orders to cross the Brandywine were conse- 
 quently suspended. At two o'clock, Sullivan communi- 
 cated to Washington a note from Colonel Bland confirm- 
 ing the earliest information ; and that the advance of the 
 enemy's column, having crossed the river, was two miles 
 in his rear, coming down. 
 
 While this uncertainty prevailed, Howe and Cornwal- 
 lis had passed the fords, moved on, taken an advantageous 
 position above Birmingham meeting-house, and formed 
 for battle. 
 
 A little before three o'clock Sullivan received orders 
 to mar --h with his division to join with and take command 
 also ol those of Stirling and Stephen, and to oppose the
 
 272 THE KEPUDLJC. [1777. 
 
 enemy who were advancing on his right flank. In a few 
 minutes he marched, not knowing where the enemy was, 
 nor what route the other two divisions were to take, and 
 consequently where he should join them. On his way he 
 was informed by Colonel Hazen, retiring with one of the 
 regiments which had been stationed at an upper ford, that 
 the principal part of the British army was close upon him. 
 They appeared about forty rods from his advanced guard. 
 This rendered it necessary he should move to the right 
 and approach the other two divisions which he at that 
 moment discovered drawn up on an eminence in the rear 
 and to the right of his position. He instantly ordered 
 Colonel Hazen to pass a hollow way, file off to the right, 
 and face to cover the artillery. The enemy, seeing this, 
 did not press forward, but gave him time to form his divi- 
 sion on an advantageous height in a line with the other 
 two divisions, but nearly half a mile to the left. He then 
 rode on and conferred with Stirling and Stephen, who, on 
 receiving information that the enemy were endeavoring 
 to outflank them on the right, decided that his division 
 should be moved to join the others, and that the whole 
 should incline farther to the right to prevent it. While 
 his division was approaching the others, and before it was 
 possible to form to advantage, the light troops of the ene- 
 my, infantry and chasseurs, commenced an attack sup- 
 ported by the guards, grenadiers, and a heavy train of 
 artillery. The American division broke under this une- 
 qual conflict, and were thrown into confusion. Sullivan 
 had taken post in its centre with his cannon, which he 
 ordered to play briskly to check the progress of the foe, 
 and to give his disordered troops time to form. The artil- 
 lery and part of this division held their ground. Mean- 
 while his efforts, by placing himself at the head of the 
 broken parties to rally them, were repeated, but vain. No
 
 ^Er. 20.] HAMILTON. 273 
 
 sooner did he form one party, but that which he had be- 
 fore formed ran off, and frequently when there was no 
 immediate danger. He then left them to be rallied by 
 their own officers and by his aides-de-camp, and repaired 
 to the hill where he saw his artillery beginning to feel the 
 effects of the enemy's fire. This hill commanded both the 
 right and left of his line, and if carried, would instantly 
 bring on a total rout, and render a retreat very difficult. 
 Sullivan resolved to hold it as long as possible, to render 
 Sterling's and Stephen's divisions, which yet stood firm, 
 and also Hazen's, Dayton's, and Ogden's regiments on the 
 left yet unbroken, as much assistance as possible from the 
 artillery, and to cover his own broken parties, and give 
 them time to rally. Some rallied ; others, though exhorted 
 by their officers, fled. The enemy now bent their princi- 
 pal force upon the hill ; the fire was close and heavy, and 
 soon became general. Sterling and General Conway 
 joined him on the hill, and exerted themselves to the ut- 
 most to keep up the troops. Five times the enemy drove 
 them from the hill, and five times it was regained, the 
 summit often disputed almost muzzle to muzzle, Sullivan 
 in the hottest of the fire. The general fire lasted an hour 
 and forty minutes, fifty-one of which this contest for the 
 hill was maintained. On the right, where was Stephen's 
 division, the contest was also long and severe ; on the left 
 less so. Overpowered by superior numbers, and many of 
 the troops having expended their cartridges, the hill was 
 at last abandoned to the enemy, covered with the dead. 
 Sullivan, to lessen the injurious consequences of the de- 
 feat, rallied his troops on every advantageous rise. This 
 resolute fighting continued until after sunset. The con- 
 flict was upon ground the Americans had never seen, and 
 the attack began before there was time to form.* The 
 
 * John Sullivan to Hancock, Sept. 27, 1777. 
 
 VOL. I. 18
 
 274: THE EE PUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 Americans were between three and four thousand, the 
 British six thousand.* Of the latter the killed and wound- 
 ed were a thousand and seventy-eight. The American 
 loss was estimated between seven and eight hundred and 
 ten field-pieces. 
 
 In the midst of the attack upon the right wing, a bat- 
 tery of seven pieces was opened by the enemy upon a 
 battery of equal force in charge of the left wing, which 
 consisted of Wayne's Pennsylvania line, Maxwell's light 
 corps, and Nash's brigade ordered to the support of Sulli- 
 van. The incessant cannonade between these batteries pro- 
 duced such a column of smoke, that Knyphausen crossed 
 the Brandy wine unperceived. Wayne took possession of 
 a height opposite to him. A severe action ensued. The 
 Germans, repeatedly attempting to pass the low grounds 
 near the stream, were as often repulsed. 
 
 Greene's division, with whom Washington was, forming 
 the reserve, had taken a position between the right and 
 left wings. 
 
 He was about to move to the aid of Wayne, when or- 
 dered by the commander-in-chief, who, learning the ad- 
 vance of Cornwallis, had joined the right wing, to hasten 
 to its support. Weedon's brigade, part of this reserve, 
 gained a distance of four miles in forty-two minutes. 
 Ere Greene came up, the right wing had been defeated, 
 and it only remained to check the enemy in their pursuit. 
 This he accomplished, discharging his field-pieces from his 
 rear, as he retired before them, until he reached a position 
 behind Dilworth, indicated by Washington as the place 
 for a stand, in case of a repulse. Here he was met by an 
 order to hold his ground, and, having halted Weedon's 
 
 * The statements as to numbers vary. There were two regiments of Brit- 
 ish grenadiers, two of light infantry, two brigades British, two German, and 
 Ferguson's rifles. ,>:* J
 
 ^T. 20.] HAMILTON. 275 
 
 brigade, he passed on to his right with M ughlenburg's, and 
 met the advancing enemy. "A desperate resistance"* 
 was offered to them, and they ceased the pursuit. The 
 Americans retreated to Chester, whence Washington at 
 midnight announced the result to Congress in a few lines, 
 stating that his loss was not large, and his troops in good 
 spirits. " This," General Knox wrote,f " is the most capi- 
 tal and general action of the present war. And when 
 we consider the previous circumstances of the enemy, 
 and the views they had to take possession of Philadelphia 
 by a single action, and the loss they sustained without 
 obtaining their end, it may be fairly concluded, that if the 
 advantage is not on our side, yet they will have but little 
 to boast of." 
 
 In a different spirit John Trumbull writes to Gates : 
 " But you see, as usual with us, we have got the victory 
 though we have lost the ground." 
 
 In the engagement of the right wing, La Fayette, 
 who had recently been appointed a major-general in the 
 American army, received a slight wound which perma- 
 nently lamed him. 
 
 The propriety of Washington's having made this stand, 
 has been not a little questioned, but it cannot be doubted 
 that, with his characteristic caution, it would not have 
 been made, had it not been of urgent necessity. Public 
 opinion demanded it. His force, small as it was, had been 
 collected and sustained with difficulty. The spirit of the 
 army was high. To have surrendered Philadelphia with- 
 out a struggle involved consequences both as to the foreign 
 prospects of the country, and as to its domestic credit, of 
 a most serious character. " Every acre," it was truly 
 said, " had its political value." 
 
 The fitness of the position taken by him for a contest 
 
 Stedman, i. 292. f S 6 ? 4 - 13 1777 -
 
 276 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 with the enemy, has been more questioned. The diffi- 
 culty of guarding a stream of much extent is indicated, 
 and the dangers of a division of the guarding force dwelt 
 upon. But if the issues of a battle were to be hazarded, 
 it is not easy to indicate a position in this region more ad- 
 vantageous than that selected. The Brandywine was the 
 strongest natural obstacle in an approach to Philadelphia. 
 The other intervening streams were smaller, the eleva- 
 tions along their courses less, every day the enemy was 
 recovering from the effects of his voyage, and at every 
 step of their retreat the Americans would lose heart. 
 The strength of the British was not accurately known, 
 and such was the disaffected temper of this region, that 
 only one individual is seen hastening to Washington to 
 apprise him of their movements, concealed as they were 
 by a fog, and under cover of the hills and thick forests 
 which skirted part of the circuitous route they took. 
 
 It is stated that the part of the right wing which first 
 broke and caused the confusion, was in charge of General 
 Deborre, a French officer, who, a court of inquiry being 
 ordered, resigned. As his recent conduct had drawn 
 upon him a severe censure from the pen of Hamilton in 
 the name of the commander-in-chief, his resignation was 
 not regretted. Sullivan did not escape serious question. 
 A member of Congress, present for a time in the field, pre- 
 ferred charges against him ; that the result was attributa- 
 ble to his neglect in obtaining, end the inaccuracy of, his 
 intelligence ; his circuitous march, and the disorder of his 
 troops. Upon these charges a resolution was hastily 
 passed to recall him. Washington asked to defer exe- 
 cuting the order for the reasons, that it " was unhappily 
 adopted, and if carried into execution, would not fail to 
 add new difficulties to his present distresses ; but that he 
 'did not wish to prevent or to delay a proper inquiry into
 
 ^ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 277 
 
 General Sullivan's conduct a single instant, when the cir- 
 cumstances of the army will admit." The order was 
 suspended. Chase of Maryland then moved that a direc- 
 tion might be given to Washington to place the Maryland 
 troops under some other major-general, which would have 
 in effect thrown Sullivan out. Reed of Pennsylvania 
 concurred, proposing to extend it to the troops from 
 Delaware. This precipitate procedure was defeated, only 
 four votes approving. They were from these two States, 
 who now first felt the presence of an enemy. 
 
 Sullivan did not hesitate to demand a court of inquiry, 
 which was never called. His conduct in the action was 
 commended by officers of highest character ; * and as to 
 the imputed neglect as to intelligence, he received from 
 Washington a letter, written by Hamilton. This letter, 
 ascribing to the inaccuracy of the second advice f received 
 from Sullivan the confusion that ensued, stated " the 
 major's rank, reputation and knowledge of the country, 
 gave him a full claim to credit and attention." " His in- 
 telligence was no doubt a most unfortunate circumstance, 
 as it served to derange the disposition that had been de- 
 termined on, in consequence of prior information of the 
 enemy's attempt to turn and attack our right flank ; which 
 ultimately proving true, too little time was left us, after 
 discovering its certainty, to form a new plan, and make 
 adequate arrangements to prevent its success. Hence 
 arose that hurry and consequent confusion which after- 
 wards ensued. But it was not your fault that the intelli- 
 gence was eventually found to be erroneous. All the 
 
 * Among these, Colonel Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, then acting as aid 
 to Washington, says Sullivan behaved "with the greatest calmness and 
 bravery." Sept. 24, 1777. Also, letter of Williams to Gov. Trumbull, Sept 
 13, 1777. 
 
 j- From Major Spear.
 
 278 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 fords above Chad's, from which we were taught to appre- 
 hend danger, were guarded by detachments from your 
 division, and we were led to believe, by those whom we 
 had reason to think well acquainted with the country, that 
 no ford above our pickets could be passed without making 
 a very circuitous march. No part of your conduct preced- 
 ing the action was, in my judgment, reprehensible," and 
 " the whole tenor of it, as far as I have had opportunities 
 of judging, has been spirited and active." Sullivan re- 
 tained his command. Having left Maxwell at Chester, 
 as a centre for the dispersed troops to rally, the main body 
 retired towards Philadelphia, governed in their route by 
 the changing movements of the enemy and by the inclem- 
 ency of the weather, it being the season of the equinox. 
 In the mean time two thousand men under Sir Henry 
 Clinton crossed from New York into New Jersey. 
 
 Hamilton immediately informed Congress, in the name 
 of Washington, that Putnam had been ordered to send 
 forward a second detachment of a thousand men, and, 
 the same day, instructed General Heath at Boston, " with 
 all possible expedition, to dispatch forward all the conti- 
 nental troops " in Massachusetts. " Not a moment's time 
 is to be lost. The call for them is indispensably urgent." 
 " We are just beginning our march to return towards the 
 enemy." On the fifteenth, the day after the date of these 
 letters, the Americans, to gain the enemy's left, moved on 
 to the Warren tavern, twenty-three miles from Philadel- 
 phia. Here they learned that Howe was advancing in 
 two columns. Washington decided to engage him, but as 
 the skirmishers met, a violent storm arose, and the Amer- 
 icans, happily, were enabled to retreat, for their arms and 
 ammunition had become unfit for use. After great suffer- 
 ing they reached the Yellow Springs, a few miles south of 
 the Schuylkill, the seventeenth of September.
 
 MT. 20.] HAMILTON. 279 
 
 Hamilton, in the name of Washington, wrote thence to 
 Congress. " The enemy seem now to be straining every 
 nerve to accomplish their purpose ; but I trust, whatever 
 present success they may have, they will ere long expe- 
 rience a reverse of fortune. If they have four thousand 
 men in the Jerseys, it is probable they have something 
 more serious in view than a mere diversion ; but I am in 
 hopes when General McDougall comes to unite his force 
 with the militia, General Dickinson will be strong enough 
 effectually to make head against them. Yesterday the 
 enemy moved from Concord, by the Edgemont towards 
 the Lancaster road, with evident design to gain our right 
 flank. This obliged us to alter our position and march to 
 this place, from whence we intend immediately to proceed 
 to Warwick. We suffered much from the severe weather 
 yesterday and last night, being unavoidably separated 
 from our tents and baggage, which not only endangers 
 the health of the men, but has been very injurious to our 
 arms and ammunition. These, when we arrive at War- 
 wick, we shall endeavor as soon as possible to put again 
 into a proper condition ; to do which, and to refresh our 
 men, are two principal motives for going there." 
 
 Howe, checked by the storm for two days, resumed 
 his march towards the Schuylkill. Directly in his route, 
 at a short distance in his advance, was a quantity of flour 
 stored in some mills which it was important to destroy. 
 For this purpose Colonel Hamilton went forward on the 
 eighteenth of September with a small party of horse 
 under Captain Lee, a gallant dragoon officer of Virginia. 
 The approach to the mills was by a road descending a 
 long hill to a bridge over the mill race. On its summit 
 two videttes were posted. Soon after the party reached 
 the mills, Hamilton secured a flat-bottomed boat, by which 
 he could effect his escape should the enemy overtake
 
 280 THE KEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 them. A few moments showed the prudence of this 
 precaution. A detachment of the enemy had been or- 
 dered to take possession of these mills. The fire of the 
 videttes gave the alarm. The dragoons were ordered in- 
 stantly to embark. Four of them, with Hamilton, jumped 
 into the boat, while the enemy's horse came clattering 
 down the hill in pursuit of two of the flying videttes. 
 Lee, hoping to regain the bridge, trusted to his horse. 
 This diverted the pursuing party for a moment, while 
 Hamilton, struggling against the furious current of the 
 river, swollen by the recent tempest, gained the shore in 
 safety, though volleys, which were returned at intervals, 
 were fired into the boat, by which two of the party suf- 
 fered. Lee, equally fortunate with Hamilton, owed his 
 safety to the fleetness of his horse.* 
 
 Colonel Hamilton instantly wrote to the President of 
 Congress : " If Congress have not yet left Philadelphia, 
 they ought to do it immediately without fail, for the enemy 
 have the means of throwing a party this night into the 
 city. I just now crossed the Valley ford, in doing which 
 a party of the enemy came down and fired upon us in the 
 boat, by which means I lost my horse. One man was 
 killed and another wounded. The boats were abandoned 
 and will fall into their hands. I did all I could to prevent 
 it, but to no purpose." 
 
 At nine o'clock at night he again wrote to Hancock : 
 " I did myself the honor to write you a hasty line this 
 evening, giving it as my opinion that the city was no 
 longer a place of safety for you. I write you again lest 
 that letter should not get to hand. The enemy are on the 
 road to Swede's ford, the main body about four miles from 
 it. They sent a party this evening to Daverser's ferry, 
 which fired upon me and some others in crossing it, killed 
 
 * Lee's Southern War, i. 19.
 
 /Ex. 20.] HAMILTON. 
 
 one man, wounded another, and disabled my horse. Thev 
 came on so suddenly that one boat was left adrift on the 
 other side, which will of course fall into their hands, and 
 by the help of that they will get possession of another 
 which was abandoned by those who had the direction of 
 it, and left afloat, in spite of every thing that I could do 
 to the contrary. These two boats will convey fifty men 
 across at a time, so that in a few hours they may throw 
 over a large party, perhaps sufficient to overmatch the 
 militia who may be between them and the city. This 
 renders the situation of Congress extremely precarious, if 
 they are not on their guard. My apprehensions for them 
 are great, though it is not improbable they may not be 
 realized. The most cogent reasons oblige me to join the 
 army this night, or I should have waited upon you myself. 
 I am in hopes our army will be up with the enemy before 
 they pass the Schuylkill. If they are, something serious 
 will ensue." 
 
 Congress had resolved, should it be necessary, to ad- 
 journ to Lancaster, about sixty miles west of Philadelphia. 
 On receiving this intelligence they left the city. 
 
 " Not at all unprepared for this, Adams was up be- 
 times, mounted his horse," hastened to Trenton, and thence 
 by Bethlehem to Lancaster, " the course circuitous enough, 
 more than doubling the direct distance between the ends 
 of the journey." * 
 
 Again he is seen, still chairman of the Board of War, 
 indulging, on his hurried route, in censures upon Wash- 
 ington. "It was a false alarm which occasioned our 
 flight from Philadelphia. Not a soldier of Howe's has 
 crossed the Schuylkill. Washington has again crossed it, 
 which, I think, is a very injudicious manoeuvre." Then 
 looking to the advance of Burgoyne, he writes : " 1 fear 
 
 * Life of Adams, i. 267. Diary of Adams, ii. 439.
 
 282 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 he will deceive Gates, who seems to be acting the same 
 timorous, defensive part, which has involved us in so many 
 disasters. O, Heavens ! grant us one great soul ! One 
 leading mind would extricate the best cause from that 
 ruin which seems to await it for the want of it. We have 
 as good a cause as ever was fought for ; we have great 
 resources ; the people are well tempered ; 3ne active, 
 masterly capacity would bring order out of this confu- 
 sion, and save this country." 
 
 After an engagement between Generals Grey and 
 Wayne, in which the latter was worsted, the enemy 
 crossed the Schuylkill, and encamped upon its banks. 
 
 The condition of the Americans now rendered una- 
 voidable a resort to a most unpalatable measure. Con- 
 gress, anticipating the emergency, had given Washington 
 plenary powers to suspend all officers who should misbe- 
 have, to fill up all vacancies under the rank of brigadiers, 
 to impress supplies for the army, giving certificates, and 
 to remove and secure for the benefit of the owners all 
 goods and effects which might be serviceable to the ene- 
 my. These powers were to be exercised within a com- 
 pass of twenty miles from head-quarters, and to continue 
 in force sixty days, unless revoked. 
 
 Hamilton was selected to perform a delicate task, 
 under instructions drawn by himself and signed by Wash- 
 ington, dated the twenty-second of September. 
 
 "The distressed situation of the army, for want of 
 blankets and many necessary articles of clothing, is truly 
 deplorable ; and must inevitably be destructive to it, un- 
 less a speedy remedy be applied. Without a better sup- 
 ply than they at present have, it will be impossible for the 
 men to support the fatigues of the campaign in the fur- 
 ther progress of the approaching inclement season. This 
 you well know to be a melancholy truth. It is equally
 
 ^Ex. 2U.J HAMILTON. 283 
 
 the dictate of common sense and the opinion of the phy- 
 sicians of the army as well as of every officer in it. No 
 supply can be drawn from the public magazines. We 
 have, therefore, no resource but from the private stock of 
 individuals. I feel, and I lament, the absolute necessity 
 of requiring the inhabitants to contribute to those wants 
 which we have no other means of satisfying, and which, 
 if unremoved, would involve the ruin of the army, and, 
 perhaps, the ruin of America. 
 
 " Painful as it is to me to order, and as it will be to 
 you to execute the measure, I am compelled to desire you 
 immediately to proceed to Philadelphia, and there procure 
 from the inhabitants, contributions of blankets and cloth- 
 ing, and materials to answer the purposes of both, in pro- 
 portion to the ability of each. This you will do with as 
 much delicacy and discretion as the nature of the business 
 demands ; and I trust the necessity will justify the pro- 
 ceeding in the eyes of every person well affected to the 
 American cause ; and that all good citizens will cheerfully 
 afford their assistance to soldiers whose sufferings they 
 are bound to commiserate, and who are eminently exposed 
 to danger and distress in defence of every thing they 
 ought to hold dear. 
 
 " As there are also a number of horses in Philadelphia, 
 both of public and private property, which would be a 
 valuable acquisition to the enemy, should the city by any 
 accident fall into their hands, you are hereby authorized 
 and commanded to remove them thence into the country, 
 to some place of greater security, and more remote from 
 the operations of the enemy. 
 
 "You will stand in need of assistance from others to 
 execute this commission with dispatch and propriety ; and 
 you are therefore empowered to employ such persons as 
 you shall think proper to aid you therein."
 
 2S4 THE HE PUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 While engaged at Philadelphia upon this ungracious 
 service, he received a line from Washington : " Your own 
 prudence will point the least exceptionable means to be 
 pursued ; but, remember, delicacy and a strict adherence 
 to the ordinary mode of application must give place to 
 our necessities. We must, if possible, accommodate the 
 soldiers with such articles as they stand in need of, or we 
 shall have just reason to apprehend the most injurious and 
 alarming consequences from the approaching season." 
 
 In the execution of this duty, Hamilton addressed a 
 letter in the name of the commander-in-chief to the ladies 
 of Philadelphia, enforcing upon them the claims of their 
 country, which he afterwards alluded to as among the 
 most successful of his youthful productions. It is not pre- 
 served. 
 
 " All the efforts," it is stated,* " of this very active 
 officer could not obtain a supply in any degree adequate 
 to the pressing and increasing wants of the army." He 
 also caused the military stores and vessels to be removed 
 up the Delaware. " This duty was executed with so much 
 vigilance that very little public property fell with the city 
 into the hands of the enemy." f 
 
 Upon reaching Philadelphia, Hamilton again wrote to 
 the President of Congress : " I left camp last evening, and 
 came to this city to superintend the collection of blankets 
 and clothing for the army. Mr. Lovell sends to inform 
 me there is an express going off to Congress, and I do 
 myself the honor to communicate a brief state of things 
 when I left camp. The enemy moved yesterday from 
 where they lay to Valley Forge, and higher up the river, 
 on their old scheme of gaining our right. I don't know 
 precisely where they halted, but our army was preparing 
 to move up also to counteract them. I am this moment 
 
 * Marshall, L 168. f Ibid.
 
 Mr. 20.] HAMILTON. 85 
 
 told they marched about twelve o'clock at night for that 
 purpose. The general opinion was, that the enemy would 
 attempt crossing this day every appearance justified the 
 supposition. We had intelligence that the enemy had, the 
 night before last, surprised Generals Smallwood and 
 Wayne, and consequently dispersed them, after a small 
 opposition. The loss, it is said, was not great, and our 
 troops were re-assembling fast at the Red Lion. This 
 seems to have been a bad look-out, and is somewhat dis- 
 concerting. 
 
 " By a letter from General McDougall, received this 
 morning, it appears he was on the twentieth, in the morn- 
 ing, at Second River, just setting out on his march towards 
 Woodbridge. He is pressing forward with all possible 
 expedition. The troops were pretty well refreshed and 
 in good spirits." 
 
 Having performed these services, Hamilton hastened 
 to the camp near Pott's grove, whence, in the name ot 
 Washington, he wrote to Congress on the twenty-third, 
 detailing the movements of the army : 
 
 " I have not had the honor to address you since your 
 adjournment to Lancaster, and I sincerely wish that my 
 first letter was upon a more agreeable subject. The ene- 
 my, by a variety of perplexing manoeuvres through a coun- 
 try from which I could not derive the least intelligence 
 (being to a man disaffected), contrived to pass the Schuyl- 
 kill last night at the Flatland and other fords in the neigh- 
 borhood of it. They marched immediately towards Phila- 
 delphia, and I imagine their advanced parties will be near 
 that city to-night. They had so far got the start before I 
 received certain intelligence that any considerable num- 
 bers had crossed, that I found it vain to think of overtak- 
 ing their rear with troops harassed as ours had been with 
 constant marching since the battle of Brandywine ; and
 
 286 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 therefore concluded, by the advice of all the general offi- 
 cers, to march from this place to-morrow morning towards 
 Philadelphia, and on the way endeavor to form a junction 
 with the continental troops under Gen. McDougall from 
 Peekskrll, and the Jersey militia under General Dickinson, 
 both of whom are, I hope, on this side the Delaware. I 
 am also obliged to wait for General Wayne and General 
 Small wood, who were left upon the other side of the 
 Schuylkill, in hopes of falling upon the enemy's rear ; but 
 they have eluded them as well as us. 
 
 "When I last reerossed the Schuylkill it was with a firm 
 intent of giving the enemy battle wherever I should meet 
 them, and accordingly I advanced as far as the Warren 
 tavern upon the Lancaster road, near which place the two 
 armies were upon the point of coming to a general en 
 gagement, but were prevented by a most violent flood of 
 rain which continued all the day, and following night. 
 When it held up, we had the mortification to find that our 
 ammunition, which had been completed to forty rounds a 
 man, was entirely ruined, and in that situation we had 
 nothing left for it, but to find out a strong piece of ground 
 which we could easily maintain till we could get the arms 
 put into order and a recruit of ammunition. Before this 
 could be fully effected, the enemy marched from their po- 
 sition near the White Horse tavern, down the road lead- 
 ing to the Swede's ford. I immediately crossed the 
 Schuylkill above them, and threw myself full in their 
 front, hoping to meet them in their passage or soon after 
 they had passed the river. The day before yesterday 
 they were again in motion, and marched rapidly up the 
 road leading towards Reading. This induced me to be- 
 lieve that they had two objects in view, one to get round 
 the right of the army, the other perhaps to detach parties 
 to Reading where we had considerable quantities of mili-
 
 ^T. 20.] HAMILTON. 287 
 
 tary stores. To frustrate those intentions, I moved the 
 army up on this side the river to this place, determined to 
 keep pace with them ; but early this morning I received 
 intelligence that they had crossed at the fords below. 
 Why I did not follow immediately, I have mentioned in 
 the former part of my letter. But the strongest reason 
 against being able to make a forced march is the want ef 
 shoes. Messrs. Carroll, Chase and Penn, who were some 
 days with the army, can inform Congress in how deplor- 
 able a situation the troops are for want of that necessary 
 article. At least one thousand men are barefooted, and 
 have performed the marches in that condition. I was 
 told of a great number of shoes in the hands of private 
 people in Philadelphia, and sent down to secure them ; 
 but I doubt the approach of the enemy will prevent it. 
 I have planned a method of throwing a garrison into Fort 
 Mifflin. If it succeeds, and they, with the assistance of 
 the ships and galleys, should keep the obstructions in the 
 river, General Howe's situation in Philadelphia will not be 
 the most agreeable, for if his supplies can be stopped by 
 water, it may be easily done by land. To do both shall 
 be my utmost endeavor ; and I am not yet without hope 
 that the acquisition of Philadelphia may, instead of his 
 good fortune, prove his ruin. 
 
 " General St. Clair, who has been constantly with the 
 army for some time past, can give you many pieces of in- 
 formation which may have escaped me, and therefore I 
 refer you to him for many particulars. 
 
 " If there are any shoes and blankets to be had in 
 Lancaster or that part of the country, I earnestly entreat 
 you to have them taken up for the use of the army. I 
 have been informed that there are large parcels of shoes 
 in particular, there. * * * 
 
 " I have ordered all the Virginia militia who are toler-
 
 288 THE KEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 ably armed to come forward and join the army. Those 
 who have no arms are to wait at Fredericktown in Mary- 
 land, till they hear whether any can be provided for them 
 at Lancaster. You will therefore be pleased to make in- 
 quiry what number can be procured there, and send an 
 express to Frederick with orders for as many men to 
 come forward as there are arms." 
 
 Three days after the date of this letter, Howe, hav- 
 ing detached Cornwallis to take possession of Philadel- 
 phia, encamped at Germantown. Here, surprised at the 
 spirit of his enemy at Brandy wine, at the celerity of their 
 rally, and the boldness with which a second engagement 
 was sought, he would have been content, if permitted, to 
 enjoy undisturbed the courtly pleasures of Philadelphia, 
 imagining himself, in its possession, the conqueror of the 
 United States. The Americans, finding all resistance in- 
 effectual, took post in a strong position sixteen miles be- 
 yond on the eastern side of the Schuylkill, covered by the 
 Skippack creek. 
 
 Hamilton is again seen addressing letters in the name 
 of Washington to the Board of War, to Heath and Trum- 
 bull, pressing reinforcements and encouraging confi- 
 dence. " Many unavoidable difficulties and unhappy inci- 
 dents," he wrote the latter, " that we had to encounter, 
 helped to promote his (Howe's) success. This is an event 
 that we have reason to wish had not happened, and will 
 be attended with several ill consequences, but I hope it 
 will not be so detrimental as many apprehend ; and that a 
 little time and perseverance will give us some favorable 
 opportunity of recovering our loss, and putting our affairs 
 in a more flourishing condition. Our army has now had 
 the rest and refreshment it stood in need of, and our sol- 
 diers are in very good spirits." 
 
 Gates was also requested, "if his services could be
 
 /ET. 20.J HAMILTON. 289 
 
 dispensed with, to direct the immediate return " of Mor- 
 gan's corps," whose absence had been seriously felt. The 
 expectation of an engagement was assigned by Gates as 
 a reason for not sending him forward. " In this situation," 
 he wrote, " your excellency would not wish me to part 
 with the corps the army of General Burgoyne are most 
 afraid of." 
 
 The position of both the main armies was taken with 
 reference to the fortifications which had, with immense la- 
 bor, been erected on the borders of the Delaware under the 
 eye of Duportail, a skilful engineer from France, and most 
 worthy man, soon after appointed a general of brigade. 
 
 The object of these works was to render Philadelphia 
 inaccessible by water, and should it be occupied by an 
 overland march, to control its supplies. 
 
 Early in the previous month, the commander-in-chief 
 had, in consultation with several of his officers, made a 
 careful reconnaisance of these defences. The result of 
 this investigation was communicated to Congress in a let- 
 ter from the pen of Hamilton. The questions were, 
 whether defences could be most effectually made at Bil- 
 lingsport or at Fort Island ; and whether one or both 
 should be maintained. The conclusion, after a full review 
 of the relative considerations, was, that " the principal 
 dependence ought to be upon Fort Island and the obstruc- 
 tions there ; and that Billingsport ought not by any means 
 to be defended more than as a secondary object." 
 
 The erection of a small, but strong, work at Red Bank 
 was suggested, which, though it could not be rendered im- 
 pregnable, could hold out a long time. Such works as 
 were to be destroyed, it was advised, should be razed im- 
 mediately, and such additions as were to take place, to be 
 made with the greatest diligence and dispatch. A careful 
 examination of the adjacent country was earnestly recom- 
 VOL. I. 19
 
 290 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 mended. Fort. Island or Mud Island, more generally 
 known as " Fort Mifflin," was near the junction of the 
 Schuylkill with the Delaware. Red Bank was an eleva- 
 tion upon the Jersey side, where a fort called " Mercer," 
 was constructed, as proposed. Under the cover of these 
 works, and in mid-channel of the Delaware, chevaux-de- 
 frise were sunk. These, it was believed, could not easily 
 be removed, and would prove serious and dangerous ob- 
 structions. Similar impediments had been formed below 
 at Billingsport. In aid of these defences, two frigates 
 and several galleys were relied upon. The larger of these 
 vessels grounded, and was captured. Thus a command of 
 the ferry to Jersey was obtained by the enemy, supplies 
 were thereby furnished to the city, and the communication 
 between the forts and their source of supply cut off. 
 
 The loss of the fort at Billingsport, indicated in the 
 recent letter to Congress as probable, soon occurred. It 
 was taken possession of on the first of October by two 
 regiments under Colonel Stirling after a slight opposition, 
 to whose support another regiment was detailed. Thus 
 weakened, Cornwallis with the British grenadiers, a con- 
 siderable force, and two battalions of Hessian grenadiers 
 holding Philadelphia, Howe seemed to present a favorable 
 moment for attack. 
 
 The disposition of his army at Germantown encour- 
 aged the attempt. 
 
 This village consisted of one long street. On either 
 side were houses built in the ancient German mode with 
 thick, strong walls, a low story, and a steep, overhanging 
 roof. Each dwelling stood detached, with a vacancy or 
 homestead around it.* Removed a short distance on the 
 
 * Tacitus "De situ, &c., Germanise," xvi. "Vicos locant, non in nostrum 
 morem, connexis et cohaerentibus sedificiis : sunm qnixque domum spatio circuin- 
 daf, sive adversns casus ignis remedium, sive insei'-ia
 
 JET. 20.] HAMILTON. 291 
 
 same line, stood a large stone private residence in the 
 midst of a greater space, known as " Chew's " house, the 
 summer abode of a former official person. 
 
 The main body of the enemy intersected the village 
 near its centre and almost at right angles. It lay en- 
 camped with the left wing, on the west side of the road 
 leading through the town, flanked by the Hessians, covered 
 by the Schuylkill and Wisahicon Creek, having the Ger- 
 man chasseurs in front. Their right wing was on the 
 east side of the road extending to a wood about a mile 
 from the town, in their front a battalion of light infantry, 
 and the Queen's American Rangers. 
 
 At the head of the village nearly opposite Chew's 
 house, were stationed the fortieth regiment under Lieu- 
 tenant-colonel Musgrave, with a battalion of light infantry, 
 the out-guard considerably in advance near a small emi- 
 nence called " Mount Airy." 
 
 Washington, reinforced by McDougall from New 
 York and by the Maryland and Virginia militia, resolved 
 to strike a blow. Dispositions were made for a combined 
 attack, the temper of the troops promising a happy issue. 
 
 Sullivan,* in command of his own and Wayne's divi- 
 sion, forming the right wing, was to pass along the 
 Monatawny road, and attack the enemy's left, Conway 
 marching in front. The divisions of Greene and Ste- 
 phen to form the left wing, and moving down the Skip- 
 pack road to attack the enemy's right in front, McDougall 
 marching at their head to file off and attack it in flank. 
 Nash's and Maxwell's brigades were to join the reserve 
 under Stirling, and to move down the same road. Gen- 
 eral Armstrong, an old, tried officer, with the Pennsylva- 
 nia militia, was to pass down the Ridge road, and crossing 
 
 * This statement varies a little from the received account. It is taken 
 from the general orders, in Hamilton's handwriting.
 
 292 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 a creek, to turn the left flank, and attack in the rear. 
 Smallwood and Forman, with the militia from Maryland 
 and Jersey, were to gain the old York road by a circui- 
 tous route, and reaching the enemy's encampment by a 
 road leading to the Germantown market house, to attack 
 the right wing in front and rear. The pioneers of each 
 division, with all the axes they could muster, each officer 
 and soldier having a piece of white paper in his hat, were 
 to move in front of their respective divisions. Each col- 
 umn was to make its disposition so as to attack the pick- 
 ets in their respective routes simultaneously at five in the 
 morning, with charged bayonets, without firing, and th^ 
 column to move on the attack as soon as possible. They 
 were to endeavor to get within two miles of the enemy's 
 pickets by two o'clock, there halt till four, and make their 
 dispositions for the attack. Proper flanking parties were 
 to be thrown out from each column, and communications 
 between the continentals and militia to be kept up by 
 light horse. The motive, as stated by Sullivan, of direct- 
 ing so large a force upon the enemy's right wing, was, 
 that if it could be forced, it must surrender, or be pushed 
 into the Schuylkill. 
 
 On the third of October, at evening, the Americans 
 moved. After marching all night, the advance of the right 
 wing under Sullivan, whose road was most direct, reached 
 the enemy before sunrise. Here the surprise was complete. 
 The enemy's left wing gave way to successive charges 
 through their encampment, leaving their tents standing, 
 their baggage, and part of their artillery. Sullivan and 
 Wayne pursued with ardor. At every fence, and wall, and 
 hedge, a stand but unsuccessful, was made. In the mid re- 
 treat, M usgrave had the presence of mind to occupy Chew's 
 house. A heavy firing being heard, Colonel Pickering was 
 directed by Washington to order Sullivan to hold his fire,
 
 .T. 20.] HAMILTON. 
 
 fearing he was wasting his ammunition, as the haziness of 
 the morning probably prevented a certain view of the 
 enemy. Pickering reported the occupation of Chew's 
 house. The question was, whether to attack or to pass it. 
 Hamilton, Pickering, and other junior officers " urged with 
 zeal " * that it be passed. Knox was of a different opin- 
 ion, and prevailed. A summons to surrender was given. 
 Musgrave disregarded it. The officer bearing it was shot. 
 
 The two divisions under Sullivan were separated, and 
 did not reunite. The left column under Greene being 
 obliged to make a circuit was unable to keep pace with 
 the right wing. Its attack was three quarters of an hour 
 later. Here the enemy were also driven ; but while ad- 
 vancing, the right flank of Woodford's brigade was ar- 
 rested in its course by a heavy fire from Chew's house. 
 Impregnable to musketry, this brigade was drawn off to 
 its left, and its field-pieces directed against the walls. Be- 
 ing six pounders, they made no impression. Here the 
 two divisions of this wing were also separated, nor could 
 they be reunited. That of Greene bearing down upon a 
 part of the enemy's right, broke it, and entered the village. 
 Near its centre, he was met and warmly engaged by the 
 main body of the British. The delay in his attack, the 
 successive halts at Chew's house, and the time thus given 
 to the enemy to rally, its annoying fire, and the conse- 
 quent separation of the divisions, were seen in all their 
 consequences. 
 
 The confusion which followed was increased by the 
 increasing darkness, for the sun had become obscured. 
 The town lying low, a fog still hung over it, and the 
 smoke of the cannon and musketry was rendered more 
 dense by that of burning hay and other combustibles. 
 Amid this thick lurid gloom, friends were mistaken for 
 
 * Lee's Southern War, i. 29.
 
 294: THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 foes, and fell under a misdirected fire, there being often 
 no other guide but the direction of the shot, and no other 
 objects but the flashes of the guns. Nor was the plan of 
 battle carried into full effect. It was too complicated.* 
 The militia under Armstrong came up too late. Those 
 commanded by Smallwood and Forman only appeared on 
 the ground after the retreat of the left wing had begun. 
 The British having rallied, Knyphausen attacked Sullivan, 
 whose troops, unsupported, having expended their ammu- 
 nition, alarmed by a cry that they were surroundea,f and 
 seeing other troops flying on their right, retreated with as 
 much precipitation as they had advanced, disregarding 
 every effort of their officers to rally them. They, how- 
 ever, brought off their cannon and their wounded. Two 
 of Sullivan's aides were killed. General Nash and his 
 aide Witherspoon received mortal wounds. 
 
 Greene was briskly attacked by the British right. 
 After a sharp engagement, two of his brigades which had 
 entered the town began to retreat ; those more advanced 
 were surrounded and made prisoners. 
 
 Greene used every effort to check the panic, and to 
 rally his retreating troops, turning and firing again and 
 again upon his pursuers, nor was Wayne, whose hopes of 
 victory in his gallant onset were high, less determined. 
 Reaching an eminence in his flight, he turned his cannon 
 upon, and brought the enemy to a momentary stand. 
 
 The result of this action again showed the superiority 
 of a disciplined army and experienced officers over gal- 
 lant but untaught troops, led by men little instructed in 
 the art of war. Fortunately the enemy did not recover 
 sufficiently from their surprise to pursue their advantage, 
 nor in the obscure light would they at first dare to ven- 
 ture far. The retreat was, therefore, attended with small 
 
 * Lee's Southern War, i 29. f Armstrong to Gates, Oct. 9, 1777.
 
 &r. 20.J HAMILTON. 295 
 
 loss. Of the British five hundred were killed and wound- 
 ed, one-fifth killed. Among these were General Agnew 
 and Colonel Bird. Of the Americans, nearly double 
 this number were killed, more than five hundred wounded, 
 four hundred made prisoners ; of the latter was Colonel 
 Matthews of Virginia, a gallant soldier. 
 
 Stephen's division, badly commanded, did little more 
 than increase the confusion. Their commander was 
 cashiered for intoxication and misconduct in the retreat, 
 and La Fayette appointed to the command of his division. 
 Colonel Musgrave for his service in Chew's house received 
 a most marked commendation from his sovereign ; and 
 Congress passed a vote of thanks to Washington and his 
 army, approving the plan of battle, and applauding their 
 courage. " Though in part unfortunate, it is a great and 
 happy thing," was the comment of old General Arm- 
 strong ; nor did the bold attempt escape the eye of 
 France, looking with impatience to some warrant for 
 openly espousing the cause of America. 
 
 Washington retreated the same day to Perkiomen 
 Creek, whence he resumed his position on Skippack 
 Creek. The seventh of October, three days after the 
 battle, Hamilton, in his name, wrote to Congress : 
 
 " It is with much chagrin and mortification, I add, that 
 every account confirms the opinion I at first entertained, 
 that our troops retreated at the instant when victory was 
 declaring herself in our favor. The tumult, disorder, and 
 even despair, which, it seems, had taken place in the Brit- 
 ish army, were scarcely to be paralleled ; and, it is said, 
 so strongly did the ideas of a retreat prevail, that Chester 
 was fixed on as their rendezvous.* I can discover no 
 
 * " We know,'' writes Keith to Lamb, " the enemy had orders to retreat 
 and rendezvous at Chester, and that upwards of two thousand Hessians had 
 Actually crossed the Sclnyll--jll for that purpose; that the tories were in the
 
 296 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 other cause for not improving this happy opportunity, 
 than the extreme haziness of the weather. My intention 
 is to encamp the army at some suitable place to rest and 
 refresh the men, and recover them from the remaining 
 effects of that disorder naturally attendant on a retreat. 
 We shall here wait for the, reinforcements coming on, and 
 shall then act according to circumstances." A statement 
 was added of the misconduct of a part of the crews in 
 l.he Delaware, of the want of general officers, with a spe- 
 cial recommendation of McDougall for promotion. Hap- 
 py in the opportunity of exhibiting his gratitude for his 
 early countenance, Hamilton observed : This gentleman, 
 from the time of his appointment as brigadier, from his 
 abilities, military knowledge and approved bravery, has 
 every claim to promotion. If I mistake not, he was passed 
 over in the last appointments of major-generals, and 
 younger officers preferred before him, but his disinterested 
 attachment to the service prevented his acting in the 
 manner that is customary in such circumstances. This, I 
 think, gives him a peculiar title to esteem, and concurs 
 with the opinion I have of his value as an officer, to make 
 me wish it may appear advisable to Congress to promote 
 him to one of the vacancies." A sense of the injustice 
 done St. Clair also prompted the expression of a wish that 
 his trial be brought to a speedy issue : and, if acquitted, 
 " as his general character as an officer is good, that he 
 may again be restored to the service." McDougall was 
 in a few days promoted. St. Clair's vindication was 
 later. 
 
 The issue of the battle of Germantown, inspiriting as 
 it was to the public feeling, furnished conclusive evidence 
 that in the present condition of the American troops the 
 
 utmost distress, and moving out of the city ; that our friends confined in the 
 j*aols made it ring with sliouts of joy." Uft of John I^mb, 184.
 
 ^Er. 20.] HAMILTON. 
 
 hazards of another battle could not immediately be taken. 
 Yet, if possible, Howe must be compelled to withdraw 
 from Philadelphia. This could best be effected by cutting 
 off his supplies. The American position now at White 
 Marsh, fourteen miles from Philadelphia, commanded the 
 fertile region interlying the Schuylkill and the Delaware. 
 Thus nothing could be obtained by the enemy in this di- 
 rection. 
 
 On the day of the action at Germantown, Admiral 
 Howe entered the Delaware, and two days after, his fleet 
 and transports anchored between Reedy Island and New- 
 castle. Immediately after their arrival, General Arm- 
 strong was instructed in a letter written by Hamilton to 
 send a body of Pennsylvania militia across the Schuylkill 
 to intercept the intercourse between Philadelphia and 
 Chester ; to cut off the convoys of the enemy ; seize the 
 dispatches between their army and shipping ; and " to use 
 every method to prevent their getting supplies from the 
 country around them." At the same time, the more im- 
 portant measure of maintaining the river obstructions 
 was taken. Hamilton, in a very earnest letter of instruc- 
 tions in Washington's name to Colonel Greene, a tried 
 and intrepid officer of Rhode Island, charged him with the 
 care of Red Bank, detaching two regiments of continentals 
 from that State under his command, to co-operate with 
 Lieutenant-colonel Smith at Fort Mifflin, and with Com- 
 modore Hazlewood in the river. If necessary, the forti- 
 fication was to be strengthened or contracted under the im- 
 mediate care of Duplessis, a gallant nobleman from France, 
 who was to take the immediate direction of the artillery. 
 The closing language to Colonel Greene is: "You will be 
 pleased, sir, to remember, that the post with which you are 
 now intrusted is of the utmost importance to America, and 
 demands every exertion you are capable of for its security
 
 298 THE KEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 and defence. The whole defence of the Delaware abso- 
 lutely depends upon it, and consequently all the enemy's 
 hopes of keeping Philadelphia, and finally succeeding in 
 the object of the present campaign. Influenced by these 
 considerations, I doubt not your regard to the service, and 
 your own reputation, will prompt you to every possible 
 effort to accomplish the important end of your trust, and 
 frustrate the intentions of the enemy." 
 
 Fort Mifflin was the first object of the enemy. Near 
 it was a small island called Province Island. This was 
 taken possession of by them, and batteries were begun 
 which would command the principal work at Fort Mifflin. 
 Colonel Smith saw his danger and endeavored to gain 
 them. " I hope," Hamilton wrote him in Washington's 
 name, " your future endeavors may be more successful. 
 If they once get their batteries fairly erected, the situa- 
 tion of your garrison will, no doubt, become very trying ; 
 but, I dare say, they will be duly impressed with the im- 
 portance of the trust committed to them." He also wrote 
 to Colonel Greene to aid him. Greene was now called 
 upon to exert all his valor. On the twentieth of Octo- 
 ber the enemy threw a body of troops across the Dela- 
 ware. As the object obviously was either to storm or to 
 invest Red Bank, though it was believed the hazards of 
 an assault, as the works were strong, would induce the 
 latter, Hamilton wrote General Forman, in the name of the 
 commander-in-chief, requesting him, in the most earnest 
 manner, to use his utmost exertions immediately to collect 
 as large a body of militia as he possibly could, and hasten 
 to its relief. " To you no arguments need be used, either 
 to explain the importance of the object, or to stimulate 
 your zeal for its preservation." He also wrote to Hazle- 
 wood, Greene and D'Arendt * expressing the " most ar- 
 
 * Oct. 21.
 
 JET. 20.] HAMILTON. 299 
 
 dent desire that harmony and a good understanding be- 
 tween the fleet and the garrisons may be mutually culti- 
 vated. On this every thing depends ; nothing but disap- 
 pointment and disgrace can attend the want of it. The 
 best designs and most important pursuits have been, and 
 ever will be, defeated by foolish differences, when they ex- 
 ist between those engaged in them." 
 
 The effect of these injunctions was now brought to the 
 test. On the day they were written, four battalions of 
 Germans, amounting to about twelve hundred men,* com- 
 manded by Count Donop, landed on the east side of the 
 Delaware, and moved on to Haddonfield. At three 
 o'clock the next morning they advanced towards Red 
 Bank, but, delayed by a necessary detour, they only ar- 
 rived at noon within four miles of the fortification. 
 
 This fort was an intrenchment the parapets of the 
 retrenchments effectually fraised in the centre of exten- 
 sive unfinished earthen works. 
 
 The advance of the enemy was first descried on the 
 edge of a wood to its north, nearly within cannon shot. 
 Colonel Greene, too weak to hold the extensive outworks, 
 retired his men within the inner intrenchment, and posted 
 them for action. A summons to surrender was sent for- 
 ward. The bearer was told the fort " would never be 
 surrendered." Donop, who had come on, intending a de- 
 liberate attack, threw up a battery, and commenced a 
 1 risk cannonade. 
 
 A small party of Virginia troops, ordered in the emer- 
 gency to reinforce Fort Mifflin, had preceded the Hessians, 
 and reached Colonel Greene on its route. The com- 
 mander, Colonel Simms, proffered his aid. At first it was 
 accepted, but Greene, on reflection, declined diverting him 
 from his destination. Simms, filing off through the postern 
 
 * Major Ward to Washington, Oct. 23, 1777.
 
 300 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 gate of the fort, embarked in boats provided to convey 
 him across the river.* Donop, discovering the embarka- 
 tion, and not doubting that it was a part of the garrison 
 abandoning the post, resolved on instant assault. He 
 rushed into the outworks, and finding them undefended, 
 led his troops up to the abatis, shouting " Victoria," and 
 waving their hats. A deadly and continued discharge of 
 guns and small arms met the assailants in front from the 
 fort, and in flank from a part of another looped intrench- 
 ment. The soldiers reeled, and retreated under the close, 
 unerring fire. Their officers rallying them, were seen fall- 
 ing, while attempting to cut a way through the abatis. 
 Donop, especially distinguished by his military order, by 
 his noble figure and bearing, was mortally wounded. 
 
 Another column attacked the southern part of the 
 work, passed the abatis, traversed the fosse, and mounted 
 the berm. A few got over the pickets, but the fire from 
 within drove them back. The assailants retreated in con- 
 fusion, the galleys pouring a fire upon their flank. They 
 lost one-third of their number, of the garrison only eight 
 were killed, seven and twenty wounded. 
 
 The plan being a simultaneous attack on both the op- 
 posite forts, the enemy's fleet had been signalled to ad- 
 vance. The Augusta, a sixty-four, the Roebuck, a forty- 
 four, the Merlin of eighteen guns, and a galley, came up 
 through the lower chevaux de frisc, and were attacked by 
 the American floating batteries and galleys. Seeing the 
 repulse of Donop, the enemy's vessels, the next day, en- 
 deavored to fall down the river. The Augusta and Mer- 
 lin grounded. An incessant fire was kept upon them, 
 and they exploded, The firing now ceased on both sides, 
 when the Roebuck dropped down, and passed the lower 
 works.f 
 
 * Lee's Southern War, i. 33. f Commodore Hazlewood's Report. Oct. 26,
 
 ^ET. 20.J HAMILTON. 301 
 
 Congress paid the honors due for this gallant defence 
 to Greene, Smith and Hazlewood, voting to each the 
 thanks of the American people, and an emblematic sword. 
 
 Sad hours had meanwhile passed on the eastern bank 
 of the Delaware. Extricated from among the dead 
 bodies of his soldiers, the youthful Donop was approached 
 by Duplessis. Perceiving from his accent that he was a 
 French officer, he exclaimed in that language, "I am 
 content. I die in the hands of honor itself." Tenderly 
 nursed by Duplessis, he died the third day. From his 
 death bed, he wrote to Count St. Germain, commending 
 this young officer to his kindness. As his last moment 
 approached, contrasting his own fate with that of the gal- 
 lant volunteer in a glorious cause, the expiring soldier said, 
 with his latest breath, " It is finishing a noble career ear- 
 ly, but I die the victim of my ambition and of the avarice 
 of my sovereign."* 
 
 -]': 't'T'iil. !'<'( j< -}. tf^fi ?l.*j/, 
 
 * De Chatellux's Travels, 260-266.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THREE days after these brilliant affairs, authentic advices 
 were received of the issue of the campaign at the north. 
 Although Burgoyne reached Skenesborough on the ninth 
 of July, such were the obstructions interposed by Schuy- 
 ler and the difficulties of the route, that his progress was 
 very slow. On both sides of his line of march large 
 trees were felled into his path. The artillery mired at 
 every step. So numerous were the creeks and marshes, 
 forty bridges or causeways were constructed by him, one 
 nearly two miles long, of logs. The scalping of a young 
 female under circumstances of sad and peculiar interest 
 had roused the whole country ; vengeful wrath succeeding 
 to affright. 
 
 Delayed in this wilderness by the unexpected impedi- 
 ments, and afflicted with the barbarity of his savage allies 
 which he labored to prevent, Burgoyne did not encamp 
 upon the Hudson, until after the lapse of sixteen days, a 
 distance from Fort Georg 3 of only eighteen miles. He was 
 now buoyant with the hope that the prize was within his 
 grasp. Yet the spirit of his enemy ought to have warned 
 him of his dangers. On his way, a sally was made from 
 Fort Anne. The Americans were driven back. They 
 again formed and rushed on, their officers shouting to
 
 ^Ex. 20.] II A II I L T O X . 393 
 
 them to advance, driving the British before them. These 
 retreated to a hill, where the pursuit ceased for want of 
 ammunition. Even the picket guard had not bullets for 
 the night. 
 
 The scenes of distress among the poor inhabitants, fly- 
 ing from their farms and habitations, were most grievous ; 
 their immense crops of wheat and corn destroyed or 
 abandoned, many of them, without means of subsistence. 
 
 On the approach of Burgoyne, Schuyler retired from 
 Fort Edward to Saratoga, where he issued a proclamation 
 invoking the people to repair to his standard, and threat- 
 ening punishment as traitors to those joining the enemy. 
 His total force was two thousand five hundred continen- 
 tals, and two thousand militia. The British and German 
 regulars advancing upon him, were about six thousand. 
 
 Hoping reinforcements, he intended taking advantage 
 of some heights at Moses Creek, five miles below, there 
 to have met his adversary. No reinforcements came up. 
 " A great part of the militia was dismissed to reap their 
 harvests, others deserted by companies." * Thus reduced, 
 instead of strengthened, Schuyler retired to Stillwater, a 
 few miles down the Hudson. Here at first he ordered 
 Lincoln to join him. But learning the embarrassments of 
 Burgoyne, and the feeble garrison at Ticonderoga, he di- 
 rected him with the eastern militia to move to his rear, 
 and cut off his supplies. Notwithstanding his own dimin- 
 ished strength, being informed of the advance of St. 
 Leger, but not of his repulse, he ordered Arnold, as ad- 
 vised in the letter written by Hamilton, with three regi- 
 ments of regulars to relieve Fort Schuyler. Thus weak- 
 ened by these provident measures, with the approval of a 
 council of war, he fell back to Van Schaick's Island, a 
 very defensible position, at the confluence of the Hudson 
 
 * Corres. Revo'n., i. 515.
 
 304 THE EEPUBLIC. 1777. 
 
 and the Mohawk, which he began to intrench, intending 
 to make a stand.* " We propose," he wrote, " to fortify 
 our camp, in hopes that reinforcements will enable us to 
 keep our ground, and prevent the enemy from penetrating 
 further. Not a word from Massachusetts on my repeated 
 applications ; nor am I certain that Connecticut will af- 
 ford us any succor." f 
 
 The loss of his means of transportation, and the fear 
 of an interruption of his communications with Lake 
 George, whence he drew all his supplies, now prompted 
 Burgoyne to possess himself of Bennington, a town 
 twenty miles east of the Hudson. It was the depository 
 of a large quantity of stores and wagons, under the pro- 
 tection of small temporary groups of militia. To capture 
 them and to mount his cavalry, he detached thither a 
 party of about five hundred men under Colonel Baume, 
 one third dismounted dragoons, fifty British rangers, the 
 residue provincials, Canadians and Indians. In their sup- 
 port, he ordered Colonel Breyman to proceed to Batten- 
 kill, on a rapid stream of that name emptying into the 
 Hudson, and advanced his main body. 
 
 Baume encountered a much larger force than he had 
 anticipated, led on to battle by a person familiar with 
 arms. John Stark, the son of " a Glasgow man," a Scotch 
 presbyterian, had, in frequent conflict with the Indians, 
 shown such prowess as "a ranger," that his name was 
 familiar to the ear of every borderer of his native New 
 Hampshire, whose energetic colonial militia system had 
 
 * V General Schuyler, after the capture of Ticonderoga, collected the scat- 
 tered remnants of the brigades of General St. Clair, and with these and some 
 militia, gathered by great exertions, took post near Halfmoon. This was the 
 nucleus of the army, which was afterwards put under the command of Gates." 
 Leben und Wirken des Friederichs Adolph Jiiedesel, ii. 192. Leipzig, 1836. 
 
 t Aug. 4.
 
 .
 
 ^Er. 20.] HAMILTON. 305 
 
 well prepared her for the struggles of the revolution. 
 He was at the battle of the " Bloody Pond " near Fort 
 Edward, rose to the rank of colonel, was with Amherst at 
 the taking of Ticonderoga from the French ; and in the 
 region near which he now rendered his most signal ser- 
 vice to his country, became known to Schuyler during the 
 advance of Lord Howe. At Bunker's Hill he was on the 
 left of the American line ; and in the vanguard with Sul- 
 livan when he dashed into Trenton. Men of inferior 
 merit were promoted above him. He retired dissatisfied. 
 
 Schuyler knew his value. He appealed to his patriot- 
 ism, and persuaded him in this great emergency to resume 
 his sword. The militia of New Hampshire hastened to 
 his standard, and, augmented by those under Warner, 
 numbered two thousand men. 
 
 Baume saw his danger, ordered Breyman to hasten 
 forward, and quickly intrenched himself. Stark fulfilled 
 the promise of his life. He boldly stormed the intrench- 
 ments, killing and making prisoners near the whole of the 
 enemy. "The militia," the veteran wrote, " advanced 
 through fire and smoke, and mounted breastworks well 
 fortified and defended with cannon." " The battle was 
 the hottest I ever saw. It was like one continued clap of 
 thunder." * 
 
 Breyman arrived, but too late. He attacked the pur- 
 suing militia, when Warner came up with a party of con- 
 tinentals. The rest of the Americans followed. After a 
 severe conflict, losing his baggage and artillery, Breyman 
 escaped under cover of night, meeting Burgoyne ad- 
 vancing with a small force to his aid. " Our troops," Lin- 
 coln wrote, " behaved in a very brave and heroic manner. 
 They pushed the enemy from one work to another, thrown 
 
 * In compliment for his gallantry, Massachusetts voted him " a suit of 
 clothes and a piece of linen." 
 
 VOL. I. 20 '-''** ;
 
 306 THE KE PUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 up on advantageous ground, and from different posts, with 
 spirit and fortitude, until they gained a complete victory." 
 In these affairs the enemy lost six hundred men, beside a 
 large number of arms. These successes, with those near 
 the Mohawk, not only greatly weakened Burgoyne, but 
 imparted a new courage to the till then desponding 
 Americans. The confident letters written by Hamilton 
 from head-quarters, were thus fulfilled. 
 
 The defeats of these detachments took place on the 
 sixteenth of August. Three days after, at the moment 
 of his dawning glory, when the New York regiments had 
 arrived from below, when Lincoln was about to join him 
 with a considerable force, when Arnold's return was ex- 
 pected, and Morgan's rifles were at hand, and the army 
 with him were recovering their spirits,* Schuyler was 
 superseded in his command by the arrival of Gates. 
 Notwithstanding this gross wrong and indignity, he was 
 true to his own fame. " I am resolved," he wrote, " to 
 make another sacrifice to my country, and risk the cen- 
 sure of Congress by remaining in this quarter, after I am 
 relieved, and bringing up the militia to the support of this 
 weak army." Do what Congress might, he felt that he 
 had the confidence of the people of New York whom he 
 so long had served. " Do not, my dear friend," he wrote, 
 " be uneasy on account of my ill treatment. I am in- 
 capable of sacrificing my country to a resentment, how- 
 ever just, and I trust I shall give an example of what a 
 good citizen ought to do when he is in my situation." 
 His first act proved his magnanimity. Gates was met 
 
 * Jonathan Trumbull to Governor Trumbull, Albany, Aug. 6, 1777: ''Our 
 numbers with General Schuyler are about 6,000, including militia ; the conti- 
 nental troops rising of 4,000, and these recovering their spirits, and beginning 
 to shake off their panic. The tories begin to think there is no faith iu Mistei 
 Burgoyne. nor any snfety in his protections.''
 
 ^ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 307 
 
 with courtesy. " When he took the command," Schuylcr 
 wrote, " I informed him that I had advised Congress of my 
 intention to remain some time in the department, to afford 
 him any assistance in my power, and entreated he would 
 call upon me whenever he thought proper. He has, 
 however, not done it. He sent for General Ten Broek 
 from town to a council of war, but not for me." " The 
 commander-in-chief of the northern department," Morris 
 answered, " may, if he pleases, neglect or disdain to re- 
 ceive advice, but those who know him will, I am sure, be 
 convinced that he wants it." * Schuyler, removed from 
 command, returned to Albany to quicken the advance of 
 the militia, and forward supplies to the army. 
 
 Soon after, Hamilton, as aide-de-camp, acknowledged f 
 advices received from Gates. " The signal advantages 
 gained over the enemy by Generals Stark and Herkimer, 
 at so gloomy and distressing a period, were events as 
 happy as unexpected, and bid fair entirely to change the 
 face of affairs, and frustrate all Mr. Burgoyne's sanguine 
 expectations. The new spring they must have given to 
 the spirits of the country, it is to be hoped, will bring you 
 sufficient reinforcements, at least to check the further 
 progress of the enemy, and prevent their reaping the 
 fruit of their former success." Having mentioned the re- 
 cent approaches of the enemy, he added, " As the Eastern 
 States can be no longer under any apprehension of a visit 
 from Mr. Howe, his intentions against Philadelphia being 
 reduced to a certainty, we may hope our northern army 
 will derive a decisive superiority over the enemy from the 
 full exertion of the whole force of those States." 
 
 Two days after, on the first of September, he again 
 wrote to Gouverneur Morris : 
 
 " Agreeable to the intention of the council, I have de- 
 
 * Life of G. Morris, i. 144. f Aug. 29.
 
 308 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 livered their inclosed letter to his excellency, who, after 
 perusing it, has sealed and forwarded it to Mr. Hancock. 
 
 " The relieving Fort Schuyler is a very happy and im- 
 portant event, and will concur with the two happy strokes 
 given by Herkimer and Stark, to reverse the face of 
 affairs, and turn the scale against Mr. Burgoyne. I hope 
 Captain Montgomery's suggestions may be right as to his 
 being obliged to advance ; but I fancy, if he once thinks it 
 unsafe, he will not be bound by such an empty punctilio 
 as to risk the destruction of his arrny. As General Howe 
 is now fairly set down to the southward, the Eastern 
 States, no longer under any apprehensions from him, will 
 be disposed, I am in hopes, to exert their whole force ; 
 and if they do, I shall wonder at it if Mr. Burgoyne ad- 
 vances with impunity." 
 
 The defeat at Bennington left Burgoyne entirely de* 
 pendent for his supplies on Fort George, of which the 
 outer works had been laid in ashes by the Americans. 
 The delays incident to their transportation compelled him 
 to halt until the thirteenth of September, before he 
 crossed the Hudson, which he did on a bridge of boats, 
 taking post on the heights and small plain of Saratoga. 
 
 His expectations of aid from the Americans now 
 wholly failed him. " The great bulk of the country," he 
 wrote to his government, " is undoubtedly with the Con- 
 gress, in principle and zeal ; and their measures are exe- 
 cuted with a secrecy and despatch that are not to be 
 equalled. Wherever the king's forces point, militia, to 
 the amount of three or four thousand, assemble in twenty- 
 four hours, bring with them their subsistence, and, the 
 alarm over, return to their farms. The Hampshire Grants 
 in particular, a country unpeopled and almost unknown 
 the last war, now abounds in the most active and most 
 'rebellious race of the continent, and hang like a gathering
 
 ^Er. 20.] HAMILTON. 309 
 
 storm upon my left." He deplored the difficulty of intel- 
 ligence from Howe. 
 
 Every day being of value to him, he commenced his 
 advance along the western margin of the Hudson. On 
 both sides of this beautiful river, the hills which had 
 trended to the west and south near Lake George, form- 
 ing " the Oxbow," are seen facing each other along its 
 narrow course in almost parallel ridges ; those on the east, 
 backed by loftier receding elevations, extended to the 
 edge of the stream. On the western bank, continuous 
 wooded heights, only broken by deep ravines, left a small, 
 winding pathway. The inflowing rills, often swollen by 
 the quick upland storms, were bridged. These frequent 
 bridges, broken up by Schuyler, were to be repaired, and 
 the thicket of fallen trees to be removed. 
 
 In the mean time, Gates was deriving the advantage of 
 the efforts and counsels of Washington. A letter of the 
 third of September from the station Schuyler had fallen 
 back to Van Schaick's Island, shows the necessity of that 
 retrograde movement and the new strength he was gain- 
 ing : " The militia," he wrote, " are coming daily to this 
 camp, and General Lincoln's; and I have the most san- 
 guine expectations of being very soon in a condition to 
 advance upon all quarters. General Arnold's division, 
 together with the reinforcement I sent him, are all re- 
 turned, and Colonel Morgan's corps are all arrived in 
 camp." Glover's alert and dauntless regiment now came 
 up. A detachment from Lincoln's force had recaptured, 
 with the loss of only nine men, the old French lines of 
 Ticonderoga, taking three hundred prisoners, two hundred 
 bateaux, an armed sloop, several gun boats, arms and 
 ammunition. Though the attempt upon the fortress 
 failed, these means of retreat for the invading army were 
 thus lost.
 
 310 THE REPUBLIC. [177T. 
 
 Lincoln now apprised Gates of Burgoyne's intention 
 to remove his heavy cannon to a position where the river 
 narrowed above Stillwater, which had previously been 
 occupied by Schuyler, and advised him to take possession 
 of it. 
 
 Thither Gates advanced, and, intending to receive the 
 enemy, dispositions for defence were made. 
 
 The western ridge, known as " Bemis Heights," here 
 rises to a commanding elevation, from which were seen 
 the blue broken mountain chains of Vermont, its deep 
 valleys and dark forests, under intervolving clouds ; and 
 below, the Hudson threading its way through a narrow 
 defile. This vantage ground had been selected by Arnold 
 and Kosciusko, under whose practised eye intrenchments 
 were thrown up at right angle to the defile, with enfilad- 
 ing works beginning near the hill top and ending at the 
 river's edge in a large battery, to protect a floating draw- 
 bridge turning upon swivels, built by Schuyler from his 
 own purse. In front of these intrenchments were thrown 
 out pickets, covered by Mill Creek, beyond which the 
 British were encamped. 
 
 Upon the brow of this hill and on the defile was 
 posted the right wing under Gates, formed of the tried 
 brigades of Glover, Nixon and Patterson. On the high 
 battle field at the left of Gates was Arnold with Poor's 
 New Hampshire men, the two militia regiments of New 
 York under Livingston and Van Courtlandt, some troops 
 from Connecticut, Morgan's sharp shooters in advance. 
 In the centre were Learned's brigade, and several militia 
 regiments of Massachusetts and New York. 
 
 Burgoyne advanced with presuming confidence, en- 
 couraged not a little by the recent change in the com- 
 mand. He had felt the obstacles interposed by Schuyler 
 it every step of his progress, and expected to encounter
 
 <Ei. 20.] HAMILTON. 311 
 
 his energy on the field of battle. The substitution of 
 Gates, whom he called " an old midwife," he felt, assured 
 him an easy victory. 
 
 Having approached the American position, he threw 
 up intrenchments, and on the nineteenth of September 
 made dispositions for an attack, his left wing on the 
 river border under Phillips and Riedesel, including the 
 train of artillery and a German corps. These were to 
 move down the river defile. Westward, on the heights in 
 the centre, were Burgoyne and Brigadier Hamilton, and 
 on their right Fraser, Ackland, Balcarras and Breyman, 
 with their respective corps of artillery, infantry and rifles. 
 These, while the left wing was engaged, were to make a 
 circuit through the woods, and fall, at a concerted signal 
 from that wing, upon the rear of the Americans. 
 
 While the British left advanced, Gates remained in 
 position until noon, resolved to receive them covered by 
 his intrenchments, when Arnold, impatient for action, was 
 permitted to advance. Morgan's rifles, thrown forward, 
 drove the front picket of the right wing, pushed on im- 
 petuously, were for the moment repulsed, and retired 
 upon a supporting party advanced by Arnold. Morgan 
 rallied. Arnold now attempted Eraser's right, but too 
 weak to overcome him, asked reinforcements from Gates, 
 who refused them, " as he would not suffer his camp to be 
 exposed," threatened as he feared it was. 
 
 Arnold then changed his front, and under cover of a 
 thick wood, countermarched to Eraser's left. Here were 
 the British regiments of the centre, which he attempted to 
 break. Their right wing came up Balcarras with his 
 grenadiers preceded by Breyman with his German rifles. 
 Four New England regiments, under Lieutenant-colonels 
 Brooks, Cilley and Scammel, reinforced Arnold, who 
 drove the enemy before him. Gates remained inactive
 
 312 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 in his quarters. Had his wing advanced, for at this time 
 no enemy was near him, victory was certain. But Phil- 
 lips, disengaged, was thus free to act. A part of his artil- 
 lery was moved through the woods, and with Riedescl's 
 heavy dragoons bore upon Arnold, whose strength now 
 amounted to three thousand men. Frequent charges of 
 the British bayonet were made, but the Americans, driven 
 back, came up and repeatedly renewed the fight. The 
 fluctuating conflict was thus continued until nightfall, 
 when the Americans retired unmolested to their lines. 
 The British lay near the field of battle on their arms, and 
 claimed the victory. The Americans felt it was theirs. 
 They had been the assailants throughout the day, and 
 manfully held their ground. Their loss in the field was 
 less than that of their adversary, who, now deserted in 
 great numbers by the Canadians and Indians, shrinking 
 from the brisk and deadly fire of Morgan from coverts 
 and tree tops, was nearly reduced to his regular troops. 
 
 Burgoyne, who had done all a soldier's duty on the 
 field, saw his danger, but still resolved, if possible, to ad- 
 vance, looking for succor from New York, and relying on 
 the discipline of his troops. Arnold did not less rejoice 
 in the courage of the soldiers, and bore off the honor of 
 the day.* 
 
 Gates alone withheld the acknowledgment of his mer- 
 its. Conscious of his own inactivity, he omitted all men- 
 tion of him in his brief report to Congress, f In this 
 report he says : " This skirmish " (Morgan's) " drew the 
 main body of the enemy, and a brigade from my left to 
 support the action, which, after a short cessation, was re- 
 newed with great warmth and violence." 
 
 * " The enemy were led to the battle by General Arnold, who distinguished 
 himself in an extraordinary manner." Stedman's History. 
 
 f Gates to President of Congress. Camp Height above Bemis, Sept. 22.
 
 zEr. 20.] HAMILTON. 313 
 
 In his purposed injustice to Arnold, he could not have 
 passed a more severe censure upon himself; that an ac- 
 tion was permitted to be fought by a brigade drawn from 
 the left, without his order, without plan or concert, with- 
 out general guidance, with " the main body of the ene- 
 my," their commander at their head.* 
 
 Indignant at the withheld reinforcements, Arnold pub- 
 licly reproved Gates, who thus weakly revenged himself. 
 His plea was an insufficiency of balls and ammunition. 
 How true, it is not now easy to determine, but it would 
 be remarkable, if, while the left under Arnold was amply 
 supplied, the larger body, who held the position of chief 
 importance, should have been unprovided. This plea 
 was not interposed by Gates at the time. It would seem 
 to have been an afterthought. 
 
 The following day was employed by either army in 
 strengthening its position. Burgoyne was now within 
 cannon-shot of the Americans, his left extended from the 
 brow of the heights, covered by breastworks, to the river, 
 his right protected by new intrenchments from hill to hill, 
 upon which redoubts were erected. The chief object of 
 the Americans was, their right being secure, to prevent 
 being outflanked on their left, as the centre was separated 
 from the enemy by difficult ravines. With this view, 
 their intrenchments were carried a long distance over the 
 hills to a crowning eminence, which commanded the only 
 access on the heights between the river and the woods. 
 Upon this eminence a log fort was raised in the centre of 
 the line, intrenched and palisaded, while, in case the 
 
 * " The engagement first began with the riflemen and American militia, 
 who were supported as necessity required, without any previous disposition.'' 
 Chastellmts Travels, i. 413. Citil War in America: "Gates, the commander- 
 in-chief, remaining in a star redouht, with about 4,000 men to defend his 
 works."
 
 314: THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 enemy should pass its fire, successive batteries were 
 formed upon a ravine running south towards the main 
 position on the river. 
 
 The day after the battle, a message from Sir Henry 
 Clinton reached Burgoyne, announcing his intention to 
 attack the forts in the Highlands, and thence to advance. 
 
 As this was to take place about this time, Burgoyne 
 replied, detailing his situation, urging the necessity of a 
 diversion, and stating his purpose to wait in his encamp- 
 ment until the twelfth of October, to which period he 
 hoped his provisions would last. He now reduced the 
 number of his rations, and proceeded fortifying his camp. 
 
 In obedience to his orders, Lincoln reached Gates, 
 bringing tidings of the recent successes of his detachment, 
 to Ticonderoga. He was soon followed by his command, 
 amounting to about fourteen hundred men, chiefly moun- 
 taineers. The right wing of the American army, wholly- 
 composed of eastern troops, continentals and militia, was 
 placed in his charge. 
 
 While Burgoyne was in anxious suspense, there was 
 strife in the American camp. Arnold, despising and re- 
 senting Gates, encouraged by previous exhibitions of his 
 weakness, was loud in censure. He insisted upon the 
 command of the left wing. This Gates refused. He 
 threatened in his wrath to leave the camp. The subordi- 
 nate officers proposed an address to him of thanks for his 
 recent gallant service, and urged him to remain. The 
 general officers would have interfered with Gates, but he 
 was not to be approached. Arnold's better genius at last 
 prevailed; He decided not to go. Wounded by ill treat- 
 ment, and chafing with passion under Gates' marked dis- 
 respect, he at last wrote him, charging him with being 
 actuated by jealousy, declaring his purpose to continue 
 with the army at that critical junctur ,g ;v^rncd by " zeal
 
 Mi. 20.] HAMILTON. 315 
 
 for the cause of his country, in which he expected to rise 
 or fall." 
 
 Congress had done him great wrong, in despite of 
 Washington's remonstrances. He was now insulted in the 
 moment of signal service. A sense of injustice rankled 
 in his bosom, and dire thoughts of revenge, perhaps, now 
 began to germ. How soon was taught the lesson that 
 brave bad men are not to be trifled with by those in 
 authority. 
 
 Arnold's exhortation to Gates was fully warranted by 
 events which also excited great solicitude at head-quar- 
 ters, where intelligence was received on the seventh of 
 October, that the enemy had proceeded up Hudson's 
 River from New York, and landed at Verplanck's Point. 
 Hamilton immediately * wrote to Livingston, governor of 
 New Jersey, in the name of Washington : " This circum- 
 stance is somewhat alarming, as the situation of our affairs 
 this way has obliged us to draw off so large a part of our 
 force from Peekskill, that what now remains there may 
 perhaps prove inadequate to the defence of it. Should 
 any disaster happen, it is easy to foresee the most unhap- 
 py consequences. The loss of the Highland passes would 
 be likely to involve the reduction of the forts. This 
 would open the navigation of the river, and enable the 
 enemy with facility to throw their force into Albany, get 
 into the rear of General Gates, and either oblige him to 
 retreat or put him between two fires. The success of the 
 present attempt upon Peekskill may, in its consequences, 
 entirely change the face of our northern affairs, and 
 throw them into a very disagreeable and unfavorable 
 train." In this view, he urged him to march as large a 
 part of the Jersey militia as could be prevailed upon to 
 go, " with all expedition to the aid of Putnam." 
 
 * Oct. 8.
 
 316 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 " You will not only keep in view the importance of 
 securing these passes, but the necessity of doing it with- 
 out delay," were the instructions of Washington to Heath 
 the day before he passed from New York to the Jerseys 
 in the previous autumn. " Lose not a moment in choos- 
 ing the grounds on the east and west side of the river, on 
 which your intended works are to be erected. Let your 
 men designed for each post be speedily allotted." To en- 
 courage his men in their toil, this faithful soldier labored 
 in their midst with his own hands, and the defences of the 
 Highlands of the Hudson, regarded as the citadel of the 
 nation, were vigorously commenced. 
 
 These Highlands begin about forty miles from the city 
 of New York, are nearly twenty miles in width, the river 
 passing through their midst, presenting on either side, for 
 a distance, rugged and inaccessible steeps. 
 
 On its south-eastern bank, where the river is at its 
 narrowest point, rising to a perpendicular altitude of more 
 than a thousand feet, is an elevation known among the 
 Dutch, from some fancied resemblance, as St. Anthony's 
 Nose, its base washed by the Peekskill. On this was 
 erected Fort Independence. Another fort, six miles 
 above, had been built in a dip of these Highlands, called 
 "Fort Constitution." These constituted the fortified de- 
 fences on the eastern banks. 
 
 The borders of the Peekskill had been selected as the 
 station for the troops, sheltered by the Highlands from the 
 inclement winds of the long winter, earliest approached 
 in the spring, and drawing its supplies of men and arms 
 by a short route from the most peopled parts of southern 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Upon the high western bank of the Hudson, the plan 
 of a fortification had been laid out early the previous 
 year, which was called "Fort Montgomery." It was
 
 /Ex. 20.] HAMILTON. 317 
 
 seated on the summit of a spur of the mountain, here a 
 little more than a hundred feet high, separated from 
 another more elevated spur by a small creek emptying 
 into the Hudson, on which was built another work called 
 " Clinton." 
 
 The former of these was much the larger. Though 
 probably intended as a permanent fortification, it had 
 more the character of a field work, was of an irregular 
 form, the faces of its enceinte nearly following the config- 
 uration of the crest of the elevation on which it was 
 built. The general outline was quadrilateral, presenting 
 oroken fronts. On the northern, where the principal as- 
 sault was made, were two projections en cremaillere 
 flanking it. The southern front was similarly guarded. 
 
 Fort Clinton is described * " as a circular height de- 
 fended by a line of musketry with a barbette battery in 
 the centre, of three guns, and flanked with two redoubts," 
 though its form was also four-sided. One of these re- 
 doubts was a star fort, intended probably as a citadel ; 
 the other, with an open gorge, occupied an elevated point 
 in advance of the western and southern fronts, overlook- 
 ing the slopes and furnishing flanking fires to these fronts. 
 The guns in both forts numbered sixty-seven, a few of 
 them thirty-two pounders, with every requisite means of 
 defence in abundance. 
 
 The approaches to Fort Clinton were through a con- 
 tinued abatis, a quarter of a mile in length, exposed to 
 the fire of ten pieces of artillery. f 
 
 At the base of the former height, a heavy boom of 
 timber was sunk, and, in advance of it, an iron chain of 
 great strength extended from shore to shore. J Behind 
 these were two frigates, two galleys and a sloop-of-war, 
 
 * Sir Henry Clinton's Report. f Civil War in America, 327. 
 
 | Lee'o Southern War, i. 13.
 
 318 THE KEPUBLIO. [1777. 
 
 deemed, with the commanding fire of the forts, an ample 
 water guard. 
 
 These, with the works above, "constituted the pri- 
 mary object of Washington's care during the war." 
 
 To maintain them, he had incurred all the hazards of 
 the campaign, in the previous year, through the Jerseys 
 with a too feeble force. To maintain them without im- 
 perilling Philadelphia, were the " marchings and counter- 
 marchings," * of which he complained, of the present year 
 between the Hudson and the Delaware. In the appoint- 
 ments to their command he had been most sedulous. 
 When Heath was transferred to fill the place left vacant 
 by the resignation of General Ward, McDougall, in whom 
 New York had confidence, was substituted ; and when he 
 requested to be relieved, Arnold, recently elected ma- 
 jor-general, was ordered to the command. And when 
 Arnold sought more active service, Putnam was selected 
 with instructions " to use every means in his power for 
 expediting and effecting the works mentioned " in a recent 
 joint report of Greene, Knox, McDougall, Clinton and 
 Wayne. " The pass through the Highlands on the west 
 side of the river should also be attended to, lest the ene- 
 my by a coup-de-main should possess themselves of it, 
 before a sufficient force can be assembled to oppose 
 them." 
 
 The selection of Putnam was doubtless prompted by 
 his supposed influence in drawing aid from Connecticut, 
 and by his supposed value as " an executive officer." But 
 of his fitness in a " separate " command, Washington was 
 less sure. Hence frequent cautions in the letters ad- 
 dressed to him by Hamilton, who probably formed a cor- 
 rect estimate of him at White Plains, to interpose " effect- 
 ual impediments to the avenues of approach ; " that he 
 
 * Washington to Greene, May 12, 1777
 
 JEr. 20.] HAMILTON. 319 
 
 " must undoubtedly expect a visit to his post," " to use 
 every method of gaining intelligence ; " indicating the 
 consequences of their loss as " almost irremediable ; " that 
 to " prevent a coup de main was of an importance infinite 
 to America." It was this that caused Washington to re- 
 joice in Clinton's taking the command of the forts, who 
 was urged by Hamilton in his behalf to call out adequate 
 reinforcements to the garrison, and the army at this post.* 
 
 Nor had Washington any grounds of doubt that his 
 orders had been obeyed, and that they were safe. As 
 late as the tenth of September, five and twenty days 
 before the assault. Clinton, as governor of New York, 
 stated to the legislature, " I have also made a further draft 
 for the protection of the exposed inhabitants of the 
 County of Westchester, and for the defence of the posts 
 in the Highlands ; which, I have the pleasure of assuring 
 you, are in so respectable a state of defence, as to promise 
 us security against any attack in that quarter." f Upon 
 this assurance the legislature relied.J 
 
 On the twenty-ninth of September, Putnam advised 
 Clinton of intelligence of a reinforcement to the British 
 in New York ; that " the whole of their troops " were 
 " under marching orders," and of their " probable designs 
 against the posts in the Highlands or some part of the 
 Counties of Westchester and Dutchess." He asked for 
 reinforcements, and invited his " personal attention, coun- 
 sel and assistance," expressing his belief that a " contrary 
 wind " only prevented " an immediate visit." The total 
 
 * Corres. of Her., i. 420, Aug. 9. Clinton to Washington. 
 
 f Extract from original speech on file at Albany, Sept. 10. 
 
 \ Address of Legislature : " We feel ourselves happy in reflecting on the 
 measures which have been taken for securing the important posts in the High- 
 lands, and we should do you injustice, were we not to acknowledge your vigor- 
 ous efforts in that necessary work." 
 
 Corresp. Rev , ii 536, 537, 538
 
 320 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 forces at the post are stated to have been at this time, 
 " eleven hundred continentals, and four hundred militia at 
 Peekskill," a small guard at Fort Independence, and a 
 garrison of six hundred men, militia, except a company of 
 veteran artillerists under Lamb. Governor Clinton re- 
 paired to the forts On the western bank, and took com- 
 mand, aided by his brother, who was at " Fort Clinton." 
 Nearly five days having elapsed, on the fourth of Octo- 
 ber, in the evening, Putnam again wrote Clinton, inform- 
 ing him of the approach of the enemy in their vessels, 
 and excusing himself for not having previously advised 
 him, because he " thought this movement was only to 
 drive off cattle." Two days after, he again wrote, stating 
 information, that the enemy had landed on the western 
 side of the river, " betwixt King's Ferry and Dunderberg, 
 if so, that they meant to attack Fort Montgomery by 
 land ; which, when I am sure of, I shall immediately re- 
 inforce you." 
 
 The preceding day, (the fifth of October,) the British 
 force, under Sir Henry Clinton and General Vaughan, 
 landed at Verplanck's Point, a few miles below Peeks- 
 kill, on the same side of the river. Putnam imme- 
 diately retreated among the hills. On the evening of 
 that day, a part of the enemy re-embarked, the fleet 
 moved up to mask King's Ferry, and early the next morn- 
 ing two thousand one hundred troops were landed at 
 Stony Point. These troops moved round the Dunderberg, 
 or thunder mountain, through the very " avenue of ap- 
 proach " previously indicated from head-quarters as in 
 danger of being taken by a " COUP DE MAIN," and clam- 
 bered to a point where they were obliged to separate in 
 order to attack the forts. This point they seemed to have 
 reached before Putnam was aware of their having landed. 
 He discovered, as he slates, a large fire at the Ferry,
 
 ^ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 321 
 
 which he imagined to be the store houses, upon which it 
 was thought they only landed with a view of destroying 
 these houses.* 
 
 Without giving any orders, positive or contingent, to 
 reinforce Clinton, Putnam, with Parsons and his adjutant- 
 general, proceeded to reconnoitre; and did not return to 
 their quarters until the western forts had been attacked. 
 A reinforcement ordered during his absence,f marched 
 too late to afford assistance, and did not cross the river. 
 Upon learning the approach of the enemy, after sending 
 to Putnam for aid, two small parties were advanced to 
 endeavor to check the separate advancing parties of the 
 enemy. Their endeavors were ineffectual. The works 
 were reached. A summons was given to surrender, which 
 was refused. "About five in the afternoon," assaults were 
 made on both forts, and, after a short defence, they were 
 both taken by storm. A few of each of the garrisons 
 were made prisoners, most of them with their two com- 
 manders escaped a part, among whom was James Clin- 
 ton, to the woods ; others by boats across the river, ol 
 whom was the governor. 
 
 Not a little merit was claimed for this defence. Ham- 
 ilton took a different view in a publication a few years 
 after the revolution.^ " After diligent inquiry," he wrote, 
 " I have not been able to learn that he " (Governor Clin- 
 ton) " was ever more than once in actual combat. This 
 was at Fort Montgomery, where he commanded in per- 
 son ; and which, after a feeble and unskilful defence, was 
 carried by storm. That post, strongly fortified by nature, 
 almost inaccesible in itself, and sufficiently manned, was 
 capable of being rendered a much more difficult morsel 
 to the assailants than they found it to be. This, I own, 
 
 * Putnam to Washington, Oct. 8. Corresp. Rev., i. 438. 
 f Humphrey's Life of Putnam. \ Hamilton's Works, vi. 603. 
 
 VOL. I. 21
 
 322 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 was not the common idea at the time, but it is not the less 
 true." * 
 
 Two American frigates stationed to defend the chain, 
 one " badly manned," the other without anchor or cables 
 to secure her, were set on fire to prevent their falling into 
 the hands of the enemy. "The flames suddenly broke 
 forth ; and as every sail was set, the vessels soon became 
 magnificent pyramids of fire. The reflection on the steep 
 face of the opposite mountain, and the long train of rud- 
 dy light that shone upon the water for a prodigious dis- 
 tance, had a wonderful effect ; whilst the ear was awfully 
 filled with the continued echoes from the rocky shores, as 
 the flames gradually reached the cannon. The whole 
 was sublimely terminated by the explosions, which again 
 left all to darkness." f 
 
 * Stedman differs as to the strength of Montgomery, but agrees as to the 
 defence. " The point assailed at Fort Montgomery was not very strong from 
 situation or works, nor did the enemy wake a very obstinate resistance, so that the 
 fort was carried by our troops with little loss, almost all the garrison, consist- 
 ing of eight hundred men, made their escape.'' i. 360. Marshall states, i. 2.)9 : 
 " Both forts were assaulted about fire 'n the afternoon. The works were de- 
 fended with resolution, and were maintained until dark." As the sun sets on 
 the sixth of October, in the latitude of New York, at 36 minutes past 5 o'clock, 
 and the fight ended at dark, it could not have lasted more than forty minutes. 
 Congress agreed to the report of a court of inquiry, " that those forts were 
 lost, not from any fault, misconduct, or negligence of the commanding officers, 
 but solely through the want of an adequate force under their command to 
 maintain and defend them." In the "Civil War in America," by a British 
 officer, it is stated, p. 327 : "In the rear of Fort Montgomery the defences 
 were but weak, and at this time assailable, having been left so from a supposed 
 impracticability of an enemy advancing on this quarter. The rebels, however, 
 were not found defenceless on this side. To considerable natural obstructions 
 they had added others, by cutting down great quantities of trees, and disposing 
 them in such a manner as to present a very formidable abatis." " Our loss 
 was inconsiderable ; not more than two hundred killed and wounded. Seventy 
 pieces of artillery and valuable stores captured.'' 
 
 f Stedman i. 364.
 
 ^T. 20.] HAMILTON. 323 
 
 Such was the catastrophe which befell the Highland 
 posts, objects of so much care, such vast expense, such 
 long solicitude, lost in a conflict of about forty minutes ; 
 if gallantly defended, as the enemy had no artillery, im- 
 pregnable. 
 
 At this moment, Gouverneur Morris writes to Schuy- 
 ler from Kingston : " By the want of men, the key of this 
 State is in possession of the enemy. * * * Old Put- 
 nam is an old woman, and therefore much cannot be ex- 
 pected from him." 
 
 Putnam, in his poor exculpations to Washington, as 
 was his wont, resorted to the fabulous. He stated that 
 he detached a reinforcement, which was the act of Colonel 
 Wyllis, in his absence and without his knowledge ; and 
 to relieve the picture, that the enemy were five thousand 
 in number. Nor were these his only inaccuracies. He 
 had the effrontery to write to Washington, in disregard 
 of all the previous urgent monitions addressed to him 
 from head-quarters, " I have repeatedly informed your 
 excellency of the enemy's design against this post ; but 
 from some motive or other, you always differed with me 
 in opinion." The next day he wrote to Gates, throwing 
 out a slur upon the commander-in-chief, and exaggerating 
 the defence. " The loss of Fort Montgomery has, instead 
 of depressing the spirits of the country, animated them. 
 So many forts and strongholds have been given up with- 
 out fighting, that they began to despair, and thought our 
 troops would not face the enemy. The few brave men 
 that were in that fort defended it five hours against (ft 
 least five thousand of the enemy." * 
 
 On the same day Sir Henry Clinton sent a dispatch 
 
 * Governor Clinton, who had seen Putnam, states, the next day, " by the 
 lowest account, three thousand." The actual force stated by Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton was 2,100.
 
 324 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 enclosed in a silver ball to Burgoyne. "Nousy voici, 
 and nothing between us but gates. I sincerely hope this 
 little success of ours may facilitate your operations. In 
 answer to your letter of the 28th of Sept. by C. .C, I 
 shall only say, that I cannot presume to order, or even 
 advise, for reasons obvious. I heartily wish you success." 
 The miserable bearer of this missive was seized, the bullet 
 obtained, he sentenced to the gallows. 
 
 Putnam, evacuating Forts Independence and Consti- 
 tution, hastened to Fishkill beyond reach of the enemy. 
 Hence he wrote again to Gates : " I have called a council 
 this night, when we shall determine whether to proceed 
 to Albany to reinforce your army, or to New York, and 
 endeavor to possess ourselves of that post ; the latter, I 
 think, will take place." 
 
 Hamilton at this time was writing to Congress in the 
 name of Washington : * "If General Putnam can but 
 keep pace with their fleet in their progress up the river, 
 I hope he will be able to frustrate their designs of reliev- 
 ing General Burgoyne, and that every thing will still 
 terminate well in that quarter." Putnam clung to his 
 favorite idea, cogent as were the opposite considerations. 
 After stating his conviction, that the shipping were moving 
 for Albany, he remarked : " If we were convinced that 
 General Gates was able to oppose them, I think we ought 
 not to lose a moment, but march immediately down to 
 King's Bridge." He then changed his mind, and decided 
 to march northward. Premature tidings as to Burgoyne's 
 defeat determined him to halt after marching three miles, 
 and again he talked of a movement towards New York, 
 which Clinton pronounced " utterly inefficacious," and he 
 temporarily relinquished the idea. Thus a force, increased 
 by the influx of Connecticut militia to the number of six 
 
 * Oct 13.
 
 JET. 20.] HAMILTON. 325 
 
 thousand men, remained at such a moment, wholly unem- 
 ployed. 
 
 These occurrences were rendered of minor import- 
 ance by the rapidly maturing results of the northern 
 campaign. Grown confident by the battle at Stillwater, 
 the Americans were harassing the enemy night and day. 
 " I do not believe," Burgoyne states in the account of his 
 expedition, " either officer or soldier ever slept without 
 his clothes ; or that any general officer or commander of 
 a regiment passed a single night without being upon his 
 legs occasionally at different hours, and constantly up be- 
 fore daylight." 
 
 Gates saw the advantage of time, and was unwilling 
 to move out of his intrenchments. The Americans be- 
 came impatient. " I think it my duty," Arnold wrote him, 
 moved by the common impulse, " (which nothing shall 
 deter me from doing) to acquaint you the army are clam- 
 orous for action. The militia (who compose a great part 
 of the army) are already threatening to go home. One 
 fortnight's inaction will, I make no doubt, lessen your 
 army by sickness and desertion at least four thousand 
 men, in which time the enemy may be reinforced, and 
 make good their retreat. I have reason to think, from 
 intelligence since received, that, had we improved the 
 twentieth of September, it might have ruined the enemy. 
 That is past ; let me entreat you to improve the present 
 time." Instead of seeking battle, Gates wrote, " I will 
 endeavor to be ready to prevent his (Burgoyne's ) good 
 fortune, and, if possible, secure my own." 
 
 Of too gallant mettle to yield to adverse fortune with- 
 out a struggle, Burgoyne, receiving no tidings from Sir 
 Henry Clinton, his stores rapidly diminishing, resolved to 
 risk the hazards of another engagement. His situation was 
 becoming desperate, and a desperate effort must be made.
 
 326 THE KEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 Having confided the guard of his camp upon the 
 heights to Generals Hamilton and Specht, the redoubts 
 and the plain to Gall, he selected fifteen hundred choice 
 troops, with eight field-pieces, under Philips, Riedesel and 
 Fraser, led by himself to attack the American left, the 
 weakest point, hoping possibly to force a passage to Alba- 
 ny. As a diversion, a party of skirmishers and Indians 
 were ordered to make a circuit through the woods, gain 
 the rear of the Americans, and assail them at the moment 
 of his advance in front. This purpose was discovered. 
 Morgan with his rifles passing through the woods, took a 
 commanding position, unobserved. The troops under 
 Poor and Learned defiled to the left, reinforced by militia, 
 as the action became serious, and by detachments from 
 the right. Burgoyne now formed, his artillery and gren- 
 adiers on his left, his light infantry on his right, with Fra- 
 ser, at the head of a detachment intended to flank the 
 Americans, while the centre consisted of British and Hes- 
 sians under Philips and Riedesel. 
 
 Morgan, supported by Dearborn's infantry, began the 
 fight, pouring in a deadly fire on the advanced front and 
 flank of the left wing. General Poor at this moment 
 moved steadily upon the British artillery and grenadiers, 
 bore them down, and, after frequent rencontres, took their 
 pieces, and turned them upon them. Major Ackland 
 wounded, and Williams, the commander of the artillery, 
 were both captured. The impetuous charges upon the 
 enemy's centre were directed by Arnold, who, without 
 orders,* had thrown himself into the midst of the fire, 
 
 * Burgoyne'e Expedition, 26: " Gates, as I have been informed, had deter- 
 mined to receive the attack in his lines. Arnold, who commanded on the 
 left, foreseeing the danger of being turned, advanced without consultation of 
 his general, and gave, instead of receiving battle. The stroke might have 
 been fatal on his part, had he failed ; but confident I am, upon minute exam-
 
 ^ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 3^7 
 
 loudly welcomed by the soldiers, and gave an infuriated 
 character to the onset. The Hessians, who broke again 
 and again, could not comprehend the fearless disregard of 
 life in their enemy. Morgan's rifles were all on the alert, 
 cutting a chasm through their opponents, and rendering 
 relief to the centre impossible. Fraser on his gray char- 
 ger, a conspicuous mark, was a victim to their fire. His 
 infantry fell back, while Ten Broeck's men of Albany 
 came up, and made resistance hopeless. Seeing the day 
 lost, to cover the return of his troops to camp, which a 
 movement of the Americans threatened to intercept, Bur- 
 goyne formed a second line, leaving his horse and artillery 
 behind it. Arnold renewed the attack upon the left, 
 stormed the enemy's camp, " rushing to their lines under 
 a severe fire of grape and small arms. The post of the 
 light infantry under Lord Balcarras, assisted by some of 
 the line, which threw themselves, by order, into the in- 
 trenchments, was defended with great spirit." * Unable 
 to penetrate at this point, Arnold dashed upon the right 
 flank, pushed on to the intrenchments of the German re- 
 serve under Breyman situate en potence, a little on the 
 rear of the line. Reaching these works, under a severe 
 fire of grape and small arms, he was among the first to 
 enter, leaping through a sally post, his brown horse killed, 
 himself wounded. The Germans retreated, firing succes- 
 sive volleys until they had gained their tents behind the in- 
 trenchments ; when, supposing the assault general, they 
 gave one last discharge. Some retreated to the further 
 camp, others surrendered. In this assault, Lieutenant- 
 colonel Brooks of Massa^hus^Us wss much distinguished. 
 
 inaf ion of the ground since, that had the other >.dei bren pursued, I should in a 
 few hours have gained a position that, in spite of the enemy's numbers, would have 
 put them in my power.'' 
 
 * Burgoyi e'.s Campaign.
 
 328 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 Breyman was killed, the outworks carried. An attempt 
 to recover them failed. Brooks held them, and thus an 
 opening upon the right and rear of the enemy was 
 gained. 
 
 Near the close of the day, Gates awakened to a sense 
 of the advantage obtained, and ordered Lincoln to move 
 with the right wing and attack the enemy's left, but the 
 darkness prevented him. This action, begun three hours 
 after noon, ended only with the light. The Americans 
 lay upon their arms near the enemy's lines, eager to renew 
 the fight at break of day. At this time, orders again 
 reached Lincoln to attempt the enemy's lines, each brig- 
 ade forming a column, and marching from its own en- 
 campment. There was a simultaneous movement on the 
 left. The enemy, on the approach of the advanced corps, 
 after exchanging a few shots, abandoned their lines, and 
 took post on the heights in their rear. Lincoln received 
 a wound.* A judicious order was now given, to march a 
 strong column to turn their right, which, if effected, 
 would have enclosed them. At the same time, a detach- 
 ment crossed the Hudson to prevent its passage, while 
 other bodies were pushed up the river. 
 
 This decisive victory and his severe loss, left Burgoyne 
 no choice but to retreat. Having interred General Fraser 
 in the dusk of evening, and taken the usual precautions 
 to conceal his retreat, Burgoyne began to move at nine of 
 night, abandoning his hospital, baggage, and part of his 
 supplies. Through torrents of rain he travelled his 
 dreary way, Riedesel in the van, Philips in the rear, 
 reaching the succeeding night his former ground at Sara- 
 toga. A party of Americans engaged in throwing up in 
 
 * Gates, in his short report of the 12th of October, speaks of Arnold's gal- 
 .antry and wound, and in commendatory terms of Lincoln, Morgan, and Dear- 
 born.
 
 Mf. 20.] HAMILTON. 329 
 
 trenchments near the line of the Fish Creek, abandoned 
 them on his approach, and joined another party intrenched 
 on the eastern bank of the Hudson to command its passage. 
 Early the next day, Burgoyne occupied his former posi- 
 tion. With a faint hope of securing a retreat, he imme- 
 diately sent forward artificers under an escort to repair 
 the road to Fort Edward, when the American army were 
 seen on the southern heights of Fish Creek, preparing to 
 cross it and give battle. Fearing an attack upon his 
 camp, he recalled the escort. To pass the Hudson at 
 once by a ford commanded by a large body of his enemy, 
 and then attempt to escape to Fort George pursued by a 
 superior force ; or with only their arms and ammunition, 
 and such provision as each man could carry, to march up 
 the western bank of the river by night, crossing at Fort 
 Edward or at an upper ford, and thus reach Fort George, 
 were the alternatives. The former would have been an 
 act of temerity, the latter was proposed by Riedesel at 
 an interview with Burgoyne and Philips on the eleventh 
 of October. No decision was made. Another counci 1 
 was held, at which Generals Hamilton and Gall were also 
 present. Riedesel again urged this movement, with whom 
 the other officers concurred.* An order was given to 
 distribute the provisions, and to march at ten at night. 
 At the moment of moving, a countermanding order came. 
 Burgoyne wisely relinquished his purpose. The Ameri- 
 cans had stationed a guard at every ford, an intrenched 
 work had been thrown up on the elevated ground this 
 side of Fort George, and detachments were posted to at- 
 tack the enemy at whatever point they should advance. 
 
 It only remained to fortify his camp upon the high 
 ground north of Fish Creek, and there wait the succor, 
 his last hope, from below. Nor could he hope long to 
 
 * Life of Riedesel, ii. 174.
 
 330 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 maintain this position. Batteries were opened upon him 
 from the adverse banks of the Hudson and of the Fish 
 Creek, while, on his rear, Morgan's rifles were keeping 
 up a frequent fire. " Roaring of cannon and whistling ot 
 bullets were heard constantly by day and night. The 
 men lay continually upon their arms, and were cannon- 
 aded in every part, even rifle shot and grape shot came 
 into all parts of the line." * 
 
 Amid his suffering and despairing army, Burgoyne 
 again called a council of war, submitted his views, and 
 proposed as a last resort, in case the enemy, by extending 
 their left, should leave their rear open, to march rapidly 
 to Albany. This council was held on the twelfth. Scouts 
 having reported the impracticability of either expedient, 
 the next day a fuller council was held, in order that if a 
 capitulation were agreed upon, it should be " the act of 
 the army as well as of the general." f The council re- 
 solved with one voice, that, " their present situation justi- 
 fied a capitulation upon honorable terms." 
 
 A negotiation was at once opened. Gates required an 
 unconditional surrender as prisoners of war. This was 
 rejected. He then proposed they should ground their 
 arms in their encampments and be marched towards Ben- 
 nington. He was answered that " sooner than consent to 
 this, they will rush on the enemy determined to take no 
 quarter." Gates receded, and it was finally agreed, that 
 the British troops "march out of their camp with their 
 artillery, and the honors of war to the verge of the river," 
 where their arms, piled by command of their own officers, 
 and their artillery were to be left ; a free passage to Great 
 Britain, to be granted on condition of not serving in North 
 America. On the seventeenth of October, the capitula- 
 tion was signed, and with much delicacy Gates held his 
 
 * Burgoyne's Expedition. Appendix, 08. ) Ibid, p. 101.
 
 HAMILTON. 331 
 
 troops within his lines, Wilkinson, the adjutant-general, 
 being the only American in view at the moment of sur- 
 render. The British troops made prisoners were in num- 
 ber five thousand seven hundred and fifty men, with a 
 train of artillery, many thousand stand of arms, clothing 
 and military stores. The Americans were, exclusive of 
 sick and absent, nearly double in number ten thousand 
 five hundred and fifty men. 
 
 Their arms surrendered, the captured army were 
 formed in line. The light infantry in front, escorted by a 
 company of American dragoons, preceded by two mount- 
 ed officers, bearing the American flag. They passed 
 through the long line of the victors until they reached the 
 marquee of Gates. He came out accompanied by Bur- 
 goyne a large, robust soldier his countenance rough 
 and hard, his figure handsome, his air noble. Here, in 
 the presence of the two armies, he delivered his sword to 
 Gates, of smaller stature and not imposing mien, who re- 
 ceived it courteously. 
 
 " While they marched down their front," wrote a for- 
 eign officer, "not a single man exhibited any rancor, 
 hatred, or sign of scorn ; or uttered a word of exultation, 
 or malicious passion. They behaved as if paraded to 
 give us a mark of honor. When passing before the tent 
 of General Gates, he obligingly invited the British gen- 
 erals and commanders of regiments to enter. Refresh- 
 ments of all kinds were placed before them. Gates is a 
 man between fifty and sixty years of age, wears his own 
 hair, gray and thin, and cut round his head. He also 
 wears spectacles, being short-sighted." 
 
 The military air of the Americans filled this foreigner 
 with surprise. " In regard of stature and beauty of the 
 male population, British America excels nearly all the 
 European countries. The whole people have natural
 
 332 THE REPUBLIC. [IVYT. 
 
 talents for warfare, and would make excellent soldiers." * 
 Their courage, endurance, and talent for war were their 
 chief boast, for nothing could be more incomplete and 
 incongruous than their equipments. The men chiefly in 
 their working apparel, with which they had left their fields, 
 the officers in clothes of various colors, ill-chosen, ill- 
 made, some with wigs, some without, an aggregate of 
 plain, colonial, unprovided, fighting yeomen.f 
 
 Nor did the Hessians furnish a less curious spectacle. 
 " A towering brass fronted cap ; moustaches colored with 
 the same material that colored his shoes, his hair plastered 
 with tallow and flour, and tightly drawn into a long ap- 
 pendage reaching from the back of his head to his waist ; 
 his blue uniform almost covered by the broad belts sus- 
 taining his cartouch box, his brass-hilted sword and his 
 bayonet ; a yellow waistcoat with flaps, and yellow 
 breeches were met at the knees with black gaiters ; thus 
 heavily equipped, he moved, an automaton, and received 
 the command or cane of his officer." ; 
 
 The dismounted dragoons, with their massive caps 
 and heavy accoutrements and foot-long spurs, tramping 
 through the mire their persons unclean, with unclean 
 animals in their train a black, grisly bear growling at 
 his tangled chain, foxes cunningly peering from the bag- 
 gage wagons, a young raccoon under the arm of a sharp- 
 shooter, or a tamed deer tripping along their only tro- 
 
 U fc[ iviti.x) .ii::\>iil r riiii--a' bo.'JJliu :i'J'W '<[.\IMA Uti '!;> (-"fiTfHII 
 * Letter dated Nov. 15, 1777. Cambridge, in Schloesser's Annalise, No. 
 
 60, and Staats Anzieger, No. 72. Gottingen. 
 
 f " Browii coats, with green faciugs and cuffs, white lining, and silver laces ; 
 plenty of gray, with buff facings and cuffs. The brigadiers and generals arc 
 wearing particularly uniforms and ribbons, lying over the waistcoats, in the 
 fashion in which ribbons with orders are used. The colonels and other com- 
 missioned officers are mainly in their every-day clothes. They carried flags 
 with emblems and mottoes, many of which are very little flattering to as." 
 + Dunlnp, 45. g Campaign, 221.
 
 ^T. 20.] II A M 1 1, T N . 333 
 
 phies. Oddly-dressed, gypsy-featured women followed in 
 the train, unable to restrain their curses, cries, and jargon 
 of amazement, curses yet often returned by the American 
 farmer, as he surveys the fruit of his long toil wasted by 
 an attendant of their advent the " Hessian fly." 
 
 Numbers of lithe muscular Indians with a few squalid 
 squaws, under strong guard to protect them from the ex- 
 asperated militia, were seen, doubtless expecting with 
 gloomy firmness the fagot and the torture they would 
 have themselves employed. 
 
 Nor was there wanting in this captured army aught to 
 deepen the dark side of war. Women of refined taste 
 and culture, delicate in all the delicacies of their sex, 
 mothers with young children who had followed their hus- 
 bands to the field. Among these were Lady Harriet 
 Ackland, who had passed in an open boat amid a pelting 
 storm into the hostile camp, to attend her wounded hus- 
 band ; and the Baroness Riedesel, who, amid the dead, 
 the dying and the maimed, immured in a cellar pene- 
 trated by shot, lived to receive and to record the hospi- 
 tality of Schuyler. Taking her children in his arms as 
 she alighted from her calash, he led her to the marquee of 
 Gates, where the general officers were to dine. Observ- 
 ing, that she might feel embarrassed as the only lady in so 
 large a circle, he invited her to his tent to partake of his 
 frugal meal, and then requested her to repair to his resi- 
 dence at Albany as her temporary abode. Her husband 
 approving, she proceeded there, and " was loaded with 
 kindness." * 
 
 Schuyler was also among the first to approach Bur- 
 goyne, to whom he gave a similar invitation. " You show 
 me great kindness," said Burgoyne, " though I have done 
 you much injury." "That was the fate of war," Schuy- 
 
 * Lady Riedesel's Memoir.
 
 334 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 ler answered, " let us say no more about it." * " He did 
 more," Burgoyne stated in the House of Commons, " he 
 sent an aide-de-camp to conduct me to Albany, in order, 
 as he expressed it, to procure better quarters than a 
 stranger might be able to find. That gentleman con- 
 ducted me to a very elegant house, and, to my great sur- 
 prise, presented me to Mrs. Schuyler and her family. In 
 that house I remained during my whole stay in Albany, 
 with a table of more than twenty covers for me and my 
 friends, and every other demonstration of hospitality." 
 
 In the hope of relieving Burgoyne by a diversion, the 
 day before the capitulation was signed, General Vaughan, 
 in command of a detachment, finding no obstacles from 
 the water guard near the Highland fortresses, sailed up 
 the Hudson. Having burned the Continental village, at 
 which large stores were collected, he proceeded towards 
 Kingston, the seat of the New York government, where 
 some works had been raised for its protection, whither 
 Governor Clinton was also moving, by way of the Walkill, 
 with a small body of continentals, some militia, and seven 
 field-pieces. Vaughan landed without serious interrup- 
 tion, and destroyed the town. The seventeenth of Octo- 
 ber Clinton writes to Gates : " Yesterday afternoon about 
 four o'clock, the enemy took possession and burned the 
 town of Kingston. For want of a proper number of 
 troops no effectual resistance could be made." Again he 
 wrote him, stating that he had represented to Putnam in 
 strong terms the situation of that part of the country, 
 thinly inhabited, the interior unsettled, and separated from 
 assistance by a chain of mountains. " In consequence of 
 which representation he agreed to let me have three 
 
 * To prevent their being occupied by the Americans, and thus check his 
 proposed crossing the Hudson, Burgoyne had burned Schuyler's summer resi- 
 dence, mills, and properties of considerable value.
 
 ^T. 20.] HAMILTON. 335 
 
 thousand men of the eastern militia, should they come in 
 as he expected they would, of which number, however, 
 he hath not sent four hundred. Kingston has been de- 
 stroyed merely because I have been so deceived in my ex- 
 pectations of assistance that it was impossible to take 
 measures for its security." " Governor Clinton," it is 
 stated,* " was two hours too late. He beheld the flames 
 from a distance, and having brought with him the spy, the 
 bearer of the silver bullet, he hanged him in an apple 
 tree in sight of the burning village." 
 
 Hamilton, several years after, published a comment on 
 this affair. " Those w r ho are best acquainted with the par- 
 ticulars of the burning of Esopus, assert that his excel- 
 lency was culpably deficient in exertion on that occasion. 
 The fact seems to have been, that a large body of men 
 remained unemployed in the vicinity, under his direction, 
 while the descent of the enemy was made with little or 
 no opposition ; and there is room to suppose, that, if a bet- 
 ter countenance had been kept up, the evil might have 
 been prevented." f 
 
 Kingston burned, and the river dwellings of gentry 
 conspicuous in the revolution wasted, Vaughan, meeting 
 intelligence of the capture of Burgoyne, returned unmo- 
 lested down the Hudson, Fort Montgomery having been 
 demolished. 
 
 Putnam, with the large force under his command 
 swollen by detachments from Gates, seemed to feel that 
 something must be attempted by him to compensate for 
 the past. On the last day of October he convened a 
 council of his officers. By this council it was unanimously 
 decided, that four thousand men should move down on the 
 west side of the Hudson and take post at Haverstraw, 
 a few miles below King's Ferry ; and that leaving a 
 
 * Irving's Washington, iii. 251. f Hamilton's Works, vi. 603.
 
 336 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 thousand in the Highlands, the remainder should proceed 
 without delay to King's Bridge with a view to an attempt 
 upon New York. Gates dissuaded it as an empty scheme. 
 The barbarous destruction of private property in this 
 expedition of General Vaughan kindled the indignation, 
 not merely of America, but of the people of England. 
 The only act of like nature by way of retaliation, com- 
 mitted by an officer of the continental army, was the act 
 of Putnam. He, soon after, caused the private dwelling 
 of General Delancey, specially offensive as a partisan 
 leader, to be burned to the ground.* 
 
 * Humphrey's Life of Putnam, 1K1. 
 
 See NOTE, Phil'p Scliuy!er, p. 573 
 
 lulfi j TT 
 
 n *
 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 WHILE Howe had drawn his army within his lines near 
 Philadelphia, Washington, daily weakened by the depart- 
 ure of the militia, was looking intently for tidings from 
 Saratoga. Rumors came of successes, but until the 
 twenty-fifth of October, no authentic intelligence was re- 
 ceived of the capitulation of Burgoyne, and this came 
 through an indirect channel. Not a line was received by 
 him from Gates. 
 
 Eager to meet the enemy with an equal force of reg- 
 ulars which he never before had, Washington called a 
 council of war. They met on the twenty-ninth of Oc- 
 tober, five major-generals and ten brigadiers. Hamilton 
 was present, and drew up the minute of their proceed- 
 ings. The enemy's force was stated to be ten thousand 
 men, rank and file, fit for duty. The American, exclusive 
 of the garrisons on the river forts, three hundred conti- 
 nentals at Mifflin, and three hundred and fifty at Red 
 Bank, and five hundred militia towards Chester, amounted 
 to eleven thousand, of whom two thousand seven hun- 
 dred were militia, soon to be reduced to eight hundred 
 by the expiration of their term of service. The calls 
 upon Pennsylvania and New Jersey for aid were men- 
 tioned, and the results under Gates, Putnam and Clinton, 
 VOL. I. 22
 
 338 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 stated. Questions were then propounded as to the eligi- 
 bility of attacking the enemy ; if not eligible, what ground 
 they should take until forced by the season from the field. 
 Where then should be the cantonment ? How the enemy 
 was to be prevented drawing supplies for the winter ; 
 and whether any and what succors could, with propriety, 
 be drawn from the northern army. Other questions of 
 army regulations and economy were submitted. The 
 conclusion was, that the enemy ought not to be then at- 
 tacked ; a present position for the army was indicated ; 
 the river garrisons to be reinforced ; and succors to be 
 drawn from the northern army, to consist of twenty regi- 
 ments, fifteen of Massachusetts, three of New Hampshire, 
 and Lee's and Jackson's. Morgan was on his way. A 
 mission of one of Washington's aides to Gates was also 
 advised. 
 
 Congress were formally apprised of this opinion, with 
 the reasons for it, in a letter by Hamilton in the name of 
 the commander-in-chief, and were informed that he had 
 sent Colonel Hamilton to General Gates, " to give him a 
 just representation of things, and to explain to him the ex- 
 pediency of our receiving the reinforcements which have 
 been determined necessary, if they will not interfere with 
 and frustrate any important plans he may have formed. 
 Indeed, I cannot conceive that there is any other object 
 now remaining that demands our attention and most vig- 
 orous efforts so much as the destruction of the enemy in 
 this quarter. Should we be able to effect this, we shall 
 have little to fear in future." A letter was immediately 
 addressed to Gates by Washington, also from the pen of 
 Hamilton, in which, after congratulating him upon his 
 success, as " an event that does the highest honor to the 
 American arms," and expressing his " regret that a matter 
 of such magnitude should have reached him by report
 
 ^E-r. 20.] HAMILTON. 339 
 
 only, or through the channel of letters not beaiing that au- 
 thenticity, which the importance of it required, and which 
 it would have received by a line under your signature, 
 stating the simple fact," he observed : " Our affairs having 
 happily terminated at the northward, I have, by the advice 
 of my general officers, sent Colonel Hamilton, one of my 
 aides, to lay before you a full state of our situation, and that 
 of the enemy in this quarter. He is well informed upon 
 the subject, and will deliver my sentiments upon the plan of 
 operations that is become necessary to be pursued. I think 
 it improper to enter into a particular detail, not being 
 well advised how matters are circumstanced on the North 
 River, and fearing that by some accident my letter might 
 miscarry. From Colonel Hamilton you will have a clear 
 and comprehensive view of things, and I persuade myself 
 you will do all in your power to facilitate the objects I 
 have in contemplation." 
 
 Hamilton departed under instructions drawn by him- 
 self. " It having been judged expedient by the members 
 of a council of war held yesterday, that one of the gen- 
 tlemen of my family should be sent to General Gates, in 
 order to lay before him the state of the army and the sit- 
 uation of the enemy, and to point out to him the many 
 happy consequences that will accrue from an immediate 
 reinforcement being sent from the northern army, I have 
 thought it propei to appoint you to that duty, and desire 
 that you will immediately set out for Albany, at which 
 place, or in the neighborhood, I imagine you will find 
 General Gates. 
 
 " You are so fully acquainted with the principal points 
 on which you are sent, namely, the state of our army and 
 the situation of the enemy, that I shall not enlarge on 
 those heads. What you are chiefly to attend to, is to 
 point out, in the clearest and fullest manner, to General
 
 340 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 Gates, the absolute necessity that there is for his detach- 
 ing a very considerable part of the army at present under 
 his command to the reinforcemeat of this ; a measure that 
 will in all probability reduce General Howe to the same 
 situation in which General Burgoyne now is, should he 
 attempt to remain in Philadelphia without being able to 
 remove the obstructions in the Delaware, and open a free 
 communication with his shipping. The force which the 
 members of the council of war judge it safe and expe- 
 dient to draw down at present, are, the three New Hamp- 
 shire and fifteen Massachusetts regiments, with Lee's and 
 Jackson's, two of the sixteen, additional. But it is more 
 than probable that General Gates may have detained part 
 of those troops to the reduction of Ticonderoga, should the 
 enemy not have evacuated it, or to the garrisoning of it. 
 If they should, in that case the reinforcement will be ac- 
 cording to circumstances ; but, if possible, let it be made 
 up to the same number out of other corps. If, upon your 
 meeting with General Gates, you should find that he in- 
 tends, in consequence of his success, to employ the troops 
 under his command upon some expedition, by the prose- 
 cution of which the common cause will be more benefited 
 than by their being sent down to reinforce this army, it is 
 not my wish to give any interruption to the plan. But if 
 he should have nothing more in contemplation than those 
 particular objects which I have mentioned to you, and 
 which it is unnecessary to commit to paper, in that case 
 you are to inform him that it is my desire that the rein- 
 forcements before mentioned, or such part of them as can 
 be safely spared, be immediately put in motion to join the 
 army. 
 
 " I have understood that General Gates has already de- 
 tached Nixon's and Glover's brigades to join General Put- 
 nam : and General Dickinson informs me, Sir Henry Clin-
 
 JSr. 20.] HAMILTON. 341 
 
 ton has come down the river with his whole force ; if this 
 be a fact, you are to desire General Putnam to send the 
 two brigades forward with the greatest expedition, as 
 there can be no occasion for them there. 
 
 " I expect you will meet Colonel Morgan's corps upon 
 their way down ; if you do, let them know how essential 
 their services are to us, and desire the colonel or com- 
 manding officer to hasten their march as much as is con- 
 sistent with the health of the men after their late fatigues. 
 
 " P. S. I ordered the detachment belonging to General 
 McDougall's division to come forward. If you meet them, 
 direct those belonging to Greene's, Angel's, Chandler's, 
 and Duryee's regiments not to cross the Delaware, but to 
 proceed to Red Bank." 
 
 Colonel Hamilton proceeded, by way of New Windsor, 
 to Fishkill, the head-quarters of General Putnam, whence, 
 on the second of November, he wrote to Washington : 
 " I lodged last night in the neighborhood of New Wind- 
 sor. This morning early I met Colonel Morgan with his 
 corps, about a mile from it, in march for head-quarters. 
 I told him the necessity of making all the despatch he 
 could, so as not to fatigue his men too much, which he has 
 promised to do. 
 
 " I understood from Colonel Morgan, that all the north- 
 ern army were marching down on both sides the river, 
 and would, probably, be to-morrow at New Windsor and 
 this place ; and that General Putnam had held a council 
 for the general disposition of them, in which it was re- 
 solved to send you four thousand men, and to keep the 
 rest on this side the river. I came here in expectation 
 that matters were in such a train as to enable me to ac- 
 complish my errand without going any farther unless it 
 should be to hasten the troops that were on their march ; 
 but on my arrival, I learned from Mr. Hughes, an aide-
 
 342 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 de-camp of General Gates, that the following disposition 
 of the northern army had taken place. 
 
 " Generals Patterson's, Glover's, and Nixon's brigades, 
 and Colonel Warner's mountain boys, to remain in and 
 about Albany, barracks building for them. General 
 Poor's brigade marching down this side of the river to 
 join General Putnam, will be here probably to-morrow. 
 General Learned's brigade, Morgan's corps, Warner's 
 brigade of Massachusetts militia, and some regiments of 
 New York militia, on their march on the west side of the 
 river. 
 
 " I have directed General Putnam, in your name, to 
 send forward with all despatch to join you, the two conti- 
 nental brigades and Warner's militia brigade ; this last is 
 to serve till the latter end of this month. Your instruc- 
 tions did not comprehend any militia, but as there are cer- 
 tain accounts here that most of the troops from New 
 York are gone to reinforce General Howe, and as so large 
 a proportion of continental troops have been detained at 
 Albany, I concluded you would not disapprove of a meas- 
 ure calculated to strengthen you, though but for a small 
 time, and have ventured to adopt it on that presumption. 
 
 "Being informed by General Putnam, that General 
 Wynds, with seven hundred Jersey militia, was at King's 
 Ferry, with intention to cross to Peekskill, I prevailed 
 upon him to relinquish that idea, and send off an imme- 
 diate order for them to march towards Red Bank. It is 
 possible, however, unless your excellency supports this 
 order by an application from yourself, he may march his 
 men home, instead of marching them to the place he has 
 been directed to repair to. 
 
 " Neither Lee's, Jackson's regiments, nor the detach- 
 ments belonging to General McDougall's division, have yet 
 marched. I have urged their being sent, and an ordoi
 
 HAMILTON. 343 
 
 has been despatched for their instantly proceeding. Col- 
 onel Hughes is pressing some fresh horses for me. The 
 moment they are ready, I shall recross the river in order 
 to fall in with the troops on the other side, and make all 
 the haste I can to Albany to get the three brigades there 
 sent forward. 
 
 "Will your excellency permit me to observe, that I 
 have some doubts, under present circumstances and ap- 
 pearances, of the propriety of leaving the regiments pro- 
 posed to be left in this quarter ? But if my doubts on 
 this subject were stronger than they are, I am forbid, by 
 the sense of council, from interfering in the matter. 
 
 " General Poor's brigade is just arrived here ; they 
 will proceed to join you with all expedition. So strongly 
 am I impressed with the importance of endeavoring to 
 crush Mr. Howe, that I am apt to think it would be ad- 
 visable to draw off all the continental troops. Had this 
 been determined on, General Warner's sixteen hundred 
 militia might have been left here." 
 
 On the fourth, Hamilton arrived at Albany, and had 
 an interview with Gates ; the result is stated in a letter 
 to Washington : 
 
 " I arrived here yesterday at noon, and waited upon 
 General Gates immediately on the business of my mission, 
 but was sorry to find his ideas did not correspond with 
 yours, for drawing off the number of troops you directed. 
 I used every argument in my power to convince him of 
 the propriety of the measure, but he was inflexible in 
 the opinion that two brigades, at least, of continental 
 troops should remain in and near this place. His reasons 
 were, that the intelligence of Sir Henry Clinton's having 
 gone to join Howe was not sufficiently authenticated to 
 put it out of doubt ; that there was, therefore, a possibili- 
 ty of his returning up the river, which might expose the
 
 344 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 finest arsenal in America (as he calls the one here), to de- 
 struction, should this place be left so bare of troops as I 
 proposed, and that the want of conveniences and the diffi- 
 culty of the roads would make it impossible to remove 
 artillery and stores for a considerable time ; that the New 
 England States would be left open to the depredations 
 and ravages of the enemy ; that it would put it out of his 
 power to enterprise any thing against Ticonderoga, which 
 he thinks might be done in the winter, and which he con- 
 siders it of importance to undertake. 
 
 "The force of these reasons did by no means strike 
 me ; and I did every thing in my power to show they 
 were unsubstantial ; but all I could effect was to have one 
 brigade despatched in addition to those already inarched. 
 I found myself infinitely embarrassed, and was at a loss 
 how to act. I felt the importance of strengthening you 
 as much as possible. ; but on the other hand, I found insu- 
 perable inconveniences in acting diametrically opposite to 
 the opinion of a gentleman whose successes have raised 
 him to the highest importance. 
 
 "General Gates has won the entire confidence of the 
 Eastern States. If disposed to do it, by addressing him- 
 self to the prejudices of the people, he would find no diffi- 
 culty to render a measure odious, which, it might be said 
 With plausibility enough to be believed, was calculated to 
 expose them to unnecessary dangers, notwithstanding 
 their exertions during the campaign had given them the 
 fullest title to repose and security. General Gates has 
 influence and interest elsewhere ; he might use it, if he 
 pleased, to discredit the measure there also. On the 
 whole, it appeared to me dangerous to insist on sending 
 more troops from hence, while General Gates appeared 
 so warmly opposed to it. Should any accident or incon- 
 venience happen in consequence of it, there would be too
 
 ^Er. 20.] HAMILTON. 345 
 
 fair a pretext for censure, and many people are loo well 
 disposed to lay hold of it. At any rate, it might be con- 
 sidered as using him ill, to take a step so contrary to his 
 judgment in a case of this nature. These considerations, 
 and others which I shall be more explicit in when I have 
 the pleasure of seeing you, determined me not to insist 
 upon sending either of the other brigades remaining here. 
 I am afraid what I have done may not meet with your 
 approbation, as not being perhaps fully warranted by your 
 instructions ; but I ventured to do what I thought right, 
 hoping that at least the goodness of my intention will ex- 
 cuse the error of my judgment. 
 
 " I was induced to this relaxation the more readily, as 
 I had directed to be sent on two thousand militia which 
 were not expected by you, and a thousand continental 
 troops out of those proposed to be left with General Put- 
 nam, which I have written to him, since I found how mat- 
 ters were circumstanced here, to forward to you with all 
 despatch. I did this for several reasons : because your 
 reinforcement would be more expeditious from that place 
 than from this ; because two thousand continental troops 
 at Peekskill will not be wanted in its present circum- 
 stances, especially as it was really necessary to have a 
 body of continental troops at this place for the security 
 of the valuable stores here, and I should not, if I had my 
 wish, think it expedient to draw off more than two of the 
 three brigades now here. 
 
 " This being the case, one of the ends you proposed to 
 be answered, by leaving the ten regiments with General 
 Putnam, will be equally answered by the troops here, I 
 mean that of covering and fortifying the Eastern States ; 
 and one thousand continental troops in addition to the 
 'militia collected and that may be collected here, will be 
 sufficient in the Highlands for covering the country down
 
 346 THE KEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 that way, and carrying on the works necessary to be 
 raised for the defence of the river. 
 
 " The troops gone and going to reinforce you, are near 
 five thousand rank and file continental troops, and two 
 thousand five hundred Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
 militia. These, and the seven hundred Jersey militia, will 
 be a larger reinforcement than you expected, though not 
 quite an equal number of continental troops, nor exactly 
 in the way directed. General Lincoln tells me the militia 
 are very excellent, and though their times will be out by 
 the last of this month, you will be able, if you think 
 proper, to order the troops still remaining here to join 
 you by the time their term of service expires. 
 
 " I cannot forbear being uneasy lest my conduct 
 should prove displeasing to you, but I have done what, 
 considering all circumstances, appeared to me most eligi- 
 ble and prudent. Vessels are preparing to carry the 
 brigade to New Windsor, which will embark this even- 
 ing. I shall, this afternoon, set out on my return to 
 camp, and on my way shall endeavor to hasten the troops 
 forward." 
 
 Disappointed in the orders issued by Gates, Hamilton, 
 in pursuance of the requisition of the commander-in-chief, 
 addressed him on the fifth of November, prior to his de- 
 parture from Albany, in the following decisive terms : 
 
 " By inquiry, I have learned that General Patterson's 
 brigade, which is the one you propose to send, is by far 
 the weakest of the three now here, and does not consist 
 of more than about six hundred rank and file fit for duty. 
 It is true, that there is a militia regiment with it of about 
 two hundred, but the time of service for which this regi- 
 ment is engaged is so near expiring, that it would be past 
 by the time the men could arrive at their destination. 
 
 "Under these circumstances, I cannot consider it
 
 MT. 20.] HAMILTON. 347 
 
 either as compatible with the good of the service, or my 
 instructions from his excellency General Washington, to 
 consent that that brigade be selected from the three to go 
 to him, but I am under the necessity of desiring, by virtue 
 of my orders from him, that one of the others be substi- 
 tuted instead of this, either General Nixon's or General 
 Glover's, and that you will be pleased to give immediate 
 orders for its embarkation. 
 
 " Knowing that General Washington wished me to 
 pay the greatest deference to your judgment, I ventured 
 so far to deviate from the instructions he gave me, as to 
 consent, in compliance with your opinion, that two brig- 
 ades should remain here instead of one. At the same 
 time, permit me to observe, that I am not myself sensible 
 of the expediency of keeping more than one, with the 
 detached regiments in the neighborhood of this place, and 
 that my ideas coincide with those gentlemen whom I have 
 consulted on the occasion, whose judgment I have much 
 more reliance upon than on my own, and who must be 
 supposed to have a thorough knowledge of all the circum- 
 stances. Their opinion is, that one brigade and the regi- 
 ments before mentioned would amply answer the pur- 
 poses of this post. When I preferred your opinion to 
 other considerations, I did not imagine you would pitch 
 upon a brigade little more than half as lyrge as the others, 
 and finding this to be the case, I indispensably owe it to 
 my duty to desire, in his excellency's name, that another 
 may go instead of the one intended, and without loss of 
 time. As it may be conducive to despatch, to send Glov- 
 er's brigade ; if agreeable to you, you will give orders ac- 
 cordingly." 
 
 Upon the receipt of this letter, Gates gave the re- 
 quired order, and soon after wrote to Washington, stat- 
 ing his reasons for not having readily complied with the
 
 318 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 requisition made by Hamilton. These were, his appre- 
 hension that the force at Peekskill could not prevent the 
 enemy from destroying the city of Albany and the arse- 
 nal ; and his entire aversion to send more than one brig- 
 ade, lest every good effect of the ruin of Burgoyne's 
 army should be totally lost by the possession of that 
 town! 
 
 A letter from the head of Gates' staff* written at this 
 time from Albany shows the prevailing feeling : " Yester- 
 day arrived in town Colonel Hamilton. General Glover's 
 brigade, in addition to others, are under orders. I hope 
 they will be able to drive Mr. Howe, when the whole con- 
 tinent are collected." Hamilton, to make up the appre- 
 hended deficiency, sent instantly an express to Putnam 
 with an order to send forward a thousand more conti- 
 nental troops than he had previously ordered. Putnam 
 wrote to Washington : " This will leave me with about 
 three hundred continental troops, and no militia except 
 those whose times are out the first of December, to cover 
 all this distressed country. I do not think I can justify 
 myself in this without first acquainting you, and if I then 
 have your excellency's orders, I will, with pleasure, im- 
 mediately and promptly comply with them." 
 
 Having concluded his mission to Gates, Hamilton has- 
 tened to New Windsor, and finding Putnam's indisposition 
 to send forward the required reinforcement, he wrote him 
 this emphatic order on the ninth : " I cannot forbear con- 
 fessing that I am astonished and alarmed beyond measure, 
 to find that all his excellency's views have been hitherto 
 frustrated, and that no single step of those I mentioned to 
 you has been taken to afford him the aid he absolutely 
 stands in need of, and by delaying which, the cause of 
 America is put to the utmost conceivable hazard. 
 
 * J. Trumbull, jr., to Gor. Trumbull, Nov. 6, 1 777.
 
 Mf. 20.] HAMILTON. 349 
 
 " I so fully explained to you the general's situation, 
 that I could not entertain a doubt that you would make 
 it the first object of your attention to reinforce him with 
 that speed the exigency of affairs demanded ; but I am 
 sorry to say, he will have too much reason to think other 
 objects, in comparison with that, insignificant, have been 
 uppermost. I speak freely and emphatically, because I 
 tremble at the consequences of the delay that has hap- 
 pened. General Clinton's reinforcement is probably by 
 this time with Mr. Howe. This will give him a decisive 
 superiority over our army. What may be the issue of 
 such a state of things, I leave to the feelings of every 
 friend to his country, capable of foreseeing consequences. 
 My expressions may perhaps have more warmth than is 
 altogether proper ; but they proceed from the overflow- 
 ing of my heart, in a matter where I conceive this conti- 
 nent essentially interested. I wrote to you from Albany, 
 and desired you would send a thousand continental troops 
 of those first proposed to be left with you. This, I un- 
 derstand, has not been done. How the non-compliance 
 can be answered to General Washington, you can best 
 determine. 
 
 " I now, sir, in the most explicit terms, by his excellen- 
 cy's authority, give it as a positive order from him, that 
 all the continental troops under your command may be 
 immediately marched to King's Ferry, there to cross the 
 river, and hasten to reinforce the army under him. 
 
 " The Massachusetts militia are to be detained instead 
 of them, until the troops coming from the northward ar- 
 rive. When they do, they will replace, as far as I am 
 insti ucted, the troops you shall send away in consequence 
 of this requisition. The general's idea of keeping troops 
 this way does not extend farther than covering the coun- 
 try from any little irruptions of small parties, and carrying
 
 350 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 on the works necessary for the security of the river. As 
 to attacking New York, that he thinks ought to be out of 
 the question at present. If men could be spared from 
 the other really necessary objects, he would have no ob- 
 jections to attempting a diversion by way of New York, 
 but nothing farther. 
 
 " As the times of the Massachusetts and New Hamp- 
 shire militia will soon expire, it will be proper to call in 
 time for a reinforcement from Connecticut. Governor 
 Clinton will do all in his power to promote objects in 
 which the State he commands in is so immediately con- 
 cerned. Generals Glover's and Patterson's brigades are 
 on their way down. The number of continental troops 
 necessary for this post will be furnished out of them. 
 
 " I cannot but have the fullest confidence you will use 
 your utmost exertions to execute the business of this letter ; 
 and I am with great respect, sir, your most obedient ser- 
 vant." 
 
 The next day he wrote to Washington : 
 
 " I arrived here last night from Albany. Having 
 given General Gates a little time to recollect himself, I 
 renewed my remonstrance on the necessity and propriety 
 of sending you more than one brigade of the three he had 
 detained with him, and finally prevailed upon him to give 
 orders for Glover's, in addition to Patterson's brigade, to 
 march this way. 
 
 " As it was thought conducive to expedition to send 
 the troops by water as far as it could be done, I procured 
 all the vessels that could be had at Albany fit for the pur- 
 pose, but could not get more than sufficient to take Pat- 
 terson's brigade. It was embarked the 7th instant, but 
 the wind has been contrary ; they must probably be here 
 to-day. General Glover's brigade marched at the same 
 time, on the east side of the river, the roads being much
 
 ^Er. iiO.] HAMILTON. 351 
 
 better than on this side. I am at this moment informed, 
 that one sloop with a part of Patterson's has arrived, and 
 that the others are in sight. They will immediately pro- 
 ceed by water to King's Ferry, and thence take the short- 
 est route. 
 
 " I am pained beyond expression to inform your ex- 
 cellency that on my arrival here, I find every thing has 
 been neglected and deranged by General Putnam, and that 
 the two brigades, Poor's and Learned's, still remain here 
 and on the other side of the river at Fishkill. Colonel 
 Warner's militia, I am told, have been drawn to Peeks- 
 kill, to aid in an expedition against New York, which it 
 seems is, at this time, the hobby-horse with General Put- 
 nam. Not the least attention has been paid to my order 
 in your name for a detachment of one thousand men from 
 the troops hitherto stationed at this post. Every thing is 
 sacrificed to the whim of taking New York. 
 
 " The two brigades of Poor and Learned, it appears, 
 would not march for want of money and necessaries ; 
 several of the regiments having received no pay for six 
 or eight months past. There has been a high mutiny 
 among the former on this account, in which a captain 
 killed a man, and was himself shot by his comrade. 
 These difficulties, for want of proper management, have 
 stopped the troops from proceeding. Governor Clinton 
 has been the only man who has done any thing towards 
 removing them, but for want of General Putnam's co-op- 
 eration, has not been able to effect it. He has only been 
 able to prevail with Learned's brigade to agree to march 
 to Goshen, in hopes by getting them once on the go, to 
 induce them to continue their march. On coming here, 1 
 immediately sent for Colonel Bailey, who now commands 
 Learned's brigade, and persuaded him to engage to carry 
 the brigade on to head-quarters as fast as possible. This
 
 352 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 he expects to effect by means of five or six thousand dol- 
 lars, which Governor Clinton was kind enough to borrow 
 for me, and which Colonel Bailey thinks will keep the 
 men in good humor till they join you. They marched this 
 morning towards Goshen. 
 
 " I shall, as soon as possible, see General Poor, and do 
 every thing in my power to get him along, and hope I 
 shall be able to succeed. 
 
 " The plan I before laid having been totally deranged, 
 a new one has become necessary. It is now too late to 
 send Warner's militia ; by the time they reached you. 
 their term of service would be out. The motive for 
 sending them, which was to give you a speedy reinforce- 
 ment, has, by the past delay, been superseded. 
 
 " By Governor Clinton's advice, I have sent an order 
 in the most emphatical terms to General Putnam, imme- 
 diately to despatch all the continental troops under him 
 to your assistance, and to detain the militia instead of 
 them. 
 
 " My opinion is, that the only present use for troops 
 in this quarter is, to protect the country from the depre- 
 dations of little plundering parties, and for carrying on 
 the works necessary for the defence of the river. Nothing 
 more ought to be thought of. 'Tis only wasting time and 
 misapplying men to employ them in a suicidal parade 
 against New York, for in this it will undoubtedly ter- 
 minate. New York is no object, if it could be taken, and 
 to take it would require more men than could be spared 
 from more substantial purposes. Governor Clinton's ideas 
 coincide with mine* He thinks that there is no need of 
 more continental troops here than a few to give a spur to 
 the militia in working upon the fortifications. In pursu- 
 ance of this, I have given the directions before mentioned* 
 If General Putnam attends to them, the troops under him
 
 JEr. 20.] HAMILTON. 353 
 
 may be with you nearly as early as any of the others, 
 (though he has unluckily marched them down to Tarry- 
 town,) and General Glover's brigade, when it gets up, 
 will be more than sufficient to answer the true end of this 
 post. 
 
 " If your excellency agrees with me in opinion, it will 
 be well to send instant directions to General Putnam to 
 pursue the object 1 have mentioned, for I doubt whether 
 he will attend to any thing I shall say, notwithstanding it 
 comes in the shape of a positive order. I fear unless you 
 interpose, the works here will go on so feebly for want 
 of men, that they will not be completed in time ; whereas, 
 it appears to me of the greatest importance they should 
 be pushed with the utmost vigor. Governor Clinton will 
 do every thing in his power. I wish General Putnam 
 was recalled from the command of this post, and Gov- 
 ernor Clinton would accept it : the blunders and caprices 
 of the former are endless. Believe me, sir, nobody can 
 be more impressed with the importance of forwarding 
 the reinforcements coming to you with all speed, nor 
 could any body have endeavored to promote it more than 
 I have done ; but the ignorance of some, and the design 
 of others, have been almost insuperable obstacles. I am 
 very unwell, but I shall not spare myself to get things 
 immediately in a proper train, and for that purpose intend, 
 unless I receive other orders from you, to continue with 
 the troops in the progress of their march. As soon as I 
 get General Poor's brigade in march, I shall proceed to 
 General Putnam's at Peekskill." 
 
 Two days after he again wrote to Washington : " I 
 have been detained here these two days by a fever and 
 violent rheumatic pains throughout my body. This has 
 prevented my being active in person for promoting the 
 purposes of my errand, but I have taken every other 
 VOL. I. 23
 
 354 THE KEPUBL1C. [IW. 
 
 method in my power, in which Governor Clinton has 
 obligingly given me all the aid he could. In answer to 
 my pressing application to General Poor for the immediate 
 marching of his brigade, I was told that they were under 
 an operation for the itch, which made it impossible for them 
 to proceed, till the effects of it were over. By a letter, 
 however, of yesterday, General Poor* informs me he 
 would certainly march this morning. I must do him the 
 justice to say he appears solicitous to join you, and that 
 I believe the past delay is not owing to any fault of his, 
 but is wholly chargeable on General Putnam. Indeed, 
 sir, I owe it to the service to say, that every part of this 
 gentleman's conduct is marked with blunder and negli- 
 gence, and gives general disgust. 
 
 " Parsons' brigade will join you, I hope, in five or six 
 days from this ; Learned's brigade may do the same : 
 Poor's will, I am persuaded, make all the haste they can 
 for the future, and Glover's may be expected at Fishkill 
 to-night, whence they will be pushed forward as fast as I 
 can have any influence to make them go ; but I am sorry 
 to say, the disposition for marching, in the officers and 
 men, does not keep pace with my wishes or the exigency 
 of the occasion. They have unfortunately imbibed an 
 idea that they have done their part of the business of the 
 campaign, and are now entitled to repose. This, and the 
 want of pay, makes them averse to a long march at this 
 advanced season. 
 
 " * * * * In a letter from General Putnam, just now 
 received by Governor Clinton, he appears to have been 
 the 10th instant at King's Street, at the White Plains. 
 I have had no answer to my last applications. The ene- 
 
 * This gentleman died 9th September, 1780. Washington says of him, 
 41 an officer of distinguished merit, who, as a citizen and a soldier, had every 
 claim to the esteem of his country.''
 
 JK.T. 20.] HAMILTON. 355 
 
 my appear to have stripped New York very bare. The 
 people there, that is the tories, are in a great fright : this 
 adds to my anxiety that the reinforcements from this 
 quarter to you are not in greater forwardness and more 
 considerable. 
 
 " I have written to General Gates, informing him ot 
 the accounts of the situation of New York with respect 
 to troops, and the probability of the force gone to Howe 
 being greater than was at first expected, to try if this will 
 not extort from him a farther reinforcement. I don't, 
 however, expect much from him, as he pretends to have 
 in view an expedition against Ticonderoga, to be under- 
 taken in the winter, and he knows that under the sanction 
 of this idea, calculated to catch the eastern people, he 
 may, without censure, retain the troops ; and as I shall be 
 under the necessity of speaking plainly to you when I 
 have the pleasure of seeing you, I shall not hesitate to 
 say, I doubt whether you would have had a man from the 
 northern army if the whole could have been kept at 
 Albany with any decency. Perhaps you will think me 
 blamable in not having exercised the powers you gave 
 me, and given a positive order. Perhaps I have been so ; 
 but deliberately weighing all circumstances, I did not, and 
 do not think it advisable to do it." 
 
 Hamilton the same day crossed the river to Fishkill, in 
 order to have another interview with Putnam, whence he 
 wrote a second letter to Gates : 
 
 " Ever since my arrival in this quarter, I have been 
 endeavoring to collect the best idea I could of the state 
 of things in New York, in order the better to form a 
 judgment of the probable reinforcement gone to General 
 Howe. On the whole, this is a fact well ascertained, that 
 New York has been stripped as bare as possible ; that in 
 consequence of this, the few troops there and the inhab-
 
 356 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 itants are under so strong apprehensions of an attack, as 
 almost to amount to a panic ; that to supply the deficiency 
 of men, every effort is making to excite the citizens to 
 arms for the defence of the city. For this purpose the 
 public papers are full of addresses to them, that plainly 
 speak the apprehensions prevailing on the occasion. 
 
 "Hence I infer that a formidable force is gone to 
 General Howe. The calculations made by those who have 
 had the best opportunities of judging, carry the number 
 from six to seven thousand. If so, the number gone and 
 going to General Washington is far inferior, five thou- 
 sand at the utmost. The militia were all detained by 
 General Putnam, till it became too late to send them. 
 
 " The state of things I gave you when I had the 
 pleasure of seeing you, was, to the best of my judgment, 
 sacredly true. I give you the present information, that 
 you- may decide whether any farther succor can with 
 propriety come from you. 
 
 " The fleet, with the troops on board, sailed out of the 
 Hook the fifth instant. This circumstance demonstrates, 
 beyond a possibility of doubt, that it is General Howe's 
 fixed intention to endeavor to hold Philadelphia at all 
 hazards, and removes all danger of any farther operations 
 up the North River this winter ; otherwise Sir Henry 
 Clinton's movement at this advanced season is altogether 
 inexplicable. 
 
 " If you can with propriety afford any farther assist- 
 ance, the most expeditious mode of conveying it will be 
 to acquaint General Putnam of it, that he may send on 
 the troops with him, to be replaced by them. You, sir, 
 best know the uses to which the troops with you are to 
 be applied, and will determine accordingly. I am certain 
 if is not his excellency's wish to frustrate any plan you 
 may have in view for the benefit of the service, so far as
 
 ^ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 357 
 
 it can possibly be avoided, consistent with a due attention 
 to more important objects." 
 
 He proceeded through the Highlands to Peeks-kill, 
 where, becoming seriously indisposed, he addressed a 
 letter to General Washington, dated the fifteenth of .No- 
 vember : 
 
 " I arrived at this place last night, and unfortunately 
 find myself unable to proceed any farther. Imagining I 
 had gotten the better of my complaint which confined me 
 at Governor Clinton's, and anxious to be about attending 
 to the march of the troops, the day before yesterday I 
 crossed the ferry, in order to fall in with General Glover's 
 brigade, which was on its marc'h from Poughkeepsie to 
 Fishkill. I did not, however, see it myself, but received a 
 letter from Colonel Shepherd, who commands the brigade, 
 informing me he would be last night at Fishkill, and this 
 night at King's Ferry. Wagons, &c. are provided on the 
 other side for his accommodation, so that there need be 
 no delay but what is voluntary; and I believe Colonel 
 Shepherd is as well disposed as could be wished to hasten 
 his march. General Poor's brigade crossed the ferry the 
 day before yesterday. Two York regiments, Cortland's 
 and Livingston's, are with them : they were unwilling to 
 be separated from the brigade, and the brigade from them. 
 General Putnam was unwilling to keep them with him, 
 and if he had consented to do it, the regiments to replace 
 them would not join you six days as soon as these. The 
 troops now remaining with General Putnam, will amount 
 to about the number you intended, though they are not 
 exactly the same. He has detached Colonel Charles 
 Webb's regiment to you. He says the troops with him 
 are not in a condition to march, being destitute of shoes, 
 stockings, and other necessaries ; but I believe the true 
 reasons of his being unwilling to pursue the mode pointed
 
 358 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 out by you, were his aversion to the York troops, and his 
 desire to retain General Parsons with him." 
 
 Exhausted by his exertions, and suffering under severe 
 indisposition, he was prevented rejoining the army until a 
 short time before it entered into winter quarters at Valley 
 Forge. While anxiously waiting his recovery, in the ex- 
 pectation of participating in the decisive blow which he 
 still cherished the hope might be given to the enemy, he 
 had the gratification of receiving a letter from General 
 Washington, of the same date with the preceding. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I have duly received your several favors 
 from the time you left me to that of the twelfth instant. 
 I approve entirely of all the steps you have taken, and 
 have only to wish that .the exertions of those you have 
 had to deal with, had kept pace with your zeal and good 
 intentions. I hope your health will, before this, have per- 
 mitted you to push on the rear of the whole reinforcement 
 beyond New Windsor. Some of the enemy's ships have 
 arrived in the Delaware, but how many have troops on 
 board, I cannot exactly ascertain. The enemy has lately 
 damaged Fort Mifflin considerably, but our people keep 
 possession and seem determined to do so to the last ex- 
 tremity. Our loss in men has been but small, Captain 
 Treat is unfortunately among the killed. I wish you a 
 safe return, and am, dear sir." 
 
 His conduct during this mission was subsequently ad- 
 verted to as highly indicative of the qualities of his char- 
 acter. 
 
 In his explanatory letter to Washington, Putnam en- 
 closed to him a copy of Hamilton's letter. " This letter," 
 he observed, " contains some most unjust and injurious re- 
 flections ; for I am conscious of having done every thing 
 in my power to succor you as speedily as possible." It 
 was not the first time Putnam had received censure far
 
 ^Ex. 20.] HAMILTON. 359 
 
 disobedience to orders.* Washington immediately re- 
 plied : " The urgency of Colonel Hamilton's letter was 
 owing to his knowledge of our wants in this quarter, and 
 to a certainty that there was no danger to be apprehended 
 from New York, if you sent all the continental troops that 
 were then with you, and waited to replace them by those 
 expected down the river. I cannot but say there has been 
 more delay in the march of the troops than I think neces- 
 sary ; and I could wish that in future my orders may be 
 immediately complied with, without arguing upon the 
 propriety of them. If any accident ensues from obeying 
 them, the fault will lie upon me, and not upon you." 
 
 The recent foray of the enemy up the Hudson indi- 
 cated the necessity of establishing an effective, command- 
 ing post in the Highlands. With this view, on the second 
 of December, soon after his return to head-quarters, 
 Hamilton, in behalf of Washington, wrote to Putnam, 
 urging the erection of works on that river, the import- 
 ance of which, in his recent journey, he had seen in all its 
 extent. 
 
 " The importance of the North River in the present 
 contest, and the necessity of defending it, are subjects 
 which have been so frequently and so fully discussed and 
 are so well understood, that it is unnecessary to enlarge 
 upon them. These facts at once appear, when it is con- 
 sidered that it runs through a whole State that it is the 
 only passage by which the enemy from New York or any 
 part of our coast can ever hope to co-operate with an 
 army that may come from Canada ; that the possession of 
 it is indispensably essential to preserve the communication 
 between the Eastern, Middle and Southern States ; and 
 further, that upon its security in a great measure depend 
 our chief supplies of flour for the subsistence of such 
 
 * Washington to Reed, Jan. 15, 1777.
 
 360 THE KEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 forces as we may have occasion for in the course of the 
 war either in the eastern or northern department, or in 
 the country lying high up on the west side of it. These 
 facts are familiar to all, they are familiar to you. I there- 
 fore request you, in the most urgent terms, to turn your 
 most serious and active attention to this very and infin- 
 itely important object. Seize the present opportunity, 
 and employ your whole force and all the means in your 
 power for erecting and completing, as far as shall be 
 possible, such works and obstructions as may be necessary 
 to defend and secure the river against any future attempts 
 of the enemy. You will consult Governor Clinton, Gen- 
 eral Parsons, and the French engineer, Colonel Radiere, 
 upon the occasion. By gaining the passage, you know 
 the enemy have already laid waste and destroyed all the 
 houses, mills and towns accessible to them. Unless pro- 
 per measures are taken to prevent them, they will renew 
 their ravages in the spring, or as soon as the season will 
 admit, and perhaps Albany, the only town in the State of 
 any importance remaining in our hands, may undergo 
 a like fate, and a general havoc and devastation take 
 place. 
 
 " To prevent these evils, therefore, I shall expect that 
 you will exert every nerve and employ your whole force 
 in future, while and whenever it is practicable, in con- 
 structing and forwarding the proposed works and means 
 of defence. They must not be kept out on command, 
 and acting in detachments to cover the country below, 
 which is a consideration infinitely less important and in- 
 teresting." 
 
 The peremptory tone of this letter shows the impres- 
 sion Putnam's conduct had produced. Not willing to in- 
 cur any further hazards from his misconduct, he was soon 
 after ordered to join the main army. It was supposed he
 
 Mi. 20. J HAMILTON. 301 
 
 would be arrested.* A milder measure was preferred. He 
 was sent temporarily to Connecticut until the public feel- 
 ing should be quieted. Some time after he was attacked 
 with paralysis. Nevertheless he retained his commission, 
 and near the end of the war received a soothing letter 
 from head-quarters. 
 
 During the period of Hamilton's absence, Howe was 
 continuing his efforts to reduce the works on the Dela- 
 ware. On the sixteenth of November, after a most gal- 
 lant defence, Fort Mifflin was found to be no longer tena- 
 ble. " The fire the last day of the siege," General Knox 
 wrote to Colonel Lamb, " exceeded by far any thing seen 
 in America. The enemy had five .batteries on Province 
 Island of eighteens, twenty-fours, and thirty-two pound- 
 ers, at five hundred yards distance. Besides these, they 
 brought up the new channel the large floating battery 
 which was cut down in New York, mounting twenty-two 
 twenty-four pounders, within forty yards of an angle of 
 the battery on Mud Island. Four sixty-four gun ships 
 within about nine hundred yards, and two forty gun ships. 
 The incessant fire of these, joined with the fire of our 
 floating batteries and gondolas, formed a scene truly pic- 
 turesque, of the horrors and grandeur of war. The fire 
 began at ten in the morning and lasted till late in the 
 night. The brave little garrison, then commanded by 
 Major Thayer of the Rhode Island troops, had but two 
 cannon not dismounted. These soon shared the fate of 
 the others. Every body who appeared on the platform 
 were killed or wounded by the musketry from the tops of 
 
 * " For your comfort, I can tell you that old Putnam is ordered on 
 
 to the main army, and a trial is inevitable. God speed it.'' Major Platt to 
 Colonel Lamb, Nov. 29, 1777. 
 
 Washington to Jay, April 14, 1779, as to command of expedition to Indi- 
 ans : " Putnam I need not mention." Jay's Life, ii. 42.
 
 362 THE EEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 the ships, whose yards almost hung over the battery. 
 Long before night there was not a single palissade left. 
 All the embrasures ruined and the whole parapet levelled. 
 All the block houses had been battered down some days 
 before. The brave garrison, finding no kind of shelter, 
 were ordered to evacuate the place, which they did about 
 two o'clock in the morning, having first burnt the bar- 
 racks and brought off the stores. We exceedingly wish 
 the enemy to come out and give us battle ; but I believe 
 that though this is an event they threaten, and we wish, 
 it will not happen." 
 
 Whether Fort Mercer could be sustained was now the 
 question. As soon as Washington learned the loss of 
 Fort Mifflin, St. Clair, Knox and De Kalb were directed 
 to inspect Fort Mercer. On their report, a reinforcement 
 under General Greene was ordered to cross to its vicinity. 
 Cornwallis having also crossed the Delaware, Greene was 
 urged to advance and meet him, and to use every means 
 to hasten the junction of Glover's brigade. The march 
 of the enemy was so rapid, the Americans could not form 
 a junction in time to succor the garrison. It was obliged 
 to withdraw.* 
 
 Duplessis again exhibited to the latest moment the high 
 courage of his blood.f In a letter written by Hamilton, 
 for Washington, asking his promotion, it is stated : " After 
 the evacuation was determined upon, he undertook as a 
 
 * Washington's Writings, v. 167. 
 
 f The Huguenot chief, Mornay du Plessis, of whose praise the French his- 
 torians are full, was his ancestor. Voltaire took pleasure in devoting to him 
 the choicest effort of his genius, and he is thus beautifully eulogized by Gro- 
 tius: 
 
 " Nobilitas, animo claro quain sanguine major 
 Res hominum solers noscere, usque Dei 
 Consilinm prndens, dives facundia linguae 
 Hie cum Morneo, contutnulata jacent." 
 
 This young friend of Hamilton was nriswcrel at St. Domingo.
 
 JET. 20.] HAMILTON. 363 
 
 volunteer, the hazardous operation of blowing up the 
 magazine without the apparatus usual on such occasions. 
 I must further add, that he possesses a degree of modesty 
 not always found in men who perform brilliant actions. 
 It is with pleasure that I recommend to Congress to give 
 him a brevet of lieutenant-colonel. I hope there will be 
 no difficulty in antedating the brevet, that the recompense 
 may more immediately follow the service he has done." 
 
 The river thus opened to the fleet, Howe was enabled 
 to hold Philadelphia, " though just before the reduction of 
 the forts he balanced upon the point of quitting that 
 city." Fort Mercer was abandoned on the twentieth of 
 November, two days after the most advanced of the brig- 
 ades from Albany reached head-quarters. Washington 
 immediately convened a council of war to decide as to 
 an attack upon Howe. It was disapproved, the force and 
 cover of the enemy* not justifying the attempt. 
 
 Cornwallis having rejoined him, Howe, strengthened 
 also by reinforcements from New York, resolved to move 
 upon the Americans. On the fourth of December his 
 army advanced to Chesnut Hill. Skirmishes ensued, and 
 various manoeuvres followed to draw the Americans from 
 their post. 
 
 Washington, nevertheless, held his position on several 
 commanding heights. Anticipating and desiring f an at- 
 tack where he was, he rode through every brigade of his 
 army, delivering in person his orders ; exhorting his 
 troops to rely chiefly on the bayonet, and encouraging 
 them to their duty.J Howe seeing the firm countenance 
 
 'The enemy have fortified themselves with fourteen strong redoubts, 
 friezed and palisaded with strong abatis, running from one redoubt to the 
 other." Knox to Lamb. 
 
 t "I sincerely wish they had made an attack." Washington's Writings, v. 
 182. $ Marshall, i. 184, who "states it on his own observation."
 
 331 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 of his adversary, abandoned his purpose, and suddenly 
 retreated within his lines. Winter was now upon them,* 
 and the campaign ended. 
 
 " Had the reinforcement from the northward," Wash- 
 ington wrote to his brother, " arrived but ten days sooner, 
 it would, I think, have put it in my power to save Fort 
 Mifflin, which defended the chevaux de frise, and conse- 
 quently have rendered Philadelphia a very ineligible situ- 
 ation for them this winter." Such were the quiet terms 
 in which he adverted to the great wrong inflicted upon his 
 country and upon himself by Gates and Putnam. 
 
 *Dec. 8.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE capture of General Lee had removed him from the 
 stage. Faction now beheld in Gates a ready instrument 
 of its designs. 
 
 He was of humble origin, the offspring " of a second 
 chambermaid" of a Walpole. His putative father was 
 " a journeyman tailor," and the young Horatio, "godson 
 of Horace Walpole," * was ushered into life under the 
 auspices of nobility. He received the commission of en- 
 sign in the British army, became an aide of General 
 Monckton, and was selected as bearer of the despatches 
 announcing the capture of Martinique. His next appear- 
 ance was as captain of an independent company of New 
 York troops under Braddock, when he received a wound. 
 At the close of this disastrous campaign, he repaired to 
 his native England, and after a short absence returned to 
 America and took up his abode in the interior of Virginia. 
 At the opening of the revolution and at the instance of 
 Washington, glad to avail himself of his military expe- 
 rience, he is seen to have been appointed adjutant-general 
 with the rank of brigadier, and early in seventy-six was 
 promoted to the grade of major-genera'. 
 
 This promotion gave offence. John Adams excused 
 
 * Walpole's Letters, iv. 220, thus italicised in the letter.
 
 366 THE KEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 it to Heath on the score of his merit : " Congress has not 
 determined to have no regard to the line of succession in 
 promotions, but only that this line shall not be an invaria- 
 ble rule, but they mean to reserve a right of distinguish- 
 ing extraordinary merit or demerit. * * * It is my 
 opinion he would have been made a major-general much 
 sooner, if his experience had not been thought indispensa- 
 ble in the adjutant-general's department." * 
 
 This impression of his extraordinary merit, without 
 any previous act to warrant it, prompted caresses he little 
 deserved, of most pernicious influence upon a character 
 too susceptible to flattery. 
 
 His invidious and querulous temper is seen throughout 
 his career. " What," he wrote to Putnam on the eve of 
 the battle of Long Island, " what have you, and what 
 have you not done ? Sense, courage, honor and abilities, 
 you know to be the great outlines of a general. My 
 friend Tom Mifflin has an uncommon share of all four. 
 Present my affectionate compliments to him." His com- 
 plaisant countryman Gordon writes to him at this time : 
 " I learn that the week before last our friends at New 
 York were in much the same state as at the beginning of 
 last January. If our dilatoriness does not ruin us, w^ 
 shall be indebted to a special providence." 
 
 Thus, between jeers upon Washington and commenda- 
 tions of himself, Gates only wanted the lights of fortune 
 to exhibit his weakness. 
 
 The successes of the northern army were rewarded 
 by Congress with the honors that were their due. A 
 proclamation for a national thanksgiving was issued. 
 This was followed by a vote of thanks to Gates, Lincoln 
 and Arnold, and to the officers and troops under their 
 command. A gold medal was also ordered in commem- 
 
 * J. Adams to Heath, Aug. 3, 1776.
 
 jET. 20.] HAMILTON. 
 
 oration of this great event, to be presented in the name 
 of the United States to Gates. Nor were Massachusetts 
 or Connecticut content with this tribute of the whole 
 people. Each ordered a special day of religious re- 
 joicing. 
 
 Gates now loomed largely in the public eye. The 
 prudential energy of Schuyler, the enterprise, the skill, 
 the consummate prudence of Washington and Greene, 
 their superintending care all seemed to fade or be for- 
 gotten amid the blazon of his glory. On a public occa- 
 sion in Massachusetts his health was drank before that of 
 Washington, and her jealousy of military power was so 
 far, for the moment, suppressed, that she authorized him 
 to fill up all the commissions that might be vacant in the 
 regiments of that State. 
 
 Lovell, chairman of the committee of foreign affairs, 
 at first a schoolmaster in Boston, writes from Yorktown : 
 " In truth, if you would give Burgoyne a little leisure to 
 exercise his talent at farce writing, which he discovered 
 in 'the Boston blockade,' he would furnish the world with 
 a winter evening's entertainment at the expense of Con- 
 gress, at least, if not of Congress and General Washing- 
 ton. Your army and the eastern militia are now strongly 
 contrasted with those in the Middle States, even by the 
 inhabitants of Philadelphia. It is said Howe would not 
 have passed more than seventy miles from the ships which 
 landed him, in his whole skin, in your neighborhood or 
 among Yankee stonewalls. Our (hope)* springs all from 
 the northward, and almost all our confidence. By the 
 winter, the middle army will be divided into Greenites 
 and Mifflinians, if things do not take a great turn from 
 their present situation. Verily our salvation must come 
 from far." 
 
 * Illegible in the original.
 
 368 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 On the day of Hamilton's mission to Gates, Colonel 
 Reed, Washington'? former aide-de-carnp, also wrote to 
 the successful general : " I have for some time volunteered 
 it with this army, which, notwithstanding the labors and 
 efforts of our amiable chief, has yet gathered no laurels. 
 Howe's army is much stronger than we once apprehended, 
 and repeated checks have taken off that ardor of emula- 
 tion which leads to success. I have been so unlucky as 
 to differ in opinion too generally with those who conduct 
 our operations, but I perfectly agree with them in that 
 sentiment which leads to request your assistance." 
 
 Lovell again wrote : " You have saved our northern 
 hemisphere. In spite of our consummate and repeated 
 blundering, you have changed the constitution of the 
 southern campaign of the enemy from offensive to defen- 
 sive. If you had remained with this army we might have 
 opposed, but could not have counteracted the deep-rooted 
 system of favoritism which began to shoot forth at New 
 York, and which now has arrived at its full growth and 
 maturity. Repeated slights and unjustifiable arrogance 
 combined with other causes to drive from the army those 
 who would not worship the image, and pay an undeserved 
 tribute of praise and flattery to the great and powerful. 
 The list of our disgusted patriots is long and formidable ; 
 their resentments keen against the reigning cabal ; and 
 their powers of opposition not despicable. The cam- 
 paign here must soon close. If no brilliant action takes 
 place before it ends, if our troops are obliged to retire to 
 Lancaster, Reading, Bethlehem, &c., for winter quarters, 
 and the country below is left open to the enemy's flying 
 parties, great and very general will be the murmur. So 
 great and so general, that nothing inferior to a com- 
 mander-in-chief will be able to resist the mighty torrent 
 of public clamor and public vengeance. We have had a
 
 ^ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 3(59 
 
 noble army melted down by ill-judged marches marches 
 that disgrace their authors and directors, and which have 
 occasioned the severest and most just sarcasm and con- 
 tempt of our enemies. How much are you to be envied, 
 my dear general ! How different your conduct and your 
 fortune ! 
 
 " A letter from Colonel Mifflin, received since the 
 writing of the last paragraph, gives me the disagreeable 
 intelligence of the loss of our fort in Delaware. You 
 must know the consequences. Loss of the river, boats, 
 galleys, ships-of-war &c., good winter quarters to the 
 enemy, and a general retreat, or an ill-judged, blind at- 
 tempt on our part to save a gone character. 
 
 " Conway, Spotswood, Conner, Ross, Col. J. Mifflin re- 
 signed ; and many good officers preparing their letters to 
 Congress on the same subject. In short,this army will be 
 totally lost unless you come down and collect the virtuous 
 band who wish to fight under your banner, and with their 
 aid save the southern hemisphere. Prepare yourself for 
 a jaunt to this place. Congress must send for you. I 
 have a thousand things to tell you." 
 
 Weak and vain-glorious, Gates had precisely those 
 traits of character which would recommend him to the 
 designing, without having the penetration to discover that 
 he was a tool. Presumptuous and irresolute, he engaged 
 in intrigues that he had not the sagacity to direct, and 
 sought responsibilities which he had not the firmness to 
 sustain. 
 
 Immediately after the surrender of Burgoyne, Colonel 
 Morgan waited upon Gates for orders. He led him aside 
 and told him, confidentially, that the main army was ex 
 tremely dissatisfied with the conduct of the war by the 
 commander-in-chief ; and that several of the best officers 
 threatened to resign unless a change took place. The 
 VOL. I. 24
 
 370 T1IE KEPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 plain teamster, Morgan, sternly replied, " I have one favor 
 to ask of you, that is, never to mention this detestable 
 subject to me again, for under no other man than Wash- 
 ington as commander-in-chief will I ever serve." Gates 
 punished the offence by a mere cursory notice in his des- 
 patches of this gallant officer, to whom he was so much 
 indebted, and treated him with marked reserve.* Arnold 
 was not less unfairly dealt with. He was the object of 
 his jealous hate. 
 
 Gates also sought to win the favor of Governor Clin- 
 ton, of too much practical sense to be thus ensnared. 
 In his notion of assembling at Morristown the forces 
 detached from himself, he proposed to him their com- 
 mand.f 
 
 The arrests of several officers for misconduct, and the 
 well-grounded dissatisfaction of other officers with the 
 fickle policy of Congress, prepared the army for improper 
 influences. 
 
 From its many heads the faction which had formed 
 was called " The Monster Party," the busiest of whom 
 were Conway and Mifflin. 
 
 The former, appearing before Congress, a penniless 
 colonel in the French service, decorated with the cross of 
 the order of St. Louis, a vain, weak intriguer, had been 
 in the preceding spring appointed to the command of a 
 brigade. 
 
 A few days after the action at Germantown, a rumor 
 reached Washington that he either had been, or was about 
 to be chosen major-general. This rumor probably arose 
 from a proposition in Congress, founded upon a letter 
 from Conway asking promotion, to direct an inquiry to be 
 made by Washington as to the priority of rank in France 
 
 * Lee's Southern War. Graham's " Life of Morgan. " 
 f Corresp. Rev., ii. 548.
 
 ,ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 37] 
 
 between De Kalb and Conway. It was defeated by the 
 vote of seven of the eleven States present, all the mem- 
 bers from New England opposing it. Washington wrote 
 to Richard Henry Lee in Congress : " It will be as unfor- 
 tunate a measure as ever was adopted. I may add, and 
 I think with truth, that it will give a fatal blow to the ex- 
 istence of this army. General Con way's merit as an 
 officer, and his importance in this army, exist more in his 
 own imagination than in reality. For it is a maxim with 
 him, to leave no service of his own untold, nor to want 
 any thing which is to be obtained by importunity." He 
 then stated his conviction, that if this promotion were 
 made, the brigadiers " would not serve under him." " I 
 must conjure you to conjure Congress to consider this 
 matter well, and not by a real act of injustice compel 
 some good officers to leave the service, and thereby incur 
 a train of evils unforeseen and irremediable." He dis- 
 claimed any prejudice against him. 
 
 Notwithstanding his many advocates, when the de- 
 cided opposition of the commander-in-chief was known, 
 a pause was seen. Conway felt the influence which had 
 been exerted. He resolved to undermine it, and to culti- 
 vate the favor of Gates in the first tide of his rising for- 
 tunes. He wrote him, mingling censures of Washington 
 with adulations to himself: " Heaven has been determined 
 to save your country, or a weak general and bad counsel- 
 lors would have ruined it." This marked passage had 
 been seen by Wilkinson, adjutant-general of Gates, and 
 by him, while on his tardy way to Congress with des- 
 patches, was disclosed to an aide-de-camp of Lord Stir- 
 ling, who communicated it to Washington. He enclosed 
 a copy of it to Conway without comment. A week after, 
 Conway announced to the commander-in-chief that he 
 had sent in his resignation. The reply was, when the
 
 372 THE REPUBLIC. [1777 
 
 consent of Congress is obtained,"! shall not object to 
 your departure since it is your inclination." 
 
 In the mean time, the proceedings of that body indi- 
 cate the policy beginning. to prevail. The terms of ca- 
 pitulation granted to Burgoyne had caused such dissatis- 
 faction that an apology was offered ; "The reduction of 
 Fort Montgomery, and the enemy's progress up the river 
 endangered the arsenal at Albany, a reflection which left 
 him no time to test the capitulation." Obviously futile as 
 the excuse was, "these terms were pronounced honorable 
 and advantageous to the States." 
 
 The public discontent was not stifled. The committee 
 of safety of New York addressed Congress with earnest 
 censure ; and it became necessary to bring the subject 
 again under consideration. The committee to whom it 
 was referred made a report; but upon an allegation that 
 more time was necessary to obtain a knowledge of the 
 facts, its consideration was postponed, but not without a 
 wide division of opinion.* This subject was frequently 
 resumed, when motions of inquiry and for obtaining in- 
 formation were defeated. Yet such was the dissatisfac- 
 tion of subsequent Congresses with this capitulation, that 
 the obligations of good faith were never fulfilled. 
 
 Immediately after Hamilton had departed on his mis- 
 sion to Gates to expedite reinforcements, some pregnant 
 resolutions were passed, founded on the report of a com- 
 mittee, of which Richard Henry Lee was chairman. f 
 They resolved that, " General Washington be informed, 
 that it is the earnest wish of Congress to regain the pos- 
 session of the forts and passes of the Hudson River," and, 
 
 * Nov. 8 Affirmative Folsom, Gerry, Law, Williams, Duane, Dner, El- 
 mer, Smith, Harvie, Perrin, Harnett 11. Negative Samuel Adams, John 
 Adams, LoVell, Marchant, Dyer, Roberdeau, Clingan, Jones, F. L. Lee, Lau- 
 rens 10. f Nov. 5.
 
 yE-r. 20.] HAMILTON. 373 
 
 for that purpose, that General Gates should remain in 
 command in that quarter, and that Putnam join the main 
 army with such detachment from the army under Gates, as 
 General Washington may think can be spared, not exceed- 
 ing twenty-five hundred men, including Morgan's corps. 
 
 Gates was ordered to make a proper disposition of the 
 army for reducing the posts on the Hudson. Authority 
 was given to him to order such of the continental troops 
 and militia as were posted neai to join him, and also to 
 call on the several States for such numbers of militia as 
 he should judge necessary to maintain those posts, " to the 
 end that his army may be in readiness to pursue such 
 operations as Congress shall direct." Further authority 
 was granted him, to call for all " the aids he should judge 
 necessary for the reduction of Ticonderoga and Fort In- 
 dependence at such time as he should deem best adapted 
 tor that expedition." 
 
 A resolution was added, probably as an amendment, 
 that "if General Washington, after consulting General 
 Gates and Governor Clinton, shall be of opinion that a 
 larger reinforcement can be detached to the main army, 
 consistent with the attainment of the objects" committed 
 to Gates, " in such case he be directed to order such far- 
 ther reinforcements to the main army as may be thought 
 conducive to the general welfare, any thing in the pre- 
 ceding resolution to the contrary notwithstanding." 
 
 In debating this resolution it was moved, after " di- 
 rected," to insert "with their concurrence." This amend- 
 ment was negatived by every State except Massachusetts, 
 which was divided, and by one vote from Rhode Island,* 
 and the resolution was carried by a vote of eighteen to 
 
 five members.! 
 
 , 
 
 * Samuel Adams, John Adams, Gerry, Marchant, Dyer. 
 \ Negs. S. Adams, Gerry, Murchant, Dyer, Roberdeau.
 
 374 THE REPUBLIC. fi777. 
 
 The obvious effect of this procedure would have been 
 to take from Washington the supreme command, and to 
 render his success and safety dependent upon the ap- 
 proval of a rival ; limiting the succors he was to receive 
 so low as to ensure the necessity of his inactivity, while 
 Gates, with new trophies, should stand unrivalled in the 
 public favor. The cabal were attempting to play the 
 game in which Lee had failed a twelvemonth before. 
 
 While her representation in Congress sustained Wash- 
 ington, Pennsylvania, to a great degree, appeared to coin- 
 cide with Massachusetts. She felt his reproaches of her 
 feeble aids, and resented in his person, the possession of 
 her capital by the enemy. 
 
 These feelings found an active partisan in General 
 Mifflin, a native of this State, of great personal popular- 
 ity and extensive influence. Shrewd, bland, eloquent, 
 he spoke with effect to the patriotic feeling, and still re- 
 tained some hold upon the Quakers, in whose tenets he 
 had been educated.* Early chosen an aide-de-camp to 
 Washington, he retired from his staff retaining his favor, 
 and was appointed by him quarter-master general. 
 
 This station he accepted, then resigned to take his 
 place in the line, where he served with credit a short time, 
 when, at the instance of Congress, he resumed it. Ere 
 long he was promoted to the rank of major-general. 
 The distresses of the army during his administration of the 
 quarter-master-general's department led to an investiga- 
 tion by Congress. Their report urged that " not a mo- 
 ment's time be lost in placing a man of approved abilities 
 and extensive capacity at the head of the department, 
 
 * Chastellnx states, i. 181 : " He is a smart, sensible, active, and agreea- 
 ble little man. I never saw him without thinking of Garrick. He is about 
 the same size and figure, and his countenance sparkles with significance and 
 expression."
 
 J3T. 20.] HAMILTON. 375 
 
 who will restore it to some degree of order and regularity, 
 whose provident care will immediately relieve the wants 
 of the army, and extend itself to those which must be 
 satisfied before we can expect vigor, enterprise and suc- 
 cess." 
 
 Such censure, the frequent and unavoidable com- 
 plaints of Washington, and his earnest desire to place 
 Greene at the head of this department, between whom 
 and Mifflin unkind feelings existed, irritated his mind, and 
 made him an avowed enemy of the commander-in-chief. 
 His ear, he alleged, was exclusively possessed by Greene. 
 His campaign was a series of blunders. His incapacity 
 was obvious. The better fortune of the northern army 
 was ascribed to the superior talent of its leader. Gates 
 was the man who should of right have the station so in- 
 competently filled by Washington.* 
 
 Mifflin, smarting under their censure, asked leave of 
 Congress to resign his commission in the line and in the 
 staff, pleading ill health. Compelled by the force of pub- 
 lic opinion, Congress accepted his resignation as quarter- 
 master-general, but resolved that his commission in the 
 line be retained, though without pay, until further order. 
 Yet on the same day, such were the dominant influences 
 in the selection of a new Board of War, Mifflin was 
 placed at its head. The inefficiency of the former board 
 had induced Congress to determine that a Board of War, 
 to act under the superintendence of the existing board, 
 should be constituted of three persons, not members of 
 their body. 
 
 To render the selection less publicly offensive, Colo- 
 nels Pickering and Harrison, the secretary of Washing- 
 ton, were associated with Mifflin. Harrison declined the 
 appointment. The Congressional board soon after fre- 
 
 * Graydon's Memoirs, 299. t Nov - 24 '
 
 376 THE REPUBLIC. [17T7. 
 
 ported, that, after a conference with General Mifflin, they 
 were of opinion " that a sufficient number of commission- 
 ers had not been appointed in order to give due weight to 
 the regulations which might be recommended by the 
 board and adopted by Congress, and particularly for ena- 
 bling one of the board to visit, from time to time, the dif- 
 ferent armies, in order to see that these regulations were 
 executed, and to examine what the wants of the army 
 were, and what defects or abuses prevail, from time to 
 time, in the different departments." 
 
 Upon this report it was resolved, that two additional 
 commissioners be appointed ; and on the twenty-seventh 
 of November three commissioners were elected, General 
 Gates, Joseph Trumbull, entirely in his interest, and 
 Richard Peters. Thus a majority was secured to Gates. 
 A resolution was also passed, that the President of Con- 
 gress inform General Gates of his appointment, express- 
 ing " the high sense they entertain of his abilities and pe- 
 culiar fitness to discharge the duties of that important 
 office, upon the right execution of which the success of 
 the American cause does eminently depend that it is the 
 intention of Congress to continue his rank as major-gen- 
 eral ; and that he may officiate at the board or in the 
 field, as occasion may require ; and that he be requested 
 to repair to Congress with all convenient dispatch, to en- 
 ter upon the duties of his appointment." 
 
 Lovell instantly wrote him : " We want you in differ- 
 ent places, but most of all in a third which you are not 
 called to balance about. We want you most, near Ger- 
 mantown. Good God ! What a situation are we in ! How 
 different from what might have been justly expected! 
 You will be astonished when you come to know accu- 
 rately what numbers have, at one time and another, been 
 collected near Philadelphia to wear out stockings, shoes
 
 .Ex. 20.] HAMILTON. 
 
 and breeches. Depend upon it, for every ten soldiers 
 placed under the command of our Fabius, five recruits 
 will be wanted annually during the war. The brave fel- 
 lows at Fort Mifflin and Red Bank have despaired of suc- 
 cor and been obliged to quit. The naval department have 
 fallen into circumstances of seeming disgrace. Come to 
 the Board of War, if only for a short season. * * * * 
 If it was not for the defeat of Burgoyne, and the strong 
 appearances of an European war, our affairs are Fabiussed 
 into a very disagreeable posture. Conway has resigned, 
 and many spirited officers by an overbalance of * * * 
 * * * * counsellors." 
 
 The following day, the President of Congress, Henry 
 Laurens, announced to Gates his election to preside at the 
 Board of War ; and Mifflin communicated to him pri- 
 vately the recent exposure of Conway. " An extract," 
 he wrote, f " from General Conway's letter to you has 
 been procured and sent to head-quarters. The extract 
 was a collection of just sentiments, yet such as should not 
 have been entrusted to any of your family. General 
 Washington enclosed it to Conway without remarks. It 
 was supported, and the freedom of the sentiment not 
 apologized for. On the contrary, although some reflec- 
 tions were made on some people, yet the practice was 
 pleaded boldly and no satisfaction given. My dear gen- 
 eral, take care of your generosity and frank disposition. 
 They cannot injure yourself, but they may injure some 
 of your best friends. Affectionately yours." 
 
 Gates writhed under this intelligence. Remote, ex- 
 posed, uncertain to what extent his letters had been 
 divulged, he had no means of learning how far he was 
 commuted, nor by whom. His only resource was to 
 write for information. Conway was first addressed in a 
 
 * Obscured in the original. f Nov. 28.
 
 .378 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 letter expressing regret at his resignation, and casting 
 censures upon Washington. The purpose was reserved 
 for the postscript : " I entreat you, dear general, to let me 
 know which of the letters was copied off. It is of the 
 greatest importance that I should detect the person, who 
 has been guilty of that act of infidelity." The next day 
 Mifflin was informed of his "inexpressible distress." 
 " Though to this moment I have been ruminating who could 
 be the villain that has played me this treacherous trick, 
 yet I can find no clue to a discovery. There is scarcely a 
 man living who takes greater care of his papers than I 
 do. I never fail to lock them up and keep the key in my 
 pocket. No punishment is too severe for the wretch who 
 betrayed me ; and I doubt not your friendship for me 
 as well as your zeal for our safety will bring the name of 
 the miscreant to public light." 
 
 After four days of tribulation, he dispatched a letter 
 to Washington, thinking to fix on him the imputation of 
 having by indirect means obtained access to his confi- 
 dential correspondence. 
 
 Relying upon his present popularity, he hoped to make 
 Congress a party to his cause. With this view, he enclosed 
 a copy of this letter to them, calling for their aid in this 
 scrutiny. " I cannot," he wrote, " believe that the traitor- 
 ous thief will long escape detection, after the patriotism 
 of the delegates shall have been alarmed." 
 
 His letter to Washington was in these extraordinary 
 terms : 
 
 " SIR, I shall not attempt to describe what, as a pri- 
 vate gentleman, I cannot help feeling, on representing to 
 my mind the disagreeable situation in which confidential 
 letters, when exposed to public inspection, may place an 
 unsuspecting correspondent ; but as a public officer, I 
 conjure your excellency to give m? all the assistance you
 
 ;ET. 20.] HAMILTON. 379 
 
 can, in tracing out. the author of the infidelity which put 
 extracts from General Conway's letters to me into your 
 hands. 
 
 Those letters have been stealingly copied, but which 
 of them, when, and by whom, is to me yet an unfathom- 
 able secret. 
 
 There is not one officer in my suite, nor amongst those 
 who have free access to me, upon whom I could, with the 
 least justification to myself, fix the suspicion, and yet my 
 uneasiness may deprive me of the usefulness of the wor- 
 thiest men. It is, / believe, in your excellency's power to 
 do me and the United States a very important service by 
 detecting a wretch who may betray me, and capitally in- 
 jure the very operations under your immediate directions. 
 For this reason, sir, I beg your excellency will favor me 
 with the proof you can procure to that effect. But the 
 crime being eventually so important, that the least loss of 
 time may be attended with the worst consequences, and 
 it being unknown to me whether the letter came to you 
 from a member of Congress or an officer, I shall have the 
 honor of transmitting a copy of this to the president, that 
 the Congress may, in concert with your excellency, obtain 
 as soon as possible a discovery which so deeply affects the 
 safety of the States. Crimes of that magnitude ought not 
 to remain unpunished. I have the honor to be, with the 
 greatest respect, " 
 
 The cabal had in the interval pursued their object. 
 The Board of War, to whom two letters of Conway were 
 referred, presented a report, " that it was essential to the 
 promotion of discipline in the American army, and to the 
 reformation of the various abuses which prevail in the 
 different departments, that an appointment be made of 
 INSPECTOR-GENERAL, agreeable to the practice of the best 
 disciplined armies of Europe," and that this appointment
 
 380 THE REPUBLIC. [1777. 
 
 be conferred " on experienced and vigilant general officers, 
 who are acquainted with whatever relates to the general 
 economy, manoeuvres, and discipline, of a well regulated 
 army." 
 
 Powers were conferred upon this office, in effect para- 
 mount to those of the commander-in-chief. It was re- 
 solved, that two inspectors-general should be appointed, 
 and, in despite of Washington's earnest remonstrance, 
 and in disregard of his recent resignation, Conway was 
 elected * inspector-general, and also appointed a major- 
 general. 
 
 Though he had attained the object of his ambition, yet, 
 knowing the influence of Washington over the public 
 mind, and aware of the dissatisfaction his promotion had 
 excited in the army, he felt it would be a great object to 
 obtain his sanction. 
 
 He wrote to the commander-in-chief, proposing to 
 enter immediately upon the performance of his duties, 
 asking his views as to the mode of executing them. He 
 then stated that he " accepted the office of inspector-gen- 
 eral with the view of being instrumental to the welfare of 
 the cause and to the glory of the commander-in-chief, in 
 making his troops fit to execute his orders. The rank of 
 major-general, which was given me, is absolutely requi- 
 site for this office, in order to be vested with proper au- 
 thority to superintend the instruction and the internal ad- 
 ministration. There is no inspector in the European 
 armies under a major-general. However, sir, if my ap- 
 pointment is productive of any inconvenience, or any 
 wise disagreeable to your excellency, as I neither applied 
 nor solicited for this place, I am very ready to return to 
 France, where I have pressing business ; and this I will 
 do with the more satisfaction, as I expect even there to 
 
 * Dec. 13.
 
 ^T. 20.] HAMILTON. 33 j_ 
 
 be useful to the cause." This statement is at variance 
 with his prior letters soliciting the appointment. 
 
 The next day a reply was given by Hamilton over 
 Washington's name : 
 
 " I am favored with your letter of yesterday, in which 
 you propose (in order to lose no time) to begin with the 
 instruction of the troops. You will observe, by the reso- 
 lution of Congress relative to your appointment, that the 
 Board of War is to furnish a set of instructions, according 
 to which the troops are to be mano3uvred. As you have 
 made no mention of having received them, I suppose they 
 are not come to you : when they do, I shall issue any or- 
 ders which may be judged necessary to have them carried 
 into immediate execution. 
 
 " Your appointment of inspector-general to the army, 
 has not, I believe, given the least uneasiness to any officer 
 in it. By consulting your own feelings upon the appoint- 
 ment of the Baron De Kalb, you may judge what must be 
 the sensation of those brigadiers, who by your promotion 
 are superseded. I am told they are determined to remon- 
 strate against it. For my own part, I have nothing to do 
 in the appointment of general officers, and shall always 
 afford every countenance and due respect to those ap- 
 pointed by Congress, taking it for granted that, prior to 
 any resolve of that nature, they take a dispassionate view 
 of the merits of the officer to be promoted, and consider 
 every conssqucnce that can result from such a procedure ; 
 nor have I any other wish on that head, but that good, 
 attentive officers may be chosen, and no extraordinary 
 promotion take place, but when the merit of the officer is 
 so generally acknowledged as to obviate every reasonable 
 cause of dissatisfaction thereat." 
 
 Defeated in his object, Conway immediately replied in 
 this offensive manner; "What you are pleased to call an
 
 382 THE EEPUBLIO. [1778 
 
 extraordinary promotion is a very plain one. There is 
 nothing extraordinary in it, only that such a place was 
 not thought of sooner. The general and universal merit 
 which you wish every promoted officer might he endowed 
 with, is a rare gift. We see but few men of merit so gen- 
 erally acknowledged. We know but the great Frederick 
 in Europe, and the great Washington on this continent. 
 I certainly never was su rash as to pretend to such a pro- 
 digious height. Neither do I pretend to any superiority 
 in personal qualities over my brother brigadiers, for whom 
 I have much regard. But you, sir, and the great Freder- 
 ick know perfectly well, that this trade is not learnt in a 
 few months." Vaunting his long experience, he closed, 
 " However, sir, by the complexion of your letter, and by 
 the two receptions you have honored me with since my 
 arrival, I perceive that I have not the happiness of being 
 agreeable to your excellency, and that I can expect no 
 support in fulfilling the laborious duty of an inspector- 
 general. I do not mean to give you or any officer in the 
 army the least uneasiness. Therefore I am very ready to 
 return to France, and to the army where 1 hope I shall 
 meet with no frowns." 
 
 To prevent misrepresentation, it was thought expedient 
 to communicate these letters to Congress. On the second 
 of January, seventy-eight, a letter written by Hamilton in 
 Washington's name was transmitted to them : 
 
 " I take the liberty of transmitting to you the enclosed 
 copies of a letter from me to General Conway since his 
 return from York to camp, and of two letters from him to 
 me which you will be pleased to lay before Congress. I 
 shall not in this letter animadvert upon them ; but after 
 making a single observation, submit the whole to Con- 
 gress. 
 
 " If General Conway means by cool receptions, men-
 
 Ex. 21.] HAMILTON. 383 
 
 tioned in the last paragraph of his letter of the 31st ultimo, 
 that I did not receive him in the language of a warm and 
 cordial friend, I readily confess the charge. I did not, 
 nor shall I ever, till I am capable of the arts of dissimula- 
 tion. These I despise, and my feelings will not permit 
 me to make professions of friendship to the man I deem 
 my enemy, and whose system of conduct forbids it. At 
 the same time, truth authorizes me to say, that he was re- 
 ceived and treated with proper respect to his official char- 
 acter, and that he has had no cause to justify the assertion, 
 that he could not expect any support for fulfilling the du- 
 ties of his appointment." 
 
 Washington at this time received the letter of Gates 
 demanding the source of his information as to the extract 
 of Conway's letter. He replied on the fourth of January : 
 
 "Your letter of the 8th ultimo, came to my hands a 
 few days ago, and to my great surprise informed me that 
 a copy of it had been sent to Congress, for w r hat reason 
 I find myself unable to account ; but as some end, doubt- 
 less, w r as intended to be answered by it, I am laid under 
 the disagreeable necessity of returning my answer through 
 the same channel, lest any member of that honorable body 
 should harbor an unfavorable suspicion of my having 
 practised some indirect means to come at the contents 
 of the confidential letters between you and General 
 Conway. 
 
 I am to inform you, then, that Colonel Wilkinson, on 
 his way to Congress, in the month of October last, fell in 
 with Lord Stirling at Reading, and, not in confidence, that 
 I ever understood, informed his aide-de-camp, Me Wil- 
 liams, that General Conway had written thus to you : 
 ' Heaven has been determined to save your country, or a 
 weak general and bad counsellors * would have ruined it.' 
 
 * " One of these, by the bye, he was,'' in a note in his hand.
 
 384: THE REPUBLIC. [1778 
 
 Lord Stirling, from motives of friendship, transmitted the 
 account, with this remark, ' The enclosed was communi- 
 cated by Colonel Wilkinson to Major Me Williams. Such 
 duplicity of conduct I shall always think it my duty to 
 defeat.' 
 
 " In consequence of this information, and without hav- 
 ing any thing more in view than merely to show that gen- 
 tleman that I was not unapprised of his intriguing dispo- 
 sition, I wrote him a letter in these words : ' Sir, a letter 
 which I received last night, contained the following para- 
 graph in a letter from General Conway to General Gates : 
 he says, 'Heaven has been determined to save your 
 country, or a weak general and bad counsellors would 
 have ruined it. I am, &c.' 
 
 "Neither this letter, nor the information which occa- 
 sioned it, was ever directly or indirectly communicated by 
 me to a single officer in this army out of my own family, 
 excepting the Marquis de la Fayette, who having been 
 spoken to on the subject by General Conway, applied for, 
 and saw, under injunctions of secrecy, the letter which 
 contained Colonel Wilkinson's information. So desirous 
 was I of concealing every matter that could in its conse- 
 quences give the smallest interruption to the tranquillity 
 of this army, or afford a gleam of hope to the enemy by 
 dissensions therein. 
 
 " Thus, sir, with openness and candor, which I hope will 
 ever characterize and mark my conduct, have I complied 
 with your request. The only concern I feel upon the oc- 
 casion, finding how matters stand, is, that in doing this, I 
 have necessarily been obliged to name a gentleman whom 
 I am persuaded, (although I never exchanged a word 
 with him on the subject,) thought he was rather doing an 
 act of justice, than committing an act of infidelity ; and 
 sure I am, that till Lord Stirling's letter came to my
 
 JEr. 31.] HAMILTON. 335 
 
 hands, I never knew that General Conway (whom I 
 viewed in the light of a stranger to you) was a corres- 
 pondent of yours, much less did I expect that I was the 
 subject of your confidential letters. Pardon me, then, for 
 adding, that so far from conceiving that the safety of the 
 States can be affected, or in the smallest degree injured 
 I y a discovery of this kind, or that I should be called on 
 in such solemn terms to point out the author, that I con- 
 sidered the information as coming from yourself, and 
 given with a friendly view to forewarn, and, consequently, 
 forearm me against a secret enemy ; or in other words, a 
 dangerous incendiary, in which character, sooner or later, 
 this country will know General Conway. But in this, as 
 in other matters of late, I have found myself mistaken." 
 
 This letter was enclosed to the President of Congress 
 in a note written by Hamilton over Washington's signa- 
 ture, on the fourth of January. 
 
 " Unwilling as I am to add any thing to the multi- 
 plicity of matter that necessarily engages the attention of 
 Congress, I am compelled by unavoidable necessity to 
 pass my answer to General Gates through their hands. 
 
 " What could induce General Gates to communicate a 
 copy of his letters to me through that honorable body, is 
 beyond the depth of my comprehension, upon any fair 
 ground ; but the fact being so, must stand as an apology 
 for a liberty, which no other consideration would have 
 induced me to take, to give you this trouble." 
 
 VOL. I. 25
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WHILE Gates was reflecting upon his embarrassed situa- 
 tion, Washington was fully occupied with his public 
 duties. 
 
 In a very cogent letter written soon after the army 
 entered winter quarters, a full view was given to Con- 
 gress of its sufferings and its weakness resulting from the 
 defective management of the commissariat. Even Lov- 
 ell, hostile as he was to the commander-in-chief, acknow- 
 ledges, in a private letter to General Lee, the sufficiency 
 of his vindication : 
 
 " The extremities of these injuries," he wrote, " which 
 were prophesied some months ago, are now realized in the 
 commissariat ; and we now find most of our high expec- 
 tations from the expensive establishment of the quarter- 
 master, had not a thorough foundation. General Wash- 
 ington has made this evident, and shows it fairly to be the 
 clue to unravel our many seemingly mysterious past mis- 
 carriages in the field." 
 
 It was the criminal policy of the cabal to drive Wash- 
 ington into measures to diminish his popularity. He had 
 been invested after the battle of Brandywine a second 
 time, as previously stated, with large powers. Late in 
 December, the legislatures of the several States were
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 387 
 
 earnestly recommended by Congress to enact laws, " ap- 
 pointing persons to seize and take for the use of the con- 
 tinental army, all the necessary articles suitable for its 
 clothing, to empower the commissary-general to seize 
 stock and every kind of provision necessary for it ; and 
 among other things, to limit the number of retailers of 
 goods, who were to be compelled to take licenses and ex- 
 ecute bonds ; providing, that no person should sell by 
 wholesale except the importer, and then only to such li- 
 censed retailers ; and that no person not licensed should 
 be permitted to buy more than was necessary for his do- 
 mestic use." A circular letter was addressed to the 
 States expressing a " hope," that these measures " will be 
 carried into execution as secretly and expeditiously as 
 possible." 
 
 Improbable as the execution of such arbitrary laws 
 seemed, and remote as the aid, if any, must be derived 
 from them, the true remedy was to correct the abuses in, 
 and impart energy and system to the commissariat. 
 This would offend individuals upon whom the cabal 
 counted, and would be a public acknowledgment of one 
 of the principal causes of the " miscarriages in the field." 
 It was preferred to compel Washington to the exercise of 
 powers that must render him obnoxious. He must be left 
 without aid from Congress or from the Board of War, to 
 subsist his army by forcible impressments, or it must dis- 
 band. 
 
 The scope of their policy was seen, and in a short let- 
 ter addressed to the President of Congress on the fifth of 
 January, in the name of the commander-in-chief, was ex- 
 posed to them by Hamilton. 
 
 " The letter you allude to from the Committee of Con- 
 gress and Board of War came to hand on Saturday 
 morning, but it does not mention the regulations adopted
 
 388 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 for removing the difficulties and failures in the commissa- 
 ry line. I trust they will be vigorous or the army cannot 
 exist. It will never answer to procure supplies of cloth- 
 ing or provision by coercive measures. The small seiz- 
 ures made of the former a few days ago, in consequence 
 of the most pressing and absolute necessity, when that or 
 to dissolve was the alternative, excited the greatest alarm 
 and uneasiness, even among our best and warmest friends. 
 Such procedures may give a momentary relief; but, if 
 repeated, will prove of the most pernicious consequence. 
 Beside spreading dissaffection, jealousy and fear among 
 the people, they never fail, even in the most veteran troops, 
 under the most rigid and exact discipline, to raise in the 
 soldiery a disposition to licentiousness, to plunder and rob- 
 bery, difficult to suppress afterwards, and which has 
 proved not only ruinous to the inhabitants, but in many 
 instances to armies themselves. I regret the occasion that 
 compelled us to the measure the other day, and shall con- 
 sider it among the greatest of our misfortunes if we 
 should be under the necessity of practising it again." 
 
 A few days after, Hamilton, over Washington's signa- 
 ture, wrote to Congress, submitting several important 
 questions arising as to a capture recently made by a de- 
 tachment of the army, and by a party of militia, in order 
 that "certain principles might be established to govern 
 in the like and future cases." On the twenty-second of 
 January of the previous year, Washington issued a gen- 
 eral order declaring that " such articles as are taken, not 
 necessary for the use of the army, should be sold at public 
 vendue, under the direction of the quarter-master-gen- 
 eral, or of some of his deputies, for the benefit of the 
 captors/' This order was in principle conformable with 
 the practice of the British government. The questions 
 propounded were, " What articles captured are to be con-
 
 ^Er. 21.] HAMILTON. 389 
 
 sidercd as public property? Whether articles captured 
 by parties or detachments, not determined public property, 
 are to be distributed or sold for the benefit of the army 
 at large, or are to be considered as the sole and exclusive 
 right of the captors. If in general instances, such arti- 
 cles as are taken and which are not considered public 
 property, are determined to be the sole and exclusive 
 right of the captors, are stationary departments, which 
 from their situation have much more than a common 
 chance of making prizes, to be considered upon the same 
 footing, and if there is to be a distinction between station- 
 ary and other detachments, and the former are deemed 
 to have an exclusive right to the captures they make, 
 what proportion of the articles are they to have ? " 
 
 The legislation upon this subject long deferred is very 
 incomplete, and not very liberal. 
 
 After an interval of a few days, on the tenth of Janu- 
 ary, Conway, confiding in the strength of the faction in 
 Congress, wrote again to Washington: "I understand 
 that your aversion to me is owing to the letter I wrote to 
 General Gates. There is not a subaltern in Europe but 
 what will write to his friends and acquaintances, and 
 mention freely his opinion of the generals and of the 
 army ; but I never heard that the least notice was taken 
 of these letters. Must such an odious and tyrannical in- 
 quisition begin in this country ? Must it be introduced 
 by the commander-in-chief of this army raised for the de- 
 fence of liberty ? I cannot believe, sir, neither does any 
 officer in your army believe, that the objection to my ap- 
 pointment originates from any body living but from you. 
 Since you will not accept of my services, since you can- 
 not bear the sight of me in your camp, I am very ready 
 to go wherever Congress thinks proper, and even to 
 France ; and I solemnly declare, that, far from resenting
 
 390 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 the undeserved rebuke I met with from you, I shall do 
 every thing in my power to serve the cause." 
 
 Thus far the cabal had failed in their object. On the 
 day of the date of this letter, a more decisive measure 
 was resorted to, which, it was hoped, might drive Wash- 
 ington to resign. A resolution was passed for the appoint- 
 ment of a committee, to consist of three members of Con- 
 gress and three members of the Bv.ard of War, to repair 
 to head-quarters, with general powers to reorganize the 
 army, " to recommend the necessary appointments of 
 general officers, to remove officers in the civil depart- 
 ments of the army and to appoint others in their room ; 
 to report to Congress their opinion of the necessary rein- 
 forcements and the best mode of obtaining them ; to re- 
 port such alterations as they should deem expedient in the 
 regulations of the several departments ; and in general, 
 to adopt such measures as they should judge necessary 
 for introducing economy and promoting discipline and 
 good morals in the army." 
 
 This committee was to act nominally in concert with 
 Washington, but could be regarded by him in no othei 
 light than as a permanent court of inquiry into his con 
 duct. 
 
 The members chosen were significant of its purpose, 
 Dana and Folsom from New England, and Reed of 
 Pennsylvania, from Congress. Gates, Mifflin and Picker- 
 ing of the Board of War were associated with them two 
 days after. Wilkinson was appointed secretary. Harvie 
 was subsequently added to the committee. 
 
 As though to encourage the dissatisfaction of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and to accumulate insults upon Washington, the 
 same faction passed a resolution applauding " the rising 
 spirit of the inhabitants" of that State to regain their 
 capital ; declaring the readiness of Congress with all their
 
 /Ex. 21.] HAMILTON. 39} 
 
 power to " co-operate with them," and directing the com- 
 mittee appointed to proceed to the camp, " to consult with 
 the president and council of Pennsylvania, and with Gen- 
 eral Washington," on the practicability of an attack. At 
 the same time the excitement of the legislature of that 
 State was brought in aid. 
 
 The recent statement of Washington of the condition 
 of the army seemed to be wholly disregarded. "Few 
 men," he wrote, " have more than one shirt, many only 
 the moiety of one, and some none at all. A number of 
 men confined to hospitals for want of shoes, and others 
 in farmers' houses on the same account. We have, by a 
 field return this day made, no less than two thousand 
 eight hundred ninety-eight men now in camp unfit for 
 duty, because they are barefoot and otherwise naked, 
 numbers having been obliged for want of blankets and 
 still are, to sit up all night by fires instead of taking com- 
 fortable rest in a natural way. I can assure these gentle- 
 men, that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to 
 draw remonstrances in a comfortable room, by a good 
 fireside, than to occupy a cold bleak hill, and sleep under 
 frost and snow, without clothes or blankets. However, 
 although they seem to have little feeling for the naked and 
 distressed soldiers, I feel superabundantly for them, and 
 from my soul pity those miseries which it is not in my 
 power to relieve or to prevent." 
 
 This letter was dated from the camp at Valley Forge,* 
 which lies on the western side of the Schuylkill, conve- 
 nient to the rich country of Lancaster and Reading, and 
 in the first step of the ascent of hills which reach to the 
 North Mountain or Blue Ridge. It possessed every ad- 
 vantage which strength of ground or salubrity of climate 
 could bestow. Here, by the hands of his soldiers, Wash- 
 
 * Lee's Southern War, 47. gives this description, with fuller remarks.
 
 392 THE REPUBLIC. L lT7b 
 
 ington erected a town of huts, and strengthened his posi- 
 tion by all the helps of art and industry. He was now 
 occupied in instructing his troops, and subjecting them at 
 the same time to inoculation for the small pox, then a 
 fearful pestilence. 
 
 The sufferings of the soldiery in this encampment did 
 not only proceed from want of clothing and of protection 
 from the cold ; nor were abuses only seen in the quarter- 
 master's department. The conduct of the hospital de- 
 partment was believed to have increased the distress and 
 fatality of disease. This important matter was referred 
 to a committee. Linen and blankets were ordered to be 
 reserved for the sick, clothes to be supplied to the conva- 
 lescent ; a member of Congress was specially charged to 
 visit the hospitals in the middle department ; and the cler- 
 gy were requested to solicit charitable "donations of wool- 
 lens or linens for the sick soldiers." To probe the evil to 
 its source, Shippen, the director general of all the military 
 hospitals in the United States, and Rush, who had been 
 surgeon-general, and was now "physician-general of the 
 hospital in the middle department," were ordered on the 
 sixth of January to attend Congress on the twenty-sixth 
 of that month, " to be examined touching certain abuses 
 said to prevail in the hospital." * Letters were received 
 from these officers, and on the twenty-seventh of that 
 month were referred to a Committee of Congress, who 
 were directed " to send for them and to hear them and to 
 report specially." The next day Rush resigned. His res- 
 ignation was forthwith accepted.f Shippen continued in 
 office. Soon after, letters were addressed to Washington 
 and to a member of Congress by Rush, charging Shippen 
 with malconduct. An inquiry was instituted, but, it would 
 seem, was not proceeded in. Similar charges were sub- 
 
 * Journals Congress, ii. 394. f Ibid. 422, Jan. 28.
 
 ^Ex. 21.] HAMILTON. 393 
 
 scquently preferred by another physician. Shipper) was 
 arrested, tried before a court martial, and acquitted. 
 
 On the day this matter was taken up in Congress, a 
 letter was addressed to Washington by his faithful sur- 
 geon, Craig, stating " that a strong faction was forming 
 against him in the new Board of War and in the Con- 
 gress." " It was said that some of the eastern and south- 
 ern members were at the bottom of it, particularly one, 
 who has been said to be your enemy before, but denied it, 
 Richard Henry Lee ; and that General Mifflin, in the new 
 Board of War, was a very active person. This last, I 
 am afraid, is too true. I have reason to believe he is not 
 your friend from many circumstances." After stating 
 the low artifices resorted to, he proceeds : " It is said, they 
 dare not appear openly as your enemies, but that the new 
 Board of War is composed of such leading men as will 
 throw such obstacles and difficulties in your way, as to 
 force you to resign." " Mifflin is plausible, sensible, pop- 
 ular, and ambitious, takes great pains to draw over every 
 officer he meets with to his own way of thinking, and is 
 very engaging." 
 
 Six days later, on the twelfth of January, an anony- 
 mous letter was addressed to Patrick Henry, Governor 
 of Virginia, intended to destroy Washington in his native 
 State, which shows that the recently instituted inquiry as 
 to the hospital department was not without effect. A 
 compliment to Henry and a flourish of patriotism precede 
 a sketch of the condition of the public councils and of 
 the army. " America can only be outdone by herself. 
 She looks up to her councils and arms for protection ; 
 but, alas! what are they? Her representation in Con- 
 gress dwindled to only twenty-one members ; her Adams, 
 her Wilson, her Henry are no more among them. Her 
 councils weak, and partial remedies applied constantly for
 
 394 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 universal diseases. Her army, what is it? a major-gen- 
 eral belonging to it, called it, a few days ago, in my hear- 
 ing, a mob. Discipline unknown, or wholly neglected. 
 The quarter-master's and commissary's departments filled 
 with idleness, ignorance, and peculation ; our hospitals 
 crowded with six thousand sick, but half provided with 
 necessaries for accommodations, and more dying in them 
 in one month than perished in the field during the whole 
 of the last campaign. The money depreciating, without 
 any effectual measures being taken to raise it." " But is 
 our case desperate ? By no means. We have wisdom, 
 virtue, and strength enough to save us, if they could be 
 called into action. The northern army has shown us 
 what Americans are capable of doing with a general at 
 their head. The spirit of the southern army is no way 
 inferior to the spirit of the northern. A Gates, a Lee, a 
 Conway, would in a few weeks render them an irresist- 
 ible body of men. The last of the above officers has 
 accepted of the new office of inspector-general of our 
 army, in order to reform abuses, but the remedy is only 
 a palliative one." He states that the author " is one of 
 his Philadelphia friends. A hint of his name, if found 
 out by the handwriting, must not be mentioned to your 
 most intimate friend. Even the letter must be thrown 
 in the fire. But some of its contents ought to be made 
 public, in order to awaken, enlighten and alarm our 
 country." 
 
 This paper was enclosed by Patrick Henry to Wash- 
 ington, who, acknowledging it, remarked, " The anony- 
 mous letter with which you were pleased to favor me, was 
 written by Doctor Rush, so far as I can judge from a 
 similitude of hands. This man has been elaborate and 
 studied in his professions of regard for me, and long since 
 the letter to you." " I cannot precisely mark the extent
 
 ^T. 21.] HAMILTON. 395 
 
 of their views " (the cabal), " but it appeared in general, 
 that General Gates was to be exalted on the ruin of my 
 reputation and influence." 
 
 Another anonymous communication, entitled " Thoughts 
 of a Freeman," was addressed to Henry Laurens, who 
 had been recently elected President of Congress in place 
 of Hancock, which was transmitted by him to Washing- 
 ton. After a labored censure of the commander-in-chief 
 and of the administration of military affairs, it closed, 
 stating, that " The head cannot be sound when the whole 
 body is disordered ; that the people of America have been 
 guilty of idolatry, by making a man their god ; and the 
 God of heaven and earth will convince them by woful 
 experience, that he is only a man ; that no good may be 
 expected from the standing army, until Baal and his wor- 
 shippers are banished from the camp." 
 
 While such vile means were being used to impair con- 
 fidence in Washington, Gates was waiting intelligence as 
 to the letter of Conway. Inflated by the incense offered 
 to him, and relieved by Washington's disclosure of the 
 limited extent of his knowledge of his correspondence 
 with Conway, and that its authority rested upon a verbal 
 statement of Wilkinson, Gates thought an easy escape 
 was open to him. On the twenty-third of January he 
 answered Washington : 
 
 " The letter of the 4th inst. which I had the honor to 
 receive yesterday from your excellency, has relieved me 
 from unspeakable uneasiness. I now anticipate the 
 pleasure it will give you when you discover that what has 
 been conveyed to you for an extract of General Con way's 
 letter to me, was not an information which friendly 
 motives induced a man of honor to give, that injured 
 virtue might be forewarned against secret enemies. The 
 paragraph which your excellency has condescended to
 
 C';>6 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 transcribe is spurious. It was certainly fabricated to 
 answer the most selfish and wicked purposes. 
 
 " I cannot avoid sketching out to your excellency the 
 history of General Conway's letter from the time that it 
 came to my hands, by Lieutenant-colonel Troup, my aide- 
 de-camp, to whom General Conway delivered it at Read- 
 ing, on the llth of October, to this time, as far as it has 
 affected me, and the officers of my family. 
 
 " That letter contained very judicious remarks upon 
 that want of discipline which has often alarmed your ex- 
 cellency, and I believe all observing patriots. The reasons 
 which, in his judgment, deprived us of the success we 
 would reasonably expect, were methodically explained 
 by him ; but neither the weakness of any of our generals, 
 nor " bad counsellors," were mentioned, and consequently 
 cannot be assigned or imagined as part of those reasons 
 to which General Conway attributed some of our losses. 
 He wrote to me as a candid observer, as other officers in 
 every service write to each other for obtaining better in- 
 telligence than that of newspapers, and that freedom 
 renders such letters thus far confidential in some measure. 
 The judgment of the person who received them points 
 out to him, according to time and circumstances, the pro- 
 priety or impropriety attending their being communicated 
 when no particular injunction of secrecy was requested. 
 
 "Particular actions, rather than persons, were blamed, 
 but with impartiality ; and I am convinced that he did 
 not aim at lessening, in my opinion, the merit of any 
 person. His letter was perfectly harmless : however, 
 now that various reports have been circulated concerning 
 its contents, they ought not to be submitted to the solemn 
 inspection of those who stand most high in the public es- 
 teem. 
 
 " Anxiety and jealousy would arise in the breast of
 
 ^T. 21.] HAMILTON. 397 
 
 very respectable officers, who, rendered sensible of faults, 
 which inexperience, and that alone, may have led them 
 into, would be unnecessarily disgusted, if they perceived 
 a probability of such errors being recorded. 
 
 "Honor forbids it, and patriotism demands, that I 
 should return the letter into the hands of the writer. I 
 will do it, but at the same time I declare that the para- 
 graph conveyed to your excellency as a genuine part of it, 
 was, in words as well as in substance, a wicked forgery. 
 
 "About the beginning of December I was informed 
 that letter had occasioned an explanation between your 
 excellency and that gentleman. Not knowing whether 
 the whole letter or part of it had been stealingly copied, 
 but fearing malice had altered its original features, I own, 
 sir, that a dread of the mischiefs which might attend the 
 forgery I suspected would be made, put me for some time 
 in a most painful situation. When I communicated to 
 the officers in my family the intelligence I had received, 
 they all entreated me to rescue their characters from the 
 suspicions they justly conceived themselves liable to until 
 the guilty person should be known. To facilitate the dis- 
 covery, I wrote your excellency ; but unable to learn 
 whether General Conway's letter had been transmitted to 
 you by a member of Congress, or a gentleman in the 
 army, I was afraid much time would be lost in the course 
 of the inquiry, and that the States might receive some 
 capital injury from the infidelity of the person, who, I 
 thought, had stolen a copy of the obnoxious letter. Was it 
 not probable that the secrets of the army might be attained 
 and betrayed through the same means to the enemy? 
 
 "For this reason, sir, not doubting that Congress would 
 most cheerfully concur with you in tracing out the crim- 
 inal, T wrote to the president, and enclosed to him a copy 
 of my letter to your excellency.
 
 398 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 " About the same time I was forwarding these letters, 
 Brigadier-general Wilkinson returned to Albany. I in- 
 formed him of the treachery which had been committed, 
 but I concealed from him the measures I was pursuing to 
 unmask the author. Wilkinson answered, he was assured it 
 never would come to light, and endeavored to fix my sus- 
 picions on Lieutenant-colonel Troup, who, said he, might 
 have incautiously conversed on the substance of General 
 Con way's letter with Colonel Hamilton, whom you had sent 
 not long before to Albany. I did not listen to this insinu- 
 ation against your aide-de-camp and mine.. [I* consid- 
 ered it ungenerous ; but the light your excellency has just 
 assisted me with exhibiting the many qualifications which 
 are necessarily blended together by the head and heart of 
 General Wilkinson, I would not omit this fact. It would 
 enable your excellency to judge whether or not he would 
 scruple to make such a forgery as that which he now 
 stands charged with, and ought to be exemplarily pun- 
 ished. To attempt sowing dissensions among the princi- 
 pal officers of the army, and rendering them odious to 
 each other by false suggestions and forgeries, is, in my 
 opinion, a crime of the first magnitude, and involves with 
 it all the consequences of positive treason. That the for- 
 gery now in view was machinated for injuring General 
 Conway, and perhaps myself, in your judgment, is now 
 evident to me ; and I trust the detection will operate, as 
 it ought to operate, upon your excellency, as well as the 
 members of the Congress before whom your letter neces- 
 sitates me to lay this answer. The station of the calum- 
 niator seems to justify your excellency for having be- 
 lieved till now that the extract was genuine : and yet, sir, 
 [ cannot help wishing you had sent me a copy of it im- 
 
 * The part within the brackets was in the original draft, and is so pub- 
 lished by Wilkinson. It was omitted in the copy sent.
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 399 
 
 mediately after your explanation with General Con- 
 way.] 
 
 " Would that your excellency's prediction relative to 
 him had not been inserted in your letter which came to 
 me unsealed, through the hands of Congress. I hope al- 
 ways to find that gentleman a firm and constant friend to 
 America. I never wrote to him in my life, but to satisfy 
 his doubts concerning the exposure of his private letter, 
 nor had any sort of intimacy, nor hardly the smallest ac- 
 quaintance with him, before our meeting in this town." 
 
 An incident occurred at this time which marks the 
 effect of Washington's reply to Gates. On the twentieth 
 of January a resolution passed Congress, " that the mem- 
 bers attending the business of the Board of War, inquire 
 of General Gates whether he can go to camp, agreeably 
 to his appointment, for the purpose expressed in the gen- 
 eral resolution for reorganizing and reforming the army." 
 In the afternoon of that day, the members reported 
 "reasons assigned by Gates, why the members of that 
 Board ought immediately to enter on the business of that 
 department." They were forthwith excused proceeding 
 to camp, Gates and Mifflin shrinking from being con- 
 fronted by Washington. In their place, two of his known 
 friends, Carroll and Gouverneur Morris, were appointed. 
 
 One of the first letters of Gates, after he took his seat 
 at the Board was a complaint that he was ill lodged in an 
 expensive tavern. This was at the time when Washing- 
 ton and his army were suffering at Valley Forge. Soon 
 after, he signalized his recently attained eminence by a 
 report in favor of an irruption into Canada. It invested 
 the Board of War with complete authority to take every 
 necessary measure for the execution of this scheme, un- 
 der such general officers as Congress should appoint, and 
 to apply for all necessary means. The following day the
 
 400 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 general officers were appointed La Fayette, Con way, 
 Stark. 
 
 Conway, anxious to remove every impediment to his 
 ambition, about this time wrote to Washington, assuring 
 him that his letter had been returned by Gates, that he 
 found " with great satisfaction, that the paragraph so much 
 spoken of does not exist in the said letter, nor any thing 
 like it." He meant, he wrote, " to have the letter pub- 
 lished with the certificate of General Gates, but he was 
 prevented by President Laurens and some other members, 
 who were of opinion that such a measure would inform 
 the enemy of a misunderstanding among the American 
 generals." He pronounced it " a forgery." Not con- 
 vinced by his precise assurance, this extraordinary at- 
 tempt, after the admission of Gates in his previous letter, 
 to induce the belief that the extract was a forgery, and 
 a forgery perpetrated by Wilkinson, a member of his own 
 staff, received this comment from the commander-in-chief, 
 in a reply to Gates of the ninth of February. 
 
 " I was duly favored with your letter of the 23d last 
 month, to which I should have replied sooner, had I not 
 been delayed by business that required my more imme- 
 diate attention. 
 
 " It is my wish to give implicit credit to the assurances 
 of every gentleman ; but on the subject of our present 
 correspondence, I am sorry to confess, there happen to be 
 some unlucky circumstances which involuntarily compel 
 me to consider the discovery you mention not so satisfac- 
 tory and conclusive as you seem to think it.* 
 
 * In a private letter from Washington to Jay, written by Hamilton, dated 
 April 14, 1779, he observes: "I discovered, very early in the war, symptoms 
 of coldness and constraint in General Gates' behavior to me. These increased 
 us he rose into greater consequence, but we did not come to a direct breach till 
 the ln'girr.iin r of last year. This was occasioned by a correspondence, which
 
 JET. 21.] HAMILTON. 401 
 
 " I am so unhappy as to find no small difficulty in re- 
 conciling the spirit and import of your different letters, 
 and sometime the different parts of the same letter with 
 each other. 
 
 " It is not unreasonable to presume, that your first in- 
 formation of my having notice of General Conway's letter, 
 came from himself ; there were very few in the secret, 
 and it is natural to suppose, that he being immediately 
 concerned, would be the most interested to convey the 
 intelligence to you. It is also far from improbable, that 
 he acquainted you with the substance of the passage 
 communicated to me ; one would expect this if he be- 
 lieved it to be spurious, in order to ascertain the imposi- 
 tion and evince his innocence, especially as he seemed to 
 be under some uncertainty as to the precise contents of 
 what he had written, when I signified my knowledge of 
 the matter to him. If he neglected doing it, the omission 
 cannot easily be interpreted into any thing else than a 
 consciousness of the reality of the extract, if not literally, 
 at least substantially. If he did not neglect it, it must 
 appear somewhat strange that the forgery remained so 
 long undetected, and that your first letter to me from Al- 
 bany, of the eighth of December, should tacitly recognise 
 the genuineness of the paragraph in question ; while your 
 only concern at that time seemed to be, the ' tracing out 
 the author of the infidelity, which put extracts of General 
 Conway's letters into my hands.' Throughout the whole 
 of that letter, the reality of the extracts is, by the fairest 
 
 I thought made rather free with me, between him and General Gonway, which 
 accidentally came to my knowledge. The particulars of this affair you will 
 find delineated in the packet herewith, endorsed ' Papers respecting General 
 Conway.' Besides the evidence contained in them of the genuineness of the 
 offensive correspondence, / have other proofs still more convincing, which, having 
 been gieen me in a confidential way, I am not at liberty to impart.'' 
 
 VOL. I. 26
 
 402 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 implication, allowed, and your only solicitude was to find 
 out the person who brought them to light. After making 
 the most earnest pursuit of the author of the supposed 
 treachery, without saying a word about the truth or false- 
 hood of the passage, your letter of the twenty-third ultimo, 
 to my great surprise, proclaims it in words, as well as sub- 
 stance, a ' wicked forgery.' 
 
 " It is not my intention to contradict this assertion, but 
 only to intimate some considerations, which tend to induce 
 a supposition, that though none of General Conway's let- 
 ters to you contain the offensive passage mentioned, there 
 might have been something in them too nearly related to 
 it, that could give such an extraordinary alarm. It may 
 be said, if this were not the case, how easy, in the first 
 instance, to declare there was nothing exceptionable in 
 them, and to have produced the letters themselves in sup- 
 port of them ? This may be thought the most proper and 
 effectual way of refuting misrepresentations, and remov- 
 ing all suspicion. The propriety of the objections sug- 
 gested against submitting them to inspection, may very 
 well be questioned ; the various reports circulated con- 
 cerning their contents were, perhaps, so many arguments 
 for making them speak for themselves, to place the mat- 
 ter upon the footing of certainty. Concealment, in an 
 affair which had made so much noise, though not by my 
 means, will naturally lead men to conjecture the worst, 
 and it will be a subject of speculation even to candor 
 itself. The anxiety and jealousy you apprehend from re- 
 vealing the letter, will be very apt to be increased by sup- 
 pressing it. It may be asked, why not submit to inspec- 
 tion a performance perfectly harmless, and of course 
 conceived in terms of proper caution and delicacy ? 
 Why suppose that " anxiety and jealousy " would have 
 arisen in the breasts of very respectable officers, or that
 
 jET. 21.J HAMILTON. 493 
 
 they would have been necessarily disgusted at being made 
 sensible of their faults when related with judgment and 
 impartiality by a candid observer ? Surely they could not 
 have been unreasonable enough to take offence at a per- 
 formance so perfectly inoffensive, ' blaming actions rather 
 than persons,' which have evidently no connection with 
 one another; and indulgently ' recording the errors of 
 inexperience.' 
 
 " You are pleased to consider General Conway's let- 
 ters as of a confidential nature, observing, that ' time and 
 circumstances must point out the propriety or impropriety 
 of communicating such letters.' Permit me to inquire, 
 whether, when there is an impropriety in communication, 
 it is only applicable with respect to the parties who are 
 the subject of them ? One might be led to imagine this 
 to be the case, from your having admitted others into the 
 secret of your confidential correspondence, at the same 
 time that you thought it ineligible it should be trusted to 
 those officers whose actions underwent its scrutiny. 
 Your not knowing whether the letter under consideration 
 ' came to me from a member of Congress or from an offi- 
 cer,' plainly indicates that you had originally communi- 
 cated it to at least one of that honorable body ; and I 
 learn from General Conway, that before his late arrival 
 at York-Town, it had been committed to the perusal of 
 several of its members, and was afterwards shown by 
 himself to three more. It is somewhat difficult to con- 
 ceive a reason founded in generosity, for imparting the 
 free and confidential strictures of this ingenuous censor 
 on the operations of the army under my command, to a 
 member of Congress ; but, perhaps, ' time and circum- 
 stances pointed it out.' It must be indeed acknowledged, 
 that the faults of very respectable officers, not less inju- 
 rious for being the result of inexperience, were not im-
 
 404 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 proper topics to engage the attention of members of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 " It is, however, greatly to be lamented that this adept 
 in military science did not employ his abilities in the pro- 
 gress of the campaign, in pointing out those wise mea- 
 sures which were calculated to give us ' that degree of 
 success we might reasonably expect.' The United States 
 have lost much by that unseasonable diffidence, which 
 prevented his embracing the numerous opportunities he 
 had in council, of displaying those rich treasures of know- 
 ledge and experience he has since so freely laid open to 
 you. I will not do him the injustice to impute the penu- 
 rious reserve, which ever appeared in him on such occa- 
 sions, to any other cause than an excess of modesty ; 
 neither will I suppose he possesses no other merit than of 
 that kind of sagacity, which qualifies a man better for 
 profound discoveries of errors that have been committed, 
 and advantages that have been lost, than for the exercise 
 of that foresight and provident discernment, which enable 
 him to avoid the one and anticipate the other ; but, wil- 
 ling as I am to subscribe to all his pretensions, and believe 
 that his remarks on the operations of the campaign were 
 very judicious, and that he has sagaciously descanted on 
 many things that might have been done, I cannot help 
 being a little sceptical as to his ability to have found out 
 the means of accomplishing them, or to prove the suffi- 
 ciency of those in our possession. These minutiae, I sus- 
 pect, he did not think worth his attention, particularly as 
 they might not be within the compass of his views. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the hopeful presages you are pleased 
 to figure to yourself of General Conway's firm and con- 
 stant friendship to America, I cannot persuade myself to 
 retract the prediction concerning him, which you so em- 
 phatically wish had not been inserted in my last. A
 
 ^ET. 21.J HAMILTON. 405 
 
 better acquaintance with him than I have reason to think 
 you have had, from what you say, and a concurrence of 
 circumstances oblige me to give him but little credit for 
 the qualities of his heart, of which, at least, I beg leave to 
 assume the privilege of being a tolerable judge. Were it 
 necessary, more instances than one might be adduced from 
 his behavior and conversation, to manifest that he is ca- 
 pable of all the malignity of detraction, and all the mean- 
 ness of intrigue, to gratify the absurd resentment of 
 disappointed vanity, or to answer the purposes of per- 
 sonal aggrandizement, and promote the interest of a fac- 
 tion." 
 
 To this severe sarcasm, which no man conscious of his 
 innocence would have brooked, General Gates gave the 
 following submissive reply. 
 
 " I yesterday had the honor to receive your excellency's 
 letter of the 9th instant, and earnestly hope no more of 
 that time, so precious to the public, may be lost upon the 
 subject of General Conway's letter. Whether that gen- 
 tleman does or does not deserve the suspicions you ex- 
 press, would be entirely indifferent to me, did he not 
 possess an office of high rank in the army of the United 
 States ; for that reason solely, 1 wish he may answer all 
 the expectations of Congress. 
 
 " As to the gentleman, I have no personal connection 
 with him, nor had I any correspondence previous to his 
 writing the letter which has given offence, nor have I since 
 written to him, save to certify what I know to be the con- 
 tents of the letter. He, therefore, must be responsible ; 
 as I heartily dislike controversy, even upon my own ac- 
 count, and much more in a matter wherein I was only 
 accidentally concerned. In regard to the parts of your 
 excellency's letter addressed particularly to me, I solemnly 
 declare that I am of no faction, and if any of my letters,
 
 406 THE REPUBLIC. [ITTa 
 
 taken aggregately or by paragraphs, convey any meaning 
 which, in any construction, is offensive to your excellency, 
 that was by no means the intention of the writer. After 
 this, I cannot believe your excellency will either suffer 
 your suspicions, or the prejudices of others, to induce you 
 to spend another moment upon the subject." 
 
 The communications with Gates were closed on the 
 twenty-fourth February, seventeen hundred and seventy- 
 eight, with a dignified assent to his humble proposition to 
 bury all that had passed in oblivion. 
 
 " I yesterday received your favor of the nineteenth in- 
 stant. I am as averse to controversy as any man ; and 
 had I not been forced into it, you never would have had 
 occasion to impute to me even a shadow of a disposition 
 towards it. Your repeatedly and solemnly disclaiming 
 any offensive views in these matters which have been the 
 subject of our past correspondence, makes me willing to 
 close with the desire you express, of burying them here- 
 after in silence ; and, as far as future events will permit, 
 oblivion. 
 
 " My temper leads me to peace and harmony with all 
 men ; and it is particularly my wish to avoid any personal 
 feuds or dissensions with those who are embarked in the 
 same great national contest with myself; as every differ- 
 ence of this kind must in its consequences be injurious." 
 
 This correspondence, while it defeated the machina- 
 tions of the faction, was a source of gratification to 
 Hamilton, not merely as a vindication of the commander- 
 in-chief, but of his own wantonly assailed character. 
 
 The projected invasion of Canada which was to 
 crown Gates with honor, failed in a most unexpected 
 manner. " Among the general attacks upon the confi- 
 dential friends of Washington," La Fayette relates,* " for 
 
 * MS. Memoir of Gen. La Favette.
 
 Mr. 21.] HAMILTON. 407 
 
 it would have been too unpopular to have indulged in 
 open attacks upon him personally, in which his pretended 
 incapacity had rendered the campaign in the South so 
 different from that in the North, under a general con- 
 versant with European tactics, and the much lamented 
 influence of such men as Greene, Knox, and Hamilton, 
 over the subjugated mind of the commander-in-chief, 
 were artfully suggested and circulated, it had not been 
 deemed expedient to include La Fayette. A better use, 
 it was supposed, might be made of his growing popularity 
 with the country, and of his correspondence with his 
 friends in Europe." 
 
 With this view, though then but twenty years of age, 
 only six months in America, and without military 
 knowledge or experience, the selection had been made. 
 The prospect of glory and the pride of a separate com- 
 mand, it was supposed, would dazzle his youthful ardent 
 mind, and tempt him to become a partisan of the faction, 
 while the conduct of the enterprise would in fact devolve 
 upon Conway. 
 
 The deportment of the Board of War towards Wash- 
 ington was marked. The official letter of Gates to La 
 Fayette was transmitted through the hands of the com- 
 mander-in-chief without an explanation. On the delivery 
 of the packet to La Fayette, Washington simply ob- 
 served : " Since it is to be so, I had rather it was you than 
 any body else." 
 
 La Fayette states, that "struck with the proffered 
 opportunity of counteracting a measure, the tendency of 
 which was not less injurious to the cause, than invidious 
 to his paternal friend, under the pretence that it was 
 necessary for him to visit Congress to arrange the mea- 
 sures for the expedition, he proceeded immediately to 
 Yorktown. There he omitted no arguments with Gates,
 
 408 THE REPUBLIC. [1778 
 
 and in his conferences with Laurens, the President of 
 Congress, to convince them that the whole charge of the 
 military operations should be under the control of the 
 eommander-in-chief. Finding that his views were little 
 in accordance with the intentions of the faction, he firmly 
 resisted the temptations offered by the glory and facilities 
 of an independent command ; and stated, that considering 
 himself as one of Washington's family, he could not 
 accept the trust except on the condition that he should 
 act under Washington's immediate orders." 
 
 To this proposal, the Board of War were compelled 
 to accede ; and, at the request of La Fayette, De Kalb, a 
 senior officer to Conway, was attached to the command. 
 La Fayette, after a conference with Washington, pro- 
 ceeded to Albany. There, in pursuance of the instruc- 
 tions of the Board of War, he ought to have found a body 
 of two thousand five hundred men, besides militia, at the 
 Cohoes, and all the means " of acting on the ice on Lake 
 Champlain and burning the British flotilla, whence he was 
 to proceed to Montreal." Conway had preceded him. 
 " His first words were, that the expedition was quite im- 
 possible." Schuyler, Lincoln and Arnold had all ex- 
 pressed the same opinion. "I have consulted every 
 body," La Fayette writes,* "and every body answers it 
 would be madness. I have been deceived by the Board 
 of War. I do not believe I can find twelve hundred 
 fit for duty, and the greatest part of these are naked even 
 for a summer campaign. I was to find General Stark 
 with a large body ; and indeed General Gates told me, 
 ' General Stark will have burnt the fleet before your arrival' 
 Well, the first letter I receive in Albany is from General 
 Stark, who wishes to know ' what number of men, from 
 where, for what time, and for what rendezvous / desire 
 
 * La Fayette to Washington, Feb. 19, 1778.
 
 JR-c. 21.] HAMILTON. 409 
 
 him to raise. Colonel Biddle, who was to raise men, would 
 have done something had he received money.' " 
 
 Greatly mortified, La Fayette wrote Washington : " I 
 fancy the actual scheme is to have me out of this part of 
 the continent, and General Conway as chief, under the 
 immediate direction of Gates." La Fayette was rewarded 
 for his alacrity by the thanks of Congress, and retained 
 the command of the northern department during the 
 residue of the winter. The project having exploded, 
 Conway was ordered to repair to the post at Peekskill 
 under McDougall. 
 
 The faction now crumbled to pieces. " We have de- 
 termined," Gouverneur Morris wrote to Washington, " to 
 send Gates to Hudson River, where he is to command 
 largely. But he is to receive instructions, which shall be 
 proper. You are directed to call a council of major- 
 generals" (those in Pennsylvania), "in which the chief 
 engineer is officially to be a member, and to which, by a 
 subsequent resolution, Generals Gates and Mifflin were 
 ordered to repair. As these gentlemen ought not to re- 
 ceive orders immediately from Congress, they are, as you 
 will see, permitted to leave the Board of War upon your 
 order." This amendment was acquiesced in unanimously. 
 Mifflin was soon after ordered to join the main army. 
 " I was not a little surprised," Washington writes," to find 
 a certain gentleman, who, some time ago, when a cloud 
 of darkness hung heavy over us, and our affairs looked 
 gloomy, was desirous of resigning, to be now stepping 
 forward in the line of the army. But if he can reconcile 
 such conduct to his own feelings as an officer and a man 
 of honor, and Congress has no objection to his leaving 
 his seat in another department, I have nothing personally 
 to oppose to it." "I am told that Conway, from whom I 
 have received another impertinent letter, demanding the
 
 410 THE KEPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 command of a division of the continental army, is, through 
 the medium of his friends, soliciting his commission again. 
 Can this be ? and if so, will it be granted ? " 
 
 Conway had been ordered from Peekskill to Albany. 
 Thence he wrote to Congress : " What is the meaning of 
 removing me from the scene of action on the opening of 
 a campaign ? I did not deserve this burlesque disgrace, 
 and my honor will not permit me to bear it. It is not 
 becoming the dignity of Congress to give such usage to 
 an officer of my age and rank." He tendered his resig- 
 nation. Morris avowed his satisfaction, his joy, at the 
 receipt of this letter. Panegyric dwindled to apology, 
 and no opposition was made.* Conway had little expec- 
 tation of this result. He wrote to Congress "that he 
 had no thoughts of resigning," and also to his patron. 
 Gates applied to Congress in his behalf : "I hope Con- 
 gress will not think me importunate when I say, I wish 
 the only gentleman who has left France with the rank of 
 a colonel of foot should not be returned to his prince and 
 nation in any other manner than such as becomes the 
 gratitude, honor and dignity of the United States." The 
 exhortation was vain. Conway then repaired to York- 
 town, whence he wrote to Gates, " I never had a sufficient 
 idea of cabals until I reached this place. My reception, 
 you may imagine, was not a warm one. I must except 
 Mr. Samuel Adams, Colonel Richard Henry Lee, and a 
 few others who are attached to you, but who cannot 
 oppose the torrent. One Mr. Carroll, on whose friend- 
 ship I depended, is one of the hottest." " The New 
 York gang," f writes a tool of Gates, " has reached the 
 
 * G. M. to Washington, May 21, 1778. The vote on, the journal shows 
 only four members in his favor, to twenty-three Gerry of Massachusetts, 
 Chase of Maryland, R. H. Lee and Bannister, of Virginia. 
 
 } Dner and G. Morris.
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 
 
 height of ascendency, but they will be the more effec- 
 tually crushed in their fall if intrepidity and prudence 
 join in the virtuous purpose of breaking them. They 
 well know their reign is but short, if we make a good 
 use of our senses." Conway, soon after, wounded in a 
 duel with Cadwallader, wrote Washington a penitent 
 letter ; and on his recovery left the United States. 
 
 As a closing scene in the fate of the cabal, a resolu- 
 tion of Congress declared " that alarming consequences 
 are likely to ensue from a longer delay of appointing 
 proper persons to fill the quartermaster-general's depart- 
 ment ; that the committee at camp, in conjunction with 
 General Washington, be authorized forthwith to make 
 proper appointments." The arrangement of this depart- 
 ment, as framed by the Board of War, was abandoned. 
 General Greene was appointed, retaining his rank in the 
 line, in place of Mlfflin. An inquiry being ordered into 
 his conduct, Mifflin sought to avoid it, but, after full 
 deliberation, Washington was directed to convene a court- 
 martial. Delicacy, probably, delayed his acting upon 
 this resolution, lest it should be ascribed to personal 
 animosity. The subject was resumed in Congress, and, 
 after serious charges, Washington was directed to pro- 
 ceed with the inquiry. Mifflin, who had previously ten- 
 dered his resignation, was soon after permitted to resign. 
 
 An occurrence took place during the short dominance 
 of this cabal which distinctly marked their object. Gor- 
 don,* who is seen to have been on most intimate relations 
 with Gates, five days after the appointment of the super- 
 visory committee of which Gates was to be the head, 
 wrote to Washington in order to ascertain the impression 
 their plots had made upon him. Ignorant of his relations 
 
 * Wm. Gordon, D. D., author of the ' History of the Independence of the 
 
 United States."
 
 412 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 with Gates, and unsuspicious of the object, Washington 
 answered : * " I can assure you, that no person ever 
 heard me drop an expression that had a tendency to 
 resignation. The same principles that led me to embark 
 in the opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain, 
 operate with additional force at this day ; nor is it my 
 desire to withdraw my services while they are considered 
 of importance in the present contest ; but to report a 
 design of this kind is among the arts which those who 
 are endeavoring to effect a change, are practising to 
 bring it to pass. 
 
 " I have said, and I do still say, that there is not an 
 officer in the service of the United States, that would 
 return to the sweets of domestic life with more heartfelt 
 joy than I should. But I would have this declaration 
 accompanied by these sentiments, that, while the public 
 are satisfied with my endeavors, I mean not to shrink 
 from the cause. But the moment her voice, not that of 
 faction, calls upon me to resign, I shall do it with as much 
 pleasure as ever the wearied traveller retired to rest." 
 
 In this dark background of American history how 
 bold the relief in which Washington stands forth ! No 
 injustice, no wrong, no calumny, no clamor, no contumely 
 could make him falter a moment in his duty. He knew 
 his motives of action, and this knowledge sustained him 
 amid all his dangers and all his difficulties, pressing as they 
 were. 
 
 " With grief and shame," a southern member of Con- 
 gress wrote in seventy-five, " it must be confessed, that the 
 whole blame lies not with the army. You will find your 
 hands straitened, instead of strengthened.' 1 '' f " I have 
 thought," Washington writes to Reed in seventy-six with 
 
 * Feb. 15, 1778. Answer to letter Jan. 12, previous, 
 t Lynch to Washington.
 
 J2i. 21.] HAMILTON. 413 
 
 confiding earnestness, " how much happier I should have 
 been, if, instead of accepting the command under such 
 circumstances, I had taken my musket on my shoulder 
 and entered the ranks ; or, if I could have justified the 
 measure to posterity and my own conscience, had retired 
 to the back country, and lived in a wigwam." " I see," 
 he wrote the President of Congress late in the same year, 
 "I see such a distrust and jealousy of military power, 
 that the commander-in-chief has not the opportunity, even 
 by recommendation, to give the least assurances of reward 
 for the most essential services." "To criminate the 
 authors of our errors," Robert Morris writes him, " would 
 not avail, but we cannot see ruin staring us in the face 
 without thinking of them." " I agree with you," Wash- 
 ington replied, at the moment * before the victory of 
 Trenton, "that it is in vain to ruminate upon, or even re- 
 flect upon the authors or causes of our present misfor- 
 tunes ; we should rather exert ourselves and look forward 
 with hopes that some lucky chance may yet turn up in our 
 favor." "Your observations," he again wrote to him, "on 
 the want of many capital characters in that senate, are 
 but too just. However, our cause is good, and I hope 
 Providence will support it." 
 
 And when the cabal against him was at its height, he 
 answers a new delegate in Congress from Virginia : f 
 " Nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can 
 possibly do. A peace on other terms would be, if I may 
 be allowed the expression, a peace of war. . ' The indeci- 
 sion of Congress' is one point, the other is the jealousy 
 which Congress unhappily entertain of the army, and 
 which, if some reports are right, some members labor to 
 establish. If we would pursue a right system of policy, 
 
 * Dec. 26, 1777. f Washington to Bannister, April 21.
 
 414 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 in my opinion, there should be none of these distinctions. 
 We should all, Congress and army, be considered as one 
 people, embarked in one cause, in one interest, acting on 
 the same principle, to the same end. The distinctions, 
 the jealousies set up, or perhaps only incautiously let out, 
 can answer not a single good purpose. They are impolitic 
 in the extreme. The very jealousy which the narrow 
 policy of some may affect to entertain of the army, in 
 order to a due subordination to the supreme civil authority, 
 is a likely means to produce a contrary effect. No history 
 now extant can furnish an instance of an army's suffering 
 such uncommon hardships as ours has done, and bearing 
 them with the same patience and fortitude." 
 
 All history shows how much easier it is to engender 
 suspicion than to inspire confidence, and when the former 
 fails, the failure best proves how deserved the confidence 
 is. 
 
 The sufferings of the army necessarily gave rise to 
 not a little discontent. The powerful motives which in- 
 fluenced Washington to hold, amid such exposure and 
 privation, a position near the enemy, might not be duly 
 estimated ; and the cabal supposed, that an impression 
 unfavorable to the commander-in-chief could easily be ex- 
 tended among the ranks. 
 
 At the same time, to win them to favor Congress, in 
 their plot to elevate Gates, a resolution was passed, grant- 
 ing to each soldier in laudatory terms, a month's extra 
 pay, as earnest of future liberality. But neither artifice 
 nor favor could wean their affections from Washington. 
 They saw his labors and privations ; they felt his solici- 
 tude for their welfare ; they gloried in the courage which 
 had often borne him before them in the foremost perils of 
 battle. His steadiness they regarded as their surest reli- 
 ance, and amid every trial and every disappointment, their
 
 JET. 21.] HAMILTON. 
 
 confidence turned towards him, using an expressive, 
 familiar epithet.* 
 
 Though the army could not be seduced, nor the great 
 interests of the country be sacrificed by this cabal, great 
 injuries resulted from it. 
 
 La Fayette saw the mischief, and anxiously deprecated 
 the dissensions among the commissioners abroad, and the 
 contentions at home. 
 
 It may be seen, that the same persons who caused the 
 variances among the public agents in Europe, degrading 
 this country in the estimate of foreign powers, were 
 members of this cabal, weakening its influence and jeop- 
 arding its interests at home. They caused Europe to 
 pause in offices of friendship to the United States, and 
 created a distrust in the United States of the aid they 
 were in want. They clamored against a single military 
 chief and a standing army as dangerous to liberty ; and 
 caused the danger, by insufficient exertions of adequate 
 power, thus producing the emergencies that created the 
 necessity of conferring dictatorial authority. 
 
 This attempt to unveil the counsels of the secret con- 
 clave which doomed Washington to disgrace, and, if suc- 
 cessful, would, in all probability, have reversed the revolu- 
 tion, has unavoidably been imperfect, but enough of truth 
 is gleaned to indicate the path of inquiry. Sufficient evi- 
 dence exists to show, that while Pennsylvania was chilled 
 and dissatisfied under the immediate presence of the 
 enemy, the votes of Maryland, of North Carolina, and of 
 Georgia divided ; his native Virginia misrepresented ; the 
 powerful influence of New England marshalled under 
 adverse leaders ; that New York, with her only seaport 
 in the hands of the enemy, her temporary seat of govern- 
 ment and her mountain fortresses in ashes, bands of rob- 
 
 * " The old lios," the old horse. Hint. Collections of Virginia.
 
 4.16 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 bers roaming along her western border, her frontier people 
 flying in pale affright from Indian barbarities, just relieved 
 from subjugation by the capitulation of Burgoyne, thus 
 wounded, suffering, almost exhausted, maintained all her 
 constancy and all her firmness. 
 
 Justice to those patriots who resisted and ultimately 
 defeated this cabal, would seem to require that the persons 
 who composed it should be indicated. Bat as the removal 
 of the commander-in-chief was never brought to a direct 
 question, and as the votes on several of the prominent 
 acts are not recorded, much must remain in uncertainty. 
 Of his supporters in Congress, Morris, Duer and Carroll 
 were foremost. Of his opponents, the Lees and the 
 Adamses were regarded as the most conspicuous.* As 
 to the former, the allegation has been denied, and of the 
 part taken by John Adams, who was nominated at its 
 height a commissioner to France, but partial glimpses 
 have, until recently, been caught. 
 
 What now is known is chiefly derived from his own 
 writings and the recent narrative of his life. He speaks 
 of himself, when arrived at manhood, as " teacher of a 
 grammar school in Wooster," from which meritorious 
 effort, he earned " a loose and scanty subsistence, his 
 compensation little above that of a common day laborer," f 
 says, that he had thoughts of preaching, but was deterred 
 by his " experience of that order of men, and of the real 
 
 * Edward Rutledge to John Jay : " I fear, with some reason, that a d d 
 infamous cabal is forming against our commander-in-chief, and that whenever 
 they find themselves strong enough, they will strike an important blow. Re- 
 collect the indirect attempts that were repeatedly made against the command 
 and reputation of poor Schuyler, and the fatal stab that was at last aimed at 
 both ; and let us be taught how necessary it is to oppose a cabal in its infancy. 
 Were it in my power, I would stifle it in its birth Conway, the Lees, and 
 Adamses, are said to be at the bottom of this, besides an abundance of snakes 
 that are concealed in the grass " f Works of Adams, i. 22.
 
 -fix. 21.] HAMILTON. 4^7 
 
 design of that institution." * He then prepared himself for 
 the profession of the law, in which he was somewhat dis- 
 tinguished. His manners at this period of his life he thus 
 describes, " I have insensibly fallen into a habit of affect- 
 ing wit and humor, of shrugging my shoulders, and 
 moving, distorting the muscles of my face. My motions 
 are stiff and uneasy, ungraceful, and my attention is 
 unsteady and irregular." f These peculiarities, time and 
 care, in a degree, corrected. Of his temper he states a 
 short time before he entered Congress, " I found the old 
 warmth, heat, violence, acrimony, bitterness, sharpness 
 of my temper and expression, was not departed." J Nor 
 did they ever depart. 
 
 These manners and qualities were little suited to the 
 courteous suavity of the gentry of the middle and south- 
 ern colonies with whom he was called to act. >'The 
 man," he said of himself, " who has no better government 
 of his tongue, no more command of his temper, is unfit 
 for every thing but children's play, and the company of 
 boys." The effect was soon apparent. But the defects 
 of his character were deeper than he had either discovered 
 or chose to disclose. 
 
 Letters written by him, derogatory to a leading mem- 
 ber of that body who had eloquently vindicated the 
 rights of the colonies, censuring its tardy action, and 
 revealing its proceedings, intercepted by the enemy, 
 came back upon him ; and, as these proceedings were 
 under a most solemn injunction of secrecy, convicted him 
 of a gross breach of faith. The day after these letters 
 were received, a secret committee was raised, and each 
 colony of New England was represented in it, except 
 Massachusetts^ He had previously alienated Hancock, 
 
 * Works of Adams, i. 36. f Ibid i. 47. 
 
 J Ibid. ii. 308. Ibid. i. 183. 
 
 VOL. I. 27
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 he now incurred the lasting contempt and hostility of 
 Dickinson, and became an object of general "detesta- 
 tion." * His overweening love of self never forsook him. 
 When beholding the departure of Washington, Lee and 
 Schuyler, " for the American camp at Boston," and the 
 honors paid to them, he writes : " Such is the pride and 
 pomp of war. I, poor creature, worn out with scribbling 
 for my bread and my liberty, low in spirits and weak in 
 health, must leave others to wear the laurels which I 
 have sown, others to eat the bread which I have earned, 
 a common case." f A member of Congress from South 
 Carolina J writes to Washington, then at the head of the 
 army at Cambridge, pointing to John Adams : " One of 
 our members sets out to-day for New England. Whether 
 his intents be wicked or not, I doubt much. He should be 
 watched" Groundless as this suspicion was, it shows the 
 impression he had made on the minds of honorable 
 men. 
 
 His opinions as to the policy to be observed in respect 
 to the army, are given by himself, then chairman of the 
 Board of War. " I am much at a loss whether it would 
 not be the best policy to leave every colony to raise its 
 own troops, to clothe them, to pay them, to furnish them 
 with tents, and indeed with every thing but provisions, 
 fuel and forage. The project of abolishing provincial dis- 
 tinctions was introduced with a good intention, I believe, 
 at first, but, I think, it will do no good upon the whole." 
 
 * Dr. Rush states, " I saw this gentleman walk the streets of Philadelphia 
 alone, after the publication of his intercepted letters in our newspapers, in 1775, 
 an object of nearly universal scorn and detestation." Adams' Works, ii. 518 
 note. 
 
 f Letters of J. Adams to Mrs. Adams, 29. 
 
 % Adams' Works, i. 192. Lynch to Washington. 
 
 Adams to General Greene Adams' Work*, ix. 403. June 22, 1776.
 
 J5r. 21.] HAMILTON. 419 
 
 And as to the appointment of officers, he wrote, " If you 
 leave the appointment of officers to the general or to the 
 Ongross, it will not be so well done as if left to the 
 assemblies." * Such were his ideas in seventy-six. 
 Another year shows the consummation of his " visionary 
 notions." f "I hope, for my own part, that Congress 
 will elect annually all the general officers. If in conse- 
 quence of this, some great men should be obliged at the 
 year's end to go home and serve their country in some 
 other capacity, not less necessary, and better adapted to 
 their genius, I do not think the public would be ruined. 
 Perhaps it would be no harm." J 
 
 With this view he joined warmly in the plot to elevate 
 Gates. " History had no lesson to prompt confidence in 
 ' Washington,' and, on the other hand, it was full of 
 warnings. In this light, the attempt, whilst organizing 
 another army in the north, to raise up a second chief as a 
 resource, in case of failure with the first, must be viewed 
 as a measure, not without much precautionary wisdom. 
 The conception, probably, belonged to Samuel Adams, 
 who, in the absence of his kinsman, had been added to 
 the Board of War ; but it was actively promoted by both." 
 Such is the language of his biographer. His preference 
 of State troops, of State appointments of officers, and of 
 " annual generals," show the bias of his mind, and are in 
 accordance with an opinion soon after expressed. " Gov- 
 ernment and law in the States, large taxation and strict 
 discipline in our armies, are the only things wanting as 
 human means." || These could not exist without govern- 
 ment and laws pervading the whole United States. This 
 great want, and only remedy, were not in his contempla- 
 tion. 
 
 * Adams to Knox. Hid. i. 257. f Hamilton's Works, vii. 689. 
 
 \ Adams' Works, i. 263. Ibid i. 265. | Ibid. i. 268.
 
 420 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 A principal agency in this cabal is truly ascribed to 
 Samuel Adams, in energy and steadiness of purpose far 
 the superior of his kinsman ; and whose early services, 
 zeal and proscription, have imparted to him a singular 
 interest. 
 
 Born with all the qualities to aid in subverting an 
 established government, this determined man was devoid 
 of those necessary to build one up. Proceeding on the 
 principle that all confidence is unsafe, he labored to con- 
 fine the powers of the confederacy within the narrowest 
 limits, and opposed with obstinacy every effort to enlarge 
 them. 
 
 This spirit of indiscriminate distrust darkened all his 
 counsels, and was combined with a fanaticism which dis- 
 regarded experience, and undervalued human agency. 
 Thus, in the most alarming periods of the Revolution, 
 when the condition of the country ought to have un- 
 chained his mind,-^ while he cheered the hesitating with 
 reiterated appeals to Providence,* he opposed long enlist- 
 ments, from an apprehension of standing armies, and con- 
 tended for a rotation in command, on the ground that if 
 the precedent were once established, " no military chief- 
 
 * An instance of this kind is related of this more than ordinary man, who 
 led on the hold by his courage, and stirred up the tranquil by his arts ; and 
 who, though himself the victim of superstition, was not the less aware how- 
 deep its sources spring in the human breast. At a moment when Congress 
 was sitting disheartened nnd hesitating, the arrival of a vessel with military 
 stores from France was announced. Availing himself of this intelligence, he 
 arose from his seat, and exclaiming with extended arms " It is a sign from 
 Heaven ! Providence, Providence is on our side ! " dissipated the doubts of 
 those around him. With the same sublimated feeling, when an unlimited 
 price was offered him by an agent of the kinjr, he replied, in -a determined 
 manner : " I trust I have long since made my peace with the King of kin^. 
 No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon the righteous cause of 
 my country. Tell Governor Gage, ' It is the advice of Samuel Adams to him 
 to insult no longer the feelings of an exasperated people.' ''
 
 .-Ei. 21.] HAMILTON. 
 
 tain could ever take a flight beyond the reach of ven- 
 geance." 
 
 With these doctrines, he swayed for a time the coun- 
 cils of the Congress of seventeen hundred and seventy- 
 seven, which he characterized " as the smallest but truest 
 Congress they ever had." He had succeeded in supplant- 
 ing Schuyler by Gates, and meditated a similar doom to 
 Washington. 
 
 Other views were entertained of this Congress. Gouv- 
 erneur Morris, a member of it, writes to Jay : " The 
 mighty senate of America is not what you have known 
 it." Laurens, its President, says, * " a most shameful de- 
 ficiency in this branch is the greatest evil, and is, indeed, 
 the source of almost all our evils. If there is not speedily 
 a resurrection of able men, and of that virtue which I 
 thought to be genuine in seventy-five, we are gone. We 
 shall undo ourselves." "A horrid faction," Greene 
 writes,f "has been forming to ruin his Excellency, and 
 others. Ambition, how boundless ! Ingratitude, how pre- 
 valent ! See upon what a monstrous principle, the 
 general is persecuted." 
 
 A similar opinion was disclosed by Hamilton to Gov- 
 ernor Clinton in these earnest terms: J{ft4 
 
 " There is a matter which often obtrudes itself upon 
 my mind, and which requires the attention of every 
 person of sense and influence among us , I mean a 
 degeneracy of representatioa in the great council of 
 America. It is a melancholy truth, sir^ the effects of 
 which we daily see, and feel, that | there is not so much 
 wisdom in a certain body as there ought to be, and as the 
 success of our affairs absolutely demands. Many mem- 
 bers of it are, no doubt, men in every respect fit for the 
 trust; but this cannot be said of it as a body. Folly. 
 
 * Jan. 27, 1778. f Feb - 7 > !778. \ Feb. 13. 1778.
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 caprice, a want of foresight, comprehension and dignity, 
 characterize the general tenor of their actions. Of this, 
 I dare say, you are sensible, though you have not perhaps 
 so many opportunities of knowing it as I have. Their 
 conduct, with respect to the army especially, is fickle, 
 indecisive, and improvident ; insomuch that we are re- 
 duced to a more terrible situation than you can conceive. 
 False and contracted views of economy have prevented 
 them, though repeatedly urged to it, from making that 
 provision for officers, which was requisite to interest them 
 in the service. This has produced such carelessness and 
 indifference to the service, as is subversive of every 
 officer-like quality. They have disgusted the army by 
 repeated instances of the most whimsical favoritism in 
 their promotions ; and by an absurd prodigality of rank 
 to foreigners, and to the meanest staff of the army. 
 They have not been able to summon resolution enough to 
 withstand the impudent importunity and vain boasting of 
 foreign pretenders ; but have manifested such a ductility 
 and inconstancy in their proceedings, as will warrant the 
 charge of suffering themselves to be bullied by every 
 petty adventurer who comes armed with ostentatious 
 pretensions of military merit and experience. Would 
 you believe it, sir ? it is become almost proverbial in the 
 mouths of the French officers and other foreigners, that 
 they have nothing more to do, to obtain whatever they 
 please, than to assume a high tone, and assert their own 
 merit with confidence and perseverance. These things 
 wound my feelings as a republican more than I can 
 express, and in some degree make me contemptible in my 
 own eyes. 
 
 " America once had a representation that would do 
 honor to any age or nation. The present falling off is 
 very alarming and dangerous. What is the cause, and
 
 ^Ex. 21.1 HAMILTON. 423 
 
 how is it to be remedied ? are questions that the welfare 
 of these States requires should be well attended to. The 
 great men who composed our first council, are they 
 dead, have they deserted the cause, or what has become 
 of them ? Very few are dead, and still fewer have 
 deserted the cause ; they are all, except the few who still 
 remain in Congress, either in the field or in the civil 
 offices of their respective States ; for the greater part are 
 engaged in the latter. The only remedy then is, to take 
 them out of these employments, and return them to the 
 place where their presence is infinitely more important. 
 
 "Each State, in order to promote its own internal 
 government and prosperity, has selected its best members 
 to fill the offices within itself, and conduct its own affairs. 
 Men have been fonder of the emoluments and conveni- 
 ences of being employed at home ; and local attachment 
 falsely operating, has made them more provident for the 
 particular interests of the States to which they belonged, 
 than for the common interests of the confederacy. This 
 is a most pernicious mistake, and must be corrected. 
 However important it is to give form and efficiency to 
 your interior constitutions and police, it is infinitely more 
 important to have a wise general council ; otherwise a 
 failure of the measures of the Union will overturn all 
 your labors for the advancement of your particular good, 
 and ruin the common cause. You should not beggar the 
 councils of the United States to enrich the administration 
 of the several members. Realize to yourselves the con- 
 sequences of having a Congress despised at home and 
 abroad. How can the common force be exerted, if the 
 power of collecting it be put in weak, foolish and un- 
 steady hands ? How can we hope for success in our 
 European negotiations, if the nations of Europe have no 
 --onfidence in the wisdom and vigor of the great conti-
 
 424 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 nental government ? This is the object on which their 
 eyes are fixed ; hence it is, America will derive its im- 
 portance or insignificance in their estimation. 
 
 " You and I had some conversation when I had the 
 pleasure of seeing you last, with respect to the existence 
 of a certain faction. Since I saw you, I have discovered 
 such convincing traits of the monster, that I cannot doubt 
 its reality in the most extensive sense. I dare say you 
 have seen and heard enough to settle the matter in your 
 own mind. I believe it unmasked its batteries too soon, 
 and begins to hide its head ; but as I imagine it will only 
 change the storm to a sap, all the true and sensible 
 friends to their country, and of course to a certain great 
 man, ought to be upon the watch to counterplot the secret 
 machinations of his enemies." 
 
 
 ir.
 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE greater the lethargy of Congress, the more earnest 
 were the solicitations of Washington. Yielding to these, 
 and to the necessity, as indicated in the late campaign, of 
 more efficient measures for the organization of the army, 
 they at last entered effectively upon this duty. 
 
 Rarely, indeed, were a people less prepared for a 
 contest of arms than the American colonists at the be- 
 ginning of the Revolution. Without either soldiers, gen- 
 erals, or engineers, without munitions* or a knowledge of 
 war, all were to be attained by exertion or experience, 
 and every thing to be surmounted by energy or fortitude. 
 
 Of the few who had reaped military information in 
 the war with France, Washington was the only American 
 who had obtained an extensive reputation. Eminent as 
 were the soldierly qualities he then displayed, his experi- 
 ence was too limited to entitle him to the chief command ; 
 and upon the large scale on which the war was to be 
 conducted, he had almost all its science to learn. 
 
 Philip Schuyler, known as Colonel Schuyler, was the 
 only other member of the Congress of seventy-five who 
 had any pretensions to the character of a soldier. The 
 
 * May 11, 1776. The lead was torn from the roofs of the Exchange and 
 City Hall for bullets, and every article of brass taken from the houses in N. Y
 
 426 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 capacity in which he had previously served, had given 
 him an accurate knowledge of the civil departments of 
 an army, but beyond this his attainments did not extend. 
 Such other information as he possessed were the acquisi- 
 tions of an active mind, fruitful in resource, and of great 
 vigor. To them the arrangement of the military estab- 
 lishment, as has been stated, was confided by Congress. 
 The first object of attention, after filling the general staff, 
 was the organization of the militia. All the inhabitants 
 of the colonies fit for duty, as related, were recom- 
 mended to form military associations, one-fourth of 
 whom were to be minute men, distributed into battalions 
 and companies, to be relieved by new drafts, after a tour 
 of four months' duty. The field officers were to be ap- 
 pointed by the conventions of the respective States. 
 Those of each company to be elected by the respective 
 companies. 
 
 Such was the embryo of an army destined to win the 
 liberty of an extensive empire. The first enlistments un- 
 der a resolution of Congress, were of " expert riflemen." 
 In the form of the enlistment they were declared to be 
 soldiers in " The American continental army." The term 
 was one year. In the commission of Washington it was 
 designated as " The army of the United Colonies," and 
 in its organization it assumed the simple national name of 
 " The American army." 
 
 In the autumn of that year, a " new army " was or- 
 dered to be raised of twenty thousand three hundred and 
 seventy-two men intended to lie before Boston. The num- 
 ber of each of the twenty-eight regiments was specified, 
 to be organized into eight companies, each with four com- 
 missioned and eight non-commissioned officers. The term 
 of the enlistment was to the end of the year seventy- 
 six. The previous regulations were modified. A body of
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 
 
 five thousand more was directed to be mustered for the 
 protection of New York ; and nine battalions were to be 
 raised and maintained for the defence of Canada. The 
 field-officers of this army were usually recommended by 
 the conventions of the respective Slates in which the 
 troops were raised, and were elected by Congress. For 
 the support of these troops, Washington was to be em- 
 powered by the several States to impress whatever might 
 be necessary, and was authorized to call forth, according 
 to the exigency and nature of the service, the minute men, 
 or militia. 
 
 The enlistments under this arrangement gave little as- 
 surance of success in creating an efficient force. The 
 spirit of the people brought them into the field upon emer- 
 gencies, but there were few, in the independent condition 
 of the colonists, of that order of men who would, of 
 choice, endure the privations of a military life, augmented, 
 as they were, by the defects of a new and very imperfect 
 establishment. 
 
 The prejudices of the country were strong against any 
 thing in the shape of a standing army. These prejudices, 
 and the hope of an accommodation with Great Britain, 
 had led to a limitation of the term of enlistment to one 
 year. The militia, upon whom the chief dependence was 
 placed, were in vain required to be governed by the arti- 
 cles of war. The power conferred upon Washington by 
 Congress of calling forth the militia of the States a 
 power limited to exigencies was regarded with such 
 jealousy, that within a month after it was granted, Con- 
 gress found it necessary to declare, that it was only to be 
 exerted with the consent of the colonial authorities. 
 
 During the ensuing winter more effective measures 
 were taken ; of these, the division of the colonies into 
 military departments was among the first, nor did it prove
 
 428 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 to be the wisest, and was virtually abandoned. Those 
 north of Virginia were to compose the northern, the re- 
 mainder the southern, while from a desire of keeping the 
 operations in that quarter distinct, Canada formed a third 
 department. 
 
 The hope of an adjustment with Great Britain having 
 ceased, and looking to independence, Massachusetts and 
 Connecticut were, in the spring of seventy-six, recom- 
 mended by Congress to endeavor to have their battalions 
 enlisted for a term of two years. New York being men- 
 aced, thirteen thousand eight hundred of the militia of 
 Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, 
 were called out to reinforce the army there, and a flying 
 camp of ten thousand from Pennsylvania, Delaware and 
 Maryland, was ordered to be immediately established in 
 the middle colonies. This was soon followed by an aug- 
 mentation, to the number of four thousand, of the men 
 destined for the northern department, and by an order to 
 enlist a regiment of riflemen for a term of three years, 
 who were to receive a bounty. A battalion of Germans 
 was also to be raised, together with a small body of 
 troops for the defence of Georgia. ^iCii^js.;- 
 
 Wide as was their scope, these were all temporary 
 expedients. The result of the contest on Long Island 
 proved the little reliance to be placed on militia, for any 
 other purpose than as occasional auxiliaries. 
 
 After a protracted discussion by the Board of War, 
 Congress on the sixteenth of September of the same 
 year, in the moment of the escape of the army from im- 
 minent perils, resolved that eighty-eight battalions be en- 
 listed to serve during the war ; that a money bounty be 
 offered, and a grant of land to those serving until its close. 
 The appointment of all, except general officers, was to be 
 left to the government of the several States, though the
 
 ^Ex. 21.] HAMILTON. 429 
 
 commissions were to proceed from Congress ; and to each 
 State was confided the provision of arms, clothing, and 
 every necessary for its quota. Soon after, more efficient 
 articles of war were published. The general power 
 granted to Washington at the end of the year,* to raise 
 and maintain a force of sixteen additional battalions of 
 infantry, three thousand light-horse, and a corps of en- 
 gineers ; and to displace and appoint officers under the 
 rank of brigadier, has been alluded to. The grant of 
 juch powers indicates the defects of the arrangement 
 which had been made, and the great necessity of an or- 
 ganized, pervading vigorous system. 
 
 The troops raised under the new arrangement were 
 few, the progress of discipline slow. The interferences 
 of Congress were frequent. Their measures without 
 method. Insubordination was the inevitable consequence. 
 So prone was the disposition to question his authority, 
 that Washington found it necessary, through the medium 
 of General Greene, to obtain a declaration of Congress, 
 that it never had been their intention that the commander- 
 in-chief should be bound by the decision of a council of 
 war. Congressional favoritism had also been followed 
 by its baneful consequences. 
 
 In despite of all this, the high military qualifications of 
 the American people were conspicuously exhibited. In- 
 ferior to their enemy in discipline ; in quickness of evolu- 
 tion, rapidity and certainty of fire, the American soldiers 
 were far their superiors, in courage their equals, in pa- 
 tient endurance of privations they could not be surpassed. 
 Discipline and system were the great wants of the army. 
 Much had been gained to its science by the accessions of 
 foreign officers. The bright spirit of the gallant, generous 
 Frenchman had beamed forth in La Fayette, but in the 
 
 * Dec. 27. 1776. 

 
 4:30 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 gifted De Noailles, the accomplished soldier Du Portail, La 
 Radiere, Custine, Fleury, Du Plessis, the Armands and 
 Ternant, mostly all noblemen of France, were seen quali- 
 ties rarely excelled even among a people unsurpassed in 
 the art of war. Poland was also represented in the battle 
 fields of American liberty by Kosciusko and Pulaski. 
 
 In respect to the latter, Hamilton addressing Congress, 
 over the signature of Washington, remarked : " As the 
 principal attention in Poland has been, for some time past, 
 paid to the cavalry, it is to be presumed this gentleman is 
 not unacquainted with it. He, we are told, has been, like 
 us, engaged in defending the liberty and independence of 
 his country ; and has sacrificed his fortune to his zeal for 
 those objects. He derives from hence a title to our re- 
 spect, that ought to operate in his favor as far as the good 
 of the service will permit ; but it can never be expected 
 we should lose sight of this." 
 
 The merits of these individuals were soon appreciated, 
 and those who survived the contest retired from this 
 country distinguished with every mark of respect. 
 
 But in the promotion of foreigners the good of the 
 service had often been little regarded. Indiscreet recom- 
 mendations had been given, and overweening pretensions 
 made and gratified. The resulting embarrassments were 
 many and serious. In addition to the disgust created in 
 the minds of the American officers, finding themselves 
 postponed to men, their inferiors in character and talent, 
 the army was embroiled by a series of petty intrigues, to 
 secure the advancement of individuals. 
 
 Gates had early complained of American illiberality,* 
 the French adventurers insisted upon preferment. Soon 
 
 * Gates to Lee, Feb. 26, 1776: "Little Eustace is well, but nothing is 
 done for him yet. You know the more than Scotch partiality of these folks." 
 C. Lee's Memoirs. 205.
 
 ;E T . 21.] HAMILTON. 431 
 
 after Kami! ten entered Washington's staff, he disclosed to 
 Duer, in Congress, the embarrassments they caused : 
 
 " The bearer of this is Mr. Malmedi, a French gentle- 
 man of learning, abilities, and experience. I believe he 
 thinks himself entitled to preferment, and comes to Con- 
 gress for that purpose. 
 
 " At the recommendation of General Lee, he was 
 made brigadier-general by the State of Rhode Island, and 
 filled the station to the satisfaction of his employers, as 
 appears by a letter from Governor Cook, speaking of him 
 in the highest terms of approbation. 
 
 " This had led him to hope that he would be adopted 
 by the continent on an equal footing. But in this he will 
 no doubt be mistaken, as there are many insuperable ob- 
 jections to such a measure. 
 
 " Among others, it would tend to raise the expectations 
 of the Frenchmen, in general already too high, to a pitch 
 which it would be impossible to gratify or endure. It 
 might not, however, be amiss to do whatever propriety 
 would warrant to keep him in good humor, as he is a man 
 of sense and merit. 
 
 " I think policy would justify the advancing him a step 
 higher than his former continental rank. 
 
 " Congress, in the beginning, went upon a very injudi- 
 cious plan with respect to Frenchmen. To every adven- 
 turer that came, without even the shadow of credentials, 
 they gave the rank of field officers. This circumstance, 
 seconding the aspiring disposition natural to those people, 
 carried the expectations of those who really had any pre- 
 tensions to the character of officers, to such a length, that 
 exceeded all the bounds of moderation. As it was im- 
 possible to pursue this impolitic plan, the Congress have 
 begun to retrench their excessive liberality ; and the con- 
 sequence has been universal disgust and discontent.
 
 432 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 "It would perhaps be injurious, as the French air^ 
 much addicted to national punctilio, to run into the oppo- 
 site extreme to that first embraced, and by that mean 
 create a general elamor and dissatisfaction. Policy sug- 
 gests the propriety of discriminating a few of the most 
 deserving, and endeavoring to keep them in temper, even 
 by gratifying them beyond what they can reasonably pre- 
 tend to. This will enable us to shake off the despicable 
 part with safety, and to turn a deaf ear to the exorbitant 
 demands of the many. It will be easily believed in 
 France that their want of merit occasioned their want of 
 success, from the extraordinary marks of favor that have 
 been conferred on others ; whereas, the united voice of 
 complaint from the whole, might make ill impressions in 
 their own country, which it is not our interest should 
 exist. 
 
 " We are already greatly embarrassed with the French- 
 men among us, and from the genius of the people, shall 
 continue to be so. It were to be wished that our agents 
 in France, instead of courting them to come out, were in- 
 structed to give no encouragement, but where they could 
 not help it ; that is, where applications were made to them 
 by persons countenanced and supported by great men 
 whom it would be impolitic to disoblige. Be assured, sir, 
 we shall never be able to satisfy them, and they can be of 
 no use to us, at least for some time. Their ignorance of 
 our language, of the disposition of the people, the resources 
 and deficiencies of the country, their own habits and tem- 
 pers, all these are disqualifications that put it out of their 
 power to be of real use or service to us. You will con- 
 sider what I have said as entirely my own sentiments, and 
 believe me to be with regard." 
 
 Though it was the policy of the cabal to foster these 
 men, who, finding Washington unwilling to promote their
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 43^ 
 
 views at the sacrifice of the public interests, became its 
 active instruments, yet when its power declined, Con- 
 gress passed a resolution to check the evil. 
 
 Amid the various objects of moment which occupied 
 his mind, Washington's temper could ill brook the impor- 
 tunities with which he was continually beset ; and he was 
 occasionally drawn into expressions of opinion which 
 were readily seized upon, and made the subject of un- 
 pleasant comments. His objection was not to meritorious, 
 useful men, but " to adventurers," as Hamilton expressed 
 it. "These men," Washington wrote to Richard Henry 
 Lee, " have no attachment nor ties to the country, further 
 than interest binds them ; they have no influence, and are 
 ignorant of the language they are to receive and give 
 orders in ; consequently great trouble or much confusion 
 must follow." "Our officers think it exceedingly hard, 
 after they have toiled in this service, and probably have 
 sustained many losses, to have strangers put over them, 
 whose merit is not equal to their own, but whose effron- 
 tery will take no denial." " I am haunted and teased to 
 death by the importunity of some, and dissatisfaction of 
 others." The exception is his vindication. " My ideas,* 
 in this representation, do not extend to artillery officers 
 and engineers. The first of these will be useful if they 
 do not break in upon the arrangement of that corps al- 
 ready established by order of Congress ; the second are 
 absolutely necessary, and not to be had here." f 
 
 Another source of difficulty, and one productive of 
 the most serious inconveniences, especially when, viewed 
 in connection with the preceding topic, was the imperfect 
 condition of the regiments. 
 
 * Washington's Writings, iv., 424. 
 
 f They came, " loaded with debts, and rained at home in reputation." 
 Abbe Hobin's Narrative. 
 
 VOL. I. 28
 
 434 TIIE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 The field officers in commission were so numerous, 
 that adequate commands were in vain sought to be pro- 
 vided for them. It became necessary to combine selections 
 from different corps ; whence arose another difficulty, 
 the appointment of officers from one State, to the com- 
 mand of the troops of another. 
 
 To remedy these defects to devise a plan for the re- 
 duction of the regiments to regulate rank, and to intro- 
 duce system into the civil departments of the army, were 
 the first objects which the commander-in-chief desired to 
 accomplish, and which he pressed upon the attention of 
 Congress with unremitting solicitude. 
 
 To aid these designs, within a short time after the 
 army had taken up their winter-quarters, the committee 
 appointed for that purpose repaired to camp. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of January, a paper was submit- 
 ted to them, giving a general outline of the defects in, 
 and proposing amendments to, the existing arrangements. 
 This production was digested with great labor, and bears 
 marks of the most studied precision of language, and of 
 a most careful arrangement of its parts. Its details had, 
 doubtless, been well considered by Washington and others. 
 But from two successive drafts in his handwriting, upon 
 which are seen minute notes of reference to the heads of 
 the different departments of the army, the paper, as com- 
 pleted, is manifestly the work of Hamilton. 
 
 The primary measure suggested in this plan was " a 
 half-pay and pensionary establishment," a measure indi- 
 cated by principles of justice, " by the frequent resigna- 
 tions daily happening, and the more frequent importunities 
 for permission to resign, and from some officers of the 
 greatest merit." The next consideration was, " the com- 
 pleting the regiments and altering their establishment." 
 The failure to enlist by bounties indicated the necessity
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 435 
 
 of a resort to some other method. The mode proposed, 
 though " a disagreeable alternative," yet deemed " una- 
 voidable," was " by drafts from the militia." As drafting 
 for the war, or for a term of years, would probably be 
 disgusting and dangerous, an annual draft of men was 
 recommended. On or before a specified day, these draft- 
 ed men were to be invited to re-enlist, and as an induce- 
 ment, a bounty was offered. 
 
 " A new establishment of the regiments " was next 
 proposed, omitting the rank of full colonels, for the reason 
 that the enemy had none ; and inconveniences in the ex- 
 change of prisoners would thus be avoided. The number 
 of company officers was also to be reduced. An aug- 
 mentation of the cavalry was recommended, and its es- 
 tablishment stated. The next topic was, " the arrange- 
 ment of the army." The troops from North Carolina 
 were to be consolidated, and were either to join the main 
 army, or to aid South Carolina or Virginia. The induce- 
 ment to recommend this measure was stated to be " the 
 possibility of the enemy's attempting a more southern ex- 
 pedition the next campaign." " This they may do," it was 
 observed, " in order to gain possession of the capital of an- 
 other State, which will give reputation to their arms in 
 Europe, distress our trade, and abridge our supplies ; at 
 the same time will enable ADMINISTRATION, in another in- 
 stance, to avail themselves of the illusory idea they en- 
 deavor to hold up to the nation to keep its hopes alive, 
 and extract fresh contributions that every State, whose 
 capital is possessed, is conquered." 
 
 An exposition follows of the probable contributions in 
 men by the respective States. The result anticipated 
 was, that the establishment would consist of eighty bat- 
 talions, amounting, if complete, rank and file, to forty 
 thousand three hundred and twenty. Plans for the artil-
 
 436 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 lery and for the engineers were also proposed. The pay 
 department of the army was stated to be well conducted, 
 and pertinent comments were made on the importance of 
 punctuality in payments of the troops as affecting them, 
 the public credit, and the state of the currency. Provi- 
 sion for prisoners of war liberated on parole is suggested ; 
 and modifications of the articles of war advised, espe- 
 cially to ensure a gradation of punishments. This impor- 
 tant communication closed with an admonition, that, " un- 
 less effectual remedies be applied without loss of time, the 
 most alarming and ruinous consequences are to be appre- 
 hended." 
 
 While these several suggestions were under consider- 
 ation, the immediate supplies necessary to the army were 
 of ! most urgent moment. To one individual, Hamilton 
 writes, in behalf of Washington : " A prospect now opens 
 rf absolute want, such as will make it impossible to keep 
 the army much longer from dissolution, unless the most 
 rigorous and effectual measures be pursued to prevent 
 it." " If every possible exertion is not made use of to 
 send us immediate and ample supplies of cattle, with pain 
 Ispeak the alarming truth, no human efforts can keep the 
 army from disbanding;" A week after, he wrote to Gov- 
 ernor Clinton : " For some days past there has been little 
 less than a famine in the camp. A part of the army has 
 been a week without any kind of flesh, and the rest three 
 OF four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot 
 enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of 
 the soldiery, that they have not been, ere this, excited by 
 their sufferings to a general mutiny and dispersion. 
 Strong symptoms, however, of discontent have appeared 
 in particular instances, and nothing but active effort every 
 where can long avert so shocking a catastrophe. Our 
 present sufferings are not all. There is no foundation laid
 
 jRf. 21.] HAMILTON. 437 
 
 for any adequate relief hereafter. What a terrible crisis 
 must ensue, unless all the energy of the continent is ex- 
 erted to provide a timely remedy ! " In terms similar to 
 these, other States were called upon, " but nothing less 
 than a change in the system," it was observed, *' can effect, 
 a radical cure of the evils we labor under at present." 
 While such invocations were made to rescue the army 
 from dissolution, officers were sent out to obtain supplies, 
 and to collect clothing Tilghman in one direction, Lee 
 in another. In the mean time a new plan of the quarter- 
 master-general's department was framed. Instead of the 
 four branches into which it had been subdivided, without 
 due subordination, one quartermaster-general and two 
 assistants were recommended. This important place, it 
 has been stated, was accepted by General Greene. Schuy- 
 ler was proposed by the committee in camp as commis- 
 sary-general of purchases, and his appointment was ar- 
 dently desired by Washington, but the party of Gates 
 was against him. At the instance of this committee, Jer- 
 emiah Wadsworth, a man of great vigor, talent, and inde- 
 pendence of character, was appointed ; and though, at an 
 immense expense, the soldiers were, in a measure, relieved 
 from the sufferings so long and vainly deplored. 
 
 An important result was also attained by the adoption 
 of a new plan of inspectorship, an office, the creation of 
 which had been submitted by Washington some time be- 
 fore to the deliberations of a council of war. 
 
 This place had recently been conferred upon the 
 Baron Steuben, a soldier of distinguished merit, who 
 had learned the art of war under the eye of the great 
 Frederick of Prussia, and had been induced by the Count 
 St. Germains to visit the United States as a person most 
 competent to organize an army. The value of his ser- 
 vices was soon seen in the improved discipline of the
 
 438 THE REPUBLIC. [1778 
 
 army, in the control of the detached commands, and in 
 the regulation of the jarring duties of the officers. In its 
 outset this appointment was not free from difficulty. The 
 undefined duties of the office gave rise to great dissatis- 
 faction among the officers, and frequent embarrassment 
 to the commander-in-chief, indicating the necessity of re- 
 trenching the authority which, in their jealousy of Wash- 
 ington, and from a desire to lavish on their favorite extra- 
 ordinary powers, the hostile party had conferred upon 
 Conway. 
 
 To effect this object in a manner which would avoid 
 compromitting the general, Hamilton addressed the fol- 
 lowing letter to his friend Duer : 
 
 " I take the liberty to trouble you with a few hints on 
 a matter of some importance. Baron Steuben, who will 
 be the bearer of this, waits on Congress to have his office 
 arranged upon some decisive and permanent footing. It 
 will not be amiss to be on your guard. The baron is a 
 gentleman for whom I have a particular esteem, and 
 whose zeal, intelligence, and success, the consequence of 
 both, entitle him to the greatest credit. But I am appre- 
 hensive, with all his good qualities, a fondness for power 
 and importance, natural to every man, may lead him to 
 wish for more extensive prerogatives in his department, 
 than it will be for the good of the service to grant. I 
 should be sorry to excite any prejudice against him on 
 this account ; perhaps I may be mistaken in my conjec- 
 ture. The caution I give will do no harm, if I am ; if I 
 am not, it may be useful. In either case, the baron de- 
 serves to be considered as a valuable man, and treated 
 with all the deference which good policy will warrant. 
 
 "On the first institution of this office, the general 
 allowed him to exercise more ample powers than would 
 be proper for a continuance. They were necessary in
 
 JEx. 21.] HAMILTON. 439 
 
 the commencement, to put things in a train, with a de- 
 gree of despatch which the exigency of our affairs re- 
 quired ; but it has been necessary to restrain them, even 
 earlier than was intended. The novelty of the office 
 excited questions about its boundaries ; the extent of its 
 operations alarmed the officers of every rank for their 
 own rights. Their jealousies and discontents were rising 
 fast to a height that threatened to overturn the whole 
 plan. It became necessary to apply a remedy. The 
 general has delineated the functions of the inspectorship in 
 general orders, a copy of which will be sent to Congress. 
 The plan is good, and satisfactory to the army in general. 
 " It may be improved, but it will be unsafe to deviate 
 essentially from it. It is, of course, the general's inten- 
 tion that whatever regulations are adopted by him should 
 undergo the revision, and receive the sanction of Con- 
 gress ; but it is indispensable, in the present state of our 
 army, that he should have the power, from time to time, 
 to introduce and authorize the reformations necessary in 
 our system. It is a work which must be done by occa- 
 sional and gradual steps, and ought to be entrusted to a 
 person on the spot, who is thoroughly acquainted with all 
 our defects, and has judgment sufficient to adopt the pro- 
 gressive remedies they require. The plan established by 
 Congress, on a report of the Board of War, when Con- 
 way was appointed, appears to me exceptionable in many 
 respects. It makes the inspector independent of the 
 commander-in-chief ; confers powers which would produce 
 universal opposition in the army, and, by making the 
 previous concurrence of the Board of War requisite to 
 the introduction of every regulation which should be 
 found necessary, opens such a continual source of delay 
 as would defeat the usefulness of the institution. Let the 
 commandcr-in-chief introduce, and the legislature after-
 
 440 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 wards ratify or reject, as they shall think proper. Per- 
 haps you will not differ much from me, when I suppose, 
 that so far as relates to the Board of War, the former 
 scheme was a brat of faction, and therefore ought to be 
 renounced. 
 
 "There is one thing which the baron has much at 
 heart, which, in good policy, he can by no means be in- 
 dulged in : it is the power of enforcing that part of dis- 
 cipline, which we understand by subordination, or an 
 obedience to orders. This power can only be properly 
 lodged with the commander-in-chief, and would inflame 
 the whole army if put into other hands. Each captain is 
 vested with it in his company, each colonel in his regi- 
 ment, each general in his particular command, and the 
 commander-in-chief in the whole. 
 
 " When I began this letter I did not intend to meddle 
 with any other subject than the inspectorship ; but one 
 just comes into my head, which appears to me of no small 
 importance. The goodness or force of an army depends 
 as much, perhaps more, on the composition of the corps 
 which form it, as on its collective number. The composi- 
 tion is good or bad, not only according to the quality of 
 the men, but in proportion to the completeness or incom- 
 pleteness of a corps in respect to numbers. A regiment, 
 for instance, with a full complement of officers, and fifty 
 or sixty men, is not half so good as a company with the 
 same number of men. A colonel will look upon such a 
 command as unworthy his ambition, and will neglect and 
 despise it ; a captain would pride himself in it, and take 
 all the pains in his power to bring it to perfection. In 
 one case, we shall see a total relaxation of discipline, and 
 negligence of every thing that constitutes military excel- 
 lence ; on the other, there will be attention, energy, and 
 every thing that can be wished. Opinion, whether well
 
 Mt. 21.] HAMILTON. 
 
 or ill founded, is the governing principle of human affairs. 
 A corps much below its establishment, comparing what it 
 is, with what it ought to be, loses all confidence in itself, 
 and the whole army loses that confidence and emulation 
 which are essential to success. These, and a thousand 
 other things that will occur to you, make it evident, that 
 the most important advantages attend the having com- 
 plete corps, and proportional disadvantages, the reverse. 
 Ten thousand men, distributed into twenty imperfect 
 regiments, will not have the efficiency of the same 
 number, in half the number of regiments. The fact is, 
 with respect to the American army, that the want of 
 discipline, and other defects we labor under, are as much 
 owing to the skeleton state of our regiments, as to any 
 other cause. What then ? 
 
 " Have we any prospect of filling our regiments 1 
 My opinion is, that we have nearly arrived to our ne plus 
 ultra. If so, we ought to reduce the number of corps, 
 and give them that substance and consistency which they 
 want, by incorporating them together, so as to bring them 
 near their establishment. By this measure, the army 
 would be infinitely improved, and the state would be 
 saved the expense of maintaining a number of super- 
 fluous officers. 
 
 " In the present condition of our regiments, they are 
 incapable even of performing their common exercises 
 without joining two or more together, an expedient 
 reluctantly submitted to by those officers who see them- 
 selves made second in command of a battalion, instead 
 of first, as their commission imports, which happens to 
 every younger colonel whose regiment is united with that 
 of an elder. 
 
 "What would be the inconveniences, while the officers 
 who remain in command, and who might be selected
 
 442 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 from the others on account of superior merit, would 
 applaud themselves in the preference given them, and 
 rejoice at a change which confers such additional conse- 
 quence on themselves ? 
 
 " Those who should be excluded by the measure, would 
 return home discontented, and make a noise, which would 
 soon subside and be forgotten among matters of greatei 
 moment. To quiet them still more effectually, if it should 
 be thought necessary, they might be put upon half-pay 
 for a certain time. 
 
 " If on considering this matter, you should agree with 
 me in sentiment, it were to be wished the scheme could 
 be immediately adopted, while the arrangement now in 
 hand is still unexecuted. If it is made, it will be rather 
 inconvenient immediately after to unhinge and throw the 
 whole system again afloat. 
 
 " When you determined on your last arrangement, you 
 did not know what success the different States might 
 have had in drafting and recruiting. It would then have 
 been improper to reduce the number of corps, as pro- 
 posed. We have now seen their success ; we have no 
 prospect of seeing the regiments filled ; we should re- 
 duce them. 
 
 " Believe me to be, with great esteem and regard," &c. 
 
 The measures here suggested were frequently brought 
 under the consideration of Congress, and various steps 
 were taken to remedy the evil ; but the reduction of the 
 army required great deliberation, in a war where too 
 often the caprices of individuals were unavoidably more 
 consulted, than the public interest. 
 
 The proposed limitation of the office of inspector- 
 general was made, and among his papers a draft of a 
 plan for that department of the army, exists in Hamil- 
 ton's handwriting. It was proposed to Congress by
 
 M-r. 21.] HAMILTON. 443 
 
 General Washington, in lieu of the system which had 
 been framed in seventy-seven, and was adopted in part 
 on the fifth of May, seventy-eight. 
 
 This plan proposed the establishment of one inspec- 
 tor-general, six deputy inspectors-general, and one in- 
 spector to each brigade ; defined the duties of the office, 
 rendering it subordinate to Congress, to the board of war, 
 and to the commander-in-chief, at the head of which it 
 was proposed to place Baron Steuben, and also to intro- 
 duce into it General Cadwallader and Colonel Fleming. 
 Of the former of whom, it is remarked in a letter from 
 Washington, " that he is a military genius, of a decisive 
 and independent spirit, properly impressed with the ne- 
 cessity of order and discipline, and of sufficient vigor to 
 enforce it. He would soon perfect himself in the practi- 
 cal part, and be fit to succeed to the first place in the de- 
 partment." Of Colonel Fleming, who has been previously 
 mentioned as the early instructor of Hamilton, it is ob- 
 served, " he is an excellent disciplinarian, and from long 
 practice in the British army has acquired the necessary 
 knowledge." The military arrangements were soon after 
 improved by the better organization of the armory depart- 
 ment, which was brought before the committee in a letter 
 from Hamilton, written for Washington. 
 
 Another subject was at this time taken into serious 
 consideration, the policy to be adopted towards the nu- 
 merous Indians who threatened the frontier of the re- 
 public. 
 
 The reluctance of the United States to employ them 
 as auxiliaries, is among the most gratifying facts in the 
 early history of the Revolution. But this disposition was 
 at last changed by the different policy of the enemy , and 
 in a report framed by Gouverneur Morris, stating " that 
 unless they were employed with them, they would be em-
 
 444 THE REPUBLIC. [1778- 
 
 ployed against them," suggesting " that there is great rea- 
 son to believe that the novelty of their appearance in the 
 field, the circumstances of horror and affright which at- 
 tend their attack, will have a great effect upon the minds 
 of men wholly unacquainted with such an enemy," it is 
 proposed, that the Southern Indians should be embodied 
 under General Gist, and the Oneidas employed as light 
 troops among whom Louis, a chief of considerable tal- 
 ent, was soon after commissioned as colonel, and served 
 with singular fidelity throughout the war. 
 
 The pacific conduct of a large portion of the Mo- 
 hawks, had been chiefly attributable to General Schuyler. 
 In the reign of Queen Anne, his ancestor had been em- 
 ployed as superintendent over this savage people, and he 
 became so popular, that his portrait was preserved among 
 them with the greatest care, and brought out at every im- 
 portant council they held. This influence descended in 
 the family ; and during the fiercest moments of the con 
 test, instances and messages of mutual kindness occurred. 
 The wild, imaginative sensibility of this race clothed thf 
 person of Schuyler with an almost supernatural sacred- 
 ness ; and it is stated, that on the very day on which Miss 
 McCrea was murdered, his wife and second daughter 
 passed these hordes unmolested. Even until the close of 
 Schuyler's life, parties are remembered to have been seen 
 encamping near his residence at Albany, preferring confi- 
 dent claims upon his bounty, indulging in. mimic repre- 
 sentations of their savage sports, and reminding him that 
 he was descended from their " Great father Queedir." 
 
 A letter to Schuyler from Washington, written by 
 Hamilton, regretted that " the disposition of the Indians 
 was not generally so favorable as could be wished ; but 
 \i is not to be wondered at, when we consider the advan- 
 tages the enemy possess over us, in the means of supply-
 
 Mf. 21.] HAMILTON. 445 
 
 ing their wants and rewarding their friendships. The 
 Oneidas and Tuscaroras have a particular claim to atten- 
 tion and kindness for their perseverance and fidelity. M. 
 Toussard, with a party of Indians, arrived in camp yester- 
 day." Another party being expected, he dissuaded their 
 coming for the reason, that probably " there will be very 
 little of that kind of service in which the Indians are 
 capable of being useful." Hints were given as to the 
 mode to be adopted to satisfy them in not being em- 
 ployed. 
 
 While these several measures were under considera- 
 tion, the difficult subject of a negotiation for the exchange 
 of prisoners had been resumed. 
 
 Late in July, seventy-six, a proposition made by 
 Washington for an exchange upon equal terms was ac- 
 ceded to by Sir William Howe. The frequent differences 
 which had arisen as to the construction and execution of 
 this agreement, had, as stated, been a subject of corres- 
 pondence. Mutual crimination and recrimination had 
 passed, each side doubtless having just cause of com- 
 plaint. This subject was again brought before Washing- 
 ton, soon after the late campaign, in a very earnest letter 
 from the British commander. In reply, Hamilton wrote 
 him, over the signature of Washington, commenting upon 
 the treatment of officers in his hands. " Americans," it 
 was observed, " have their feelings of sympathy as well 
 as other men. A series of injuries may exhaust their pa- 
 tience, and it is natural that the sufferings of their friends 
 in captivity should at length irritate them into resentment 
 and acts of retaliation." 
 
 The day after the date of this letter, this matter was 
 brought before Congress in a report of the Board of War, 
 and in terms of severe censure, resolutions were passed 
 of a retaliatory character. In the communication of
 
 440 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 them to Howe, Hamilton, over the signature of Washing- 
 ton, introduced this observation : 
 
 " There is one passage of your letter which I cannot 
 forbear taking particular notice of. No expression of 
 personal politeness to me can be acceptable, accompanied 
 by reflections on the representatives of a free people, un- 
 der whose authority I have the honor to act. The deli- 
 cacy I have observed, in refraining from every thing 
 offensive in this way, entitled me to expect a similar treat- 
 ment from you. I have not indulged myself in invective 
 against the present rulers of Great Britain in the course 
 of our correspondence, nor will I now avail myself of so 
 fruitful a theme." 
 
 A few days after, Howe announced his readiness to 
 make a general exchange of prisoners, which was acceded 
 to, and orders were given to remove the English to places 
 most convenient for their delivery. Though approving a 
 general exchange, Congress, referring to a previous reso- 
 lution, now called for a statement of the accounts of the 
 several States against British prisoners ; and declared, 
 that until the balance due to the United States was dis- 
 charged, no exchange should be made. 
 
 When apprised of this decision, Hamilton, over the 
 signature of Washington, addressed a very pointed re- 
 monstrance to that body, which has been pronounced " a 
 model of discussion." * 
 
 Having stated that, " The unhappy violation of the flag 
 of truce has laid us under no small embarrassment, and 
 has afforded the enemy good grounds for complaints and 
 triumphs at the same time," he referred to the frequent 
 sanctions given to his views by Congress. This was fol- 
 lowed by an earnest expostulation. 
 
 * " Dans one longue lettre, qui est un module de discussion des affaires." 
 Di-icitft Washington, i. 130. ,. s
 
 /Ex. 21.] HAMILTON. 447 
 
 " But perhaps it may be thought contrary to our inter- 
 est to go into an exchange, as the enemy would derive 
 more immediate advantage from it than we should. This 
 I shall not deny, but it appeared to me, that on principles 
 of genuine extensive policy, independent of the consider- 
 ations of compassion and justice, we were under an obli- 
 gation not to elude it. I have the best evidence that an 
 event of this kind is the general wish of the country. I 
 know it to be the wish of the army ; and no one can 
 doubt, that it is the ardent wish of the unhappy sufferers 
 themselves. We need only consult the tide of humanity 
 and sympathies natural to those connected by cements of 
 blood, interest, and a common dread of evil, to be con- 
 vinced that the prevailing current of sentiment demands 
 an exchange. If the country, the army, and even the 
 prisoners themselves had a precise idea of our circum- 
 stances, and could be fully sensible of the disadvantages 
 that might attend the giving our enemy considerable rein- 
 forcements without having an equivalent, they might, per- 
 haps, be willing to make a sacrifice of their feelings to the 
 motives of policy. But they have not this knowledge, 
 and cannot be intrusted with it, and their reasonings, of 
 necessity, will be governed by what they feel. 
 
 " Were an opinion once to be established, and the ene- 
 my and their emissaries know very well how to incul- 
 cate it, if they are furnished with a plausible pretext, that 
 we designedly avoided an exchange, it would be a cause 
 of dissatisfaction and disgust to the country and to the 
 army, of resentment and desperation to our captive offi- 
 cers and soldiers ; to say nothing of the importance of 
 not hazarding our national character but upon the most 
 solid grounds, especially in our embryo state, from the 
 influence it may have on our affairs abroad ; it may not 
 be a little dangerous to beget, in the minds of our own
 
 448 THE KEPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 countrymen, a suspicion that we do not pay the strictest 
 observance to the maxims of honor and good faith. Il 
 is prudent to use the greatest caution, not to shock the 
 notions of general justice and humanity universal among 
 mankind, as well in a public as a private view. In a busi- 
 ness, on the side of which the passions are so much con- 
 cerned as in the present, men would be readily disposed to 
 believe the worst, and cherish the most unfavorable con- 
 clusions. Were the letters that have passed between 
 General Howe and myself from first to last, and the pro- 
 ceedings of Congress on the same subject, to be published 
 with proper comments, it is much to be feared, if the ex- 
 change should be deferred till the terms of the last resolve 
 were fulfilled, that it would be difficult to prevent our be- 
 ing generally accused of a breach of good faith. Per- 
 haps it might be said, that while the enemy refused us jus- 
 tice, we fondly embraced the opportunity to be loud, per- 
 severing, incessant in our claims ; but the moment they 
 were willing to render it, we receded from ourselves and 
 started new difficulties. This, I say, might be the reason- 
 ing of speculative minds, and they might consider all our 
 professions as mere professions, or, at best, that interest 
 and policy were to be the only arbiters of their validity. 
 
 " Imputations of this nature would have a tendency to 
 unnerve our operations, by diminishing that respect and 
 confidence which are essential to be placed in those who 
 are at the head of affairs, either in the civil or military 
 line. This, added to the prospect of hopeless captivity, 
 would be a great discouragement to the service. The ill 
 consequences of both would be immense by increasing 
 the causes of discontent in the army, which are already 
 too numerous, many of which are in a great measure un- 
 avoidable by fortifying that unwillingness which already 
 rppears too great, towards entering into the service ; and
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 441) 
 
 of course impeding the progress both of drafting and re- 
 cruiting by dejecting the courage of the soldiery, from an 
 apprehension of the horrors of captivity ; and finally by 
 reducing those, whose lot it is to drink the bitter cup, to a 
 despair which can only find relief by renouncing their 
 attachments and engaging with their captors. These 
 effects have already been experienced in part from the 
 obstacles that have lain in the way of exchanges ; but if 
 these obstacles were once to seem the result of system, 
 they would become tenfold." 
 
 These views were briefly stated in a private letter 
 from Hamilton to Governor Clinton.* " Lately," he re- 
 marks, " a flag with provisions and clothing for the British 
 prisoners, with General Washington's passport, was seized 
 at Lancaster. The affair was attended with circum- 
 stances of violence. Still more lately, General Washing- 
 ton's engagement with General Howe for an exchange of 
 prisoners has been violated. Congress have resolved, that 
 no exchange shall take place till all accounts are settled, 
 and the balance due the United States paid. The beauty 
 of it is, that on a fair settlement, we shall, without doubt, 
 be in Mr. Howe's debt ; and, in the mean time, we detain 
 his officers and soldiers as a security for the payment. 
 The operation of this resolve, though it does not plainly 
 appear upon the face of it, is to put off an exchange, per- 
 haps for ever. At any rate, it cannot take place all next 
 summer. It is t'hcught to be bad policy to go into an ex- 
 change ; but, admitting this to be true, it is much worse 
 policy to commit such frequent breaches of faith, and ruin 
 our national character. Whatever refined politicians may 
 think, it is of great consequence to preserve a national 
 character ; and if it should once be seen to be a system in 
 any State to violate its faith, whenever it is the least in- 
 
 * March 12. 
 VOL. I. 29
 
 450 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 convenient to keep it, it will unquestionably have an ill 
 effect upon foreign negotiations, and tend to bring gov- 
 ernment at home into contempt, and of course to destroy 
 its influence. The general notions of justice and human- 
 ity are implanted in almost every human breast, and 
 ought not to be too freely shocked. In the present case, 
 the passions of the country and the army are on the side 
 of an exchange ; and a studied attempt to avoid it will 
 disg'ist both, and tend to make the service odious. It 
 will injure drafting and recruiting, discourage the militia, 
 and increase the discontents of the army. The prospect 
 of hopeless captivity cannot but be very disagreeable to 
 men constantly exposed to the chance of it. Those, 
 whose lot it is to fall into it, will have little scruple to get 
 rid of it by joining the enemy." Having recapitulated the 
 arguments previously used to show the propriety of an 
 exchange, he observes : " And I would ask, whether in a 
 republican State and a republican army, such a cruel 
 policy as that of exposing those men, who are foremost in 
 defence of their country, to the miseries of hopeless cap- 
 tivity, can succeed ? " 
 
 The expostulation with Congress produced the desired 
 effect. With only three negatives, they authorized the con- 
 templated exchange to proceed, without waiting for a 
 previous settlement of accounts ; but directed that it 
 should be a prerequisite to any future cartel. 
 
 An arrangement was now made with Howe for a ne- 
 gotiation, and a commission from Washington, drawn up 
 by Hamilton, was issued, appointing him together with 
 others to meet the representatives of Howe. Assurances 
 were in the mean time given to Congress in a letter writ- 
 ten by Hamilton of every effort to " exempt citizens from 
 captivity." The commissioners met, but without effecting 
 a cartel. Howe had issued his commission, founded ex-
 
 yE-r. 21.] HAMILTON. 451 
 
 pressly upon his own authority, declaring that he " had no 
 intention, either of binding the nation, or extending the 
 cartel beyond the limits and duration of his own com- 
 mand." This of course was objected to by the American 
 commissioners. Congress formally approved their con- 
 duct, and ordered the correspondence to be published.* 
 
 The delays of Congress to act upon the plan for the 
 reorganization of the army now called forth a letter from 
 the pen of Hamilton, signed by the commander-in-chief at 
 Valley Forge. f Referring to a previous letter it 's stated : 
 " To know whether the old establishment of the army, or 
 the new as agreed upon by the committee, is the choice 
 of Congress, and in what manner the regiments of this 
 State and the additionals are to be reduced, was my ob- 
 ject. These are objects of the greatest moment, as they 
 may, in their consequences, involve the fate of America ; 
 for I will undertake to say, that it is next to impossible, 
 when the season is so far advanced, properly to accom- 
 plish those changes, appointments, and the dependent ar- 
 rangements for the ensuing campaign. Should any con- 
 vulsion happen, or movement take place, they will be 
 altogether impracticable. Justice to my own character, 
 as well as duty to the public, constrains me to repeat these 
 things ; their consequences are more easily conceived 
 than described." Then alluding to the proposition for 
 half-pay, it is observed : " If my opinion is asked with 
 respect to the necessity of making this provision for the 
 officers, 1 am ready to declare, that I do most religiously 
 believe the salvation of the cause depends upon it, and, 
 without it, your officers will moulder to nothing, or be 
 composed of low and illiterate men, void of capacity for 
 this, or any other business. Personally, as an officer, 1 
 have no interest ^n their decision, because I have declared, 
 * American Remembrancer. f April 10.
 
 452 THE REPUBLIC. [1778 
 
 and I now repeat it, that I never will receive the smallest 
 benefit from the half-pay establishment ; but, as a man 
 who fights under the weight of a proscription, and, as a 
 citizen who wishes to see the liberty of his country estab- 
 lished upon a permanent foundation, and whose property 
 depends upon the success of our arms, I am deeply inter- 
 ested. At no period since the commencement of the war, 
 have I felt more painful sensations on account of delay, 
 than at the present ; and, urged by them, I have expressed 
 myself without reserve." 
 
 Thus stimulated, Congress resumed the consideration 
 of this matter. Different modifications were suggested. 
 On a proposal to give half-pay for a term of years the 
 vote was divided ; and it was resolved to grant it for life, 
 New England, New Jersey, and South Carolina in the 
 negative. This decision was subsequently reversed, and 
 the provision was limited to a term of seven years. The 
 chief objection taken was, that the grant was " repugnant 
 to the principles upon which the great controversy was 
 begun, and by which it must and ought to be defended.* 
 
 Another important topic was alluded to in a letter 
 written by Hamilton. The vain attempts to regulate 
 prices by legislation, had recently been the chief object of 
 a conference of commissioners from several contiguous 
 States, held at New Haven. It was supposed, that these 
 regulations had failed because of a want of concert ; and 
 an act to be passed by the several States was framed to 
 accomplish this despotic purpose. Rejecting so empiric a 
 policy, Hamilton had the previous year suggested to Con- 
 gress, in the name of the commander-in-chief, the only 
 practicable expedient of domestic relief. It was " the 
 establishment of public tanneries in three or four of the 
 States under care of a judicious commissary or director," 
 
 * Sherman. Hnntington, and Wolcott, to Gov. Tram bull, May 1 , 1 778.
 
 ^Er. 21.] HAMILTON. 453 
 
 at which " artists, such as shoe and harness makers, might 
 be employed to work the leather up." The other measure 
 was, as the foreign supply of spirits was cut off, the ap- 
 pointment of proper persons to purchase grain and distil 
 it for the army, the want of it being " a source of much 
 complaint." 
 
 These measures were hot resorted to, and, seeing the 
 effects of the laws regulating prices on the supplies to the 
 army, he now wrote Congress, urging their suspension. 
 " How far it may be practicable to suspend their operation 
 for a time, I cannot determine, but if it can be done, il 
 appears to me, we should experience many advantages 
 from it." The better sense of Massachusetts rejected this 
 impolitic act, and levied a tax to redeem her bills. Con- 
 gress had previously recommejided the raising of a tax of 
 five millions of dollars by the States in specified sums, and 
 that they refrain from the further emission of bills of 
 credit. They had also urged that justice should have a 
 free course, and that subscriptions for loans be opened. 
 With these resolutions two others were passed, less wise 
 one to confiscate and sell the property of adherents of the 
 enemy, the other to regulate prices. The latter, it was 
 now urged, should be suspended or repealed. ?yvu?H 
 
 While, with laggard pace, this small assembly were 
 acting upon the suggestions from head-quarters, advices 
 were received from Europe of greatest moment. 
 
 The capture of Burgoyne and the bold assault at Ger- 
 mantown had dismayed the councils of England and de- 
 cided those of France. 
 
 On the sixth of February, treaties of alliance, amity 
 and commerce with the United States, were concluded at 
 Paris, of which the details will be given, and ere a fort- 
 night elapsed, befpre these articles of treaty were made 
 public, bills were introduced into Parliament for the ad-
 
 454 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 justment of the controversy. These bills relinquished the 
 right of taxation, except that of imposing custom duties, 
 of which the net product was to be paid and applied to 
 the uses of the colonies in which they were levied. They 
 authorized the appointment of commissioners by the 
 crown to treat with the colonies united in Congress, or 
 with the separate colonial asemblies, or with individuals. 
 Powers were given to these commissioners of suspending 
 hostilities, and also all acts oi" Parliament relating to the 
 colonies passed since February, sixty-three ; of granting 
 pardons and of appointing a governor in any colony 
 where that power had been exercised by the crown. 
 
 Hoping to anticipate the action of Congress as to the 
 recent treaties with France, and to prevent their ratifica- 
 tion, copies of these bills were sent to America, and were 
 instantly distributed. 
 
 Weak as was the measure, no channel could have been 
 selected more offensive than the person employed to com- 
 municate them. Tryon, a name odious to the people, sent 
 copies of them to Trumbull, and to Washington, with a 
 request they would give them circulation. These being 
 communicated by him to Congress, resolves, from the pen 
 of Gouverneur Morris, were forthwith unanimously passed, 
 denouncing the proposals, and declaring that no confer- 
 ence could be held, or treaty made with Great Britain, 
 unless, as a preliminary, her fleets and armies were with- 
 drawn, or the independence of the United States was 
 expressly acknowledged. 
 
 The States were at the same time called upon to bring 
 their respective quotas of continental troops into the field, 
 and to have all their militia in readiness to act. 
 
 The next day pardons were recommended to be pro- 
 claimed by the States to all persons who should return to 
 their allegiance before the tenth of June, to be received 
 " with compassion and inorcy."*
 
 JEx. 21.] HAMILTON. 455 
 
 The communication of Try on to the commander-in- 
 chief had fired his temper. He truly pronounced his ap- 
 plication to him to circulate these bills among the army 
 an "extraordinary and impertinent request." Hamilton 
 gave it a different turn, and three days after, over the 
 signature of Washington, acknowledged it in a vein of 
 brief, merited irony : 
 
 " Sir, Your letter of the 17th and a triplicate of the 
 same were duly received. I had the pleasure of seeing 
 the drafts of the two bills, before those which were sent 
 by you came to hand ; and I can assure you they were 
 suffered to have a free currency among the officers and 
 men under my command, in whose fidelity to the United 
 States I have the most perfect confidence. The enclosed 
 gazette, published the 24th at Yorktown, will show you 
 that it is the wish of Congress that they should have an 
 unrestrained circulation. I take the liberty to transmit to 
 you a few printed copies of a resolution of Congress of 
 the 23d instant, and to request that you will be instru- 
 mental in communicating its contents, so far as it may be 
 in your power, to the persons who are the objects of its 
 operation. The benevolent purpose it is intended to 
 answer will, I persuade myself, sufficiently recommend it 
 to your candor." 
 
 The circulation of these bills wholly failed of their 
 intended purpose. They gave a new impulse to the desire 
 of independence. 
 
 A few days after, the treaties with France were laid 
 before Congress. On the fifth of May, they were unan- 
 imously ratified, and the following day, the alliance was 
 celebrated by the army with a military parade, a solemn 
 thanksgiving, a public banquet of the officers, and cheer- 
 ing gratulations of the soldiery. 
 
 An address was now issued by Congress inciting the
 
 456 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 people to "strenuous unremitted exertions," which was 
 followed by a proclamation enjoining a sacred regard to 
 the rights of neutral powers, and impunity to all vessels 
 under the protection of neutral colors, nations, or princes, 
 under penalty of condign punishment. 
 
 The conclusion of these treaties had raised in the mind 
 of General Greene questions as to the extent of the pre- 
 parations to be made for the military service. On being 
 communicated to Washington, a provident reply was 
 written to him by Hamilton in behalf of the commander- 
 in-chief, on the day of their ratification : 
 
 "In answer to your favor of the third, I g*ive it clearly 
 as my opinion, that no change has happened in our affairs 
 which will justify the least relaxation in any of our 
 military preparations, and consequently that the provisions 
 you have been, and are making in your department, ought 
 to be continued in their fullest vigor and extent. 
 
 " The intelligence from abroad is extremely favorable, 
 and affords us an earnest of success, with proper manage- 
 ment, but there is nothing in it that can make it prudent 
 to depart in the smallest degree from the exertion we 
 should otherwise have made. There may still be business 
 enough to call out our most strenuous efforts. Britain is a 
 country full of resources. Her interest arid connections 
 in Europe are great ; an union within, under a popular 
 administration, which a principle of common danger may 
 produce, would render her capable of great internal ex- 
 ertions. 
 
 " The storm which now seems to be rising in Europe 
 may subside, and a compromise ensue between the con- 
 tending powers, from which a change in the system may 
 result, very advantageous to the views of our enemies. 
 All these arj events which may happen ; and which, if 
 there were no other considerations, would make it unwise
 
 JET. 21.] HAMILTON. 457 
 
 to suffer ourselves to be lulled into security, or to remit 
 any endeavors that may serve to put our military affairs 
 upon the most respectable footing possible. 
 
 " But it is also to be remembered, that the British army 
 in America is still very considerable ; and if collected, 
 would be formidable to all the force we should be able to 
 oppose to it. In all probability, it will either be with- 
 drawn or assembled at one point, for some vigorous and 
 enterprising push, if it were only to make the way for a 
 negotiation. The former is more to be wished than ex- 
 pected. British pride would never submit to it, but in 
 the last extremity ; and perhaps we should flatter our- 
 selves too much, to suppose that extremity exists. If the 
 latter should be the case, remissness in our present prepa- 
 rations might be fatal ; or at any rate, could not fail to 
 have a very injurious influence. The enemy might obtain 
 successes which would have a most unhappy operation 
 upon the current of our sentiments at home, and upon the 
 progress of our negotiations and growing friendships 
 abroad. 
 
 " If we had nothing to fear from any offensive opera- 
 tions of the enemy, policy may require very extensive and 
 important offensive operations on our part, which will 
 make it necessary we should be prepared in the amplest 
 manner at all points. 
 
 "In a word, in'what manner soever the remainder of 
 the contest is to be prosecuted, whether it is to depend 
 upon fighting or negotiation, a powerful army, well fur- 
 nished with every apparatus of war, will put it in our 
 power to meet all contingencies, with confidence and ad- 
 vantage, and to pursue the true interests of these States 
 through any combination of circumstances that shall pre- 
 sent itself, with firmness and decision. 
 
 " Whether any, or what, change may happen in the
 
 458 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 local situation of the army, in the approaching campaign, 
 or what disposition in your department may be requisite 
 in consequence, are matters which, for particular reasons, 
 I cannot yet determine. A council will soon be held, in 
 which will be decided a general plan of operations for the 
 army. When this is done, you will receive your instruc- 
 tions accordingly : in the mean time, you will proceed 
 in the plan already on foot." 
 
 The President of Congress writes at this time : " We 
 are not to roll down a green bank and toy away the en- 
 suing summer. There is blood, much blood in our pros- 
 pect." 
 
 The measures to fill the ranks and to reorganize the 
 army were now completed. To attain the first object, 
 the States had been required by Congress " to fill up by 
 drafts of their militia, or in any other way that shall be 
 effectual," their respective quotas ; and " to procure re- 
 cruits by enlistments for three years or during the war." 
 The reorganization of the army was committed to Wash- 
 ington, in conjunction with two members of Congress, too 
 late to accomplish much. To secure to it supplies, an 
 embargo was laid on the exportation of provisions. Lee 
 having been exchanged for Prescott, and Ethan Allen 
 for Colonel Campbell, an exchange of prisoners was also 
 authorized. With this view, Hamilton was commissioned 
 by Washington to receive the proposals of the enemy, 
 and " to do definitively whatever might be necessary to- 
 wards the execution of a general exchange." 
 
 The mission was in part successful.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE council of war alluded to in the recent letter to 
 Greene was held on the eighth of May. The total force 
 of the enemy was estimated, exclusive of artillery and 
 cavalry, to be about sixteen thousand effective men, two 
 thousand in Rhode Island, four in New York, the residue 
 at Philadelphia. This was below the actual strength. 
 The total American force of continentals, exclusive of 
 artillery and cavalry, was fifteen thousand eighteen 
 hundred of these upon the Hudson, fourteen hundred at 
 Wilmington, the rest, including the sick, at Valley Forge. 
 The reinforcements to come in might be computed at five 
 thousand more. Three plans had been thought of: an 
 attack upon Philadelphia ; a transfer of the army and a 
 descent upon New York ; or to wait within their lines the 
 movements of the enemy. The latter course was decided 
 upon. 
 
 What would be the future operations of the British, 
 was now the interesting problem. An extensive plan had 
 been formed at London, but it was abandoned upon ad- 
 vices of the recent treaties between France and the 
 United States. 
 
 Howe having resigned his command, it was conferred 
 upon Sir Henry Clinton, whose capture of the Highland 
 forts had obtained for him the confidence of the ministry.
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 England began to feel that the subjugation of her colo- 
 nies was a herculean task. She had already transported 
 thither sixty-two thousand soldiers and twenty-two thou- 
 sand seamen. Of the former, the returns showed a loss of 
 nearly twenty-nine thousand, of the latter, four thousand, 
 while the captures by American privateers were estimated 
 to constitute a loss of thirteen millions of dollars. What 
 greater sacrifices and greater losses were to result from 
 the co-operation of France in the contest was a fearful 
 question. The recovery of the colonies appeared hope- 
 less. 
 
 Positive instructions were now given to Clinton, with 
 an armament of five thousand men, immediately to cap- 
 ture St. Lucie ; and, this being effected, to hold it, distrib 
 uting a part of the force among the British West Indies. 
 Another division of three thousand was to proceed to 
 Florida, and to occupy St. Augustine and Pensacola. 
 Philadelphia was to be evacuated, and the troops there to 
 be concentrated at New York to wait the issue of the 
 contemplated negotiation, hopes of its success being 
 weakly indulged. Should it fail, and New York be se- 
 riously endangered, the army was to be conveyed to 
 Rhode Island, and a part, if it should be deemed prudent, 
 detached for the protection of Nova Scotia. Thus the 
 alarm of the alliance with France had put England upon 
 the defensive. 
 
 Ten days after the council of war,* adverted to in the 
 recent letter to Greene, a large detachment was sent for- 
 ward under La Fayette to move between the Delaware 
 and the Schuylkill, and watch the enemy. The instruc- 
 tions were prepared by Hamilton, who had written to 
 Morgan, to send forward a body of picked men, that, 
 with a party of Indians, were to join the detachment. 
 
 * May 18.
 
 zET. 21.] HAMILTON. 4(51 
 
 " A variety of concurring accounts," he stated to La 
 Fayette, " make it probable that the enemy are preparing 
 to evacuate Philadelphia. This is a point, which it is of 
 the utmost importance to ascertain ; and, if possible, the 
 place of their future destination. Should you be able to 
 gain certain intelligence of the time of their intended em- 
 barkation, so that you may be aole to take advantage of 
 it, and fall upon the rear of the enemy in the act of with- 
 drawing, it will be a very desirable event. But this will 
 be a matter of no small difficulty, and will require the 
 greatest caution and prudence in the execution. Any de- 
 ception or precipitation might be attended with the most 
 disastrous consequences. You will remember, that your 
 detachment is .a very valuable one, and that any accident 
 happening to it, would be a very severe blow to this army. 
 You will, therefore, use every possible precaution for its 
 security, and to guard against a surprise." La Fayette 
 immediately marched and took a position at Barren Hill 
 near the Schuylkill, equi-distant from Philadelphia and 
 Valley Forge. After the interval of a day, he was sur- 
 prised by the enemy, and in danger of being surrounded. 
 A skilful manoeuvre gained him time to retreat, and, cross- 
 ing the Schuylkill, he took a secure position near its west- 
 ern bank. While the generous fidelity of La Fayette and 
 the importance of sustaining his influence with the French 
 court were motives to cherish him, the danger to which 
 this detachment had been exposed was a monition. 
 
 The destination of the enemy's forces was still uncer- 
 tain, though the greater probability was New York. To 
 prepare for the contingency of a southern movement, 
 boats were directed to be provided on the Susquehanna, 
 while Governor Livingston was called upon to hold the 
 Jersey militia in immediate readiness, parties of whom 
 General Dickinson was ordered to collect, and to give the
 
 4:62 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 enemy all the interruption in his power. In a letter from 
 the pen of Hamilton to Wharton, he also was urged " so 
 to order matters, that the whole force of the militia of 
 Pennsylvania might on any sudden exigency be immedi- 
 ately drawn forth." Maxwell was ordered to cross the 
 Delaware and co-operate with Dickinson. " Every possi- 
 ble expedient," Hamilton wrote him in behalf of Wash- 
 ington, " should be used to disturb and retard their pro- 
 gress, by hanging on their flanks and rear, breaking down 
 the bridges over the creeks in their route, blocking up the 
 roads by falling trees, and by every other method that 
 can be devised." 
 
 The intention of the enemy was to proceed to New 
 York by water, but the want of transports prevented 
 Clinton's embarking his whole force. Apprehensions also, 
 if delayed on his voyage by unfavorable winds, that 
 Washington would in the interval make " a decisive push 
 for that city," determined him to march through Jersey. 
 
 While about to march, the British commissioners ap- 
 pointed to submit the conciliatory acts of Parliament to 
 Congress arrived.* Overtures to persons of influence 
 were made, which proved wholly unsuccessful. Among 
 others, Robert Morris was addressed with assurances of 
 reward. " I think," it was added, " Washington and the 
 President have a right to every favor that grateful nation? 
 can bestow, if they could once more unite our interests, 
 and spare the miseries and devastations of war." 
 
 After a full consideration of the papers before them, 
 Congress, on the seventeenth of June resolved, they 
 " would be ready to enter upon the consideration of a 
 treaty of peace and commerce, not inconsistent with 
 treaties already subsisting, when the king of Great Britain 
 shall demonstrate a sincere disposition for that purpose." 
 
 * June 4.
 
 Mr. 21.] HAMILTON. 403 
 
 " The only solid proof of this disposition," it was declared, 
 " will be, an explicit acknowledgment of the independ- 
 ence of these States, or the withdrawing his fleets and 
 armies." 
 
 The same day a council of war was convened by 
 Washington. He estimated the British force at ten thou- 
 sand men, his own in a condition for service at one thou- 
 sand more, exclusive of a brigade in the Jerseys of eight 
 hundred. He then submitted the questions, " Whether any 
 enterprise ought to be undertaken against the enemy in 
 their present circumstances ? Whether they should re- 
 main where they were till the final evacuation of the city, 
 or move immediately towards the Delaware ? Whether 
 the detachment in the Jerseys should be reinforced, that 
 it might take advantage of the enemy's retreat ? Whether, 
 if the enemy should march towards Amboy, and they re- 
 mained where they were until the enemy had left the city, 
 they could arrive in time to give them any material inter- 
 ruption ? Whether it would be prudent to attempt it, or 
 more eligible to proceed to the North River ; and, if an 
 attack were made, ought it to be a partial or a general 
 one ? * It was determined by a majority of the members 
 to avoid a general or partial engagement, in opposition to 
 Greene, Wayne, and La Fayette, who urged the opinion, 
 that their true policy was to harass the enemy on their 
 retreat, and without any unnecessary exposure of the 
 army, to seize the first opportunity of bringing on an en- 
 gagement. 
 
 The opinion of General Lee, who had recently joined 
 the army, was strenuous against an attack. His reputa- 
 tion gave it a preponderating weight. He not only urged 
 the impolicy of active operations, but endeavored to sus- 
 tain it on grounds extremely mortifying to the pride of 
 
 * From minute of council, by Hamilton.
 
 464 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 the Americans. Hamilton, in an eulogiurn upon Greene 
 delivered in the presence of Washington and many offi- 
 cers, thus expressed himself in reference to the determina- 
 tion not to assail the enemy : " I forbear to lift the veil 
 from off those impotent councils, which by a formal vote 
 had decreed an undisturbed passage to an enemy retiring 
 from the fairest fruits of his victories, to seek an asylum 
 from impending danger, disheartened by retreat, dispirited 
 by desertion, broken by fatigue ; retreating through 
 woods, defiles, and morasses, in which his discipline was 
 useless, in the face of an army superior in numbers, elated 
 by pursuit, and ardent to signalize their courage. 'Tis 
 enough for the honor of Greene to say, that he left nothing 
 unessayed to avert and to frustrate so degrading a resolu- 
 tion ; and it was happy for America, that the man whose 
 reputation could not be wounded without wounding the 
 cause of his country, had the noble fortitude to rescue 
 himself and the army he commanded from the disgrace 
 with which they were both menaced, by the characteristic 
 imbecility of a council of war." 
 
 At three o'clock of the morning after that council was 
 held, the eighteenth of June, the enemy moved. Hamil- 
 ton immediately wrote over the signature of Washington 
 to General Dickinson ; " The rear of the enemy are cross- 
 ing the Delaware. I am putting the army in motion in 
 consequence. I rely on your activity to give the enemy 
 all possible obstruction in their march, and that you will 
 give me instant and regular intelligence of every thing 
 that passes." 
 
 The following day, instructions from the pen of Ham- 
 ilton were given to Arnold, whose wound prevented his 
 taking the field, to command in Philadelphia. He was 
 enjoined " to take every prudent step in his power, to pre- 
 serve tranquillity and order in the city, and give security
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 465 
 
 to individuals of every class and description, restraining 
 as far as possible, till the restoration of civil government, 
 every species of persecution, insult or abuse, either from 
 the soldiery to the inhabitants or among each other." 
 
 Washington, having detached Maxwell's brigade with 
 the Jersey militia to impede the progress of the enemy, 
 began his march towards CorryelPs Ferry across the Dela- 
 ware. Having arrived there at noon, he reinforced Max- 
 well with a select corps under Morgan. At this place 
 Hamilton wrote on the twenty-first in his name to Gates 
 at Peekskill : " Two divisions of the army have crossed 
 the Delaware, the remainder will cross to-morrow. The 
 enemy by the last intelligence were moving on slowly, the 
 head of their column had only reached Mount Holly. 
 Their shipping had gone down the river below Reedy 
 Island, except two which lay opposite to it. These ap- 
 pearances seem to decide, that they intend to traverse the 
 Jerseys, though they do not appear to be in any hurry. 
 While they continue in their present or a similar posture, 
 no detachments can with propriety be made from this 
 army to reinforce you." This he was assured would be 
 done " to counteract any attempt they may meditate that 
 way." 
 
 Their first movements rendering it doubtful which 
 course they proposed to take, Washington,, embarrassed 
 by the decision of the council, and unwilling to assume 
 the responsibility of precipitating an engagement, took a 
 circuitous route by which he reached Hopewell, a place 
 five miles from Princeton, about noon of the twenty-third 
 of June. Here he halted until the morning of the twenty- 
 fifth. Meanwhile the enemy, delayed by their heavy 
 train, by the obstructions interposed, and by the weather, 
 had only gained the vicinity of Allentown, where they 
 encamped on the twenty-fourth. A letter written by 
 VOL. I. 30
 
 466 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 Hamilton, by order of Washington to Cadwallader, from 
 this point, explains the delay of the American army, which 
 has been a subject of animadversion : " I have just re- 
 ceived yours this day from the drawbridge. The army 
 marched this morning to this place. It was my intention 
 to have taken post near Princeton, but finding the enemy 
 are dilatory in advancing, I am doubtful of the propriety 
 of proceeding any farther, till their intention is ascer- 
 tained. I wish you to inform me more particularly of the 
 obstructions which have been thrown in their way, that I 
 may be the better able to judge whether their delay is 
 owing to necessity or choice. Any circumstance that 
 may serve to throw light upon this question, I shall be 
 obliged to you for, as it is of very great importance. If 
 their delay is voluntary, it argues a design to draw us into 
 a general action, and proves that they consider this to be 
 a desirable event. They may, perhaps, wish to draw us 
 off from the Delaware, far to the left, and then, by a 
 rapid movement, gain our right flank and rear. I should 
 be glad of your sentiments fully as to their probable de- 
 signs, and the conduct which it will be most proper for us 
 to observe in consequence. You will be pleased to con- 
 tinue to advise me punctually of every movement and 
 appearance of the enemy. Let me remind you of men- 
 tioning always the hour at which you write, which is of 
 the greatest moment." 
 
 While the army was at this posi, and Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton was balancing between the route to Staten Island, 
 which would expose him to the danger of crossing the 
 Raritan with an army in his rear, and the more direct 
 route by way of Monmouth, which gave him the advan- 
 tage, if necessary, of entrenching himself on the high 
 grounds of Middletown, Washington called a second 
 council of general officers, in which, supported by Greene,
 
 JET. 21.] HAMILTON. 407 
 
 Wayne and La Fayette, he urged the policy of pursuing 
 the enemy, and bringing on an engagement before they 
 could reach the eminences in their front. " The result," 
 Hamilton remarked, " would have done honor to the most 
 honorable society of midwives, and to them only. The 
 purport was, that we should keep at a comfortable dis- 
 tance from the enemy, and keep up a vain parade of an- 
 noying them by detachment." 
 
 Still this opinion, by the overruling influence of Lee, 
 prevailed ; and Washington was again placed in the di- 
 lemma, either of assuming the responsibility of an attack, 
 or of subjecting himself to the imputation of pusillani- 
 mously sacrificing an opportunity, which the advantage 
 of the ground, and his superior force seemed to promise, 
 of a decisive victory. 
 
 As soon as the council had broken up, Hamilton called 
 upon Greene, and urged him to unite with him in pressing 
 Washington to force an engagement. As they approached 
 the general, sitting in his tent, he arose and said, " Gentle- 
 men, I anticipate the object of your visit. You wish me 
 to fight." Greene and Hamilton then recapitulated the 
 reasons which had been advanced in the council ; avow- 
 ing their opinion, that if the British were suffered to retreat 
 unmolested, they were disgraced. Washington being of 
 the same opinion, an attack was decided. 
 
 Unable to induce the council to recede from their de- 
 cision, he succeeded in obtaining their assent to the de- 
 taching of fifteen hundred men under General Scott, to 
 join the corps on the left flank of the enemy. Even the 
 strength of this detachment would have been reduced by 
 Lee ; but the lion-hearted Wayne, firmly resisting the 
 idea of inactivity, refused to sign the resolutions of the 
 council, and this point was ultimately carried. 
 
 Morgan was now ordered to gain the enemy's right
 
 4-68 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 flank, Maxwell to hang on their left, and Scott was in- 
 structed, under an order penned by Hamilton, "to march 
 immediately towards Allentown, in order to fall in with 
 the enemy's left flank and rear, and give them all the an- 
 noyance in his power." 
 
 Washington moved the next morning to Kingston, and 
 there, as Hamilton states,* " made another detachment of 
 a thousand men under General Wayne, and formed all the 
 detached troops into an advanced corps under the com- 
 mand of the Marquis de La Fayette. The project was, 
 that this advanced corps should take the first opportunity 
 to attack the enemy's rear on the march, to be supported 
 or covered, as circumstances should require, by the whole 
 army. General Lee's conduct with respect to the com- 
 mand of this corps was truly childish. According to the 
 incorrect notions of our army, his seniority would have 
 entitled him to the command of the advanced corps ; but 
 he in the first instance declined it in favor of the marquis. 
 Some of his friends having blamed him for doing it, and 
 Lord Stirling having shown a disposition to interpose his 
 claim, General Lee very inconsistently reasserted his pre- 
 tensions. The matter was a second time accommodated, 
 General Lee and Lord Stirling agreed to let the marquis 
 command. General Lee, a little time after, recanted again 
 and became very importunate. The general," (Washing- 
 ton) " who had all along observed the greatest candor in 
 the matter, grew tired of such fickle behavior, and or- 
 dered the marquis to proceed." To avoid a surprise, 
 Hamilton was directed to go on with the advance, and aid 
 in the execution of the design. 
 
 &f -? He proceeded forthwith to Cranberry, whence ( he 
 wrote to La Fayette : "We find on our arrival here, that 
 the intelligence received on the road is true. The enemy 
 
 * Hamilton to Elias Boudinot, July 5, ^777.
 
 2Er. 21.] HAMILTON. 469 
 
 have all filed off from Allentown, on the Monmoulh road. 
 General Maxwell is at Hydestown, about three miles from 
 this place. General Dickinson is said to be on the ene- 
 my's right flank, but where, cannot be told. We can 
 hear nothing certain of General Scott, but, from circum- 
 stances, he is probably at Allentown. We shall, agree- 
 ably to your request, consider and appoint some proper 
 place of rendezvous for the union of our force, which we 
 shall communicate to Generals Maxwell and Scott, and to 
 yourself. In the mean time, I would rt commend to you, 
 to move towards this place as soon as the convenience of 
 your men will permit. I am told that Colonel Morgan is 
 on the enemy's right flank. We had a slight skirmish 
 with their rear this forenoon, on the Monmouth road lead- 
 ing from Allentown." 
 
 La Fayette wrote on the twenty-sixth to Washington : 
 "When I got there" (Cranberry) "I was sorry to hear 
 that Hamilton, who had been riding all the night, had not 
 been able to find any body who could give him certain in- 
 telligence. But, by a party who came back, I hear the 
 enemy are in motion, and their rear about one mile off the 
 place they had occupied last night, which is seven or eight 
 miles from here. I immediately put Generals Maxwell 
 and Wayne's brigades in motion, and I will fall lower 
 down with General Scott's, with Jackson's regiment and 
 some militia." 
 
 On the same day, Hamilton wrote from a place eight 
 miles from Allentown to Washington, who had moved 
 forward on the evening of the twenty-fifth, and arrived 
 at Cranberry the next morning. " We have halted the 
 troops at this place, eight miles from Allentown. The 
 enemy, by our last repbrts, were four miles from this, and 
 had passed the road which turns off towards South Am- 
 boy, which determines their route towards Shrewsbury.
 
 470 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 Our reason for halting is, the extreme distress of the 
 troops for want of provisions. General Wayne's detach- 
 ment is almost starving, and seem both unwilling and un- 
 able to march till they are supplied. If we do not receive 
 an immediate supply, the whole purpose of our detach- 
 ment must be frustrated. 
 
 " On my arrival at Cranberry last evening, I pro- 
 ceeded, by desire of general the marquis, immediately to 
 Hyde's Town and Allentown, to take measures for co- 
 operating with the different parts of the detachments, and 
 to find what was doing to procure intelligence. I found 
 every precaution neglected ; no horse was near the ene- 
 my, or could be heard of till late in the morning ; so that 
 before we could send out parties, and get the necessary 
 information, they were in full march, and as they have 
 marched pretty expeditiously, we should not be able to 
 come up with them during the day, even if we did not 
 suffer the impediment we do on the score of provisions. 
 
 " We are entirely at a loss where the army is, which 
 is no inconsiderable check to our enterprise. If the army 
 is wholly out of supporting distance, we risk the total loss 
 of the detachment in making an attack. If the army will 
 countenance us, we may do something clever. We feel 
 our personal honor, as well as the honor of the army and 
 the good of the service, interested, and are heartily desi- 
 rous to attempt whatever the disposition of our men will 
 second, and prudence authorize. It is evident, the enemy 
 wish to avoid, not to engage us. An officer is just come in, 
 who informs, he left the enemy's force near five miles 
 off, still in march. To ascertain more fully their route, I 
 have ordered a fresh party on their left, and towards the 
 head of their column. They have three brigades in rear 
 of their baggage." 
 
 In the after part of the same day he again wrote to
 
 JET. 21.] HAMILTON. 471 
 
 Washington, who, at the head of the main body, was de- 
 tained at Cranberry by a storm: "The result of what I 
 have seen and heard respecting the enemy is, that they 
 have encamped with their van a little beyond Monmouth 
 Court-House, and their rear at Manalapans river, about 
 seven miles from this place. Their march to-day has been 
 very judiciously conducted ; their baggage in front, and 
 their flying army in the rear, with a rear guard of one 
 thousand men about four hundred paces from the main 
 body. 
 
 "To attack them in this situation, without being sup- 
 ported by the whole army, would be folly in the extreme. 
 If it should be thought advisable to give the necessary 
 support, the army can move to some position near the 
 enemy's left flank, which would put them in a very 
 awkward situation, with so respectable a body in their 
 rear, and would put it out of their power to turn either 
 flank, should they be so disposed. Their left is strongly 
 posted ; and I am told their right is also. By some ac- 
 counts, one part of his army lies in the road leading from 
 the Monmouth road to South Amboy. It is not improba- 
 ble that South Amboy may still be the object. I had 
 written thus far when your letter to the marquis arrived. 
 This puts the matter on a totally different footing. The 
 detachment will march to-morrow morning at three 
 o'clock to Englishtown." This order was given in conse- 
 quence of the delay of the main body, by which the ad- 
 vanced corps, being too far on the right, would be unsup- 
 ported, in case of an attack, as had been indicated in 
 Hamilton's letter of the morning. Early on the twenty- 
 seventh, the detachment under the marquis moved for- 
 ward to Englishtown. The change in the position of the 
 enemy rendering it proper to reinforce the advanced 
 corps, and partly to relieve Lee's feelings, Washington
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 detached him with two brigades to Englishlown to sup- 
 port La Fayette. In order to assure his purpose, he was 
 instructed, that any operation in which the advance had 
 engaged, should be persevered in ; and with this under- 
 standing, the command was confided to him. The main 
 nody then moved forward, and encamped within three 
 miles of that place. 
 
 On the evening of the twenty-seventh, Hamilton, who 
 had rejoined the main body by order of Washington, wrote 
 to General Lee, directing him, from the apprehension thai 
 the enemy might move off at night, or earlv in the morn- 
 ing, to detach a party of six or eight hundreu men, to lie 
 near them, and to skirmish so as to produce some delay ; 
 also to give orders to Morgan to make an attack for a 
 similar purpose. A previous order had been issued to Lee 
 to call the officers together, and plan the attack ; and an 
 hour was appointed by him for the conference ; but be- 
 fore they met, he rode out, and on the inquiry for orders, 
 they were informed that he had none to give. 
 
 In the interim, the enemy had taken a strong position 
 with their right extending about a mile and a half beyond 
 Monmouth Court-House, to the parting of the roads lead- 
 ing to Shrewsbury and Middletown, and their left along 
 the road from Allentown to Monmouth, about three miles 
 this side of the Court-House. Their right flank lay on 
 the skirt of a small wood, while their left was secured by 
 a very thick one, a morass running towards their rear, 
 and their whole front covered by a wood, and, for a con- 
 siderable extent towards the left, with a morass. In this 
 situation they halted till the morning of the twenty-eighth.* 
 The information showing, that should the enemy reach the 
 heights of Monmouth, a distance of ten or twelve miles 
 from their present position, it would be impossible to at- 
 
 * Waohington's Writings, v. 42 1, 425.
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 473 
 
 tempt any thing against them with a prospect of success, 
 Lee was ordered to make his disposition for the attack, 
 and to keep his troops constantly lying upon their arms, 
 to be in readiness at the shortest notice. This was done 
 with respect to the troops under Washington's immediate 
 command. 
 
 An express announcing, about five in the morning, that 
 the front of the enemy had begun their march, Hamilton, 
 who had rejoined the marquis before break of day, as 
 soon as he saw the probability of the van of the advanced 
 corps being engaged with the enemy, returned to Wash- 
 ington, who was coming up with the main body, and ad- 
 vised * him to throw the right wing of the army round by 
 the right, and to follow with the left wing directly in 
 General Lee's rear to support him, who had been ordered 
 to move on and attack the enemy, unless there should be 
 very powerful reasons to the contrary, informing him that 
 the main body was marching to sustain him. An order 
 was also immediately given to Greene to file off with the 
 right wing, and take a position so as to protect the right 
 of the army, which was done. Hamilton then went for- 
 ward to reconnoitre. Lee, after having advanced a short 
 distance, ordered a halt ; he then again moved forward, 
 and in half an hour after, Wayne was directed by Lee 
 to leave his own detachment, and take command of the 
 front. Scott's brigade then advanced up the morass on 
 one side, Varnum's following. Wayne, on reaching the 
 front, sent intelligence to Lee, that the enemy were mov- 
 ing in great disorder, and urged him to push on the rear. 
 He continued to advance, crossing the morass near the 
 
 road where they were marching. Their whole force then 
 
 
 * Proceedings of a court-martial for the trial of General Lee, held at Bruns- 
 wick, July 4th, 1778. Fitzgerald's testimony, p. 23. Tilghman's, p. 26. 
 Laurens' testimony, p. 18. Forsmau's, p. 10. Stewart's, p. 15.
 
 474 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 in view halted ; a body of British horse, covered by in 
 fantry, instantly charged the foremost regiment under 
 Colonel Butler, who, pouring in a well-directed fire, broke 
 them, and threw their covering party into disorder. The 
 pursuit was continued, when the enemy opened a fire 
 from their artillery, inclining to the right of the Ameri- 
 cans, in order to gain an eminence, where their veterans 
 formed with admirable coolness, as they came up in suc- 
 cession. Wayne, hoping to gain the advantage of the 
 ground, formed Scott's brigade, under a heavy discharge 
 of artillery, and still pressed on, when an order was re- 
 ceived from Lee, who, Hamilton states,* "meditated the 
 disgrace of the Americans," TO RETREAT. The enemy 
 seeing the situation of this detachment wholly unsup- 
 ported, passed a column through the village, and gained a 
 position between it and the remainder of the army, when 
 they again made a spirited charge with their horse, and 
 the whole advance was compelled to retire ; which they 
 did, under cover of a wood, until they reached the body 
 under Lee. Hamilton having urged in vain that posses- 
 sion should be taken of a hill which commanded the plain 
 on which the enemy were coming up, and that there the 
 battle should be fought, f rejoined Washington to report 
 what he had done. He thus represented the situation of 
 the advance ; 'J that when he came up with Lee, the ene- 
 my was drawn up with their right near a wood, their left 
 in open ground covered by cavalry ; that the American 
 columns were within cannon shot of the enemy ; that he 
 rode up to the front of the column, and perceiving that 
 
 * " There let me call to your indignant view the flower of the American 
 infantry flying before an enemy that scarcely dared to pursue vanquished 
 without a blow vanquished by their obedience to the commands of a leader, 
 who meditated their disgrace." Hamilton's Works, iii. 484. 
 
 J- Lee's Defence, p. 53. J Hamilton's testimony, p. 20.
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 475 
 
 their cavalry were filing off towards the left, as if to at- 
 tempt Lee's right, he suggested to him that a column 
 should wheel on their right and attack them, that this sug- 
 gestion was approved ; and Hamilton, by Lee's order, di- 
 rected La Fayette to wheel by his right, gain, and attack 
 the enemy's flank. At this instant, while Washington 
 was standing with his arm extended over his horse, during 
 a halt for a few moments, where the roads forked, a small 
 party came rapidly up, from whom he learned that the 
 advanced corps was on the retreat. He instantly sprung 
 upon his horse, and having ordered Colonel Harrison, who 
 had returned from reconnoitring, to ascertain the truth, 
 pushed forward to the rear of the advanced corps, and 
 rallied the retreating troops. 
 
 To every inquiry as to the cause of the retreat, an un- 
 satisfactory answer was given. Colonel Ogden, who fol- 
 lowed, exclaimed with an oath, " we are flying from a 
 shadow." The troops were then in the greatest disorder, 
 ignorant what direction to pursue. 
 
 Washington meanwhile reached the knoll where Lee 
 was, he immediately ordered Wayne to renew the com- 
 bat, directed cannon to be brought up, which was done 
 by Colonel Oswald, and a brisk cannonade ensued. Then 
 calling up Colonels Ramsay and Stewart, he vehemently 
 exclaimed, that they were the officers on whom he should 
 depend to give the enemy a check. While these regi- 
 ments were forming, Lee approached. Washington de- 
 manded of him, in haste, the cause of the retreat. He 
 replied " Sir," " Sir," with hesitation, stating that it was 
 owing to contradictory information and disobedience of 
 orders, and that he did not choose to beard the British 
 army in such a situation ; and that besides, the attack 
 was contrary to his opinion. Washington replied, that
 
 476 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 whatever was his opinion, he expected his orders would 
 have been obeyed.* 
 
 At this moment, Hamilton rode up, and exclaimed to 
 Lee, under strong excitement, " I will stay with you, my 
 dear general, and die with you. Let us all die here, rather 
 than retreat." Perceiving the enemy advancing on the 
 artillery, which, by the orders of General Knox had been 
 posted on the right,f he advised that a detachment should 
 march to their succor ; when, after a short interval, Col- 
 onel Livingston pushed forward and repulsed them with 
 spirit. 
 
 Hamilton then rode towards the rear ; when finding 
 Colonel Olney J retreating with Varnum's brigade, and 
 fearing that the artillery in their front would be lost, he 
 ordered the brigade to form along a fence near him, with 
 all possible despatch, which they immediately did, and 
 charged at the point of the bayonet, where Hamilton, who 
 had assisted in forming them, and had placed himself at 
 their head, had his horse shot under him. Hurt by the 
 fall, and overcome by the heat, (for he had ridden 
 throughout the action without his hat,) he was compelled 
 to retire. 
 
 This party, after exchanging a sharp fire, gave time 
 for the artillery to fall back ; but, too weak to prevent the 
 enemy from outflanking them, retreated with consider- 
 able loss. 
 
 These two successive checks by Livingston and Olney, 
 afforded time to make a disposition of the left wing, and 
 
 * The inquiry having been, after Washington's decease, made of Hamilton, 
 whether in this interview he was angered to cursing, Hamilton replied: 
 " Washington was modest. He was careful of his words. He had not time 
 to curse. He had to retrieve the day." 
 
 t Hamilton's testimony, p. 20. } Colonel Olney's testimony, p. 40 
 
 g Hamilton's testimony, p. 21.
 
 Mr. 21.] HAMILTON. 477 
 
 10 form the second line of the array upon an eminence, 
 and in a copse in the rear covered by a morass. On this 
 elevation, Stirling, who commanded that wing, placed 
 cannon, which protected the charges of the infantry, 
 produced a great impression on the enemy, and stopped 
 their progress. 
 
 Greene, as soon as he heard of the retreat, pushed 
 forward, and selected a position on the right, which Ham- 
 ilton had advised Lee to take, crowned it ~vith artillery, 
 and kept off the British advancing on the right, while he 
 severely enfiladed the left. Wayne then advanced, and 
 pouring in a close fire, drove the enemy beyond the 
 morass, near which Butler had at first repulsed them. 
 Washington followed up the attack, by orders to General 
 Poor, with two brigades, to move on the right, and Wood- 
 ford on their left, while Knox brought his artillery to bear 
 upon their front. These dispositions were made ; but ob- 
 stacles prevented their reaching the enemy until night had 
 closed in. 
 
 The Americans, worn out by the intense heat, reposed 
 on the field of battle, hoping to renew the action the en- 
 suing day ; but the enemy taking advantage of the dark- 
 ness, having removed their wounded, marched about mid- 
 night in such silence, that their retreat was unperceived, 
 and succeeded in embarking for New York at Sandy 
 Hook. Washington, unfortunately, believing that no se- 
 rious injury ceuld be inflicted upon them, leaving only a 
 small force to hover around them, moved up for the pro- 
 tection of the Hudson. 
 
 This narrative shows the conspicuous services of 
 Hamilton in this engagement. A letter from camp, pub- 
 lished at the time, thfes speaks of the conduct of Wash- 
 ington's staff: " I am happy to have it in my power to 
 mention the merit of Colonel Hamilton. He was inces-
 
 478 THE KE PUBLIC. [1778 
 
 sant in his endeavors during the whole day, in reconnoi- 
 tring the enemy, and in rallying and charging ; but 
 whether he or Colbnel Laurens deserves most of our 
 commendation is somewhat doubtful both had their 
 horses shot under them, and both exhibited singular proofs 
 of bravery. They seemed to court death, under our 
 doubtful circumstances ; and triumphed over it, as the 
 face of war changed in our favor. Fitzgerald had a 
 slight contusion with a musket ball ; he and Meade claim 
 the highest encomiums. 
 
 " Colonel Olney, at the heaa of Varnum's brigade, 
 made a successful charge with the bayonet ; Colonel Bar- 
 ber received a ball through the side. The artillery under 
 Knox and Oswald were much distinguished." 
 
 As to Washington, Hamilton remarks in a private let- 
 ter to Boudinot : " I never saw the General to so much 
 advantage. His coolness and firmness were admirable. 
 He instantly took measures for checking the enemy's ad- 
 vance, and giving time to the army, which was very near, 
 to form and make a proper disposition. He then rode 
 back and had the troops formed on a very advantageous 
 piece of ground ; in which, and in other transactions of 
 the day, General Greene and Lord Stirling rendered very 
 essential service, and did themselves great honor. Amer- 
 ica owes a great deal to General Washington for this day's 
 work. A general rout, dismay and disgrace, would have 
 attended the whole army in any other hands but his. By 
 his own good sense and fortitude, he turned the fate of the 
 day. Other officers have great merit in performing their 
 parts well, but he directed the whole with the skill of a 
 master workman. He did not hug himself at a distance 
 and leave an Arnold to win laurels for him, but by his own 
 presence he brought order out of confusion, animated his 
 troops, and led them to success." After a tribute to
 
 MT. 21.] HAMILTON. 479 
 
 Wayne, Stewart, Ramsey, Olncy, Livingston, Barber, 
 Cillcy, Parker, Craig and Oswald, he observes : " The be- 
 havior of the officers and men was such as could not 
 easily be surpassed. Our troops, after the first impulse 
 from mismanagement, behaved with more spirit and 
 moved with greater order than the British troops. You 
 know my way of thinking of our army, and that I am 
 not apt to flatter it. I assure you, I never was pleased 
 with them before this day. What think you now of 
 General Lee ? Whatever a court-martial may decide, 1 
 shall continue to believe and say, his conduct was mon- 
 strous and unpardonable." 
 
 Earnest dissensions arose in the army in respect to 
 Lcc. The great majority condemned him. His imme- 
 diate friends sought to exculpate his conduct on the 
 grounds of discretionary orders and alleged contradictory 
 intelligence. 
 
 Certain it is, that Lee rejoined the army with undi- 
 minished disesteem of Washington. A few days before 
 this battle he wrote to Rush : " You are struck with the 
 great events, changes, and new characters which have 
 appeared on the stage since I saw you last ; but I am 
 more struck with the admirable efficacy of blunders. It 
 seemed to be a trial of skill which party should outdo the 
 other ; and it is hard to say which played the deepest 
 strokes ; but it was a capital one of ours, which certainly 
 gave the happy turn which affairs have taken. Upon my 
 soul, it was lime for fortune to interpose, or we were in- 
 evitably lost." 
 
 The day after the action, he wrote an offensive letter 
 to Washington, claiming the merit of the victory ; de- 
 manding reparation for the injury committed ; and a spe- 
 cification of the grounds upon which he had rebuked him. 
 Washington replied, that what he said " was dictated by
 
 480 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 duty, and warranted by the occasion." He informed him 
 that he should have an opportunity of justifying himself 
 from the charges "of a breach of orders; of misbehavior 
 before the enemy in not attacking them as he had been 
 directed ; and in making an unnecessary, disorderly, and 
 shameful retreat." i " You cannot afford me greater pleas- 
 ure," was Lee's reply, " than in giving me the opportunity 
 of showing to America the sufficiency of her respective 
 servants. I trust that temporary power of office, and 
 the tinsel dignity attending it, will not be able, by all the 
 mists they can raise, to obfuscate the bright rays of truth." 
 He was on the same day arrested, the charge of disrespect 
 to the eommander-in-chief being added to the others ; and 
 a court-martial was convened to meet on the fourth of July. 
 In the spirit of these letters he wrote to Robert Mor- 
 ris, in Congress, the day before his trial : . " A hellish plan 
 was formed (and I may say, at least, not discouraged by 
 head-quarters) to destroy for ever my honor and reputa- 
 tion. I shall not trouble you at present with the details 
 of the action, but by all that's sacred, General Wash- 
 ington had scarcely any more to do in it than to strip 
 the dead. The general has the madness to charge me 
 with making a shameful retreat. I never retreated in 
 fact (for till I joined him it was not a retreat, but a ne- 
 cessary, and I may say in my own defence, masterly 
 mano3uvre). I say I never retreated, but by his positive 
 orders, who ridiculously sent me out of the field when the 
 victory was assured. Such is my recompense for having 
 sacrificed my friends, my connections, and perhaps my 
 fortune ; for having twice extricated this man and his 
 whole army out of perdition; and inow having given him 
 the only victory he ever tasted." Parts of this letter he 
 requested him to read to Richard Henry Lee, to Duer, and 
 "others you think prudent."
 
 ^Ex. 21.] HAMILTON. 481 
 
 The court, over which Stirling presided,* began its 
 session on the fourth of July, and adjourned on the 
 twelfth of August, after several interruptions, having 
 found him guilty of all the charges, omitting the term 
 "shameful." Lee was suspended from command for 
 twelve months, a sentence which, with a divided : vote,t 
 was confirmed by Congress, .t, ,.. 
 
 The trial was published by order of Congress. A vin- 
 dication by Lee was also published, followed by an article 
 which he enclosed to Gates, assailing Washington and 
 defending Conway. 
 
 An answer was contemplated by Laurens, who wrote 
 to Hamilton : 
 
 " You have seen, and by this time considered, General 
 Lee's infamous publication. I have collected some hints 
 for an answer ; but I do not think, either that I can rely 
 upon my own knowledge of facts and style to answer him 
 fully, or that it would be prudent to undertake it without 
 counsel. An affair of this kind ought to be passed over 
 in total silence, or answered in a masterly manner. 
 
 " The ancient secretary is the Recueil of modern his- 
 tory and anecdotes, and will give them to us with candor, 
 elegance, and perspicuity. The pen of Junius is in your 
 hand ; and I think you will, without difficulty, expose in 
 his defence, letters, and last production, such a tissue of 
 falsehood and inconsistency, as will satisfy the world, and 
 put him forever to silence.: .-* UK 
 
 * Besides, were four generals and eight colonels. 
 
 f December 5th, 1778. The votes in Congress were as follows: 
 
 Negatives Messrs. Whipple, N. H. ; S. Adams, Lovell, Mass. ; Carmichael, 
 Maryland; M. Smith, Virginia; Harriett, N. C. ; Langworthy, Georgia 7. 
 
 Affirmative. Messrs. Frost, ]jjjT. H. ; Holten, Mass. ; Collins, Rhode Island ; 
 Sherman, Ellsworth, Connecticut; Scudder, New Jersey; Searle, Pennsylva- 
 nia ; Henry, Maryland ; F. L Lee, Virginia ; Penn, Williams. N. 0. ; Lau- 
 ren?, Dmyton, S. C. 13. 
 VOL. L 31
 
 482 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 " I think the affair will be definitively decided in Con- 
 gress this day. He has found means to league himself 
 with the old faction, and to gain a great many partisans. 
 
 Adieu, my dear boy, I shall set out for camp to-mor- 
 row." 
 
 This purpose was abandoned. Washington had main- 
 tained a dignified silence, and it was not becoming that 
 a public vindication should emanate from his military 
 family. 
 
 The biting sarcasms and insulting deportment of Lee 
 at the trial, nevertheless, rankled in the breast of Lau- 
 rens ; and soon after the investigation by Congress closed, 
 a challenge was delivered by Hamilton to Lee in his 
 friend's behalf. A duel followed, in which Lee was 
 slightly wounded. He subsequently disavowed the lan- 
 guage imputed to him. 
 
 Neither Lee nor his friends were silent. Rush writes 
 to Gates : " The influence of a party drove me from pub- 
 lic life. I see Lee and Mifflin separated from the throng 
 that occupy the summit of the mountain. See, my good 
 friend, how they beckon to you to retire into the back- 
 ground of the picture with them, before you are thrust 
 from your rank, and degraded in your character, by the 
 slander and persecutions which have ruined them. You 
 have conquered an army, and saved your country. The 
 war is nearly over, so that you cannot retrieve your ill 
 fortune, nor atone for your crimes by losing a province 
 or wasting an army hereafter. Nothing but a resignation 
 can save your reputation, or restore you again to the favor 
 of the public." 
 
 Lee, in terms of disrespect to Washington unfit to be 
 quoted, also urged Gates to resign. Ere the period of his 
 own sentence had expired, upon a rumor that his commis- 
 sion was to be revoked, he wrote a hurried offensive note
 
 ^Er. 21.] HAMILTON". 483 
 
 to Congress, and was forthwith dismissed the service. In 
 decorous terms he sought to soften the offence, disavow- 
 ing a desire to be restored. Degraded and soured, his 
 views changed. " The New England men excepted, the 
 rest of the Americans," he wrote, " though they fancy 
 and call themselves republicans, have not a single repub- 
 lican qualification or idea. They have always a God of 
 the day, whose infallibility is not to be disputed : to him 
 all the people must bow down and sing Hosannas." Ere 
 the war ended General Lee sickened and died, a sad in- 
 stance of genius, and courage, and character sacrificed to 
 selfish ambition and capricious vanity.* 
 
 This year terminated the life of a very different per- 
 son, James Otis, the early, eloquent, enlightened, disinter- 
 ested, intrepid advocate of the liberty of his country. 
 His zeal in her behalf had shaken his reason, and as he 
 w r as standing at his door looking into the heavens, a bolt 
 of lightning struck him ; a fate, which, in other days, 
 would have been felt to have consecrated the victim. 
 
 * NOTE. " Treason of General Charles Lee." 
 
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 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WASHINGTON, because of their recent fatigues and the in- 
 tense heat, proceeded with his army to Brunswick, and 
 thence to Paramus in the Jerseys, on his way to the Hud 
 son. At this place he received the thanks of Congress, 
 which were acknowledged, in his name, by Hamilton. 
 Here also, on the thirteenth of July, advices came of the 
 arrival of a French fleet upon the coast. 
 
 France was now looking to ocean triumphs, flattered 
 by the promise of her immense military marine at Brest 
 and Toulon, the former comprising a fleet of forty-five 
 ships of the line, thirty-seven frigates, and eighteen lighter 
 vessels ; while at Toulon were twenty-seven high deck- 
 ers, eighteen frigates, and a large number of corvettes 
 and smaller barks. The officers were nobles of the first 
 rank, wearing their scarlet uniforms and aiguillettes re- 
 splendent with gold, with whom, next in command, were 
 associated officers of the blue rude, hardy men, familiar 
 with the sea. Under the same white flag also sailed, 
 members of the great families of Provence, Brittany, 
 Guienne and Languedoc Barras, Saint Laurent, Bonne- 
 val, pupils of the royal school of the marine. The whole 
 thus composed, formed an indigested, ill-governed mass, 
 whom neither the perils of the sea, nor mid-battle, nor the
 
 /Ex. 21.] HAMILTON. 
 
 laws against duelling could restrain from mutual re- 
 proaches and rencontres. 
 
 The larger vessels indicate the provinces and cities 
 whose munificent gifts they were, the " Languedoc," tht 
 Provence," the " Marseillais," the " Lyons." 
 
 The command of the squadron which left Toulon the 
 twelfth of April, now near the American coast, was con- 
 fided to the Count D'Estaing, a native of Auvergne, .nd 
 relation of La Fayette, a colonel of a regiment of in- 
 fantry, appointed a vice-admiral. Such was the discon- 
 tent at the elevation of a soldier above meritorious and 
 skilful sailors, Bougainville, De Suffren and others, that 
 D'Estaing felt himself compelled to announce from the 
 deck of the Languedoc, his sense of their feelings and his 
 determination to require implicit obedience.* 
 
 The Delaware was his place of destination, where, but 
 for his protracted voyage of nearly ninety days, the British 
 fleet under Lord Howe, and, in all probability, the army 
 near Philadelphia, would have been captured. Arriving 
 at its capes, he apprised Congress of the fact, and failing 
 in the great, first object of his mission, proceeded to Sandy 
 Hook. 
 
 To carry into effect the orders of Congress, Washing- 
 ton immediately sent forward Colonel Laurens with a let- 
 ter to D'Estaing, written by Hamilton, advising him of 
 his intended march to the Hudson, when he proposed to 
 approach the enemy's lines near New York, supposing it 
 to be the intention of the French admiral to enter its 
 harbor. 
 
 The co-operation of the force under Gates being con- 
 templated, Hamilton requested him to meet Washington 
 in order to a consultatidn. D'Estaing having sent Major 
 Chouin to confer with him, Washington wrote the admi- 
 
 * Capefiquc, ti. 190.
 
 486 THE EEPUBLIO. [1778. 
 
 ral : " The difficulty of doing justice by letters to matters 
 of such variety and importance as those which now en- 
 gage our deliberations, has induced me to send to you 
 Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, another of my aides, in 
 whom I place entire confidence. He will be able to 
 make you perfectly acquainted with my sentiments, and 
 to satisfy any inquiries you may think proper to propose ; 
 and I would wish you to consider the informat on he may 
 give you as coming from myself." 
 
 Two objects were in view, an attack upon New York, 
 or upon Rhode Island. 
 
 The expectation of a French fleet, and the probability 
 of a co-operation with it, among other objects, upon the 
 latter station of the enemy, rendered the selection of the 
 officer to command in that quarter a matter of high mo- 
 ment. The appointment of Putnam was contemplated. 
 Washington learning this purpose, wrote to the committee 
 of co-operation. " They also know with more certainty 
 what will be the determination of Congress respecting 
 General Putnam, and, of course, whether the appointment 
 of him to such a command as that at Rhode Island would 
 fall within their views ; it being incumbent on me to ob- 
 serve, that with such materials as I am furnished, the 
 work must go on ; whether well or ill, is another matter ; 
 if, therefore, he and others are not laid aside, they must be 
 placed where they can least injure the service." * 
 
 Sullivan, being charged with the command, was or- 
 dered to call for a body of five thousand New England 
 militia, and to prepare for a descent. Though this object 
 should not be pursued, these preparations would distract 
 and deceive the enemy, and throw them off their guard 
 at New York. 
 
 On the twentieth of July, Hamilton wrote to Wash- 
 
 * March 6, 1778
 
 c**- 
 
 U
 
 ^T. 21.] HAMILTON. 487 
 
 ington from Black Point : " He (Count d'Estaing) has 
 had the river sounded, and finds he cannot enter. He 
 will sail for Rhode Island to-morrow evening. In the 
 mean time, he is making demonstrations to deceive the 
 enemy, and beget an opinion that he intends to Operate in 
 this quarter." Three days after, he wrote to the com- 
 mander-in-chief from Newark : " I need not suggest to 
 your excellency, that an essential part of the Rhode 
 Island plan, is, to take every possible measure to watch 
 the enemy's motions, and to establish expresses from place 
 to place, to give the Count instant information of any 
 movement among their fleet. This will enable him to be 
 in time to intercept them, should they attempt to evacuate 
 New York, while he is at Rhode Island ; and will, in gen- 
 eral, facilitate the intercourse and co-operation between 
 him and your excellency." He asked indulgence for not 
 immediately returning, not meaning " to delay more than a 
 moderate attention to my frail constitution may make not 
 improper." To strengthen Sullivan, La Fayette was or- 
 dered to march to Providence with a detachment of the 
 best troops ; and Colonel Laurens was despatched thither 
 to receive D'Estaing. 
 
 The recent treaties with France had raised the expec- 
 tation of the French officers, seeking commissions in the 
 American army. Annoyed by their importunities, Wash- 
 ington again wrote in warm terms discouraging their pre- 
 ferment. Indicating the danger that the experienced 
 American officers would resign, he asks " Is it consistent 
 with justice or prudence to promote these military fortune 
 hunters at the hazard of your army ? Baron Steuben, I 
 now find, is also wanting to quit his inspectorship for a 
 command in the line. ' This will be productive of much 
 discontent to the brigadiers. In a word, although I think 
 the Baron an excellent officer, I do most devoutly wish,
 
 488 THE REPUBLIC. [1776. 
 
 that we had not a single foreigner among us except the 
 Marquis de La Fayette, who acts from very different 
 principles from those which govern the rest." In a sub- 
 sequent letter to the President of Congress, from Ham- 
 ilton's pen, he stated the Baron's intention to resign, ad- 
 mitted his usefulness, but deprecated his having an actual 
 and permanent command in the line, " as productive of 
 much dissatisfaction and extensive ill consequences." 
 
 On the same day, the twenty-sixth of July, Hamilton 
 wrote to Boudinot, suggesting expedients to retain the ser- 
 vices of Steuben, and to save the feelings of his fellow- 
 soldiers : 
 
 " Baron Steuben will do me the honor to deliver you 
 this. He waits upon Congress in a temper which I very 
 much regret discontented with his situation, and almost 
 resolved to quit the service. You know we have all the 
 best opinion of this gentleman's military merit, and shall 
 of course consider his leaving the army as a loss to it. 
 Whether any expedient can be adopted to reconcile diffi- 
 culties, and retain him in the service, at the same time that 
 no disgust is given to others who ought not to be dis- 
 gusted, I cannot certainly determine. But I should con- 
 ceive it would not be impossible to find such an expe- 
 dient. You have no doubt heard while you were with 
 the army, of the obstacles thrown in his way by many 
 of the general officers, excited to it by Lee and Mifflin, 
 as I believe, in the execution of the inspectorship ; and 
 you have, it is equally probable, heard of the arrangement 
 the General was in a manner obliged to adopt, to silence 
 the clamors which existed among them, and place the in- 
 spectorate upon a footing more conformable to their ideas. 
 The opposition the Baron met with in this case was one 
 cause of dissatisfaction to him. In our march from 
 Brunswick, as the Baron was unemployed, and there was
 
 MT. 21 .] HAMILTON. 489 
 
 a great deficiency of general officers, notwithstanding the 
 ideas of the army are against giving a command in the 
 line to a person vested with an office similar to that held 
 by him, the General ventured to give him the tempo- 
 rary command of a division during the march, in conse- 
 quence of which the command of a wing devolved upon 
 him. This was a source of offence to many. When we 
 came near the White Plains the General thanked him in 
 general orders for his services, and requested he would 
 resume the exercise of his former office. To this, on ac- 
 count of the opposition he had already met with, and from 
 the original plan for the inspectorship being mutilated, he 
 discovered very great disinclination, and expressed desire 
 to preserve a command in the line; and from some con- 
 versation we have had together, I apprehend he meant to 
 resign his present appointment, if he cannot have a com- 
 mand suited to his rank annexed to it. You will see by 
 the General's letters what are his sentiments both with re- 
 spect to the duties of the inspectorship, and the Baron's 
 holding a command in the line. Far be it from me to 
 Avish to contravene his views ; you may be assured they 
 cannot be essentially departed from without very serious 
 inconvenience. But if any thing could be done consistent 
 with them to satisfy the Baron, it would be extremely de- 
 sirable. Perhaps the principle on which the General's ar- 
 rangement is formed, may be preserved, and at the same 
 time, the objects of the inspectorship enlarged, so as to 
 render it a more important employment. Perhaps a reso- 
 lution of Congress giving the Baron a right to be em- 
 ployed on detachments, might, for the present, compen- 
 sate for the want of a permanent command in the line, 
 and might not be disagreeable to the officers. You 
 can sound him on these heads. I need not caution you 
 that this is a matter of great delicacy and importance,
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 and that every step taken in it ought to be well consid- 
 ered." 
 
 The suggestion of Hamilton was met by Congress so 
 far as to request him in a formal vote " to repair to Rhode 
 Island, and give his advice and assistance to General Sul- 
 livan and the army under his command." 
 
 Greene was now ordered to take command of a part 
 of the troops near Rhode Island, the residue of the de- 
 tachments to be in charge of La Fayette. This arrange- 
 ment was communicated to him in a letter by Hamilton in 
 behalf of Washington, in well chosen terms. La Fayette 
 acceded to it in a most becoming manner. 
 
 D'Estaing arrived off Rhode Island before the army 
 of co-operation was ready to act. In the interval, the 
 British fleet, being reinforced, sailed for New Port. A 
 concerted movement of the French and Americans upon 
 the enemy was to be made on the tenth of August. Two 
 days previous, D'Estaing sailed up the channel between 
 Rhode and Conanicut Islands, under fire of their batteries, 
 and the enemy, about six thousand strong, retired within 
 their lines. On the appointed day, the Americans crossed 
 from the main to Rhode Island, when they learned that 
 Lord Howe being seen in the offing, D'Estaing had gone 
 to sea in hope of meeting him. A tempest dispersed them. 
 The admiral's ship was dismasted. He decided to repair 
 to Boston in obedience to his instructions to proceed there 
 in case of disaster. 
 
 The high wrought expectations of the country and of 
 the army from the co-operation of France, were now a 
 second time disappointed. Greene resolved, in concert 
 with La Fayette, to induce D'Estaing to sail for Rhode 
 Island. . His fleet appearing, on the twentieth off New 
 Port, they waited upon him on shipboard, presenting a let- 
 ter from Sullivan, remonstrating against his withheld aid.
 
 JET. 21.] HAMILTON. 
 
 D'Estaing did not comply. The insubordination of his 
 officers, anxious to thwart him in any measures that would 
 confer upon him distinction, was now seen. They advised 
 him to repair to Boston. He surrendered his own wishes 
 to their unanimous importunity. Sullivan wrote him 
 again, sending an offensive protest, signed by all the gen- 
 eral officers at Rhode Island, except La Fayette.* Irri- 
 tated by this unwise act, he sailed to Boston. Sullivan, 
 thus disappointed, on the twenty-eighth of August, with- 
 drew his army, reduced by desertion, to the northern part 
 of the island, waiting the future co-operation of D'Estaing. 
 The British pursued him. The Americans encamped, pro- 
 tected by a redoubt. An attempt was made to turn their 
 right flank, and to carry the redoubt. Greene met and 
 defeated the enemy, who retired to a strong position. The 
 action was not resumed. Advised by Greene of the dis- 
 contents which had arisen with the French, Washington, 
 with the pen of Hamilton, expressed his wish, "the utmost 
 harmony should prevail, as it is essential to success, and 
 that no occasions may be omitted on your part to culti- 
 vate it." A hope was intimated of a " complete reduc- 
 tion of the enemy's force." "If the fact is otherwise, let 
 me beseech you to guard against sorties and surprises. 
 The enemy, depend upon it, will fall like a strong man, 
 will make many sallies, and endeavor to possess them- 
 selves of or destroy your artillery, and should they once 
 put the militia into confusion, the consequences may be 
 fatal." A letter from Washington, written by Hamilton, 
 the day before the recent action, advised Sullivan of the 
 appearance of a movement by the British in New York, 
 and remarked : " I will just add a hint, which, made use 
 of in time, may prove important, and answer a very salu- 
 tary purpose. Should the expedition fail, through the 
 
 * Marshall, L 265.
 
 492 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 abandonment of the French fleet, the officers concerned 
 will be apt to complain loudly. But prudence dictates 
 that we should put the best face upon the matter, and to 
 the world attribute the removal to Boston to necessity. 
 The reasons are too obvious to need explaining. The 
 principal one is, that our British and internal enemies 
 would be glad to improve the least matter of complaint 
 and disgust between us and our new allies into a serious 
 rupture." A letter to the same effect was on the same 
 day addressed, in behalf of Washington, by Hamilton, to 
 General Heath at Boston. " It is our duty," he observed, 
 " to make the best of our misfortunes, and not to suffer 
 passion to interfere with our interest and the public good." 
 The intelligence of the movement of the enemy did not 
 come too soon. Sullivan obeyed the advice, and retired 
 from Rhode Island with his whole force, and the next day, 
 Sir Henry Clinton with a reinforcement of four thousand 
 men arrived. Thus the American army was saved. 
 ; Qn the same day, Hamilton wrote in behalf of the 
 commander-in-chief to Governor Clinton : " I am sorry to 
 inform you that the French fleet left Rhode Island bound 
 to Boston. Our troops were still on the island, and, of 
 course, in a very precarious situation. The reasons for 
 this conduct were the damage suffered in the late storm, 
 the apprehension of Byron's being on the coast, and the 
 orders of the French king, that in case of misfortune or a 
 superior naval force, the fleet was immediately to repair 
 to Boston, as a secure post and a place of rendezvous for 
 any reinforcement which should be sent,;; v 
 
 ^Different opinions will be entertained on the pro- 
 priety of the measure ; but we ought all to concur in giv- 
 ing it the most favorable coloring to the people. It should 
 be ascribed to necessity resulting from the injury sus- 
 tained by the storm."
 
 JET. 21.] HAMILTON. 493 
 
 The cautionary advice to Sullivan came too late. 
 Three days prior to its date, La Fayette wrote to Wash- 
 ington explaining the conduct of his relative D'Estaing, 
 and stating the excitement which prevailed : " Could you 
 believe, that forgetting any national obligation, forgetting 
 what they were owing to that same fleet, what they were 
 yet to expect from them, and instead of resenting their 
 accidents as those of allies and brothers, the people turned 
 mad at their departure ; and wishing them all the evils in 
 the world, did treat them as a generous one would be 
 ashamed to treat the most inveterate enemies. I am more 
 upon a warlike footing in the American lines than when I 
 come near the British lines at New Port." He referred 
 to a recent general order of Sullivan : * " The General 
 yet hopes the event will prove America able to procure 
 that by her own arms, which her allies refuse to assist her 
 in obtaining." At the instance of La Fayette he issued 
 an order qualifying this ill-judged paper. 
 
 La Fayette also wrote a private letter to Hamilton on 
 the subject of these differences. On the first of Septem- 
 ber he again wrote to him * regretting his own absence 
 from the recent engagement. " The two retreats do honor 
 to the troops and to General Sullivan who conducted them 
 perfectly. Communicate to me in a long letter, my dear 
 Hamilton, what you think on what has been done, what is 
 to be done, and what can be done en suite. The unfortu- 
 nate Toussard lost his arm in one of the most Valorous ac- 
 tions ever performed. The affairs on which I wrote you 
 my complaints are a little quieted, but to take Rhode 
 Island we want General Washington." 
 
 On the same day, Hamilton wrote again in behalf of 
 Washington to Sullivan : " The disagreement between the 
 army under your command and the fleet, has given me 
 
 * Memoirs of La Fayette, i 191. f Hamilton's Works, i. 68.
 
 4.94 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 very singular uneasiness. The continent at large is con 
 cerned in our cordiality, and it should be kept up by all 
 possible means, consistent with our honor and policy. 
 First impressions, you know, are generally longest re- 
 membered, and will serve to fix in a great degree our 
 national character among the French. In our conduct 
 towards them we should remember, that they are a people 
 old in war, very strict in military etiquette, and apt to 
 take fire where others scarcely seem warmed. Permit 
 me to recommend, in the most particular manner, the 
 cultivation of harmony and good agreement, and your 
 endeavors to destroy that ill humor which may have got 
 into the officers. It is of the greatest importance, also, 
 that the soldiers and the people should know nothing of 
 the misunderstanding, or, if it has reached them, that 
 ways may be used to stop its progress and prevent its 
 effects." Greene was at the same time urged, " to con- 
 ciliate that animosity, which I plainly perceive, by a letter 
 from the marquis, subsists between the American officers 
 and the French in our service. This, you may depend, 
 will extend itself to the Count, and to the officers and men 
 of his whole fleet, should they return to Rhode Island ; 
 unless, upon their arrival there, they find a reconciliation 
 has taken place. The marquis speaks kindly of a letter 
 from you to him on the subject. He will therefore take 
 any advice coming from you in a friendly light ; and, if 
 he can be pacified, the other French gentlemen will of 
 course be satisfied, as they look up to him as their head." 
 
 A most conciliatory letter was also on the same day 
 addressed by Hamilton to La Fayette, urging his good 
 offices in calming the rising storm. 
 
 His view of the conduct of Sullivan is disclosed in a 
 private letter to Boudinot written likewise the same day, 
 giving expression to his own sense of what was due to a
 
 ^Ex. 21.] HAMILTON. 495 
 
 gallant ally : " You know the feuds and discontents which 
 have attended the departure of the French fleet from 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 "You are probably not uninformed of the impru- 
 dence of General Sullivan on the occasion, particularly in 
 the orders he issued charging our allies with refusing to 
 assist us. This procedure was the summit of folly, and 
 has made a very deep impression upon the minds of the 
 Frenchmen in general, who naturally consider it as an 
 unjust and ungenerous reflection on their nation. 
 
 " The stigmatizing an ally in public orders, and one 
 with whom we meant to continue in amity, was certainly 
 a piece of absurdity without parallel. The Frenchmen 
 expect the State will reprobate the conduct of tueir gen- 
 eral, and by that means make atonement for the stain he 
 has attempted to bring upon French honor. Something 
 of this kind seems necessary, and will in all likelihood be 
 expected by the court of France, but the manner of doing 
 it suggests a question of great delicacy and difficulty, 
 which I find myself unable to solve. 
 
 " The temper with which General Sullivan was actu- 
 ated was too analogous to that which appeared in the 
 generality of those concerned with him in the expedition, 
 and to the sentiments prevailing among the people. 
 Though men of discretion will feel the impropriety of 
 his conduct, yet there are too many who will be ready to 
 make a common cause with him against any attempt of 
 the public authority to convince him of his presumption, 
 unless the business is managed with great address and cir- 
 cumspection. The credit universally given him for a 
 happy and well conducted retreat, will strengthen the 
 sentiments in his favor, and give an air of cruelty to any 
 species of disgrace which might be thrown upon a man, 
 who will be thought rather to deserve the esteem and ap-
 
 496 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 plause of his country. To know how to strike the proper 
 string will require more skill than I am master of; but 
 I would offer this general hint, that there should be a 
 proper mixture of the sweet and bitter in the potion which 
 may be administered. 
 
 " I am sure it will giye you pleasure to have heard, 
 ihat our friend Greene did ample justice to himself on this 
 expedition ; and that Laurens was as conspicuous as usual. 
 But while we celebrate our friends and countrymen, we 
 should not be forgetful of those meritorious strangers, 
 who are sharing the toils and dangers of America. With- 
 out derogating from the merit of the other French gentle- 
 men who distinguished themselves, Mr. Toussard may be 
 justly allowed a pre-eminent place. In the enthusiasm of 
 heroic valor, he attempted, single and unseconded, to pos- 
 sess himself of one of the enemy's field-pieces, which he 
 saw weakly defended. He did not effect it, and the loss 
 of his arm was the price of his bravery his horse was 
 shot under him at the same time ; but we should not the 
 less admire the boldness of the exploit from a failure in 
 the success. This gentleman has now, in another and 
 more signal instance, justified the good opinion I have 
 long entertained of him, and merited by a fresh testimony 
 of his zeal, as well as a new stroke of misfortune, the con- 
 sideration of Congress. The splendid action he has now 
 performed, and for which he has paid so dear, should nei- 
 ther be concealed from the public eye, nor the public 
 patronage. You are at liberty to commit this part of my 
 letter to the press. With the most affectionate attach- 
 ment." 
 
 Congress passed a resolution a few days after, thank- 
 ing Sullivan and his army " for their fortitude and bra- 
 very in the action of the twenty-ninth of August, in which 
 they repulsed the British force, and maintained the field,''
 
 JET. 21.] HAMILTON. 497 
 
 and declared " their high sense of the patriotic exertions 
 made by the four Eastern Slates in the late expedition to 
 Rhode Island." A motion for an inquiry into the causes 
 of its failure was defeated by the previous question. 
 
 Many of the various duties of service performed by 
 Hamilton have been shoAvn. He is now seen in a new aspect 
 as the correspondent in behalf of the commander-in-chicf, 
 with officers high in the confidence of the new ally of the 
 United States. The courteous and graceful tone of his 
 letters was very grateful to men of rank and distinction, 
 educated in the most polished court of the world, and 
 habituated to measure the intercourse of life, not less by 
 the manner than by the substance. It will be seen, that 
 Hamilton met the case with all the delicacy and tact of 
 a refined nature, mingled with the simple frankness of a 
 young soldier.* In this spirit he wrote several soothing 
 letters to D'Estaing in the name of Washington : " The 
 importance of the fleet under your command to the com- 
 mon cause, and the interest I take in your personal con- 
 cerns, would not permit me but to be deeply affected with 
 the information of the disappointment and injuries you 
 sustained in the late unfortunate storm. I flatter myself, 
 and I most ardently hope my countrymen will exert 
 themselves, to give you every aid in their power, that you 
 may, as soon as possible, recover from the damage you 
 have suffered, and be in a condition to renew your efforts 
 against the common enemy.." 
 
 This letter bears date, the second of September. He 
 again wrote to him for the commander-in-chief, on the 
 
 .* Dewitt's Life of Washington, i. 147 : " Himself, so full of simplicity and 
 reserve, he takes, with the French, a tone of courtesy almost complimentary. 
 He offers his friendship to D'Estaing, he recalls to La Fayette the old intimacy 
 which unites them, and cures, by kind words, the wound given to their self- 
 love," ascribing these letters to Washington 
 
 VOL. I. 32
 
 498 THE EEPUBLIC. [1YT8. 
 
 twenty-seventh of October: "1 rejoice with you in the 
 prospect of your being so soon in a state to resume the 
 sea. I cannot but ardently desire, that an opportunity 
 may be soon afforded you of again exerting that spirit oi 
 well directed activity and enterprise, of which you have 
 already given proof so formidable to our enemies, and so 
 beneficial to the common cause. It is to be hoped our 
 next accounts from Europe will manifest, that the court 
 of Spain has properly estimated the value of the present 
 moment, and has united her power to that of France, to 
 give a decisive blow to the haughty dominion which Brit- 
 ain has so long affected to maintain over the sea. The 
 satisfaction I feel in looking forward to this event, is aug- 
 mented by the illustrious part I am persuaded you will 
 act in accomplishing it." 
 
 D'Estaing appreciated the tone of this letter. Stating 
 that Mr. Holker would make an interesting communica- 
 tion in his name, he wrote to Washington : " I entreat you 
 not to confide the secret to any person, except Colonel 
 Hamilton. His talents and his personal qualities have 
 secured to him for ever my esteem, my confidence, my 
 friendshp." In reply to this and another letter, Hamilton, 
 in the name of Washington, remarked : " Your excellen- 
 cy's sentiments give value to my own on the utility of 
 some well-combined system of fortification for the secu- 
 rity of our principal seaport towns. 
 
 " The predatory war which the enemy threaten, and 
 have actually carried on in several instances, and which 
 they have the opportunity to repeat, give additional force 
 to the other reasons for a measure of that nature. I im- 
 patiently expect the arrival of Mr. Holker to confer with 
 me on the important objects with which he will be 
 charged. I shall cautiously observe the secrecy you de- 
 sire. Colonel Hamilton's high respect for your excellency
 
 <Ei. 21.J HAMILTON. 499 
 
 cannot permit him to be insensible to so flattering a mark 
 of your confidence and friendship, as the exception in his 
 favor affords." 
 
 These soft words soothed the justly wounded spirit of 
 the French admiral, and time sufficient elapsing for the 
 mind of New England to calm, Congress declared, the 
 Count " hath behaved as a brave and wise officer, and his 
 excellency and the officers and men under his command, 
 have rendered every benefit to these States, which the 
 circumstances and nature of the service would admit of, 
 and are fully entitled to the regard of the friends of 
 America." These with other encomiastic expressions 
 were ordered to be transmitted to him. 
 
 The arrival of a British naval reinforcement indicated 
 the necessity of measures for the protection of the French 
 squadron lying at Boston. With this view a large detach- 
 ment was ordered into Connecticut to be within support- 
 ing distance of the troops at Boston and those upon the 
 Hudson, whichever should be the object of the enemy. 
 Washington having encamped at White Plains, the works 
 in the Highlands and the adjacent posts and detachments 
 came under his immediate supervision. Delicacy to Gates, 
 and expedience, both prompted his being placed in a sep- 
 arate command. Hamilton, over the signature of Wash- 
 ington, addressed him an order giving him charge of this 
 detachment. He was subsequently ordered by Congress 
 to Boston. 
 
 A letter of General McDougall to Governor Clinton 
 thus depicts Gates : " I understand he is gone to Boston. 
 I know he was exceedingly impatient under command, 
 and from his known temper, I suspect he prefers being 
 the first man of a village to the second in Rome. He has 
 little to do there, but the service will not suffer by his be- 
 ing at a post of ease and security. He is the most credu-
 
 500 THE REPUBLIC. (me 
 
 lous in his profession of any man I ever knew, who had 
 seen so much service. He has the weakest mind to com- 
 bine circumstances to form a judgment, of any man I 
 ever knew of his plausible and specious appearance. In 
 short, he is as weak as water. The Lord of Hosts have 
 mercy on that army, whose movements must depend on 
 his combination of the military demonstrations of an ene- 
 my. God avert so great a judgment to America, as his 
 having the chief command of her armies. It is fortunate 
 for America, Burgoyne was so rash as to put himself in 
 the position he did ; and that there was no other route for 
 him to Albany than the one he took, or he would not have 
 been an American prisoner." Yet the correspondent of 
 Gates in Congress was indulging in sarcasms upon Wash- 
 ington : "In the name of America," Lovell writes him, 
 " what plan is to be pursued ? Is Lord Howe at liberty 
 to come and go as he pleases ? Is not his fleet essential to 
 the safety of Clinton ? May he cover New York and 
 Rhode Island alternately as he pleases ? " Again he 
 wrote him before his departure for Boston : " But here let 
 me ask you whether any chief ever had so little true intel- 
 ligence as General Washington ? Are not spies to be had 
 for money ? We shall do great things when we get Pres- 
 ident Schuyler here. I think that is one of the next 
 tneasures. I am not altogether without suspicion that 
 some mean practices may take place in your present 
 quarters." 
 
 The cautionary measures against a surprise by the 
 enemy being taken, Washington's attention was now 
 turned to the possibility of a new effort for the liberation 
 of Canada, which had been suggested by La Fayette, and 
 contemplated the co-operation of a body of French troops 
 to proceed against Quebec. Having submitted to a board 
 of general officers a series of questions as to the force
 
 ^fir. 21.] HAMILTON. 501 
 
 . 
 there, and the dispositions of the inhabitants " to unite 
 
 with the Independent States of America," their report 
 was communicated to Congress in a letter from the pen 
 of Hamilton. 
 
 " The expediency of the undertaking," it is observed, 
 " in a military point of view, will depend on the enemy's 
 evacuating these States, and on the reinforcements they 
 may. send into Canada. While they keep their present 
 footing, we shall find employment enough in defending 
 ourselves without meditating conquests ; or, if they send 
 a large addition of strength into that country, it may re- 
 quire greater force and more abundant supplies on our 
 part, to effect its reduction, than our resources may admit. 
 But, if they should leave us, and their other exigencies 
 should oblige them to neglect Canada, an event which is 
 not impossible, we may derive essential advantages from 
 a successful expedition there ; and if it should be thought 
 advisable, there is no time to be lost in making prepara- 
 tions, particularly if the idea of carrying it on in the 
 winter is pursued. 
 
 " The great importance of the object, both in a military 
 and political light, demands the sanction and concurrence 
 of Congress before any steps can be taken towards it 
 with propriety. The peculiar preparations which will be 
 necessary from the peculiar nature of the enterprise, are 
 an additional motive with me for requesting thus early 
 their determination." 
 
 The plan, if the expedition were undertaken, was, 
 owing to the large naval force of the enemy on the lakes, 
 to penetrate by way of the frontier of Connecticut. 
 
 Orders were given to provide magazines and forage 
 in that State, in the contingency of the proposed invasion. 
 If it were abandoned, they would be convenient, from re- 
 cent indications of the enemy, to transfer their operations
 
 502 THE REPUBLIC. [17Ta 
 
 to New England. Should such be their policy, the safety 
 of Boston would be a primary object. With this view, 
 General Du Portail, the chief engineer of the army, was 
 ordered there. A letter from Hamilton to Heath, in the 
 name of Washington, stated his object would be " to ex- 
 amine into the nature and condition of the fortifications 
 erected or being erected on the land side, and to form a 
 plan for a more complete system so far as may be neces- 
 sary, or circumstances will permit. This is to be com- 
 bined on the principle of a co-operation with the French 
 fleet for mutual defence." 
 
 The enemy's force was in two principal divisions ; that 
 in New York and its dependencies numbered thirteen 
 thousand, the other in Rhode Island consisted of about 
 five thousand. Intelligence being received of prepara- 
 tions for a considerable embarkation of troops, a council 
 of war was convened, and the questions submitted in a 
 paper prepared by Hamilton : " Whether the army should 
 be held in a collected state during the winter and where ? 
 and whether it shall be distributed into cantonments, and 
 in what particular manner? What precautions should 
 be adopted, in either case, to shelter the troops and pro- 
 cure subsistence both of provisions and forage ? " 
 
 The American force in New York and the Jerseys was 
 about fifteen thousand, in Providence and its dependencies 
 about thirty-five hundred Continentals and State troops. 
 
 In respect to the proposed expedition to Canada, the 
 disposition of the troops and the selection of winter quar- 
 ters, the policy of the enemy was the controlling consid- 
 eration. Frequent letters were addressed by Hamilton to 
 D'Estaing communicating intelligence, but it was exceed- 
 ingly difficult to form an opinion. 
 
 Hamilton gives his own view in a private letter : * "It 
 
 * Hamilton's Works, i. 70.
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 503 
 
 is a question very undecided in my mind whether the ene- 
 my will evacuate or not. Reasoning a priori, the argu- 
 ments seem to be strongest for it from the exhausted state 
 of the British resources, the naked condition of their do- 
 minions every where, and the possibility of a Spanish war. 
 But on the other hand, naval superiority must do a great 
 deal in the business. This, I think, considering all things, 
 appears clearly enough to be on the side of Britain. The 
 sluggishness of Spain affords room to loubt her taking a 
 decisive part. The preserving posts in these States will 
 greatly distress our trade, and give security to the British 
 West India trade. They will also cover the West Indies, 
 and restrain any operations of ours against the British 
 dominions on this continent. These considerations and the 
 depreciated state of our currency, will be strong induce- 
 ments to keep New York and Rhode Island, if not with a 
 view to conquest, with a view to temporary advantages, 
 and making better terms in a future negotiation. 
 
 "From appearances, the great delay which attends the 
 embarkation, the absolute tranquillity of the post at Rhode 
 Island, where there is no kind of preparation for leaving 
 it, and some other circumstances, seem to indicate an in- 
 tention to remain. On the other hand, besides the general 
 appearances I have already mentioned, their inattention to 
 the petition of the refugees and the not raising new works, 
 are strong additional reasons for going away. I think it 
 most probable, if they were determined to continue a 
 garrison, that they would give most explicit assurances to 
 their friends, in order to encourage their proposal, and 
 engage them to aid in maintaining it. I think also they 
 would contract their works, to be better proportioned to 
 the number of the garrison, and of course more defensi- 
 ble, by throwing a chain of fortifications across the nar- 
 row part of the Island. The depreciation of our curren-
 
 504 THE REPUBLIC. [1778 
 
 cy casts a gloom on our prospects, but my sentiments on 
 this subject are rather peculiar. I think, bad as it is, it 
 will continue to draw out the resources of the country a 
 good while longer, and especially if the enemy make such 
 detachments, of which there is hardly a doubt, as will 
 oblige us to act on the defensive. 
 
 This will make our public expenditures infinitely less, 
 and will allow the States leisure to attend to the arrange- 
 ments of their finances, as well as the country tranquillity 
 to cultivate its resources." 
 
 In the fleet commanded by D'Estaing, came the Sieur 
 Gerard de Rayneval, Syndic of Strasbjrg and secretary 
 of the council of state, accredited as minister plenipoten- 
 tiary from the king of France. To increase the effect of 
 this acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the United 
 States, a public audience was appointed by Congress on 
 the sixth of August. 
 
 Richard Henry Lee and Samuel Adams were selected 
 to present him. They approached in a coach drawn by 
 six horses caparisoned for the great occasion. Gerard 
 gave assurances of the friendship of the king and of his 
 " desire to establish the repose and prosperity of the United 
 States upon an honorable and solid foundation." These 
 assurances were reciprocated in warm and becoming 
 terms ; and on the fourteenth of September, Franklin was 
 elected minister to France. 
 
 The instructions to govern him in his mission became 
 a subject of long and earnest consideration. They were 
 not completed until late in October, and embraced a de- 
 tailed plan for the conquest of Canada. This plan con- 
 templated a movement upon Detroit by way of Pittsburg, 
 an attack upon Fort Niagara by way of Wyoming and 
 by the Mohawk, the occupation of Oswego and the as- 
 sembling of five thousand men in Connecticut, to pene-
 
 ^ET. 21.] HAMILTON. 505 
 
 trate by way of the river St. Francis. These operations 
 were to be effected by the American troops. At the same 
 time, a body of French soldiers were to enter the St. 
 Laurence and capture Quebec, which, it was supposed, 
 they would find " defenceless." 
 
 A copy of this plan was submitted by Congress to 
 Washington in order to obtain his views, and he was di- 
 rected to get exact intelligence of the military and naval 
 strength in that province. 
 
 The preparation of an opinion on this very important 
 project was confided to Hamilton. A full examination of 
 the subject in its military aspects was communicated to 
 Congress in a letter written by him, in the name of Wash- 
 ington : 
 
 This official letter was enclosed in a private letter to 
 the President of Congress, also from his pen, bearing date 
 the fourteenth of November. 
 
 " This will be accompanied by an official letter on the 
 subject of the proposed expedition against Canada. You 
 will perceive I have only considered it in a military light, 
 indeed I was not authorized to consider it in any other ; 
 and I am not without apprehensions that I may be thought, 
 in what I have done, to have exceeded the limits intended 
 by Congress. But my solicitude for the public welfare, 
 which I think deeply interested in this affair, will, I hope, 
 justify me in the eyes of all those who view things through 
 that just medium. 
 
 " I do not know, sir, what may be your sentiments in 
 the present case, but whatever they are, I am sure I can 
 confide in your honor and friendship, and shall not hesi- 
 tate to unbosom myself to you on a point of the most 
 delicate and important nature. The question of the 
 Canadian expedition in the form it now stands, appears to 
 me one of the most interesting that has hitherto agitated
 
 506 THE EEPUBLIC. [1778 
 
 our national deliberations. I have one objection to it, un- 
 touched in my public letter, which is, in my estimation, 
 insurmountable, and alarms all my feelings for the true 
 and permanent interests of my country. This is the in- 
 troduction of large bodies of French troops into Canada, 
 and putting them in possession of the capital of that pro- 
 vince, attached to them by all the ties of blood, habits, 
 manners, religion, and former connection of government. 
 
 " I fear this would be too great a temptation to be re- 
 sisted by any power actuated by the common maxims of 
 national policy. Let us realize for a moment the striking 
 advantages France would derive from the possession of 
 Canada ; the acquisition of an extensive territory abound- 
 ing in supplies for the use of her islands ; the opening a 
 vast source of the most beneficial commerce with the In- 
 dian nations, which she might then monopolize ; the hav- 
 ing ports of her own on this continent independent of the 
 precarious good will of an ally ; the engrossing the whole 
 trade of Newfoundland whenever she pleased, the finest 
 nursery of seamen in the world ; the security afforded to 
 her islands ; and finally the facility of awing and control- 
 ling these States, the natural and most formidable rival of 
 every maritime power in Europe. Canada would be a 
 solid acquisition to France on all these accounts, and be- 
 cause of the numerous inhabitants, subjects to her by in- 
 clination, who would aid in preserving it under her power 
 against the attempt of every other. 
 
 "France, acknowledged for some time past the most 
 powerful monarchy in Europe by land, able now to dis- 
 pute the empire of the sea with Great Britain, and if 
 joined with Spain, I may say certainly superior, possessed 
 of New Orleans on our right, and Canada on our left, 
 and seconded by the numerous tribes of Indians in our 
 rear from one extremity to the other, a people so generally
 
 J^T. 21.] HAMILTON. 507 
 
 friendly to her, and whom she knows so well to conciliate, 
 would, it is much to be apprehended, have it in her power 
 to give law to these States. 
 
 "Let us suppose that when the five thousand French 
 troops (and under the idea of that number twice as many 
 might be introduced), were entered the City of Quebec, 
 they should declare an intention to hold Canada, as a 
 pledge and security for the debts due to France from the 
 United States, or, under other specious pretences, hold the 
 place, till they can find a bone for contention, and, in the 
 meanwhile, should excite the Canadians to engage in sup- 
 porting their pretensions and claims ; what should we be 
 able to say with only four or five thousand men to carry 
 on the dispute ? It may be supposed, that France would 
 not choose to renounce our friendship by a step of this 
 kind, as the consequence would probably be a reunion 
 with England on some terms or other, and the loss of 
 what she had acquired in so violent and unjustifiable a 
 manner, with all the advantages of an alliance with us. 
 This, in my opinion, is too slender a security against the 
 measure to be relied on. The truth of the position will 
 entirely depend on naval events. If France and Spain 
 should unite, and obtain a decided superiority by sea, a 
 reunion with England would avail very little, and might 
 be set at defiance. France, with a numerous army at 
 command, might throw in what number of land forces 
 she thought proper, to support her pretensions ; and Eng- 
 land, without men, without money, and inferior in her fa- 
 vorite element, could give no effectual aid to oppose them. 
 Resentment, reproaches, and submission seem to be all that 
 would be left us. Men are very apt to run into extremes. 
 Hatred to England may carry some into excess of confi- 
 dence in France, especially when motives of gratitude are 
 thrown into the scale. Men of this description would be
 
 508 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 unwilling to suppose France capable of acting so ungen- 
 erous a part. I am heartily disposed to entertain the most 
 favorable sentiments of our new ally, and to cherish them 
 in others to a reasonable degree. But it is a maxirn 
 founded on the universal experience of mankind, that no 
 nation is to be trusted farther than it is bound by its inter 
 ests ; and no prudent statesman or politician will ventur 
 to depart from it. In our circumstances we ought to be 
 particularly cautious ; for we have not yet attained suffi- 
 cient vigor and maturity to recover from the shock oi 
 any false step into which we may unwarily fall. 
 
 " If France should even engage in the scheme, in the 
 first instance, with the purest intentions, there is the 
 greatest danger that, in the progress of the business, in- 
 vited to it by circumstances, and, perhaps, urged on by 
 the solicitations and wishes of the Canadians, she would 
 alter her views. 
 
 " As the marquis clothed his proposition when he spoke 
 of it to me, it would seem to have originated wholly with 
 himself; but it is far from impossible that it had its birth 
 in the cabinet of France, and was put into this artful 
 dress to give it the readier currency. I fancy that I read 
 in the countenances of some people on this occasion, more 
 than the disinterested zeal of allies. I hope I am mistaken, 
 and that my fears of mischief make me refine too much, 
 and awaken jealousies that have no sufficient foundation. 
 
 " But, upon the whole, sir, to waive every other con- 
 sideration, I do not like to add to the number of our na- 
 tional obligations. I would wish as much as possible to 
 avoid giving a foreign power new claims of merit for ser- 
 vices performed to the United States, and would ask no 
 assistance that is not indispensable. 
 
 " I am, with the truest attachment and the most perfect 
 confidence, <fec."
 
 yEx. 21.] II A M I L T O X . 509 
 
 Two days* after the date of this letter, Hamilton, over 
 the signature of Washington, wrote to the President of 
 Congress in consequence of apprehensions entertained by 
 New Jersey of an attack upon her western frontier : 
 " These depredations of the enemy give me the most 
 serious concern. I lament that we have not yet had it in 
 our power to give them an effectual check. I am per- 
 fectly convinced that the only certain way of preventing 
 Indian ravages, is to carry the war vigorously into their 
 own country ; but as this is thought impracticable at this 
 season of the year, from the state of the weather and 
 other circumstances, I fear we must content ourselves for 
 the present with some defensive precautions." These 
 were taken. 
 
 An effort was now made for the exchange of the 
 troops captured at Saratoga. 
 
 A proposal for this purpose had recently been received 
 from Sir Henry Clinton. This proposal was submitted 
 by Washington to Congress, and a resolution passed the 
 nineteenth of November, directing him to appoint com- 
 missioners to treat with those appointed by the British 
 commander-in-chief. The basis of the exchange was to 
 be, first, officers of equal rank ; next, if necessary, an equiv- 
 alent of inferior for superior officers ; if this should leave 
 any officers unexchanged, an equivalent of privates in 
 exchange for such officers to be settled. Hamilton and 
 Harrison were appointed by Washington, and on the 
 eleventh of December they met Colonels Hyde and 
 O'Hara at Perth Amboy. An exchange was proposed 
 by the latter of one-half of the officers for an equal 
 number of officers, and for the residue, privates according 
 to a proportion to be arranged. This proposal being a 
 departure from the terms authorized by Congress, and 
 * Nov. 16.
 
 510 THE REPUBLIC. [1778. 
 
 which had been communicated to Sir Henry Clinton as 
 preliminary, was rejected. The negotiation was thus at 
 an end. To satisfy the public mind, the correspondence 
 was published. The same day, the letter from Washing- 
 ton in relation to the Canadian expedition, was referred to 
 a committee of Congress. 
 
 Reluctant to abandon the project, while assenting to 
 the force of the dissuasive reasons presented in the letter, 
 they nevertheless reported a resolution which was ap- 
 proved, instructing the commander-in-chief to write to La 
 Fayette and to the envoy to France " very fully, in order 
 that eventual measures might be taken, in case an arma- 
 ment should be sent from France to Quebec, to co-operate 
 therewith to the utmost degree the finances of the States 
 would admit." Laurens, the President, differed from the 
 views of the majority. He wrote a reply to the recent 
 letter received from Washington, expressing an entire 
 concurrence with its opinions, and deprecating any un- 
 avoidable increase of the obligations to be incurred to 
 France. " Their report," he stated, " was framed agree- 
 ably to his (La Fayette's) wishes, but the House very 
 prudently determined to consult the commander-in-chief 
 previously to a final determination ; and, although your 
 excellency's observations are committed, I am much mis- 
 taken, if every member in Congress is not decided in his 
 opinion in favor of them." 
 
 Washington was placed in the delicate position, either 
 of contravening the wishes of Congress, or of being party 
 to a measure he disapproved. Hamilton again stated his 
 views to that body . * 
 
 " The earnest desire I have to render the strictest com- 
 pliance in every instance to the views and instructions of 
 Congress, cannot but make me feel the greatest uneasi- 
 Dec. 13.
 
 MT. 21.] HAMILTON. 511 
 
 ness when I find myself in circumstances of hesitation 01 
 doubt with respect to their directions. But the perfect 
 confidence I have in the justice and candor of that honor- 
 able body, emboldens me to communicate without reserve, 
 the difficulties which occur in the execution of their pres- 
 ent order ; and the indulgence I have experienced on 
 every former occasion, induces me to imagine, that the 
 liberty I now take will not meet with their disapproba- 
 tion. 
 
 " I have attentively taken up the report of the com- 
 mittee of the fifth, approved by Congress, on the subject 
 of my letter of the eleventh ultimo, on the proposed ex- 
 pedition into Canada. I have considered it in several 
 lights, and sincerely regret that I should feel myself under 
 any embarrassment in carrying it into execution. Still, I 
 remain of opinion, from a general review of things and 
 the state of our resources, that no extensive system of 
 co-operation with the French, for the complete emanci- 
 pation of Canada, can be positively decided on for the 
 ensuing year. To propose a plan of perfect co-operation 
 with a foreign power, without a moral certainty of our 
 supplies, and to have that plan actually ratified by the 
 court of Versailles, might be attended, in case of failure 
 in the conditionson our part, with very fatal effects. If 
 I should seem unwilling to submit the plan as prepared by 
 Congress with my observations, it is because I find my- 
 self under a necessity, in order to give our minister suffi- 
 cient ground on which to found an application, to propose 
 something more than a vague and indecisive plan, which, 
 even in the event of a total evacuation of these States by 
 the enemy, might be rendered impracticable in the execu- 
 tion by a variety of insurmountable obstacles. Or, if I 
 retain my present sentiments and act consistently, I must 
 point out the difficulties as they appear to me ; which
 
 512 THE EEPUBLIC. [1778 
 
 must embarrass his negotiations, and may disappoint the 
 views of Congress. The line of conduct that I am to 
 observe in writing to our minister at the court of France, 
 does not appear sufficiently delineated. Were I to under 
 take it, I would be much afraid of erring through miscon- 
 ception. In this dilemma I should esteem it as a particu- 
 lar favor to be excused from writing at all on the subject, 
 especially as it is the part of candor in me to acknowl- 
 edge that I do not see my way clear enough to point out 
 such a plan for co-operation as I conceive to be consistent 
 with the ideas of Congress, and that will be sufficiently 
 explanatory with respect to time and circumstances, to 
 give efficacy to the measure. But if Congress should still 
 think it necessary for me to proceed in the business, I 
 must request their more definitive and explicit instructions, 
 and that they will permit me, previous to transmitting the 
 intended despatches, to submit them to their determination. 
 " I could wish to lay before Congress more minutely 
 the state of the army, the condition of our supplies, and 
 the requisites necessary for carrying into execution an 
 undertaking that may involve the most serious conse- 
 quences. If Congress think this can be done more satis- 
 factorily in a personal conference, I hope to have the 
 army in such a situation before I can receive their answer, 
 as to afford me an opportunity of giving my attendance. 
 I would only add, that I shall cheerfully comply with the 
 directions of Congress relative to making every prepara- 
 tion in our power for an expedition against Niagara, and 
 for such other operations to the northward as time and 
 circumstances shall enable us to carry on. Measures for 
 the purpose have been taken in part for some time past ; 
 and I shall pursue them vigorously. The subject has long 
 engaged my contemplation ; and I am thoroughly con- 
 vinced of the expediency and policy of doing every thing
 
 MT:. 21.] HAMILTON. 513 
 
 practicable on our part for giving security to our fron- 
 tiers, by the reduction of those places which facilitate an- 
 noying them, and even for accomplishing the annexation 
 of CANADA to the UNION." 
 
 Two days after,* Hamilton wrote in Washington's 
 name to McDougall : " The probable prospects of the 
 next campaign will make it the part of prudence to be 
 turning our attention towards Canada, and to be preparing, 
 as far as our circumstances will permit, for operations in 
 that quarter, either partially against those posts which 
 enable the enemy to distress our frontiers Niagara, &c., 
 or more extensively the union of that province to the con- 
 federacy, as the future posture of our affairs may put it 
 in our power to undertake. Perhaps the more partial 
 plan may better suit with our resources. The reduction 
 of Niagara, if it can be effected, is an event essential to 
 the tranquillity of the States. This cannot be accom- 
 plished without destroying the enemy's naval force on 
 Lake Ontario, the means of doing which is what I wish at 
 this time to have your sentiments concerning." Questions 
 were then propounded as to building an American naval 
 force to be launched upon that lake. 
 
 The same day Hamilton, in Washington's name, wrote 
 also to Schuyler, congratulating him " on his honorable 
 acquittal with the approbation of Congress," f conferring 
 with him again as to the Canada expedition. " No person, 
 I know, has it more in his power to judge of the measures 
 proper to be taken, and I am persuaded you will readily 
 
 * Dec. 18. 
 
 f "Dec. 3, 1778. Resolved, That the sentence of the court martial, ac- 
 quitting Major-general Schuyler, with the highest honor, of the charges exhibited 
 against him, be, and hereby is, confirmed." Schuyler had been elected a dele- 
 gate to Congress early this year, but would not take his seat while this matter 
 was pending, preferring the inquiry should be unbiased and have full scope. 
 
 VOL. I. 33
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 afford your aid in a matter of so great importance, as far 
 as may be consistent with the situation of your public and 
 professional concerns." 
 
 The next day, he wrote to Steuben in Washington's 
 name, as to a new arrangement of the office of inspector- 
 general, which he accompanied with a private letter in his 
 own name : " I am sorry that your business does not seem 
 to make so speedy a progress as we all wish, but I hope it 
 will soon come to a satisfactory termination. I wish you 
 to be in a situation to employ yourself usefully and agree- 
 ably ; and to contribute to giving our military constitution 
 that order and perfection which it essentially wants." 
 General Lee, in his defence, had borne offensively upon 
 Steuben. Hamilton added : " I have read your letter to 
 him with pleasure. It was conceived in terms which the 
 offence merited ; and if he had had any feeling, must have 
 been felt by him. Considering the pointedness and sever- 
 ty of your expressions, his answer was certainly a modest 
 one, and proved that he had not a violent appetite for so 
 close a tete-a-tete as you seemed disposed to insist upon. 
 His evasions, if known to the world, would do him little 
 honor. I don't know but I shall be shortly at Philadel- 
 phia." 
 
 Having completed the arrangements for the winter 
 quarters of the army, Washington proceeded to Philadel- 
 phia at the request of Congress. Hamilton accompanied 
 him, and, while there, addressed them a letter on the last 
 day of the year, urging the retention of General Dupor- 
 tail and his assistants in the service. On the first of Jan- 
 uary, seventy-nine, the plan for the invasion of Canada 
 was finally acted upon by Congress, their decision not 
 improbably influenced by the counsels of Jay, recently 
 elected its President, who, not long before, had conferred 
 with Washington, and entertained similar opinions.
 
 ^ET. 22.] HAMILTON. 515 
 
 The committee of conference reported, that the nego- 
 tiation in relation to it, however desirable and interesting 
 it was, should be deferred till circumstances should render 
 " the co-operation of these States more certain, practica- 
 ble and effectual." 
 
 A letter was consequently addressed to La Fayette, 
 stating their determination, " however flattering the object, 
 not to risk a breach of the public faith or the injury of an 
 ally, to whom they are bound by principles of honor, 
 gratitude and affection." 
 
 The demoralization of the public councils and the ne- 
 cessity of restoring the character of Congress by the elec- 
 tion of a superior class of men, had become more and 
 more obvious. 
 
 Washington, in a private letter written at this time to 
 his intimate, Harrison, speaker of the House of Delegates 
 in Virginia, remarked . " What may be the effect of such 
 large and frequent emissions, of the dissensions, parties, 
 extravagance, and general laxity of public virtue, Heaven 
 alone can tell." He besought his exertions to send " the 
 best and ablest men to Congress." 
 
 He also wrote privately to Reed, recently elected 
 " President of the executive council of Pennsylvania : " 
 " It gives me sincere pleasure to find, that there is likely 
 to be a coalition of the whigs in your State, a few only 
 excepted, and that the assembly is so well disposed to 
 second your endeavors in bringing those murderers of our 
 cause, the monopolizers, forestallers and engrossers, to con- 
 dign punishment. It is much to be lamented that each 
 State, long ere this, has not hunted them down as pests to 
 society, and the greatest enemies we have to the happiness 
 of America. I would to God, that some one of the most 
 atrocious in each State was hung in gibbets upon a gal- 
 lows five times as high as the one prepared by Haman.
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [i779 
 
 No punishment, in my opinion, is too great for the mail 
 who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin." * 
 1*1 < Hamilton endeavored to check some of these abuses. 
 A plan had been formed in Congress for relieving the dis- 
 tresses of the army. It was intended to be secret. A 
 member of Congress, one of the cabal, divulged it to cer- 
 tain friends, who were charged with having speculated 
 with him in flour. The intended relief to the army was 
 thus, in part, defeated. 
 
 Hamilton being informed of the facts, made them the 
 subject of a few essays over the signature of " PUBLIUS." 
 " The station of a member of Congress," he eloquently 
 remarked at the close, " is the most illustrious and import- 
 ant of any I am able to conceive. He is to be regarded 
 not only as a legislator, but as a founder of an empire. 
 A man of virtue and ability, dignified with such a trust, 
 would rejoice that fortune had given him birth at a time, 
 and placed him in circumstances, so favorable for promot- 
 ing human happiness. He would esteem it not more the 
 duty than the privilege and ornament of his office to do 
 good to all mankind. From this commanding eminence, 
 he would look down with contempt upon every mean or 
 interested pursuit. 
 
 " To form useful alliances abroad, to establish a wise 
 government at home, to improve the internal resources 
 and finances of the nation, would be the generous objects 
 of his care. He would not allow his attention to be di- 
 verted from these to intrigue for personal connections to 
 confirm his own influence, nor would be able to reconcile 
 it, either to the delicacy of his honor, or to the dignity of 
 his pride, to confound in the same person the representa- 
 tive of the commonwealth, and the little member of a 
 trading company. Anxious for the permanent power and 
 
 * Washington's Writings, vi 132.
 
 JEfi. 22.] HAMILTON. 517 
 
 prosperity of the State, he would labor to perpetuate the 
 union and harmony of the several parts. He would not 
 meanly court a temporary importance by patronizing the 
 narrow views of local interest, or by encouraging dissen- 
 sions either among the people or in Congress. In council 
 or debate he would discover the candor of a statesman, 
 zealous for truth ; and the integrity of a patriot, studious 
 of the public welfare ; not the cavilling petulance of an 
 attorney contending for the triumph of an opinion, nor 
 the perverse duplicity of a partisan devoted to the service 
 of a cabal. Despising the affectation of superior wisdom, 
 he would prove the extent of his capacity by foreseeing 
 evils, and contriving expedients to prevent or remedy 
 them. He would not expose the weak sides of the States, 
 to find an opportunity of displaying his own discernment, 
 by magnifying the follies and mistakes of others. In his 
 transactions with individuals, whether with foreigners or 
 countrymen, his conduct would be guided by the sincerity 
 of a man, and the politeness of a gentleman ; not by the 
 temporizing flexibility of a courtier, nor the fawning com- 
 plaisance of a sycophant." 
 
 This appeal was not without effect. The State, thus 
 misrepresented in Congress, passed a prudential vote. 
 
 i* * 

 
 
 
 J V 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 DURING his sojourn at Philadelphia, conferences were 
 held between the commander-in-chief and a committee of 
 Congress. A paper relating to the recruiting and ar- 
 rangements of the army, and the operations of the next 
 campaign, was submitted to them by Washington. The 
 draft of it is in Hamilton's hand. 
 
 " The first and great object," it stated, " is to recruit 
 the army by re-enlisting the men now in it to serve 
 during the war," for which purpose no bounty was to be 
 spared, and " by drafting upon some such plan as had 
 been recommended " at Valley Forge. 
 
 " The next object is, to fix some ideas respecting the 
 northern preparations, concerning which the commander- 
 in-chief now finds himself in a dilemma, and respecting 
 the operations of the next campaign in general, in order 
 that measures may be taken systematically. The follow- 
 ing questions, on which the foregoing will depend, ought 
 to be considered and decided. 
 
 " First. If the enemy retain their present force at 
 New York and Rhode Island, can we assemble a sufficient 
 force and means to expel them ? 
 
 " Second. If we cannot, can we make a successful 
 attempt against Niagara, and retain a sufficient force at
 
 ^ET. 22.] HAMILTON. 
 
 the same time on the sea-board to keep the enemy with- 
 in bounds ? 
 
 " Third. Are our finances equal to eventual prepara- 
 tions for both of those objects ? 
 
 " If the first is determined in the affirmative, and the 
 enemy keep possession, we ought to direct almost our 
 whole force and exertions to that point ; and for the se- 
 curity of our frontiers, endeavor to make some expedition 
 against Detroit and the Indian settlements, by way of di- 
 version. Our preparations ought, then, to be adapted to 
 this plan ; and if we cannot conveniently unite our prepa- 
 rations for this object with an expedition against Niagara, 
 we ought to renounce the latter. 
 
 " If the first question is answered negatively, and the 
 second affirmatively, and if it is judged expedient to make 
 such an attempt, our preparations ought to have reference 
 principally thereto, and we must content ourselves with a 
 merely defensive conduct elsewhere, and should study 
 economy as much as possible. It is in vain to attempt 
 things which are more the objects of desire than attain- 
 ment. Every undertaking ought at least to be regulated 
 by the state of our finances, the prospect of our supplies, 
 and the probability of success.. Without this, disappoint- 
 ment, disgrace, and an increase of debt, will ensue on our 
 part ; exultation and renewed hope on that of the enemy. 
 To determine, therefore, what we can undertake, the 
 state of the army, the prospect of recruiting it, paying, 
 clothing and feeding it, the providing the necessary appa- 
 ratus for offensive operations ; all these matters ought to 
 be well and maturely considered. On them every thing 
 must depend ; and however reluctantly we yield, they 
 will compel us to conform to them, as by attempting im- 
 possibilities we shall ruin our affairs. 
 
 " If the third question is answered affirmatively, which
 
 520 THE REPUBLIC. [1779 
 
 it is much to be feared cannot be done, then eventual 
 preparations ought to be made for both. We shall then 
 be best able to act according to future circumstances ; for 
 though it will be impossible to unite both objects in the 
 execution, yet in the event of the enemy's leaving these 
 States, we should be ready to strike an important blow 
 for the effectual security of our frontiers, and for opening 
 a door to a farther progress to Canada. 
 
 " From the investigation of these points another ques- 
 tion may possibly result. 
 
 " Will not the situation of our affairs, on account of 
 the depreciated condition of our currency, deficiency of 
 bread, scarcity of forage, the exhausted state of our re- 
 sources in the middle department, and the general distress 
 of the inhabitants, render it advisable for the main body 
 of the army to lie quiet in some favorable position for 
 confining, as much as possible, the enemy to their present 
 posts (adopting, at the same time, the best means in our 
 power to scourge the Indians, and prevent their depreda- 
 tions), in order to save expenses, avoid new emissions, re- 
 cruit our finances, and give a proper tone to our money 
 for more vigorous measures hereafter ? 
 
 " In determining a plan of operations for next cam- 
 paign, much will depend on the prospect of European 
 affairs ; what we have to expect from our friends ; what 
 they will expect from us ; and what the enemy will prob- 
 ably be able to do. These points should be well weighed, 
 and every information concentred to throw light upon 
 them. But upon the whole, it will be the safest and most 
 prudent way to suppose the worst, and prepare for it. 
 
 "It is scarcely necessary to say, that the providing 
 ample supplies of arms, clothes, and ordnance stores, is 
 essential, and that an uncertain dependence may not only 
 be hurtful, but ruinous. Their importance demands that
 
 ^Ei. 22.] HAMILTON. 521 
 
 every possible expedient should be, without delay, adopt- 
 ed, towards obtaining these articles, in due season for the 
 purposes of next campaign. 
 
 " Heavy cannon, for posts in the Highlands, for batter- 
 ing, and for vessels, if offensive measures are to be pur- 
 sued, must be immediately forwarded, and in considerable 
 quantity. Large mortars, with a sufficient apparatus, will 
 also be wanted. 
 
 " The completing the arrangement of the army, with- 
 out farther delay, is a matter of great importance, what- 
 ever may be our plan. The want of this is the source of 
 infinite dissatisfaction to the officers in general, and con- 
 tinual perplexity to the commander-in-chief. The want 
 of brigadiers is a material inconvenience, and hath been 
 the cause of much relaxation of discipline, discontent, and 
 loss, in several instances." 
 
 These remarks are followed by observations, indicating 
 changes in the ordnance department, as suggested by 
 General Kn6x ; in the clothing, and in the hospital de- 
 partments. The immediate establishment of an inspector- 
 ship, on a definite plan, is strongly urged ; and an im. 
 proved arrangement of the engineering department. The 
 communication closes with a reference to the situation of 
 the officers, which is stated "to be so singularly hard, that 
 the bare mention of their case is sufficient to bring it 
 home to the attention and feeling of every man of reflec- 
 tion, and will leave no doubt of the necessity of applying 
 a remedy the most speedy and effectual." 
 
 The views taken in this paper, were the ground-work 
 of the deliberations of the committee ; and the plan of a 
 defensive campaign, which was ultimately adopted, was 
 enforced by various considerations. 
 
 The enemy's force at New York and Rhode Island, 
 was at this time about twelve thousand men. From the
 
 522 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 circular position of their posts, the strength of their forti- 
 fications, and their shipping, it was believed, that to a sue 
 cessful attempt, double that number of effectives would 
 be necessary. These, both from the rate of wages and 
 the high price of labor, it was impossible to get, beside 
 the extreme difficulty of providing subsistence and forage 
 for so large a number. 
 
 For an attack upon the frontier posts of the interior, a 
 body of permanent troops with auxiliaries, to the amount 
 of more than twenty thousand men, was deemed requi- 
 site ; for whose transportation ships were to be built, 
 boats provided, and greater expense iucurred, than would 
 be necessary for an attack on New York. 
 
 From the objections to these plans an expedition 
 against the Indians was free, and attended with much less 
 expense, while the country would, in the interval, be left 
 to repose, the disbursements of the year diminished a 
 general system of economy might be adopted, and enlist- 
 ments made to continue during the year. " If this plan is 
 determined upon, every measure of government ought to 
 correspond. The most uniform principle of economy 
 should pervade every department. We should not be 
 frugal in one part, and prodigal in another. We should 
 contract, but we should consolidate our system. The 
 army, though small, should be of a firm and permanent 
 texture. Every thing possible should be done to make 
 the situation of the officers and soldiers comfortable, and 
 every inducement offered to engage men during the war. 
 The most effectual plan that can be devised for enlisting 
 those already in the army, and recruiting in the country, 
 ought to be carried into immediate execution." 
 
 But as to this policy, indicated more by the national 
 necessities than by any other considerations, there were 
 grounds of serious hesitation. " The very inactivity, it
 
 ^Er. 22.] HAMILTON. 533 
 
 was naturally feared, might be attributed to the weakness 
 of the United States, and thus affect their credit and im- 
 portance abroad, and produce a most serious effect on 
 their negotiations in Europe. It might also discourage the 
 people, inspirit the disaffected, and give time for the dis- 
 contented to combine and produce extensive divisions, 
 while a succesful blow given to the enemy, in the reduced 
 state of the army, might compel them to evacuate the 
 United States, to which there would be little probability 
 of their return." But to this the finances of the country 
 were incompetent ; and it was believed no adequate force 
 could be assembled. 
 
 After deliberate consideration, the Niagara expedition 
 was laid aside. Operations against the Indians were to 
 be undertaken on a limited scale ; and a defensive plan 
 was agreed upon, only to be departed from in the contin- 
 gency of such reinforcements from France, as would jus- 
 tify drawing upon the resources of the country to an ex- 
 tent that would ensure the accomplishing some capital 
 object. These views are set forth in a letter of the fif- 
 teenth of January to the committee of Congress from 
 Hamilton's pen. Five days later, a letter, also from his 
 pen, was addressed to the same committee as to the situa- 
 tion of the officers of the army. 
 
 Stating that the new prospects arising from the treaties 
 with France had diverted their minds from an attention to 
 their distresses, it was urged " that to attach them heartily 
 to the service, their expectations of futurity must be in- 
 terested. With this view, a half-pay or pensionary estab- 
 lishment for life was recommended, and not for a term of 
 years, on the ground, " that the officer looks beyond a lim- 
 ited period, and naturally flatters himself that he will out- 
 live it." The unpleasant restrictions which attended the 
 resolves for seven years were condemned ; pensions for
 
 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 the widows of the officers were recommended ; and to the 
 objection raised to pensions, that they were inconsistent 
 with the maxims of government, it was answered, " that it 
 equally applied to pensions for years as to those for lives." 
 " It is alike a pension, in both cases ; in one, for a fixed 
 and determinate period ; in the other, for a contingent 
 period." Strongly as these views were taken, it was 
 nevertheless cautiously suggested, " that the subject should 
 not be brought forward unless certain of success ; that it 
 was a point on which the officers' feelings were much en- 
 gaged, and should not be awakened unless gratified." 
 
 It was also proposed that they should be provided 
 with clothing by the public at prices proportioned to their 
 pay ; that the rations and subsistence they had received, 
 rendered their situation indigent and miserable, and the 
 expedient of a periodical valuation of them was suggested. 
 A plan drafted by him was likewise submitted to this 
 committee, "for paying arrearages of clothing to the 
 troops." 
 
 Within a few days after, a plan for a clothing depart- 
 ment was proposed, establishing a subordination of offi- 
 cers, and recommending a distinct color and uniform for 
 each State corps, to diminish the expense of competition 
 for the same color, to distinguish the corps from each 
 other, to discriminate merit, and to prevent expense to the 
 officers by frequent changes. 
 
 It has been previously observed, that on the appoint- 
 ment of Steuben, a brief plan of an inspectorship had 
 been in part adopted by Congress in the spring of seventy- 
 eight. This plan was subsequently modified and com- 
 pleted in the ensuing month of September, when the 
 number of the regiments was allotted to each State. 
 
 The system then introduced, proved imperfect ; and 
 having been agreed to in committee, on the twenty-eighth
 
 ^T. 22.] HAMILTON". 525 
 
 of January of this year, a new plan for this department 
 was reported by the committee of conference to Con- 
 gress, and passed on the eighteenth of February following. 
 The report exists among the archives of the government 
 in a rough state ; the preamble in another hand, but the 
 body of it, with marks of alteration by him, in the auto- 
 graphy of Hamilton ; * where may also be found a plan 
 drawn up by him for completing the regiments, and 
 changing their establishment, in which is a project for an 
 annual draft. Inducements for re-enlistments, and the 
 modes of supplying the deficiency, are set forth with great 
 perspicuity, giving the general principles for such a pro- 
 cedure, which, in similar emergencies, might be adopted 
 with advantage. 
 
 While these topics were engaging their attention, Con- 
 gress was called, by a communication from Arthur Lee, 
 and by a conference with the French minister, to a nego- 
 tiation with Spain, involving points of great moment, the 
 consideration of which is deferred to a subsequent part 
 of this narrative. 
 
 In early spring, the enemy, waiting reinforcements, 
 were content to harass and alarm the States adjacent to 
 New York by sudden inroads, which did not advance in 
 the least the great object of the contest, but only served 
 to increase the horrors of war, by invading the unsus- 
 picious security of the settlements near the coast. These 
 incursions were aggravated by being chiefly undertaken 
 by the American refugees ; who, forgetting their duty to 
 their country, discarded all regard to the obligations of 
 humanity, and evincing the cruelty, without the courage 
 of other freebooters, rendered doubly afflicting this border 
 warfare. 
 
 The debatable ground of Westchester had long been 
 
 * Hamilton's Works, i. 168.
 
 526 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 a scene of the most wanton enormities. There parties 
 were regularly organized, under the singular denomina- 
 tions of skinners and cow-boys ; and, as a natural conse- 
 quence of this petty warfare, long continued, a great part 
 of the community were demoralized, and each combina- 
 tion formed itself into regular bands of depredators. 
 
 But the principal seat of these outrages was in the 
 lower districts of New Jersey, which being easily acces- 
 sible through its numerous inlets from the ocean, and 
 having a sparse population, was kept in constant alarm. 
 Small vessels were seen continually hovering along the 
 coast, which made in upon them at midnight, carried off 
 all the plunder they could find, fired the houses, murdered 
 all who resisted, and perpetrated shocking barbarities. 
 Bands of robbers roamed over the less-frequented re- 
 gions, and along the barrens, who, excited to cruelty by 
 their conflicts with the militia, marked their path with 
 rapine and with blood. 
 
 The vigilance exerted by Governor Livingston, and 
 the necessary severity exercised upon these outlaws, ren- 
 dered him an object of their particular hostility, and plans 
 were frequently formed to seize his person. On one oc- 
 casion, intelligence of his being at a certain spot was 
 given, a party was embodied to carry him off, and two 
 men, bolder than the others, were sent forward to watch 
 his movements. Accident saved him. In the habit of 
 riding at sunrise, he had, on the appointed day, awakened 
 sooner than usual, and had just passed the place selected 
 for his capture or destruction, when the party made their 
 appearance, a few moments too late. " The recent detec- 
 tion," Hamilton wrote to his early friend in behalf of 
 Washington, " of the wicked design you mention, gives 
 me the most sensible pleasure, and I earnestly hope you 
 may be alike successful in discovering and disappointing
 
 ^ET. 22.] HAMILTON. 527 
 
 every attempt that may be projected against you by your 
 open or concealed enemies. It is a tax, however severe, 
 which all those must pay who are called to eminent sta- 
 tions of trust, not only to be held up as conspicuous marks 
 to the enmity of the public adversaries to their country, 
 but to the malice of secret traitors, and to the envious in- 
 trigues of false friends and factions." 
 
 At another time a project was devised for carrying off 
 the Speaker of the New Jersey legislature, which was 
 nearly successful. 
 
 A similar design was formed on the person of Wash- 
 ington. He had appointed to meet some officers at a 
 designated place. Information was given by a female in 
 the tory interest, and the necessary arrangements were 
 made to seize him, but timely intelligence* frustrated the 
 attempt. 
 
 A more serious impression was made by a letter of 
 Governor Livingston, written about this time to Sir Henry 
 Clinton, alleging that he had the most authentic proofs of 
 a general officer under his command having offered a large 
 sum for his assassination in case he could not be taken 
 alive, and intimating that the person of General Clinton 
 might be reached in retaliation, but exempting him from 
 all knowledge of this atrocious proposal. This charge 
 was met on the part of the English commander with an 
 explicit and indignant denial. 
 
 The repetition of these attempts suggested the idea of 
 making Sir Henry Clinton a prisoner ; and a plan for this 
 
 * A partisan officer, a native of New York, called at the shop of Mulligan 
 late in the evening, to obtain a watch-coat. The late hour awakened curiosity. 
 After some inquiries, the officer vauntiugly boasted, that, before another day, 
 they would have his rebel General in their hands. This stanch patriot, ns 
 soon as the officer left him, hastened unobserved to the wharf, and despatched 
 a billet by a negro, giving information of the design.
 
 528 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 purpose was devised and submitted to Washington. He 
 approved it, stating, " I think it one of the most practica- 
 ble, and surely it will be among the most desirable and 
 honorable things imaginable to take him prisoner." The 
 British general was then occupying a house near the Bat- 
 tery, in New York, situate a few yards from the Hudson 
 river. Intelligence, through spies, had been obtained of 
 the approaches to his bed-chamber. Light whaleboats, 
 with muffled oars, were to be placed under the command 
 of Colonel Humphreys, of Connecticut ; and the party, 
 in full preparation, were waiting anxiously the approach 
 of night for the execution of their purpose. 
 
 Hamilton, in the interval, became informed of the in- 
 tended enterprise. Disliking this kind of warfare, he ob- 
 served to Washington " that there could be little doubt of 
 its success : but, sir, have you examined the consequences 
 of it ? " The General inquired, " in what respect ? " 
 "Why," replied Hamilton, "it has occurred to me that 
 we shall rather lose than gain, by removing Sir Henry 
 Clinton from the command of the British army, because 
 we perfectly understand his character. By taking him 
 off we only make way for some other, perhaps an abler 
 officer, whose character and dispositions we have to 
 learn." The General acknowledged the force of the 
 objection, and abandoned the project. 
 
 The expedition against the Indians was now engaging 
 Washington's attention. Entertaining doubts as to the 
 best mode of employing the troops on the northern fron- 
 tier in this expedition, a letter written by Hamilton was 
 addressed by Washington to Schuyler. In this letter the 
 reasons for either route are discussed. A plan was then 
 formed, and the detachments of troops were called in to 
 compose the main body. 
 
 Advices being receired of the return of the French
 
 ^T. 22.] HAMILTON. 529 
 
 fleet to the United States, Hamilton prepared a letter to 
 the French minister in the name of Washington : " A 
 clear superiority " of this fleet " over the British naval 
 force in America," was to be " the essential basis to any 
 extensive combined operations." Should explicit assur- 
 ances be given that Count D'Estaing will proceed with 
 all despatch to New York, with the permission of Con- 
 gress, Washington engaged to relinquish all the present 
 projects of the campaign, to co-operate for the reduc- 
 tion of New York and Rhode Island. The plan pro- 
 posed was, that D'Estaing should proceed to Georgia, 
 and in conjunction with the American troops there, de- 
 stroy the enemy's fleet and army. This accomplished, 
 that he should enter the harbor of New York expedi- 
 tiously, and take the fleet in that port. Rhode Island 
 would be the next object. These plans, if attended with 
 important successes, " might open a new field of action, 
 and lead t other important events." 
 
 In the last days of the previous year a detachment of 
 British troops landed near Savannah ; and after a defeat 
 of the American troops under General Robert Howe, took 
 possession of that city with all its military stores. The 
 only remaining force was the garrison of Sunbury, which 
 surrendered soon after to General Prevost, who had 
 moved upon it from Florida. Augusta was also taken 
 possession of, and Georgia was thus reduced to subjection. 
 General Lincoln was ordered to replace Howe, the rem- 
 nant of whose force he joined near Savannah, whence 
 he moved up that river to recover the interior of the 
 State. South Carolina, it was expected, would be imme- 
 diately invaded. On the first advices of her danger, Col- 
 onel Laurens asked leave to repair to the assistance of 
 his native State. Upon his departure from head-quarters, 
 Hamilton, who had known similar corps in the West In- 
 VOL. I. 34
 
 530 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 dies, approved the idea of raising a body of black levies 
 for the defence of that State, and gave him a letter of 
 introduction to Jay, the President of Congress : 
 
 " Colonel Laurens, who will have the honor of deliv- 
 ering you this letter, is on his way to South Carolina, on 
 a project which, I think, in the present situation of affairs 
 there, is a very good one, and deserves every kind of sup- 
 port and encouragement. This is, to raise two, three, or 
 four battalions of negroes, with the assistance of the gov- 
 ernment of that State, by contributions from the owners, 
 in proportion to the number they possess. If you should 
 think proper to enter upon the subject with him, he will 
 give you a detail of his plan. He wishes to have it re- 
 commended by Congress to the State ; and as an induce- 
 ment, that they would engage to take their battalions into 
 continental pay. 
 
 " It appears to me, that an expedient of this kind in 
 the present state of southern affairs, is the mo^t rational 
 that can be adopted, and promises very important advan- 
 tages. Indeed, I hardly see how a sufficient force can be 
 collected in that quarter without it ; and the enemy's 
 operations there are growing infinitely serious and formi- 
 dable. I have not the least doubt that the negroes will 
 make very excellent soldiers, with proper management ; 
 and I will venture to pronounce that they cannot be put 
 in better hands than those of Mr. Laurens. He has all 
 the zeal, intelligence, and enterprise, and every other 
 qualification requisite to succeed in such an undertaking. 
 It is a maxim with some great military judges, that with 
 sensible officers, soldiers can hardly be too stupid ; and on 
 this principle it is thought that the Russians would make 
 the best soldiers in the world if they were under other 
 officers than their own. The King of Prussia is among 
 the number who maintains this doctrine, and has a very
 
 ^T. 22.] HAMILTON. 531 
 
 emphatic saying on the occasion, which I do not exactly 
 recollect. I mention this because I have frequently heard 
 it objected to the scheme of embodying negroes, that they 
 are too stupid to make soldiers. This is so far from ap- 
 pearing to me a valid objection, that I think their want of 
 cultivation, (for their natural faculties are probably as 
 good as ours,) joined to that habit of subordination which 
 they acquire from a life of servitude, will enable them 
 sooner to become soldiers than our white inhabitants. 
 Let officers be men of sense and sentiment, and the 
 nearer the soldiers approach to machines, perhaps the 
 better. 
 
 " I foresee that this project will have to combat much 
 opposition from prejudice and self-interest. The contempt 
 we have been taught to entertain for the blacks, makes 
 us fancy many things that are founded neither in reasdn 
 nor experience ; and an unwillingness to part with prop- 
 erty of so valuable a kind, will furnish a thousand argu- 
 ments to show the impracticability or pernicious tendency 
 of a scheme which requires such sacrifices. But it should 
 be considered, that if we do not make use of them in this 
 way, the enemy probably will, and that the best way to 
 counteract the temptations they will hold out, will be, to 
 offer them ourselves. An essential part of the plan is, to 
 give them their freedom with their swords. This will se- 
 cure their fidelity, animate their courage, and, I believe, will 
 have a good influence upon those who remain, BY OPENING 
 A DOOR TO THEIR EMANCIPATION. This circumstance, I 
 confess, has no small weight in inducing me to wish the 
 success of the project ; for the dictates of humanity and 
 true policy equally interest me in favor of this unfortu- 
 nate class of men. 
 
 " When I am on the subject of southern affairs, you 
 will excuse the liberty I take in saying, that I do not
 
 532 THE REPUBLIC. [1779 
 
 think measures sufficiently vigorous are pursuing for our 
 defence in that quarter. Except the few regular troops 
 of South Carolina, we seem to be relying wholly on the 
 militia of that and the two neighboring States. These 
 will soon grow impatient of service, and leave our affairs 
 in a miserable situation. No considerable force can be 
 uniformly kept up by militia ; to say nothing of the many 
 obvious and well-known inconveniences that attend this 
 kind of troops. I would beg leave to suggest, sir, that no 
 time ought to be lost in making a draft of militia to serve 
 a twelvemonth, from the States of North and South 
 Carolina and Virginia. But South Carolina, being very 
 weak in her population of whites, may be excused from 
 the draft, on condition of furnishing the black battalions. 
 The two others may furnish about three thousand five 
 hundred men, and be exempted, on that account, from 
 sending any succors to this army. The States to the 
 northward of Virginia will be fully able to give competent 
 supplies to the army here ; and it will require all the force 
 and exertions of the three States I have mentioned, to 
 withstand the storm which has arisen, and is increasing in 
 the south. 
 
 " The troops drafted must be thrown into battalions, 
 and officered in the best manner we can. The supernu- 
 merary officers may be made use of as far as they will 
 go. If arms are wanted for their troops, and no better 
 way of supplying them is to be found, we should endea- 
 vor to levy a contribution of arms upon the militia at large. 
 Extraordinary exigencies demand extraordinary means. 
 I fear this southern business will become a very grave one." 
 
 The following extract of a letter from Laurens to 
 Hamilton, dated at Charleston, refers to this subject : 
 
 " Ternant will relate to you how many violent strug- 
 gles I have had between duty and inclination how much
 
 ^Er. 22.] HAMILTON. 533 
 
 my heart was with you, while I appeared to be most ac- 
 tively employed here. But it appears to me that I should 
 be inexcusable in the light of a citizen, if I did not con- 
 tinue my utmost efforts for carrying the plan of the black 
 levies into execution, while there remain the smallest 
 hopes of success. 
 
 " Our army is reduced to nothing almost, by the de- 
 parture of the Virginians. Scott's arrival will scarcely 
 restore us to our ancient number. If the enemy destine 
 the reinforcements from Great Britain to this quarter, as 
 in policy they ought to do, that number will be insufficient 
 for the security of our country. The governor, among 
 other matters to be laid before the House of Assembly, 
 intends to propose the completing our continental batta- 
 lions by drafts from the militia. This measure, I am told, 
 is so unpopular that there is no hope of succeeding in it, 
 Either thjs must be adopted, or the black levies, or the 
 State will fall a victim to the improvidence of its inhab- 
 itants. 
 
 " The House of Representatives have had a longer re 
 cess than usual, occasioned by the number of members in 
 the field. It will be convened, however, in a few days. 
 I intend to qualify, and make a final effort. Oh, that I 
 were a Demosthenes! The Athenians never deserved a 
 more bitter exprobation than our countrymen. 
 
 "General Clinton's movement, and your march in con- 
 sequence, made me wish to be with you. If any thing 
 important should be done in your quarter, while I am do 
 ing daily penance here, and making successless harangues, 
 I shall execrate my stars, and be out of humor with the 
 world. I entreat you, my dear friend, write me as fre- 
 quently as circumstances will permit, and enlighten me 
 upon what is going forward. 
 
 " Adieu. My love to our colleagues. I am afraid I
 
 534 THE KE PUBLIC. [1779 
 
 was so thoughtless as to omit my remembrances to Gibbes. 
 Tell him that I am always his sincere well-wisher, and 
 hope to laugh with him again ere long. Adieu, again. 
 Yours ever. 
 
 "P. S. You know my opinion of Ternant's value. His 
 health and affairs call him to the north. If you can ren- 
 der him any services, they will be worthily bestowed. 
 We have not hitherto availed ourselves of his zeal and 
 talent." 
 
 Congress had, late in the previous ^ear, "presented" 
 Laurens with a commission as lieutenant-colonel, in testi- 
 mony of his merits, and recommended Washington to give 
 him " a command agreeable to his rank." Laurens de- 
 clined the unexpected honor, as injurious to the rights of 
 the officers of the line, .and as "an evident injustice to his 
 colleagues in the family of the commander-in-chief." 
 Congress approved his motives. On his proposed depar- 
 ture for South Carolina, they again passed a special reso- 
 lution granting him a commission. 
 
 Hamilton wrote to him, in answer to a Jetter alluding 
 to this fact : 
 
 " Cold in my professions warm in my friendships 
 I wish, my deal' Laurens, it were in my power, by actions, 
 rather than words, to convince you that I love you. I 
 shall only tell you, that till you bid us adieu, I hardly 
 knew the value you had taught my heart to set upon you. 
 Indeed, my friend, it was not well done. You know the 
 opinion^ I entertain of mankind, and how much it is my 
 desire to preserve myself free from particular attach- 
 ments, and to keep my happiness independent of the ca- 
 prices of others. You should not have taken advantage 
 of my sensibility, to steal into my affections without my 
 consent. But as you have done it, and as we are gener- 
 ally indulgent to those we love, I shall not scruple to par-
 
 ^Ex. 22.] HAMILTON. 535 
 
 don the fraud you have committed, on one condition : that 
 for my sake, if not for your own, you will continue to 
 merit the partiality which you have so artfully instilled 
 into me. 
 
 " I have received your two letters ; one from Philadel- 
 phia, the other from Chester. I am pleased with your 
 success so far ; and I hope the favorable omens that pre- 
 cede your application to the Assembly, may have as favor- 
 able an issue ; provided the situation of affairs should re- 
 quire it, which I fear will be the case. But, both for your 
 country's sake, and for my own, I wish the enemy may 
 be gone from Georgia before you arrive ; and that you 
 may be obliged to return, and share the fortunes of your 
 old friends. In respect to the commission which you re- 
 ceived from Congress, all the world must think your con- 
 duct perfectly right. Indeed, your ideas tfpon this occa- 
 sion seem not to have their wonted accuracy ; and you 
 have had scruples, in a great measure, without foundation. 
 By your appointment as aide-de-camp to the commander- 
 in-chief, you had as much the rank of lieutenant-colonel 
 as any officer in the line. Your receiving a commission 
 as lieutenant-colonel, from the date of that appointment, 
 does not in the least injure or interfere with one of them; 
 unless by virtue of it you are introduced into a particular 
 regiment, in violation of the right of succession, which is 
 not the case at present, neither is it a necessary conse- 
 quence. As you were going to command a battalion, it 
 was proper you should have a commission ; and if this 
 commission had been dated posterior to your appointment 
 as aide-de-camp, I should have considered it derogatory 
 to your former rank, to mine, and to that of the whole 
 corps. The only thing I see wrong in the affair is this : 
 Congress, by their conduct, both on the former and pres- 
 ent occasion, appear to have intended to confer a privi-
 
 536 THE REPUBLIC. [1779 
 
 lege, an honor, a mark of distinction, a something upon 
 you, which they withheld from other gentlemen of the 
 family. This carries with it an air of preference, which, 
 though we can all truly say we love your character and 
 admire your military merit, cannot fail to give some of us 
 uneasy sensations. But in this, my dear, I wish you to 
 understand me well. The blame, if there is any, falls 
 wholly upon Congress. I repeat it, your conduct has 
 been perfectly right, and even laudable ; you rejected 
 the offer when you ought to have rejected it, md you ac- 
 cepted it when you ought to have accepted it ; and let me 
 add, with a degree of over-scrupulous delicacy. It was 
 necessary to your project. Your project was the public 
 good ; and I should have done the same. In hesitating, 
 you have refined on the refinements of generosity. 
 
 " There is a total stagnation of news here. Gates has 
 refused the Indian command. Sullivan is come to take it. 
 The former has lately given a fresh proof of his impu- 
 dence, his folly, and his *********. 'Tis no great matter ; 
 but a peculiarity in the case prevents my saying what. 
 
 " Fleury shall be taken care of. All the family send 
 love. In this join the General and Mrs. Washington ; and 
 what is best, it is not in the style of ceremony, but sin- 
 cerity." 
 
 Intelligence from Europe favorable to the American 
 cause having been received, a letter was addressed by 
 Hamilton to Jay, for Congress, in the name of Washing 
 ton, regretting that it " had not yet been given to the pub 
 lie in a manner calculated to attract the attention and im- 
 press the minds of the people. It would assist the meas- 
 ures taken to restore our currency, promote the recruit- 
 ing the army and our other military arrangements, and 
 give a certain spring to our affairs in general." 
 
 A letter was also addressed by him to the Board of
 
 /Er. 22.] HAMILTON. 537 
 
 War respecting the clothing department, the supply of 
 ordnance, and of arms for the cavalry, objecting to their 
 proposed reduction. 
 
 Congress having late in the month of February passed 
 a resolution expressing their desire that an offensive expe- 
 dition should be undertaken against the Indians in western 
 New York and Pennsylvania, secret preparations were 
 being made. The number of Indian warriors with the 
 persons who had joined them in this region, was estimated 
 at three thousand. The force to be sent against them 
 would be four thousand Continentals, and such aids of 
 militia as might be deemed absolutely necessary. The 
 command of this expedition was tendered to Gates in a 
 letter written by Hamilton. Gates, as has been stated, 
 declined it. " The man who undertakes the Indian ser- 
 vice," he wrote to Washington, " should enjoy youth and 
 strength, requisites I do not possess. It therefore grieves 
 me that your excellency should offer me the only com- 
 mand to which I am entirely unequal." In answer to a 
 previous letter, Gates had written a comment on the pro- 
 posed mode of entering Canada, which he communicated 
 to Congress, containing a reflection upon the commander- 
 in-chief, and a most insulting allusion to Schuyler. A 
 long letter from Washington to Jay, of which the draft is 
 in Hamilton's hand, previously referred to, vindicates his 
 conduct, and exposes Gates. " I am sorry," it is observed, 
 " his conduct to me has not been equally generous, and 
 that he is continually giving me fresh proofs of malevo- 
 lence and opposition. It will not be doing him injustice 
 to say, that, besides the little, underhand intrigues which 
 he is frequently practising, there has hardly been any 
 great military question in which his advice has been asked, 
 that it has not been given in an equivocal and designing 
 manner, apparently calculated to afford him an opportu-
 
 538 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 nity of censuring me, on the failure of whatever measure 
 might be adopted." 
 
 As the spring opened, it became important to decide 
 on the operations of the army. The inferiority of the 
 French fleet compelled an abandonment of the contem- 
 plated attack upon New York. Gerard having recently 
 visited head-quarters, Hamilton wrote to Gouverneur 
 Morris, in the name of Washington, on the eighth of 
 May. " From what he told me, it appears that sufficient 
 assurances cannot be given on points which are essential 
 to justify the great undertaking you had in view at the 
 expense of other operations very interesting ; and, indeed, 
 though I was desirous to convince the minister that we 
 are willing to make every effort in our power for striking 
 a decisive blow, yet my judgment rather inclined to the 
 second plan, as promising more certain success without put- 
 ting so much to hazard. The relief of the Southern States 
 appears to me an object of the greatest magnitude, and one 
 that may lead to still more important advantages. I feel 
 infinite anxiety on their account. Their internal weakness, 
 disaffection, the want of energy, the general languor thai 
 has seized the people at large, make me apprehend the 
 most serious consequences. It would seem, too, as if the 
 enemy meant to transfer the principal weight of the war 
 that way. If it be true that a large detachment has late- 
 ly sailed from New York, and that Sir Henry Clinton is 
 gone with it, and these should be destined southward, as 
 is most probable, there can be little doubt that this is the 
 present plan. Charleston, it is likely, will feel the next 
 stroke. This, if it succeeds, will leave the enemy in ful' 
 possession of Georgia, by obliging us to collect our forces 
 for the defence of South Carolina, and will, consequently, 
 open new sources for men and supplies, and prepare the 
 way for a further career. It is to be lamented that the
 
 Mr. 22.] HAMILTON. 539 
 
 remoteness and weakness of this army would make it fol- 
 ly to attempt tJ send any succor from this quarter." A 
 sad picture was given : " The rapid decay of our curren- 
 cy, the extinction of public spirit, the increasing rapacity 
 of the times, the want of harmony in our councils, the 
 declining zeal of the people, the discontents and distresses 
 of tne officers of the army, and, I may add, the prevailing 
 security and insensibility to danger, are symptoms, in my 
 eyes, of a most alarming nature. Our army, as it now 
 stands, is little more than the skeleton of an army ; and I 
 hear of no steps that are taking to give it strength and 
 substance. When I endeavor to draw together the conti- 
 nental troops for the most essential purposes, I am embar- 
 rassed with complaints of the exhausted, defenceless situ- 
 ation of particular States, and find myself obliged, either 
 to resist solicitations, made in such a manner and with 
 such a degree of emphasis as scarcely to leave me a 
 choice, or to sacrifice the most obvious principles of mili- 
 tary propriety and risk the general safety. I shall con- 
 clude by observing, that it is well worthy the ambition 
 of a patriot statesman at this juncture, to endeavor to 
 pacify party differences, to give fresh vigor to the springs 
 of government, to inspire the people with confidence, and 
 above all, to restore the credit of our currency." 
 
 The distresses of the officers here adverted to were 
 now seen to threaten alarming consequences. Three 
 hundred officers had resigned before the beginning of this 
 year. Of those who remained in the service, a few, 
 driven to despair by their sufferings, became insubordi- 
 nate. The Jersey brigade had been ordered to join the 
 expedition against the Indians. Its officers presented a 
 memorial to the legislature of that State, demanding a 
 provision for themselves and their troops within three 
 days, stating, if not granted, they might be considered as
 
 5-10 THE REPUBLIC. [1779 
 
 having resigned. On receiving this memorial from Gen- 
 eral Maxwell, Hamilton, in the name, of Washington, 
 wrote him, on the seventh of May, in terms of remarka- 
 ble beauty and delicacy, " I cannot but consider it as a 
 hasty and imprudent step, which, on more cool considera- 
 tion, they will themselves condemn. I am very sensible 
 of the inconveniences under which they labor ; and I hope 
 they do me the justice to believe, that my endeavors to 
 procure them relief are incessant." Having stated the 
 pecuniary embarrassments of Congress, and their sensi- 
 bility to the merits and sacrifices of the officers, he 
 added: "The patience and perseverance of the army 
 have been, under every disadvantage, such as to do them 
 the highest honor, both at home and abroad ; and have 
 inspired me with an unlimited confidence in their virtue, 
 which has consoled me amidst every perplexity and re- 
 verse of fortune to which our affairs in a struggle of this 
 nature were necessarily exposed. Now that we have 
 made so great a progress to the attainment of the end we 
 have in view so that we cannot fail without a most shame- 
 ful desertion of our own enterprises, any thing like a 
 change of conduct would imply an unhappy change of 
 principles, and a forgetfulness, as well of what we owe 
 to ourselves as to our country. Did I suppose it possible 
 this could be the case, even in a single regiment of the 
 army, I should be mortified and chagrined beyond ex- 
 pression. I should feel it as a wound given to my own 
 honor, which I consider as embarked with that of the 
 army at large. But this I believe to be impossible. I 
 confess the appearances in the present instance are dis- 
 agreeable, but I am convinced they seem to mean more 
 than they really do. The Jersey officers have not been 
 outdone by any others in the qualities either of citizens or 
 of soldiers ; and I am confident no part of them would
 
 Mr. 22.] HAMILTON. 54] 
 
 seriously entertain any thing that would be a stain to 
 their former reputation. The gentlemen cannot be in 
 earnest. They have only reasoned wrong about the mean? 
 of obtaining a good end ; and on reconsideration, I hopf 
 and flatter myself they will renounce what must appeal 
 improper at the opening of a campaign ; when undej 
 marching orders for an important service, their own hon- 
 or, duty to the public and to themselves, a regard to mili- 
 tary propriety, will not suffer them to persist in a measure 
 which would be a violation of them all. The declaration 
 they have made to the State at so critical a time, that 
 unless they obtain relief in the short period of three days, 
 they must be considered out of the service, has very much 
 the aspect ' of dictating terms to this country ; ' and the 
 seeming relaxation of continuing till the State can have a 
 reasonable time to provide other officers, will be thought 
 only a superficial veil." An order was given that the 
 regiment march without delay. "We are sorry," was 
 the reply, " that you should imagine we meant to disobey 
 orders. It was, and still is our determination to march 
 with our regiments, and to do the duty of officers until 
 the legislature have reasonable time to appoint others, but 
 no longer." A second letter to General Maxwell on this- 
 subject, from the pen of Hamilton, stated: "I am sorry 
 to find the gentlemen persist in the principles which dic- 
 tated the step they have taken, as, the more the affair 
 unfolds itself, the more reason I see to disapprove it. But 
 in the present view they have of the matter, and with 
 their present feelings, it is not probable any new argu- 
 ment that could be offered, would have more influence 
 than the former. While, therefore, the gentlemen con- 
 tinue in the execution of their duty, as they declare them- 
 selves heartily disposed to do, I shall only regret that 
 they have taken a step of which they must hereafter see
 
 542 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 the impropriety. There is one thing to which I cannot 
 forbear calling your particular attention. I observe in 
 the memorial of which you have sent me a copy, that the 
 gentlemen concerned dwell, among other things, upon the 
 insufficiency of the soldier's pay. This is a doctrine full 
 of dangerous consequences, and which ought not to be 
 countenanced in any way whatever. Neither is it well- 
 founded." "It is important that any misconception on 
 this point should be rectified." The legislature, by the 
 assurance that their demands would be acceded to, in- 
 duced the officers to withdraw their memorial. Votes 
 were immediately passed for the requisite sum. Payment 
 was made, and the regiment marched. This unavoidable 
 temporizing was the precedent for a similar demand by 
 another line of the army. 
 
 "This is an affair," Hamilton wrote on the tenth of 
 May, in behalf of Washington, to the President, " which 
 Congress will no doubt view in a very serious light. To 
 me it appears truly alarming. It shows what is to be ap- 
 prehended, if some adequate provision is not generally 
 made for the officers. I shall only observe, that the dis- 
 tresses in some corps are so great, either where they were 
 not till lately attached to particular States, or where the 
 States have been less provident, that officers have solicited 
 even to be supplied with the clothing destined for the 
 common soldiery. Coarse and unsuitable as they were, I 
 had not power to comply with their request. The pa- 
 tience of men animated by a sense of duty and honor, 
 will support them to a certain point, beyond which it 
 will not go. I view the conduct of the officers concerned 
 in the present instance as highly blamable ; and I have 
 signified my disapprobation. I trust the mode will not be 
 thought too mild, when our situation is considered. The 
 causes of discontent are too great and too general, and
 
 . 22.] HAMILTON. 
 
 543 
 
 the ties that bind the officers to the service too feeble, to 
 admit of rigor. It is lamentable that the measure " (the 
 provision by the legislature) " should have been delayed 
 till it became in a manner extorted. Notwithstanding the 
 expedient adopted for saving appearances, this cannot fail 
 to operate as a bad precedent." 
 
 The insubordination of the army was not the only great 
 source of disquietude at this time. The dissatisfaction of 
 certain States with the protection given to their frontiers, 
 has been previously mentioned. It was conspicuous on 
 the part of Pennsylvania. Hamilton wrote to its Presi- 
 dent in Washington's name on the twentieth of May : 
 " It is my constant endeavor to cultivate the confidence 
 of the governments of the several States, by an equal 
 and uniform attention to their respective interests, so far 
 as falls within the line of my duty and the compass of the 
 means with which I am entrusted. While I have a con- 
 sciousness of this, it is natural my sensibility should be 
 affected even by the appearance of distrust. The assur- 
 ances of the council that I have misconceived their former 
 letters, affords me pleasure proportioned to the pain which 
 that misconception produced." 
 
 On the thirty-first of May, instructions from Hamil- 
 ton's pen were addressed to Sullivan by Washington, as 
 to the conduct of the expedition against the Indians. The 
 main body was to be assembled at Wyoming, which had 
 recently been devastated by Brandt and Butler, and pro- 
 ceed thence to Tioga, and onward "into the heart of the 
 Indian settlements." Intermediate posts were to be es- 
 tablished for the security of the convoys, and a stockade 
 fort, or an intrenched camp with a block-house in the 
 centre at Tioga, also a strong post in the centre of the 
 Indian country. The mode of fighting was such as 
 Washington's early experience would suggest : " to make
 
 544 THE EE PUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 rather than receive attacks, attended with as much impet- 
 uosity, shouting, and noise as possible, and to make the 
 troops act in as loose and dispersed a way as is consistent 
 with a proper degree of government, concert, and mutual 
 support. It should be previously impressed upon the 
 minds of the men, whenever they have an opportunity, to 
 rush on with the w r ar-whoop and fixed bayonet. Nothing 
 will disconcert and terrify the Indians more than this." 
 The end to be attained was a reduction to submission, and 
 "the delivering up of the principal instigators of their 
 past hostility." A surprise of the garrison at Niagara 
 and of the shipping on the lakes, was to be attempted. 
 The performance of their engagements was to be se- 
 cured by hostages. The main body, under Sullivan. 
 Hand's, Maxwell's, and Poor's regiments, including But- 
 ler's rifles, moved up the Susquehanna, and were to be 
 joined by the New York troops who had passed up the 
 Mohawk. The last of August a battle took place with 
 the usual result, the defeat of the Indians. Their settle- 
 ments were then broken up by a sad devastation. Those 
 who escaped took refuge at Fort Niagara. Sullivan and 
 his army received the thanks of Congress. This was 
 this gallant soldier's last military service. Soon after, 
 with injured health, he retired to New Hampshire, when, 
 grateful for his distinguished conduct, he was again elect- 
 ed to represent that State in Congress. 
 
 Some time previous, a negotiation for the exchange of 
 prisoners was opened on the part of Washington in a let- 
 ter to Sir Henry Clinton, prepared by Hamilton, Con- 
 gress having recently authorized the settlement of a gen- 
 eral cartel. It was observed, " that the present attempt 
 may not prove as unsuccessful as former ones, it is to be 
 hoped that, apprised of the difficulties which have oc- 
 curred, and with a liberal attention to the circumstances
 
 ^ET. 22.] HAMILTON. 545 
 
 of the parties, the commissioners will come, disposed to 
 accommodate their negotiations to them, and to level all 
 unnecessary obstructions to the completion of the treaty." 
 In a subsequent letter written by Hamilton to Congress, 
 it is stated, " I am inclined to think that in the present 
 stage of the controversy, the exchange of citizens is im- 
 politic, and affords a temptation to the enemy to distress 
 that part of society more than they might otherwise do. 
 The subjecting them to captivity is, I apprehend, contrary 
 to common practice, except with respect to such as are 
 acting in particular civil offices immediately connected 
 with military duties, as the governors of garrisoned towns 
 and the like." In the same letter the opinion is again ex- 
 pressed, that no part of the main army could be spared to 
 the aid of the Southern States ; and that the Carolinas 
 must endeavor to complete their battalions, militia being 
 incompetent to their defence. Still, these States were to 
 be protected. With this view* General Scott was or- 
 dered to march the men raised in Virginia to their relief. 
 An expedition of the enemy up the Chesapeake, made at 
 this time under General Matthews, ought not, Washington 
 stated in a letter written by Hamilton, " to delay the suc- 
 cor intended for that quarter." " The injury we can suffer 
 in Virginia appears inconsiderable compared to that which 
 may befall us in Georgia and Carolina. One principal 
 motive of the enemy's present movement in Virginia, may 
 be to create a diversion in favor of their operations in 
 those States." 
 
 The delays in raising troops had induced Washington 
 to issue a circular address to the governors of the Eastern 
 and Middle States, urging reinforcements. This paper was 
 prepared by Hamilton. "When we consider," it pro- 
 ceeds, " the rapid decline of our currency, the general 
 
 * May 25. 
 VOL. I. 35
 
 546 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 temper of the times, the disaffection of a great part of the 
 people, the lethargy that benumbs the rest, the increasing 
 danger that threatens the Southern States, we cannot but 
 dread the consequences of any misfortune in this quarter, 
 and must feel the impolicy of trusting our security to the 
 precarious hope of a want of enterprise and activity of the 
 enemy." The probability of reinforcements to them is 
 stated, and an earnest appeal made for "the public 
 safety." 
 
 At the same time, a blow was projected against the 
 naval force in the harbor of New York, much reduced by 
 recent expeditions. A letter prepared by Hamilton 
 was addressed to the marine committee of Congress with 
 this intent. It proposed the collection of the American 
 frigates to the eastward, and their direction to this point. 
 " I should be loth materially to risk our little fleet, but the 
 object here is so inviting as to induce me to press it upon 
 the serious consideration of the committee. I need not 
 say the success of such an enterprise must essentially 
 depend on the secrecy, boldness and despatch with which 
 it is executed." A correspondent military movement was 
 contemplated. The attempt was not made.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 INDICATIONS were now given of a movement of the ene- 
 my up the Hudson, prompted by the reduced strength of 
 the Americans. In several letters addressed by Hamilton 
 to the officers commanding detachments, they were or- 
 dered to be on the alert at the earliest warning. 
 
 On the third of June he announced, in behalf of 
 Washington, to Congress, his intention to move that day 
 towards the Highlands. A message, also written by him, 
 was sent to West Point, giving an assurance that he was 
 " determined at the utmost hazard to support the fort, and 
 his expectation that it will hold out to the last extremity." 
 Another letter was soon after written by him to General 
 Schuyler in Washington's name, stating that the enemy 
 were in two divisions on the opposite sides of the Hud- 
 son one at Verplanck's Point and the other at Stony 
 Point opposite, and were fortifying. " This will interrupt 
 our easiest communication between the Eastern and 
 Southern States, open a new source of supplies to them, 
 and a new door to distress and disaffect the country. 
 We have the mortification to be the spectators of this, and 
 from the situation of the ground and other circumstances, 
 to see it out of our power to counteract a measure from 
 which we must experience many inconveniences. That 
 part of the army which lay at Middlebrook is now in
 
 548 THE EEPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 Smith's Clove in order to give effectual succor to the fort 
 in case the enemy's further operations should be directed 
 that way." Washington now visited West Point, whither 
 he ordered General McDougall to repair. In the weak- 
 ened condition of the army, having posted troops a short 
 distance below, he established his head-quarters at New 
 Windsor, a small village on the western bank of the Hud- 
 son, just above the Highlands. From this place, on the 
 first of July, Hamilton, in the name of Washington, in- 
 formed General Wayne of his appointment to the com- 
 mand of the light infantry of the line, and ordered him to 
 proceed to the vicinity of Fort Montgomery. " If at any 
 time," it was observed, "you see a favorable opportunity 
 for striking an advantageous stroke, you have my permis- 
 sion for improving it, as I rely upon your prudence that 
 you will undertake nothing without a sufficient prospect 
 of success ; and unless the advantages to be obtained will 
 compensate the risk to be run. When you have any pro- 
 ject of consequence, and circumstances will permit, you 
 will be pleased to communicate it to me previous to the 
 execution." 
 
 Four days after, a large party of the enemy proceeded 
 up the Sound, under the command of Tryon, captured and 
 plundered New Haven. Thence they made a descent 
 upon Fairfield, which they laid in ashes. A similar scene 
 of barbarity was exhibited at Norwalk. 
 
 Hamilton, in the name of Washington, again wrote to 
 Wayne : " While the enemy are making excursions to 
 distress the country, it has a very disagreeable aspect to 
 remain in a state of inactivity on our part. The reputa- 
 tion of the army and the good of the service seem to ex- 
 act some attempt from it. The importance of Stony 
 Point to the enemy, makes it infinitely desirable that 
 should be the object. The works are formidable, but per-
 
 ^ET. 22.] HAMILTON. 549 
 
 haps, on a fuller examination, they may be found accessi- 
 ble. A deserter informed me yesterday, there was a 
 sandy beach on the south side running along the flank of 
 the works, and only obstructed by a slight abatis, which 
 might afford an easy and safe approach to a body of 
 troops. I wish you to take every step in your power to 
 ascertain this, and to gain a more accurate knowledge of 
 the position in general, particularly on the flank and in 
 the rear. Would it answer to send in a trusty, intelligent 
 fellow from you in character of a deserter, on some plan 
 that might enable him to return with expedition ? If an 
 attempt is undertaken, I should conceive it ought to be 
 done by way of surprise at night." 
 
 The next day, minute instructions were given to 
 Wayne as to the mode of attack, and on the fifteenth of 
 July a detachment was sent forward to support him. In 
 order to distract the attention of the garrison, and to di- 
 vide their resistance, the troops marched at midnight in 
 two columns, one upon each flank of the fort. It was 
 erected upon a rugged acclivity, which projected into the 
 Hudson, its base, except a small part, surrounded by 
 water. This part was a marsh, with the narrow sandy 
 beach above referred to. 
 
 These columns succeeded in crossing the marsh, and 
 a few minutes after midnight the assault began. The first 
 knowledge of the approach was an attack of the pickets. 
 The alarm thus given, a heavy fire of cannon and mus- 
 ketry followed. The undaunted assailants pushed on, en- 
 tered the works at the point of the bayonet without dis- 
 charging a shot, and captured the fort. Colonel Fleury, 
 a young, titled soldier of France, endeared to the army, 
 was the first to enter and strike the British standard. 
 With two others of his forlorn party he survived. Wayne, 
 whose impetuous spirit had given him the name of " Mad
 
 550 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 Anthony," received a wound in his head. Supposing it 
 to be fatal, he entreated his aids to convey him to the 
 fort there to die, but the wound proved slight. The gal- 
 lantry of the attack was not less than the forbearance 
 of the victors. Wayne wrote, "The humanity of our 
 brave soldiery, who scorned to take the lives of a van- 
 quished foe when calling for mercy, reflects the highest 
 honor on them, and accounts for the few of the enemy 
 killed. They were only sixty-three of a garrison of six 
 hundred men. The loss of the Americans in killed and 
 wounded did not exceed an hundred." * 
 
 Fleury requested that the flag he had captured might 
 be given to him. Congress declined, averse to part 
 "with so high a testimony of a great and brilliant vic- 
 tory.'' f 
 
 Soon after, Hamilton had the pleasure, in the name ol 
 Washington, of commending him to the interest of the 
 French envoy in terms of deserved encomium.J It was 
 a part of the plan to capture the opposite fortress, called 
 La Fayette, but the orders were not executed in time. 
 Sir Henry Clinton advanced to cover the work at Stony 
 
 * Marshall, i. 811, who was in the covering party. 
 
 |- Henry Lanrens to Hamilton. 
 
 \ Fleury writes to Hamilton on the 18th August, a letter which shows the 
 condition of the army : " The officers of the two first battalions of light in- 
 fantry, which actually command, have applied to me for leave to run over 
 these craggy mountains barefooted, and beg that I would write to head -quar- 
 ters to have an order from his Excellency to get a pare shoes for each. The 
 shoes they hint to are at New Windsor, and their intention is to pay for. Do 
 not be so greedy for shoes as for my blanket, and think that the most urgent 
 necessity has determined their application. They are quite barefooted. 
 
 " N. B. As his Excellency could form a very advantageous idea of our 
 condition in shoes, the appearance of the officers who dined to-day at head- 
 quarters and were not quite without, I beg you would observe to him, if neces- 
 sary, that each company has furnished a shoe for their dressing." Fleury died a 
 Field Marshal of France.
 
 ^T. 22.] HAMILTON. 551 
 
 Point, which, requiring too large a detachment to hold it, 
 was evacuated, and in part demolished. Having re-occu- 
 pied and repaired it, he retired to New York with his 
 principal force. 
 
 Washington was, in the mean time, providing with 
 great solicitude for the defence of West Point. " The 
 movements of the enemy," Hamilton wrote in his name 
 to Putnam, " and the exigencies of the moment, must de- 
 cide your operations, but every probable case should be 
 supposed beforehand, and a line of conduct preconcerted 
 for each." 
 
 Tidings were now received from South Carolina. 
 While Lincoln was proceeding towards Augusta, Prevost 
 crossed into that State and advanced upon General Moul- 
 trie at the head of a body of militia and a few continen- 
 tal troops. The militia deserted and Moultrie retired. 
 Lincoln was immediately urged to come to his relief. At 
 first, not believing Charleston in danger, he resolved, in 
 the absence of the enemy, to take possession of Savan- 
 nah ; and with this view moved down the south side of 
 that river. Prevost, assured of the easy capture of 
 Charleston, proceeded on his march, but, from what 
 motive is not known, suddenly halted. The militia of 
 South Carolina hastened to their capital. Reinforcements 
 from Lincoln arrived, together with the remains of Pu- 
 laski's legion. Fortifications were rapidly thrown up, 
 and a determined purpose was shown to make a resolute 
 defence. Prevost advanced, crossed the Ashley, en- 
 camped, and summoned a surrender. The terms were 
 disputed and rejected. The town prepared for an as- 
 sault, when, seeing no alternative but to venture carrying 
 it by storm, Prevost recrossed the Ashley and took posses- 
 sion of the Islands St. James and St. John, on the south 
 of the harbor. Lincoln made a rapid march for their
 
 552 THE REPUBLIC. [1779 
 
 relief, and encamped so near the enemy as to confine 
 them to the former island, which was separated from the 
 main land by the Stono. Prevost saw the necessity of a 
 retreat, and while preparing to change his position, Lin- 
 coln attacked a detachment on the Stono with a thousand 
 men, but, it being largely reinforced, Prevost retreated 
 unmolested to his previous encampment. Owing to the 
 great heats on the sea-board, both armies retired. The 
 British first to Georgia and Florida Lincoln to the 
 interior of South Carolina. Receiving intelligence of 
 these events, Hamilton, over the signature of Washing- 
 ton, addressed Lincoln on the thirteenth of July : " I am 
 sorry to hear that Colonel Laurens received a wound so 
 soon after his arrival with you, as it prevented his follow- 
 ing the dictates of his zeal, and rendering the service for 
 which he is qualified, at a moment very interesting to his 
 country and to his own feelings. But 1 am happy to 
 hear that it was slight, and that it will not be long an 
 obstacle to his wishes. I sincerely sympathize with you, 
 my dear sir, in the disagreeable aspect of our affairs to 
 the southward, and in the embarrassments to which your 
 situation must necessarily expose you. Had it been 
 possible to have afforded you any succors from the army 
 under my command, you may be assured that public and 
 private motives would have equally induced me to do it. 
 But you are not unacquainted with the insufficiency of 
 our means every where, and the States in general seem 
 to have been for some time past in a profound sleep 
 They have been amusing themselves with idle dreams of 
 peace, and have scarcely made any exertions for the war. 
 "Till within a fortnight this army had scarcely re- 
 ceived a single recruit, though a large part of it dissolved 
 in the course of the last winter and spring, by the ex 
 piration of the term of service for which the men were
 
 ^T. 22.] HAMILTON. 553 
 
 engaged. We have now the prospect of a thousand or 
 fifteen hundred levies, at enormous bounties, for nine 
 months, from the States of Massachusetts and Connecti- 
 cut, which make up our whole expectations of reinforce- 
 ments. Inferior in strength to the enemy, we have been 
 able to do little more than to take care of ourselves, and 
 guard the communication of this river, which is supposed 
 to be the main object of Sir Henry Clinton's operations ; 
 and is certainly the point in which we are most essentially 
 vulnerable. The enemy have as yet received no rein- 
 forcements this campaign. Lord Cornwallis is lately ar- 
 rived from England ; and, it is said, a fleet with seven 
 thousand men sailed a few days before him. But for this 
 I have no sufficient authority, and our European advices 
 have been so parsimonious and vague that I cannot ven- 
 ture to hazard an opinion. Our army is principally at 
 this post for its immediate security, and to prosecute with 
 vigor the works necessary to put it in such a state of de- 
 fence as will give it security with its own garrison, and 
 leave the rest of the army at liberty to operate with con- 
 fidence' elsewhere." 
 
 The successful storm of Stony Point inflamed the im- 
 agination of the younger officers of the army. The gal- 
 lant Henry Lee now proposed a plan for the capture of a 
 British post at Paulus Hook, opposite New York. Hamil- 
 ton wrote him, in behalf of Washington, " The plan you 
 propose for the attack and making good the retreat is 
 well concerted, and such as would be most likely to suc- 
 ceed, if the enterprise were to be carried into execution. 
 But upon the whole, in the present position of the enemy's 
 army, I should deem the attempt too hazardous, and not 
 warranted by the magnitude of the object." In this view 
 he preferred to suspend it, and suggested a procedure he 
 deemed less precarious. Lee represented the practica-
 
 554 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 bility of a surprise with a smaller force, upon which 
 Hamilton wrote to Stirling, in Washington's name, au- 
 thorizing the attempt upon two conditions that not more 
 than four hundred men be employed, and that a retreat 
 by a designated route be made practicable. Cautions as 
 to secrecy and the security of the party were given. The 
 attempt proved successful. Lee took the main work o. 
 the enemy by surprise at three in the morning of the 
 nineteenth of August, and with the trifling loss of two 
 men killed and three wounded, captured three officers and 
 one hundred and fifty privates. He returned in safety, 
 and received the thanks of the commander-in-chief and 
 of Congress. 
 
 These successes kept up the spirits of the army and 
 checked the confidence of the enemy. 
 
 This command being given to Lee, caused not a little 
 dissatisfaction among the Virginia light infantry, who ob- 
 jected to the employment of a cavalry officer, as a viola- 
 tion of their rights. Letters were addressed to Washing- 
 ton, staling the grounds of their complaints, by Stirling, 
 Woodford and Mughlenburgh. A reply to the former, 
 written by Hamilton in Washington's name, discusses the 
 matter at much length, and vindicates the right of selec- 
 tion on principle and the usage of other nations in cases 
 "of detachments for particular enterprises out of the 
 common course of service." The idea of a preference in 
 favor of Lee was expressly disclaimed. 
 
 Another question of much importance in reference to 
 the officer concerned, was at this time presented. Gen- 
 eral Greene claimed, that holding his rank in the line 
 when appointed quartermaster-general, entitled him to an 
 equivalent command. Hamilton, in behalf of Washing- 
 ton, wrote to him : " It was not, in my opinion, under- 
 stood that you were to maintain an actual permanent
 
 ;T. 22.] HAMILTON. 555 
 
 command. My idea was, that you were to stand precisely 
 upon the same footing in proportion to your rank, with quar- 
 termaster-generals in other services, who, from the best 
 information I am able to obtain, do not usually exercise a 
 regular lineal command, but are eligible by the officer at 
 the head of the army, to occasional commands, either in 
 detachment or in the line, when, in his opinion, it is for the 
 good of the service to employ them in this manner, and 
 it does not interfere with the duties of the department, or 
 with the particular and proper command of other officers. 
 Upon this principle, you were appointed to the right wing 
 in the affair of Monmouth, and were sent to take a com- 
 mand under General Sullivan ; and both, as far as I have 
 ever heard, were agreeable to the general sense of the 
 army." The letter closed in terms of warm commenda- 
 tion of his conduct, both in the civil staff and line of the 
 arrny. 
 
 During the conferences of the preceding winter at 
 Philadelphia, Colonel Hamilton had formed a particular 
 acquaintance with Duane, one of the committee appointed 
 by Congress to confer with the commander-in-chief, an 
 able and upright man, of " a gay and open character." * 
 
 Letters passed between them. In one, dated a few 
 days after Lee's exploit, Hamilton informed him of the 
 arrival of a large British fleet under Arbuthnot, and that 
 Admiral Collier had appeared in the Penobscot, "put our 
 grand fleet to rout which were run ashore, abandoned 
 and burned, the troops and seamen safe." In a subse- 
 quent letter, he stated the reinforcement of the enemy at 
 three thousand troops, and an impression that they were 
 about to repair to the West Indies. " The reduction of 
 the enemy's fleets and armies in this country," he wrote, 
 " would be the surest method to effect the complete con- 
 
 * Chastcllux, i. 219.
 
 556 THE REPUBLIC. [1779 
 
 quest of the islands, and it would be one of the most fatal 
 strokes Great Britain could receive. The stamina of their 
 military establishment are in this country. The ruin of 
 this, and the capture of their seamen and ships, would be 
 an irrecoverable loss. The West Indies would scarcely 
 have any further prospect of succor, and would be obliged 
 to submit to the power of France, almost without resist- 
 ance ; which might then operate at leisure, aided by am- 
 ple supplies from this continent, which, I believe, are the 
 principal thing wanting. These reasons may have in- 
 duced the Count to make us a visit during the season of 
 inactivity in the West Indies." 
 
 Intelligence of D'Estaing's approach being received, 
 Hamilton, in the name of Washington, addressed him a 
 letter on the thirteenth of September. " The British land 
 force at New York and its vicinity," he stated, " was near 
 fifteen thousand men and at Rhode Island between three 
 and four thousand their naval force one seventy-four, 
 one sixty-four, and two or three frigates, with a few small 
 armed vessels. It was proposed, he should enter the 
 harbor of New York immediately, run a few frigates up 
 the Hudson, when a body of troops would be pushed 
 down to intercept a retreat of the force at King's Ferry. 
 A convenient station for some vessels on the Sound was 
 also advised, to hinder the evacuation of Rhode Island, 
 and a junction of their forces." Lee was despatched with 
 this letter to the seaboard of New Jersey to await the 
 approach of the French fleet, and a disposition of the 
 army was begun in order to carry these purposes into 
 effect. 
 
 The arrival of La Luzerne, the successor of Gerard, 
 was at this time communicated to Hamilton by Steuben : 
 " M. de la Luzerne desires me to join him on his route to 
 accompany him to head-quarters. He is about thirty-six
 
 HAMILTON. 557 
 
 years of age, though he appears younger. In the last 
 war he was aide-de-camp to Marshal Broglio. He ap- 
 pears to be a man of solid sense, and less presumptuous 
 than the people of quality of that country usually are. 
 His manners are prepossessing, and they would be more 
 so if he could speak English. His character appears to 
 me good, and he is less reserved than European ministers 
 usually are. He is a young chevalier of Malta, who is 
 not so much embrowned by his crusades, but that the 
 American beauties will take pains to teach him English in 
 a short time. His secretary, M. de Marbois, is a counsel- 
 lor of parliament from Metz in Lorraine, speaks good 
 English, and is a man who shows much information and 
 judgment." "The General," Hamilton answered, "re- 
 quests you will make his respectful compliments to your 
 chevalier, and gives you carte blanche to say every hand- 
 some thing you think proper in his name, of the pleasure 
 which this visit will give him. I have no doubt that your 
 portrait, which is executed en maitre, will be found a just 
 representation of the original ; and if he is as happy as his 
 predecessor in gaining the esteem and confidence of the 
 men of this country, with so many talents to conciliate 
 the leaders, his ministry will not be unsuccessful. I augur 
 well for him. General Washington proposes to meet him 
 as a private gentleman, at Fishkill." 
 
 On the sixteenth of September a conference took 
 place at West Point. From a minute in Hamilton's hand, 
 who was present, it appears that the views presented in 
 the recent letter to D'Estaing were repeated by Washing- 
 ton, and that he was apprised of a contemplated expedition 
 by Spain, who had entered reluctantly into the war, against 
 the Floridas. A co-operation of the American forces was 
 suggested, from the motive of confirming her good disposi- 
 tions, and inducing her not only to conclude a treaty with
 
 558 THE KE PUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 the United States, but perhaps to assist them with a loan of 
 money. This matter was considered in different aspects, 
 Washington approving the co-operation. The conquest of 
 Canada was also taken into view. The letter written for 
 Washington by Hamilton in relation to it, had been pub- 
 lished in France, and was approved by the best military 
 judges. He was informed, that the king of France had a 
 sincere and disinterested desire to see Canada and Nova 
 Scotia annexed to the American confederation, and would 
 be disposed to promote a plan for this purpose, but that he 
 would undertake nothing of the kind, unless the plan was 
 previously approved and digested by the general. Wash- 
 ington stated, whenever the enemy's force should be re- 
 moved from the United States, " he doubted not it would 
 be a leading object to wrest those provinces from the 
 power of Britain," and he was of opinion that, " though 
 we should have land force enough for the undertaking, 
 without in this respect intruding upon the generosity of 
 our allies, a naval co-operation would certainly be very 
 useful and necessary." Observations were interspersed 
 on the importance of removing the enemy from the United 
 States, to facilitate the operations of France in the West 
 Indies, and " to dispossess the enemy of their dominions on 
 the continent." 
 
 This conference prompted a letter, which was written 
 by Hamilton for Washington to General Lincoln, approv- 
 ing in warm terms his conduct near Charleston. The 
 want of support from Virginia had been a source of pain 
 to Washington and of dissatisfaction in Carolina. Patrick 
 Henry, then its governor, wrote the previous year to a 
 leading delegate in Congress:* "Public spirit seems to 
 have taken its flight from Virginia. It is too much the 
 case ; for the quota of our troops is not half made up, 
 
 * Memoir of Richard Henry Lee, i. 195, 1778.
 
 2ET. 22.] HAMILTON. 559 
 
 and no chance seems to remain for completing it. Great 
 bounties are offered, but, I fear, the only effect will be to 
 expose our State to contempt, for, I believe, no soldiers 
 will enlist, especially in the infantry. Can you credit it ? 
 no effort was made for supporting or restoring public 
 credit ! I pressed it warmly on some, but in vain. This 
 is the reason you get no soldiers. Let not Congress rely 
 upon Virginia for soldiers. I tell you my opinion, they 
 will not be got here until a different spirit prevails." " I 
 mean," Washington wrote soon after f by Hamilton, " to 
 enclose him " (Henry) " a state of the Virginia troops as 
 soon as I can obtain proper returns, that the Slate may 
 adopt some speedy and vigorous measures for making their 
 numbers more respectable. At present they are but a 
 handful, compared to the quota that they should furnish, 
 and unless something is done, this handful will dwindle to 
 nothing." 
 
 A year had now elapsed, and the same apathy and in- 
 ertness on the part of that State are seen. " I am cha- 
 grined," it was observed to Lincoln by Washington, " at 
 the delays which the intended succors from Virginia have 
 met with, the more as by my last accounts they con- 
 tinued. I hope, however, they may still arrive in time to 
 be useful, and that you may not be disappointed in your 
 other expectations." " Southern operations appear to 
 have been for some time past a favorite object in the Brit- 
 ish cabinet. The weakness of these States affords a 
 strong temptation. The advantages are important and 
 inviting ; and even the desperate aspect of their affairs 
 itself may inspire a spirit of enterprise, and teach the ne- 
 cessity of some bold stroke to counterbalance their mis- 
 fortunes and disgraces, and restore their reputation and 
 influence." The expected arrival of D'Estaing was men- 
 * Sept. 3, 1778.
 
 560' THE KEPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 tioned, and Lincoln was urged to " make every exertion 
 in his power to be prepared for the worst." * 
 
 The Governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New 
 York, Connecticut and Massachusetts were now called on, 
 positive advices being received of D'Estaing's approach, 
 to prepare a militia force to act in conjunction with the 
 continental troops in any operation that might take place. 
 Pilots were also sought to guide the French fleet into New 
 York. 
 
 On the seventh of October, a letter was wi.tten to 
 D'Estaing by Hamilton, over Washington's signature : 
 " Since my last letter to your excellency on the fourth 
 instant, I have had the honor of a visit from his excel- 
 lency, Monsieur Gerard. In the conversation we had rel- 
 ative to a co-operation with the fleet and troops under 
 your command, he expressed his doubts of its being possi- 
 ble for you to continue such a length of time as may be 
 essential to the success of the undertaking, and which 
 alone could justify me in going into those extensive prepa 
 rations absolutely necessary on our part. I have, there 
 fore, appointed Brigadier-general Du Portail and Colonel 
 Hamilton to wait upon your excellency as speedily as 
 possible, and explain to you fully my ideas of the pro- 
 posed co-operation ; the means we shall be able to em 
 ploy ; the obstacles we shall have to encounter on our 
 side ; the plans which it may be proper to pursue, and the 
 measures which are taking, and may be taken by the ene- 
 my to counteract them. This will enable your excellency 
 to determine what you can with propriety undertake. I 
 shall only add, that if your excellency will engage to co- 
 operate with your whole naval and land force against the 
 enemy's fleet and army at New York, till the winter is so 
 far advanced, that the ice will make it impracticable to 
 
 * Hamilton for Washington, to Lincoln, Sept, 28, 1779.
 
 MT. 22.] HAMILTON. 5 61 
 
 remain with your fleet any longer in port, I will bring 
 twenty-five thousand effective men into the field, and will 
 exert all the resources of the country in a vigorous and 
 decided co-operation. 
 
 " Without this assurance on the part of your excel- 
 lency, it would be inconsistent with my duty to the pub- 
 lic, and to the common cause, to incur the expense and 
 hazard which would be inseparable from the enterprise, 
 and the more disagreeable, consequences which would at- 
 tend a failure. I flatter myself your excellency will be 
 fully sensible of the weight of the reasons on which this 
 declaration is founded, and will approve the frankness with 
 which it is made, and with which I have instructed Gen- 
 eral Du Portail and Colonel Hamilton to disclose to you 
 every circumstance, and every consideration, with which 
 it is necessary you should be acquainted. If your deter- 
 mination should be in favor of the enterprise, I request 
 you will honor me with a line expressive of your ultimate 
 intentions, and that you will communicate to the gentle- 
 men who now wait upon you, the previous measures you 
 propose to pursue, and your sentiments of the most eligi- 
 ble plan of co-operation. I shall act, in consequence, till 
 the period arrives for concerting a final and more deter- 
 minate plan. 
 
 " I would now observe to your excellency, that you 
 may repose the most implicit confidence in General Du 
 Portail and Colonel Hamilton, and I accordingly recom- 
 mend them to your best civilities and esteem ; and having 
 done so, I have only to renew the assurances of that sin- 
 cere attachment and perfect respect, with wfrch I have 
 the honor to be." 
 
 The utmost interest was, at this moment, awakened 
 throughout the country. An interesting crisis was ex- 
 pected ; and a long correspondence between Washington 
 VOL. I. 36
 
 562 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 and Hamilton ensued, as the various intelligence was re- 
 ceived, which would probably affect the intended enter- 
 prise. These letters fully disclose the anxiety of the 
 commander-in-chief, to meet, by a decisive blow, the high- 
 wrought expectations of the people. The enemy were, at 
 this time, filled with dismay. The fortifications at New 
 York were carried on with the utmost activity ; the gar- 
 risons were withdrawn from the posts on the Hudson ; 
 and the troops stationed at Newport, whom Washington 
 had urged should be surprised, were finally transferred 
 to New York. 
 
 To gratify Spain, the French councils wished the 
 military operations should be directed to the Southern 
 States. Urgent letters were addressed to D'Estaing from 
 Charleston. He was told, his appearance on that coast 
 would ensure the liberation of Georgia. Savannah was 
 still in possession of Prevost. Lincoln's army was within 
 a few days' march. A junction was concerted between 
 him and the troops on board the French fleet. The British 
 detachments were now called in. Lincoln arrived. The 
 town was invested, and its fall in a short time was inevita- 
 ble. But D'Estaing was unwilling to remain longer upon 
 the coast, fearing the weather, and anxious for the safety 
 of the French West Indies. The only alternatives were 
 to take it by storm, or to retire. The former was re- 
 solved, and the ninth of October, before day, an assault 
 took place. The contest on both sides was obstinate and 
 bloody. Both the French and Americans planted their 
 standards on the walls, and endeavored to force the works. 
 A gallant sortie was made, and the assailants were driven 
 back. The French in killed and wounded lost seven 
 hundred men. Pulaski was of the killed, D'Estaing 
 among the wounded. The American loss was two hun- 
 dred and forty. The British only fifty-five. D'Estaing now
 
 ^ET. 22.] HAMILTON. 553 
 
 resolved, in despite of Lincoln's remonstrances, to raise 
 the siege. Lincoln returned within the borders of South 
 Carolina. D'Estaing re-embarked, and left the American 
 coast. Soon after, dispersed by a tempest, part of his fleet 
 proceeded to the West Indies, the residue to France. 
 
 Weary of inactivity, convinced that the active opera- 
 lions of the war would be in the Southern States, and 
 wishing an opportunity of military distinction in a separate 
 command, Hamilton had applied for permission to proceed 
 to the south. The proposal did not meet the views of 
 the commander-in-chief, and the purpose was relinquished. 
 
 He was now led to hope an appointment in the mission 
 to France, the more an object of desire, from his wish .to 
 promote the important measure of the introduction of a 
 French army into the United States which he had sug- 
 gested.* Laurens, on the termination of the Southern 
 
 * In a memoir of Colonel Fish, of date March twenty-first, 1822, it is sta- 
 ted, " In one of our confidential conversations, Hamilton, speaking of the Mar- 
 quis La Fayette, said, ' The United States are under infinite obligations to him 
 beyond what is known, not only for his valour and good conduct as major- 
 general of our army, but for his good offices and influence in our behalf with 
 the court of France. The French army now here, co-operating with us, would 
 not have been in this country but through his means.' He than said, that for 
 some considerable time previous to the arrival of the French army under 
 Count Rochambeau, he (Colonel Hamilton) had conceived the idea and had 
 weighed in his own mind the propriety of such a measure, and having satisfied 
 himself on the subject, he had suggested the idea to the Marquis La Fayette, ex- 
 pressing to him at the same time, not only the powerful effect that would be 
 produced in our army and country generally by the introduction of a small 
 military force from France to co-operate with us, but the increased effect that 
 would result should the Marquis himself be appointed to the command. This 
 project met a welcome reception, and after some explanatory remarks as to 
 the details of the plan, the Marquis, with all the zeal and promptitude which 
 characterized him, addressed the French government and their ambassador 
 here on the subject, urging the advantages which would result to both nations 
 from having a French military force in this country. This proposition was 
 immediately patronized and enforced by the family and canneetions of the Mar-
 
 564 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 campaign, decided to repair to head-quarters. On his 
 way he stopped at Philadelphia where Congress was in 
 session. From this place, on the eighteenth of Decem- 
 ber, he wrote to Hamilton : 
 
 " On my arrival in town, I was informed by the Presi- 
 dent, that Congress had suspended the business of ap- 
 pointing a secretary to their minister plenipotentiary at 
 Versailles until my return, in hopes that I might still be 
 prevailed upon to accept the office. I replied, that I 
 thought my letter upon the subject sufficiently explicit, 
 and assured him of my sincere desire to be excused from 
 serving in that capacity at the present juncture of our 
 affairs. 
 
 " He urged the unanimity of the choice with respect to 
 me the difficulty of uniting the suffrages of all parties, 
 in case of a new nomination, and the advantages of this 
 union. Several delegates of Congress declared to me the 
 embarrassment of Congress since I had declined. One, 
 in particular, suggested to me his apprehension of interest 
 being made for a late delegate of New York, who is can- 
 didate for the office, and to whom the world in general 
 allows greater credit for his abilities than his integrity ; 
 and said, ' he was determined to oppose him with all his 
 influence.' When I quitted town, the sixteenth, these 
 matters crowded into my mind. I fell into a train of 
 serious reflections and self-examination, endeavored to 
 investigate whether I had acted consonantly to the /caXov 
 K<U aya0ov and fulfilled the duties of a good citizen in the 
 transaction. In fine, I agitated the grand question, 
 whether a citizen has a right to decline any office to which 
 
 quis, which irere then in power and great influence in France, and adopted by 
 that government. I deem it a dnty incumbent on me, and a tribute due to his 
 memory, that the knowledge of this fact should be recorded as an additional 
 evidence of his pre-eminent services to this country."
 
 Mf. 22.] HAMILTON. 565 
 
 his countrymen appoint him ; upon what that right is 
 founded, and whether it existed in my case. 
 
 " After undergoing the severest conflict I ever expe- 
 rienced, sometimes reproaching, sometimes justifying my- 
 self, pursuing my journey, or turning retrograde, as the 
 arguments on the one side or the other appeared to pre- 
 vail, I determined that I had been deficient in the duties 
 of a good citizen. I returned to Philadelphia, communi- 
 cated my sentiments to the President and two other mem- 
 bers, ; declared to them that I thought it incumbent on 
 me, in the first place, to recommend a person equally 
 qualified in point of integrity, and much better in point of 
 ability. That if, unhappily, they could not agree on Col- 
 onel Hamilton, and that I was absolutely necessary to ex- 
 clude a dangerous person, or to prevent pernicious delays, 
 I should think it my duty to obey the orders of Congress. 
 The persons now in nomination, are, Colonel Hamilton, 
 Mr. Lovell, Mr. G. Morris, Major Stewart. Great stress 
 is laid upon the ability and integrity of the person to be 
 employed in this commission. I have given my testimony 
 of you in this and the other equally essential points. My 
 love, as usual. Adieu." 
 
 Relieved of all apprehension from the French troops, 
 it was supposed that Sir Henry Clinton, with his superior 
 force might strike a blow at the main army. Washington 
 immediately took precautionary measures, and represented 
 his weak condition to Congress, showing that his total 
 force engaged for the war was about fifteen thousand men, 
 and that the terms of enlistment of the rest would expire 
 within ten months. To supply the requisite numbers, a 
 system of annual drafts was proposed, voluntary enlist- 
 ments having ceased. 
 
 The letters written in his behalf by Hamilton are 
 most gloomy, chiefly referring to the depreciation of the
 
 THE KEPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 currency. " The enemy," he states in November, " have 
 great hopes of terminating the war in their favor in an- 
 other campaign, as they expect confidently the entire ruin 
 of our money, and a failure of provisions for the supply 
 of the army." " I find our prospects," he writes in Decem- 
 ber from Morristown, "are infinitely worse than they 
 have been at any period of the war, and unless some ex- 
 pedient can be instantly adopted, a dissolution of the 
 army for want of subsistence is unavoidable. A part of 
 it has been, again, several days without bread, and for the 
 rest, we have not, either on the spot or within reach, a 
 supply sufficient for four days. Nor does this deficiency 
 proceed from accidental circumstances, as has been the 
 case on former occasions, but from the absolute emptiness 
 of our magazines every where, and the total want of 
 money or credit to replenish them. We have never expe- 
 rienced a like extremity at any period of the war." As 
 the only resource, he proposed "to solicit a loan of four 
 or five thousand barrels of flour, provided by France for 
 the use of her fleet." 
 
 A recent report of the board of treasury gave a fearful 
 exhibition. By this it appeared, that the bills in circulation 
 amounted to the enormous sum of one hundred and sixty 
 millions of dollars that the public debt was forty millions, 
 nearly three-fourths from domestic sources ; and the total 
 product of the taxes, since the commencement of the war, 
 only three millions ! Still more to shake the public confi- 
 dence, Washington was informed, that the enemy had pro- 
 cured from Philadelphia paper made for the last emissions 
 struck by Congress, in order to issue a spurious currency. 
 
 With the faint hope of sustaining their credit, Con- 
 gress passed a vote, pledging themselves not to issue, in 
 bills of credit, a sum exceeding two hundred millions 
 which they proclaimed to the country, accompanied willi
 
 ^ET. 22.] HAMILTON. 5^7 
 
 an exposition of the extent of the national resources, and 
 an assurance that full confidence might be placed in the 
 public faith. The wants of the treasury had been so 
 pressing, that intermediate this declaration, and the end 
 of the following month of November, the balance of this 
 limited sum was issued, and Congress were left destitute 
 of this apparently last resource. 
 
 In this emergency, the committee of ways and means 
 adopted, as the only remaining expedient, the negotiation 
 of bills on the American envoys in Europe ; which, 
 through the recent advices of De la Luzerne, they had 
 reason to expect would be provided for by the aid of 
 France. 
 
 The sale of these bills was directed to be made at the 
 rate of twenty-five dollars in continental bills of credit, 
 for four shillings and sixpence sterling, with the condition, 
 that the purchasers should lend a sum equal to the cost of 
 the bills, at an interest of six per cent. 
 
 The assurances given to the new envoy from France, 
 of bringing into the field an army of twenty-five thousand 
 men, had caused the greatest anxiety in Congress to expe- 
 dite the requisitions on the States. The recently proposed 
 change in the currency was based on their co-operation. 
 And yet the legislatures of many of them adjourned 
 without delegating powers to any members of their gov- 
 ernments to meet the propositions of Congress, while the 
 returns of others indicated a reluctant and tardy com- 
 pliance with the urgent demands of the confederation. 
 
 The financial embarrassments had given rise to scenes 
 of extravagant, and, in many instances, profligate specu- 
 lation. Entering the market with a currency stamped 
 with disgrace, not only was government compelled to 
 purchase below the fixed discount of their paper, and 
 thus increase its discredit, but individuals, whose resources
 
 568 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 created confidence, came forward as competitors, and en- 
 grossed the supplies, which they dealt out to the adminis- 
 tration on their own terms. Apprehensions of greater 
 depreciation, inducing the holders of the paper to force it 
 upon sale, with a view to realize something intrinsically 
 valuable, raised the price of every article ; while many 
 capitalists, unable to loan securely, withheld their funds 
 from circulation. 
 
 The excitement produced by these circumstances, can 
 now be with difficulty imagined. On the one hand, the 
 most violent denunciations were uttered against " engros- 
 sers, forestallers and monopolizers," on the other, out- 
 cries were raised against the public agents, who frequently 
 abused their trust ; an internal war ensued, between debt- 
 or and creditor, threatening the most alarming conse- 
 quences. 
 
 These were evils in a great degree necessarily inci- 
 dental to the state of the country, with a small capital, 
 and deprived of foreign commerce ; but there were others 
 wholly attributable to the feeble operation of the confed- 
 eracy. 
 
 The administration of government by Congress, 
 through the medium of committees and boards, greatly 
 augmented the civil expenditure ; prevented the possi- 
 bility of secrecy or system, and the numerous expedients 
 which exigencies suggested, had resulted in the creation 
 of various and conflicting chambers. 
 
 The Board of Treasury, which was established in sev- 
 enteen hundred and seventy-six, had struggled through 
 two years of confusion and delay ; frequently changing 
 its members, after which period were added to it the 
 offices of comptroller, auditor, and treasurer, and two 
 chambers of accounts. The duties of these were so de- 
 fined, as to constitute them checks upon each other : there
 
 ^T. 22.] HAMILTON. 559 
 
 being, however, in no one, that superintendence which 
 was necessary to a systematic management of the finances. 
 A twelvemonth had not elapsed when it was found neces- 
 sary to change this arrangement, and a new organization 
 was adopted. 
 
 By this scheme, the Board of Treasury was composed 
 of five commissioners, of whom three were permitted to 
 hold their seats only six months in continuance, and the 
 offices of auditor-general, treasurer, two chambers of ac- 
 counts, and six auditors, were substituted for the previous 
 plan. To this complicated system, it was afterwards 
 deemed expedient to add an extra chamber of accounts. 
 This last body had just commenced its operations, when 
 the interference with the Board of Treasury in their re- 
 spective duties, led to the necessity of declaring that board 
 paramount to all the other branches of the treasury de- 
 partment. 
 
 The delays attendant upon this state of things in set- 
 tling the public accounts, added to the inconveniences 
 which the condition of the currency had produced, and 
 the fluctuating measures of the treasury, deprived it of all 
 confidence, and gave sanction to the most crude and ab- 
 surd schemes of finance. 
 
 Among others, it was proposed, in Virginia, to abolish 
 all private comniQrce, and establish companies, including 
 a State, or parts of a State in districts. The commercial 
 operations to be represented by stock ; the price of every 
 article to be fixed by the companies ; and to confer upon 
 them the power of taking private goods into their custody. 
 This project was recommended as a scheme " for appre- 
 ciating the currency, and reducing the prices of necessa- 
 ries." An embargo on provisions followed. 
 
 As the pressure was more immediately felt at head- 
 quarters, the financial difficulties urged themselves upon
 
 570 THE REPUBLIC* [1779. 
 
 the individuals there with peculiar force. The situation 
 of Hamilton, in the family of Washington, rendering him 
 the confidant of all the embarrassments of his chiefj 
 opened to him an enlarged view of the situation of the 
 country ; and enforced upon him more strongly the neces- 
 sity of decisive and immediate relief. His intimacy, also, 
 with the French officers, enabled him to judge of the ex- 
 tent of their expectations, and led him to look forward 
 with apprehension to a failure in the engagements with 
 France, as an event which might, with other causes, lead, 
 if not to an entire abandonment by our ally, to very par- 
 tial and reluctant succors. 
 
 The recent debates in the British parliament, had also 
 shown the strong hopes of the ministry, that the resources 
 of the United States were nearly exhausted, and their ex- 
 pectation that a continuance of the war might lead to a 
 dissolution of the Union, which the distempered state of 
 some parts of the confederacy seemed at a distance to in- 
 dicate as not improbable. 
 
 To meet this great emergency, Hamilton tasked his 
 mind, and he now entered upon that career of financial 
 effort, in which he rendered paramount service to the 
 American people. Moved by the urgent necessities of the 
 country, soon after the army entered winter-quarters at 
 Morristown, he addressed an anonymous letter to Robert 
 Morris, then a delegate from Pennsylvania to Congress. 
 In this letter he states his plan " to be the product of some 
 reading on the subjects of commerce and finance, and of 
 occasional reflections on our particular situation ; but that 
 a want of leisure had prevented its being examined in so 
 many lights, and digested so maturely, as the importance 
 requires." He requests, that if the outlines are thought 
 worthy of attention, and any difficulties occur which de- 
 mand explanations, that a letter should be directed to
 
 ^Er. 22.] HAMILTON. 5fl 
 
 James Montague, to be lodged in the post-office at Morris- 
 town ; and that though the writer has reasons which make 
 him unwilling to be known, if a personal conference 
 should be thought material, that he would endeavor to 
 comply, and asks the letter to be regarded as a hasty pro- 
 duction. 
 
 After giving as his reasons for not addressing him 
 through the press, the extreme delicacy of the subject, 
 and the effect of discussion in increasing the evil " by ex- 
 posing our weak side to the popular eye, and adding false 
 terrors to well-founded apprehensions," he proceeded to 
 examine the object of principal concern, the state of the 
 currency, as to which he observes, that in his opinion, 
 all the speculations of the country were founded in error, 
 combats the idea that the depreciation could have been 
 avoided, and the impression which had been entertained 
 that the money might be restored by expedients within 
 our own resources ; and to this dangerous and prevalent 
 error he attributes the delay in attempting a foreign loan. 
 
 He shows that the badness of the money was origi- 
 nally the effect of the condition of the country, and of 
 the exertions made beyond its strength, and not the cause, 
 though, at that time, it partook of the nature of both ; 
 that as prices rose, the value of money fell ; and that as 
 the public expenditures became immense, no taxes which 
 the people could bear on that quantity of money which is 
 deemed a proper medium, would have been sufficient for 
 the current demands of the nation, had it been gold in- 
 stead of paper ; that the idea was chimerical, that with- 
 out resorting to foreign loans, we could do otherwise than 
 augment the quantity of our artificial wealth beyond 
 those bounds which were proper to preserve its credit. 
 
 That the quantity of money in circulation, previous to 
 the revolution, was about thirty millions of dollars, which
 
 572 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 was barely sufficient for our interior commerce, the for- 
 eign trade being carried on by barter ; and as the balance 
 of our principal trade was against us, and the specie was 
 transferred to meet that balance, no part of it entered 
 into the home circulation ; and that it would have been 
 impossible, by loans and taxes, to bring such part of it 
 into the public coffers as would have served the purposes 
 of the war, without obstructing commercial operations. 
 
 He next shows, that the product of the taxes, both 
 from the peculiar situation of the country, and by refer- 
 ence to the condition of other countries, would necessarily 
 be inadequate to our wants. 
 
 Hence he infers, that Congress, when their emissions 
 rose to thirty millions, were obliged, in order to keep up 
 the supplies, to go on creating artificial revenues by new 
 emissions ; and that the only remedy then was a foreign 
 loan, which, judiciously applied, and assisted by a vigor- 
 ous taxation, would have created a credit that might have 
 prevented the excess of emissions. He contends, on the 
 same principles, that in proportion to the extent of the 
 depreciation at that time, was the impossibility of raising 
 the money value by any other means, and that in the ex- 
 isting situation of the country, a FOREIGN LOAN was the 
 only expedient. 
 
 "These, reasonings may prove useless," he adds, "as 
 the necessity of a loan is admitted, but that his object is to 
 establish good principles, the want of which has brought 
 us to the desperate crisis we have arrived at, and may be- 
 tray us into fatal mistakes.' 1 " 
 
 The next inquiry raised is, How is the loan to be 
 employed ? Two plans were stated to have been in con- 
 templation : one, that of buying up the paper, which he 
 shows would have been impracticable, from the rapid arti- 
 ficial appreciation of it, and would require means far
 
 ^T. 22.] HAMILTON". 573 
 
 beyond the compass of the national resources, while this 
 appreciation would be more relative to the purchasing 
 medium, than to the prices of commodities, as the value 
 of the paper might be raised by a combination of indi- 
 viduals, while the reduction of prices must necessarily be 
 slow, depending, as it would, on the sentiments of the 
 great body of the people. 
 
 The result of this plan, he states, would be " that the 
 money would return into circulation almost as fast as it 
 was drawn out, and at the end of the year the treasury 
 would be completely empty ; the foreign loan dissipated, 
 and the state of the finances as deplorable as ever. It 
 would be much better, instead of purchasing up the paper 
 currency, to purchase the supplies with the specie or bills." 
 " A great source of error," he observes, " in disquisitions 
 of this nature, is the judging of events by abstract calcu- 
 lations, which, though geometrically true, are false as they 
 relate to the concerns of beings governed more by pas- 
 sion and prejudice, than by an enlightened sense of their 
 interests. A degree of illusion mixes itself in all the 
 affairs of society. The opinion of objects has more in- 
 fluence than their real nature. The quantity of money 
 in circulation, is certainly a chief cause of its declining ; 
 but we find it is depreciated more than five times as much 
 as it ought to be : the excess is derived from opinion, a 
 want of confidence. In like manner, we deceive our- 
 selves, when we suppose the value will increase in pro- 
 portion as the quantity is lessened ; opinion will operate 
 here also, and a thousand circumstances may promote or 
 counteract the principle." 
 
 The other plan proposed, was to convert the loan into 
 merchandise, and import it on public account. This plan, 
 though better than the former, he deems also liable to 
 great objections, but not wholly to be rejected ; and after
 
 574 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 suggesting a tax in kind, he contends, that " the only plan 
 which can preserve the currency, is one that will make it 
 the immediate interest of the moneyed men to co-operate 
 with government in its support. This country is in the 
 same predicament in which France was previous to the 
 famous Mississippi scheme, projected by Mr. Law. Its 
 paper money, like ours, had dwindled to nothing, and no 
 efforts of the government could revive it, because the 
 people had lost all confidence in its ability. Mr. Law, 
 who had much more penetration than integrity, readily 
 perceived that no plan could succeed, which did not unite 
 the interest and credit of rich individuals with those of 
 the state ; and upon this he framed the idea of his project, 
 which so far agreed in principle with the Bank of Eng- 
 land, the foundation was good, but the superstructure 
 too vast. The projectors aimed at unlimited wealth, and 
 the government itself expected too much, which was the 
 cause of the ultimate miscarriage of the scheme, and of 
 all the mischiefs that befell the kingdom in consequence. 
 It will be our wisdom to select what is good in this plan, 
 and in any others that have gone before us, avoiding their 
 defects and excesses. Something on a similar principle in 
 America, will alone accomplish the restoration of paper 
 credit, and establish a permanent fund for the future exi- 
 -gencies of government." 
 
 He then states his plan to be an American bank, to be 
 instituted by Congress for ten years, under the denomi- 
 nation of " The Bank of the United" States." 
 
 The basis of this bank was to be a foreign loan of two 
 millions sterling, to be invested in the bank as a part of 
 its stock ; a subscription to be opened in the currency of 
 two hundred millions of dollars, and the subscribers to be 
 incorporated ; the payment of which to be guarantied by 
 the government on the dissolution of the bank, by ten
 
 ^Ex. 22.] HAMILTON. 575 
 
 millions of specie, being at the rate of one for twenty, or 
 by a currency bona fide equivalent, and the annual monev 
 taxes to become part of the stock. 
 
 All the remaining paper to be called in, (at the option 
 of the possessor,) and bank notes to be issued in lieu of it 
 for so much sterling, payable to the bearer in three 
 months from the date, at two per cent, per annum inter- 
 est ; a pound sterling to be estimated at two hundred and 
 sixty-six and two-thirds of the existing dollars ; * the in- 
 terest payable punctually in specie at the end of the three 
 months, when the possessor might have the bank notes re- 
 newed, or receive the sum deposited in the old paper ; all 
 the money issued from the bank to be of the same de- 
 nomination, and on the same terms. 
 
 An annual loan of two millions sterling to be furnished 
 to Congress by the bank, at four per cent., and the whole, 
 or part of the stock, by arrangement between the bank 
 and a Board of Trade, which he contemplated, to be em- 
 ployed in commerce. If only a part, the residue to be 
 loaned occasionally, by permission of Congress, in such 
 sums as may be thought expedient, at an interest of six 
 per cent., on private securities ; the government to hold 
 one half of the stock, and the bank to be managed by 
 trustees of the stockholders, under the inspection of the 
 Board of Trade. 
 
 The part of the manuscript which details the effect of 
 the commercial operations, is mutilated ; but the result is 
 stated to be, that the war might be carried on three years, 
 and the government incur a debt of only four hundred 
 and twenty thousand pounds sterling, above the guaranty 
 of the subscription, which it is probable would not be re- 
 quired, as the corporation would find it their interest to 
 obtain a renewal of their charter. 
 
 * Sixty dollars for one dollar of four shillings and sixpence sterling.
 
 576 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 Having presented this plan, he observes, " that he does 
 not believe that its advantages will be as great as they 
 appear in speculation, from a less profitable commerce 
 than is supposed and from other causes. I am aware how 
 apt the imagination is to be heated in projects of this na- 
 ture, and to overlook the fallacies which often lurk in first 
 principles. But when I consider, on the other hand, that 
 this scheme stands on the firm footing of public and pri- 
 vate faith, that it links the interest of the state in an inti- 
 mate connection with those of the rich individuals belong- 
 ing to it ; that it turns the wealth and influence of both 
 into a commercial channel, for mutual benefit, which must 
 afford advantages not to be estimated ; that there is a de- 
 fect of a circulating medium, which this plan supplies by 
 a sort of creative power, converting what is so produced, 
 into a real and efficacious instrument of trade ; I say, 
 when I consider these things, and many more that might 
 be added, I cannot forbear feeling a degree of confidence 
 in the plan, and at least hoping that it is capable of being 
 improved into something that will give relief to our 
 finances." 
 
 To enlarge its advantages, he suggests that a variety 
 of secondary expedients may be invented, and the whole 
 scheme of annuities engrafted upon it. 
 
 That the European loan might be converted into a 
 European bank, to aid the American bank, by engaging 
 the interests of the wealthy, and that the bank might also 
 make contracts with the government for the supplies of 
 the army, on terms mutually beneficial. He then expa- 
 tiates on the reasons for giving one half of the stock to 
 the government, and answers the objection that the plan 
 might be prejudicial to trade, by proposing a guaranty 
 from the government not to grant any " exclusive privi- 
 leges."
 
 yEr. H'2.] HAMILTON. 577 
 
 To the scheme, notes are appended, explanatory ot 
 the operation of the project ; in one of which he states, 
 " a Board of Trade ought immediately to be established. 
 The rojal council of France, and the subordinate cham- 
 bers in each province, form an excellent institution, and 
 may in many respects, prove a model. Congress have 
 too long neglected to institute a good scheme of adminis- 
 tration, and throw public business into proper executive 
 departments. For commerce, I prefer a board ; but for 
 most other things, single men. We want a Minister of 
 War, a Minister of Foreign Affairs, a Minister of Finance, 
 and a Minister of Marine. There is always more deci- 
 sion, more despatch, more secrecy, and more responsibility 
 where single men, than where bodies are concerned. BY 
 
 A PLAN OF THIS KIND, WE SHOULD BLEND THE ADVANTAGES 
 OF A MONARCHY AND OF A REPUBLIC, IN A HAPPY AND 
 
 BENEFICIAL UNION. Men will only devote their lives and 
 attention to a profession on which they can build reputa- 
 tion and consequence, which they do not share with 
 others. If this plan should be approved, Congress ought, 
 immediately, to appoint a Minister of Finance. He ought 
 to be a man of ability, to comprehend it in all its conse- 
 quences, and of eloquence to make others comprehend 
 and relish it. He ought, besides, to have some general 
 knowledge of the science, and to address himself to some 
 of the most suitable moneyed men, to convince them of 
 the utility of the project. The Congress must establish 
 the bank, and set it agoing. I know of no man that has 
 better pretensions than yourself, and shall be very happy 
 to hear that Congress have said, ' Thou art the man.' " 
 
 At a time when the intricate science of finance was 
 
 little understood in the United States, the clear, sound 
 
 opinions taken in this paper, cannot escape observation, 
 
 rejecting all empiric expedients, and indicating as the only 
 
 VOL. I. 37
 
 578 THE KEPUBL1C. [1779. 
 
 basis of a permanent system, as shown in the policy of 
 elder nations, the combination of public with private capi- 
 tal in the institution of a great national, financial agency. 
 
 Hamilton's project was not embraced in all its parts, 
 but it had its influence on the mind of the eminent finan- 
 cier of the Revolution. Within a short time, a plan of a 
 bank* in Pennsylvania was introduced by Robert Morris, 
 founded on private contributions, to furnish the army 
 with temporary supplies ; and which, though limited in its 
 purpose, led on to farther results. 
 
 The idea of Executive Departments, instead of boards, 
 also, from this time, became a topic of discussion in Con- 
 gress ; and was one of the first steps towards the estab- 
 lishment of an efficient national government. 
 
 * In the Life of Gouverneur Morris, i. 235, a letter from him to a friend 
 states : " The first hank in this country was planned by your humble servant." 
 This may refer to Robert Morris's plan, reported to Congress June 22d, 1780, 
 but more probably to that proposed in May, 1781. G. Morris was appointed 
 bis assistant July 6, 1781. Hamilton's, therefore, preceded both.
 
 -to. 22.] HAMILTON. 579 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 GENERAL PHILIP SOHUYLEB. 
 
 WITHIN a few months past the exposures of George Bancroft's historical 
 misstatements, which had previously been very serious, have been resumed. 
 Relatives of General Greene, of General Sullivan, and of General Schuyler, 
 amazed and indignant at his calumniations of their ancestors, have disproved 
 them with a care, precision, and fulness, essentially affecting his title to pub- 
 lic confidence. Among these exposures is a paper entitled " CORRESPONDENCE 
 and REMARKS upon Bancroft's History of the Northern Campaign of 1777, 
 by George L. Schuyler," " April, 1867." Its direct impeachments of this 
 person are such as to have demanded from him the earliest possible reply. 
 No sufficient reply has been given. No sufficient reply can be given. In- 
 stead, he has contented himself with bringing forward garbled letters, which, 
 though thus mutilated, do not, in the slightest degree sustain his charges. 
 
 The vindication of General Schuyler in the " Remarks," expressly relates 
 to his " private character." But, as Bancroft's misstatemeuts also impeach 
 General Schuyler's public character as a soldier, and are in conflict with the 
 preceding narrative, a brief notice of them in this place is deemed requisite. 
 Some of his misstatements are his own mere assertions. The residue are 
 disproved by authorities which will now be adduced. These authorities are 
 records of facts which shew his deliberate, studied violations of truth, and 
 must be regarded as decisive of the confidence to be placed in him as an 
 historian. 
 
 In his " History of the United States," vol. IX. p. 341, Bancroft writes : 
 " Angry that his department had been curtailed, Schuyler, in the second 
 week of April, took his seat in Congress, to complain in person, and assert 
 his right to be replaced. According to his stating, Ticonderoga had been put 
 into a strong and impregnable condition while he had the command in 
 chief, with Gates as his junior ; his measures for the supply and mainten- 
 ance of the post were in full operation, and left no doubt of its future safety, 
 for which he was willing to take on himself the responsibility." Comparo 
 Bancroft with himself [ix. 340]. " But Congress, never distrustful of itself, 
 and this time led by the opinions of Schuyler, voted permission to Gates to
 
 580 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 evacuate Tyconderoga, on the west of Lake Champlain, and apply his 
 whole force to securing Fort Independence, and the water defences of Lako 
 George." Gates answered, " I see no reason for abandoning any part of 
 the post ; I am not the least apprehensive there will be occasion to surren- 
 der one acre we possess." Bancroft proceeds " His opponents were pow- 
 erful ; on the third of May, he announced to Washington his intention 
 ' to resign his commission ; ' and Washington interposed no dissuasions. 
 But, having Duaue as a skilful manager, instead of a resignation, he apolo- 
 gized to Congress for the words that had given offence ; a committee which, 
 at his request, inquired into his use of the public money, relieved him from 
 injurious rumors; and in the report of the board of war, after a discussion 
 protracted into the fourth day, an accidental majority assured him the 
 undivided command of Albany, Tyconderoga, Fort Stanwix, and their de- 
 pendencies." 
 
 Compare Chief Justice Marshall [" Life of George Washington," Vol. II, 
 p. 187. Second Edition, 1836]. " The service of General Schuyler, in the 
 Northern department, had been more solid than brilliant. Dissatisfied with 
 his situation, and disgusted with the injustice he supposed himself to experi- 
 ence, he had for some time meditated a resignation, und had been retained 
 in the service only by the deep interest he felt in the struggle of his country for 
 independence. So soon as his ft ars for Tyconderoga were removed by the 
 partial opening of Lake Champlain, he waited in person on Congress for the 
 purpose of adjusting hi* accounts, obtaining an inquiry into his conduct, and 
 supporting those necessary measures of defence in the North, which were sug- 
 gested by his perfect knowledge of the country. At his request, a committee, 
 consisting of a member from each State, was appointed to inquire into his 
 conduct during the time he had held a command in the army. The arduous 
 services performed by this meritorious officer, when investigated, were found 
 no far to exceed any estimate which had been made of them, that Congress 
 deemed it essential to the public interest to prevail on him to retain his commis- 
 sion. May 22. The resolution which fixed his headquarters at Albany, was 
 repealed, and he was directed to proceed forthwith to the Northern depart- 
 ment and to take the command of it." 
 
 Compare [Gordon's History of the United States, ii. 172, 202.*] " Con- 
 gress having dismissed Dr. Samuel Stringer, a director of the hospital in the 
 Northern department of the army, General Schuyler took offence at it, and 
 expressed himself unguardedly in some of his official letters." March 15, 
 Congress passed some strong resolutions. "General Schnyler presented a 
 memorial to Congress, explaining the expressions in his letter which hcd 
 given them offence." "They resolved, on the 8th of May, that the explanation 
 
 * Gordon as in Intimate relations with Gtneral Gates.
 
 ^T. 22.] HAMILTON. 531 
 
 w:is satisfactory ; and that now they entertained the same javorable senti- 
 ments concerning him, which they entertained before that letter was re- 
 ceived. This seems to have been designedly preparative to what followed n 
 fortnight after, when it was resolved " that Albany, Tyconderoga, Fort Stan- 
 wix, and their dependencies, be henceforth considered ns forrnin the 
 Northern Department, that Major-General Schuyler be directed forthwith to 
 proceed to the Northern Department to take the command there." It was 
 said that he was the only single man who could keep the New York subjects 
 united against the common enemy, and that his presence was absolutely 
 necessary for their immediate succour and service, as well as that of the 
 United States closely connected therewith. The New England delegates, 
 the President excepted, opposed his being directed to take the command, as 
 it superseded General Gates." Some of these delegates are seen to have been 
 parties to the cabal which would have superseded Washington, first by 
 Charles Lee, then by Gates. James Duane, styled by Bancroft " a skilful 
 manager" represented the State of New York in the first Congress in 1774, 
 and also until the year 1782. He was the confided-in correspondent 
 of Washington, as to matters both of public and private importance. 
 When urging upon Duane, in 1780, the appointment by Congress of 
 a Committee of Congress " to reside near Headquarters," clothed with 
 large powers, he remarks, " There is no man that can be more useful as a 
 member of the committee than General Schuyler. His perfect knowledge 
 of the resources of the country, the activity of his temper, his fruitfulness of 
 expedients, his sound military sense, make me wish, above all things, that he 
 may be appointed. I wish the chancellor or yourse/fconld be in the appoint- 
 ment. A well composed committee is of primary importance." Duane was 
 subsequently Mayor of the City of New York, :md the first appointed judge 
 by Washington, of the District of New York. 
 
 II. Bancroft's History, IX. 361. " On the 12th (June) " St. Clair, the best 
 of the brigadiers then in the North reached Tyconderoga. Five days later, 
 "June 17, Schnylcr visited his army." Then, stating the indefensible con- 
 dition of these posts, Bancroft proceeds : " The only good part was to pre- 
 pare for evacuating the post, but from the dread of clamor, shirking the re- 
 sponsibility of giving definite instructions, Schuyler returned to Albany, and 
 busied himself with forwarding to Tyconderoga supplies for a long siege." 
 
 On the 4th of June, Schuyler resumed the command of the Northern 
 army, and on the 5th, he wrote to St. Clair, utging him to make Mount In- 
 dependence capable of sustaining a long and vigorous siege ; which, as the 
 whole force was insufficient for both posts, he directed should be the pri- 
 mary object.* He also wrote to Washington asking reinforcements. " It 
 
 * Proceedings of Court Martial upon General Schuyler.
 
 582 THE KEPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 had been" (Sparks' Washington, iv. 467, note) "a favorite idea with Con- 
 gress and the Commander-in-chief, that the British would not operate in 
 force from Canada during the present campaign, but that the troops would 
 be chiefly brought round by water to reinforce Howe. Hence the small 
 preparations for the defence of Tyconderoga, and for forming a Northern 
 army." Most erroneous impressions had been given by Gates, who wrote to 
 Congress " that the troops were in the bat order, the boom and bridge 
 finished, and every preparation for defence made." 
 
 Thus impressed, Washington wrote to Schuyler on the 20th of June, " as 
 the garrison of Tyconderoga is sufficient to hold it against any attack, I do 
 not think it politic, under your representation of the scarcity of provisions, 
 to send up troops to consume what ought to be thrown into the fort. It is 
 evident from General St. Glair's letter, that it will not be proper to order 
 up'the reinforcement before it is really wanted, for he very judiciously ob- 
 serves, that they will consume the stores." 
 
 Having made every exertion to forward supplies from Albany, Schuyler 
 procceeded to Tyconderoga, which he reached on the 17th of June (Gor- 
 don, ii. 204) ; " but did not find the post in so good a state of defence as he 
 expected. He imagined that the proposed obstructions (which had been 
 ordered by Congress the last December, and which had been backed by his 
 order given in February, and repeated the 5th of June) would have been 
 completed, or at least considerably more advanced. That they were carried 
 on with no more dispatch was imputed greatly to the late arrival of such 
 troops, as could not be brought to work in spirit, to artificers not coming 
 by the time they were ordered, and to a want of working cattle." 
 
 Of the state of affairs, as presented by the authorities cited, Bancroft 
 can have no excuse for being ignorant, nor has he adduced a particle of 
 evidence shewing their inaccuracy. Yet he writes (ix. 372, 3.) " Mean- 
 time, the British were never harried by the troops with Schuyler, against 
 whom public opinion was rising. Men reasoned rightly, that if Tycon- 
 deroga was untenable, he should have known it, and given timely orders 
 for its evacuation, instead of which he had been heaping up stores there to 
 the last. To screen his popularity, he insisted that the retreat was made 
 without the least hint from himself, and was ' ill judged, and not warranted 
 by necessity.' . . Schuyler owed his place to his social position, not to 
 military talents. Anxious, and suspected of a want of personal courage, he 
 found every thing go ill under his command. . . The aid of Vermont 
 was needed ; Schuyler would never address its secretary except ' in his pri- 
 vate capacity. 1 There conld be no hope of a successful campaign, but with 
 the hearty co-operation of New England ; yet Schuyler gave leave for one 
 half of its militia to go home at once, the rest to follow in three weeks, and
 
 J3T. 22.] HAMILTON. 583 
 
 then called upon Washington to supply their places by troops from the 
 south of Hudson's river, saying to his friends that one Southern soldier was 
 worth two from New England. On the twenty-second, long before Burgoyne 
 was ready to advance, Schuyler retreated to a position four miles below 
 Fort Edward. Here again he complained of bis " exposure to immediate 
 ruin." His friends urged him to silence the growing suspicion of his 
 cowardice ; he answered, " If there is a battle I shall certainly expose my- 
 self more than is prudent." To the New York Council of Safety he wrote 
 on the twenty-fourth : " I mean to dispute every inch of ground with Bur- 
 goyne,and retard his descent as long as possible ; " and in less than a week, 
 without disputing anything, he retreated to Saratoga, having his heart set 
 on a position at the junction of the Mohawk and Hudson. The courage 
 of the commander being gone, his officers and his army became spiritless ; 
 and as his only resource, he solicited aid from Washington with unreasoning 
 importunity." 
 
 Compare Chief-Justice Marshall [i. 196]. " The time afforded by Bur- 
 goyne's delay had been employed by Schuyler to the utmost advantage. 
 Some reinforcements of continental troops had arrived from Peekskill, and 
 the militia had been assembled, but his strength did not yet afford a reason- 
 able prospect of success in a contest with the enemy opposed to him. On 
 this account, as Burgoyne approached Fort Edward, Schuyler retired over 
 the Hudson to Saratoga, and soon afterwards to Stillwater.' 1 
 
 Compare Gordon [ii. 210]. "By reason of the route which the general " 
 (Burgoyne) "took, he did not arrive at Hudson's river, and fix his headquar- 
 ters near Fort Edward, till iheSQth of July. Fort Ed ward is no more than the 
 ruins of a former fort, and of no consequence to any party. It could afford 
 no cover to Gen. Schuyler, and only gave a name to the place where it was 
 situated. The General left it several days before Burgoyne gained its neigh- 
 borhood." 
 
 What was the force of the invading army ? Bancroft gives it, ix. 366. 
 " As they encamped at evening before Tyconderoga and Mount Independ- 
 ence, the rank and file, exclusive of Indians, numbered three thousand seven 
 hundred and twenty-four British, three thousand and sixteen Germans, two 
 hundred and fifty provincials, besides four hundred and seventy-three of 
 the choicest artillerists, with the most complete supply of artillery ever 
 furnished to such an army." 
 
 Mark his misstatements 1st. With a force so inferior, of such a char- 
 acter, how could Schuyler have "harried" the British? 2d. "To screen 
 his popularity, he insisted that the retreat was made without the least 
 hint from himself." St. Clair states that, when he proposed to him to send 
 a note to the printer to assure the people that he had no part in abandon-
 
 584 THE REPUBLIC. [1779 
 
 ingwhat they thought their strongest hold, he "(Sehuyler) thought it not so 
 proper at that time." 3d. " The aid of Vermont was needed ; Sehuyler 
 would never address its secretary except 'in his private capacity." 1 The 
 text shows that New York contested the independence of Vermont, and 
 Sehuyler could not recognize it by addressing its secretary in any other 
 than " his private capacity ; " but Bancroft omits wholly to state the influence 
 exerted by Sehuyler to induce General Stark to come forth, who, winning 
 the battle of Bennington, aided so much in the conquest of Burgoyne nor 
 the other important facts, stated by Chief-Justice Marshall [i. 195], that 
 " the orders to General Lincoln" to join him " were countermanded, ;md he 
 was directed with the militia of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and the 
 Grants " (Vermont), " making, as was understood, a total of between two and 
 three thousand men, to place himself in the rear of the British army, and 
 cut off his communication with the lakes " nor the other important fact 
 stated by Marshall [i. 196]. That being informed that "Colonel St. Leger 
 had penetrated to the Mohawk, where he had laid siege to Fort Schuyler, 
 the importance of protecting the inhabitants from the savages, and of pre- 
 venting a junction between St. Leger and Burgoyne, and the consequent 
 loss of the country on the Mohawk, determined Schuyler, vxak as he teas, to 
 detach Major-General Arnold with three Continental regiments to raise the 
 siege. The army was so enfeebled by this measure, that its removal to a 
 place of greater security became necessary, and it was withdrawn to some 
 islands in the confluence of the Hudson and the Moha/rk, where the camp 
 was deemed more defensible." Yet Bancroft writes [ix. 376], '''flying 
 from a shadow cast before him, he moved his army to the first island in 
 the mouth of the Mohawk." Thus weakened, and for such important 
 objects, how could Schuyler have " disputed an inch of ground " with Bur- 
 goyne, and why ought he not to have retreaTed when it would have been 
 Mich direful folly to have remained ? Ought he to have remained to sur- 
 render his little force to Burgoyne, or to have been utterly destroyed by 
 him ? Ought he to have remained, thus increasing, by the greater distance 
 from their sources, the difficulties of supplies ? Ought he to have remained, 
 thus delaying the arrival of reinforcements ? Ought he to have remained in 
 an absolutely indefensible position, instead of occupying the most defensible 
 position, until the commands of Arnold and of Lincoln should return, having 
 impaired the strength of Burgoyne, and delayed greatly his advance by 
 interposed obstacles ; and until the reinforcements he sought from Washing- 
 ton could arrive ? The advantage of this last position, approved by all the 
 general officers in council, is more approved by the great result Here was 
 formed, we are told by the enemy's General, Reidesel, " the nucleus of the 
 army which was afterwards put under the command of Gates," and which,
 
 ^ET. 22.] HAMILTON. 535 
 
 sufficiently strengthened by the reinforcements from Washington and' the 
 incoming militia, conquered Burgovne. 
 
 On the 20th of June, the date of Washington's last quoted letter, a 
 council of general officers was held at Tycondcroga. They were Schuyler, 
 St. Clair, Fermoy, Poor, Patterson. It was then agreed unanimously, that 
 the number of troops was " greatly inadequate to the defence of both 
 posts," Tyconderoga and Mount Independence that both posts ought 
 nevertheless to be maintained as long as possible, consistent with the safety 
 of the troops and stores that if it shall become necessary to evacuate one or 
 other of the posts, and that remains to our election which, that it ought to 
 be the Tyconderoga side ; " and then, resolving to repair and to add new 
 works, it was agreed that from the state of the works, and inadequacy of 
 supplies, "it is prudent to provide for a retreat." 
 
 Chief-Justice Marshall writes [i. 188.] " General Schuyler was sen- 
 sible of the danger which threatened him, and made every exertion to meet it. 
 After completing his arrangements at Tyconderoga for sustaining a siege, 
 he had proceeded to Albany, for the purpose of attending to his supplies, 
 and of expediting the march of reinforcements, '* when he received intel- 
 ligence from St. Clair that Burgoyne had appeared before Tyconderoga." 
 On receiving this advice, Schuyler hastened to join him. 
 
 [Gordon ii. 205.] " General St. Clair hoped that the enemy would have 
 assaulted him, and depended on that for rendering his small garrison ser- 
 viceable to his country, as he was persuaded that his troops were brave ; 
 and in case of an assault, would have given a good account of the assailants. 
 But the moment he was informed of Burgoyne's numbers, and saw that a 
 regular siege was meant, he was certain that the effectual defence of the 
 posts wns impossible." 
 
 [Irving's Life of Washington, iii. 94.] " Having noted the state of 
 affairs and the wants of the garrison, Schuyler hastened to Fort George, 
 whence he sent on provisions for upwards of sixty days ; and from the banks 
 of the Hudson additional carpenters and working cattle. ' Business,' he 
 wrote to Congress, ' will now go on in better train, and I hope with much 
 more spirit, and I trust we shall still be able to put everything in such 
 order as to give the enemy a good reception, and, I hope, a repulse, should 
 they attempt a real attack, which, I conjecture, will not be soon, if at all, 
 although I expect they will approach with their fleet to keep us in alarm, 
 and to draw our attention from other quarters, where they may mean a real 
 attack.' " 
 
 Being quickly environed by the enemy, St. Clair decided to evacuate the 
 posts. He stated on his trial, that " he had seriously considered the conse- 
 quences of the step he was taking. If he remained there, he would save
 
 586 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 his Character and lose his army. If he went off, he would ?ave the army 
 and lose his character ; the last of which he was determined to sacrifice to 
 the cause in which he was engaged." " A Council of War was called, and 
 (Gordon ii. 206) it was unanimously concluded upon to evacuate as soon as 
 possible," (this took place on the sixth of July). " The General, by evacuat- 
 ing, intended to throw his troops between the country and the royal army, 
 that the militia might have a body to collect to." In this purpose he was 
 disappointed. Having made a forced march of thirty miles in one day to 
 Gastleton, intelligence " determined him to change his route, and to strike 
 into the woods at the left, lest he should be intercepted at Fort Anne. Two 
 New England regiments of Militia discovered such a plundering disposition 
 on their march, and behaved so disorderly during the whole retreat, that 
 two days after leaving Castleton, he was obliged to dismiss them from the 
 army with disgrace." He joined Gen. Schuyler 011 the 12th, having " suf- 
 fered much from bad weather and want of provisions." 
 
 Now as to Bancroft's charge upon Schuyler " from dread of clamor 
 shirking the responsibility of giving definite instructions to prepare for 
 evacuating the post" It is seen that, by the Council of Officers held on the 
 20th of June, over which Schuyler presided, it was unanimously agreed to 
 be prudent "to provide for a retreat." It baa been seen that Washington 
 did not, on that very day, anticipate an attack upon Tyconderoga. A letter 
 of St. Clair of the 17th of July, to Washington (Correspondence of the Re- 
 volution, i. 403), shows he was of the same opinion. " But here, again, it 
 may be asked why, when I found myself in the situation I have described, 
 I did not retreat sooner, when everything might have been saved. I have 
 only to answer that, until the enemy sat down before the place, I believed 
 the small garrison I had to be sufficient. The intelligence that Congress had 
 received, that no serious attempt in that quarter teas intended, as it gained 
 credit with them, I never doubled, and was unwilling to be the occasion of 
 drawing off any part of your army, as the operations might thereby be rendered 
 less vigorous ; and 1 knew too, that you could very illy spare them. Besides, 
 until the case become so urgent that I had no alternative but the evacua- 
 tion of my posts, or the loss of the army, it did not lie with me to deter- 
 mine upon." 
 
 With such opinions and such intelligence, what excuse could Schuyler 
 have offered for an evacuation that would have been attended witli probable 
 consequences of such immense moment ? Such was St. Glair's confidence 
 that, "on the last day of June," Bancroft relates, ix. 366, he wrote to 
 Schuyler " Should the enemy attack us, they will go back further than they 
 came." On the third of July, one of St. Clair's aids promised Washington 
 " the total defeat of the enemy."
 
 M-t. 22.] HAMILTON. 587 
 
 Sehuyler returned from Fort George to Albany. Here, Washington 
 Irving states [" Life of Washington, iii. 100,"] he " was sending up re- 
 inforcements of continental troops and militia, and awaiting the arrival of 
 further reinforcements. He was endeavoring also to provide for the security 
 of the Department in other quarters, which the enemy were harrassing. 
 Even when Burgoyne had commenced entrenching, Sehuyler wrote St. 
 Clair : " I shall have great hopes, */ General Burgoyne continues in the 
 vicinity of your post until we get up, and dares risk an engagement, we shall 
 give a good account. If we act with vigor and spirit we have nothing to 
 fear, but if once despondency takes place, the worst consequences are to be 
 apprehended. It is, therefore, incumbent on you " (General Herkimer) " to 
 labor to keep up the spirits of the people." " In the meantime he awaited," 
 [Irving iii. 102], " the arrival of the troops from Peekskill with impatience. 
 On the 5th they had not appeared. " The moment they do," he writes, " I 
 shall move with them. If they do not arrive by to-morrow, I go without 
 them, and will do the best I can with the militia." The morning of the next 
 day he departed. On the same day, while " on his way with reinforcements 
 for the fortress," he received news at Stillwater of its loss. He reached 
 Fort Edward on the ninth. What was the situation here ? [Gordon ii. 209.] 
 " The General was obliged to strip the men to send to the troops " of Ver- 
 mont gallantly fighting at Hubbardton, *' by which his own were left without 
 lead for some days, except a mere trifle from Albany, obtained by stripping 
 the windows." He now wrote to Washington : " I am here, s>t the head of 
 a handful of men, not above fifteen hundred, without provisions, little 
 ammunitioii, not above five rounds to a man, having neither ball nor lead to 
 make any, the country in the deepest consternation ; no carriages to move 
 the stores from Fort George, which I expect every moment to learn is 
 attacked. And what adds to my distress is, that a report prevails that I 
 had given orders for the evacuation of Tyconderoga, whereas not the most 
 distant hint of such an intention can be drawn from any of my letters to 
 General St. Clair, or any other person whatever." 
 
 Three days after, St. Clair joined him. On the 14tb, Sehuyler again wrote 
 to Washington, from Fort Edward, stating that St. Cluir " supposes the 
 force," which had been halted twelve miles below, " about fifteen hundred." 
 I do not suppose our whole strength in this Departmtnt exceeds four thousand 
 five hundred men." '' I find the whole of General Nixon's brigade to con- 
 sist of five hundred and seventy-five rank and file, fit for duty, and eleven 
 sick. Several of them are negroes, and many of them young, small, and 
 feeble boys. Desertion prevails and disease gains ground, nor is it to be 
 wondered at, for we have neither huts, houses, barns, boards, or any shelter, 
 except a little brush. Every rain that falls, and we have it in great
 
 588 THE REPUBLIC. [1799. 
 
 abundnncc almost every day, wets the men to the skin. We are besides in 
 want of every kind of necessary, provisions excepted. Camp kettles we 
 have so few, that we cannot afford above one to twenty men. Although we 
 have ne-ir fifteen tons of powder, yet we have so little lead, that I could not 
 give each man above fifteen rounds ; and although I have saved about thirty 
 pieces of light artillery, yet I have not a single carriage for them, so that 
 my whole train of artillery consists of two iron field-pieces." Thus weak and 
 unprovided, he retired to Moses' Creek, four miles below, whence on the 
 27th of July he gave the official state of his little force. " It consists of 
 2,700 continental troops." Connecticut militia, eight commissioned officers, 
 six noncommissioned, one drummer, six sick, "and three rank and file fit 
 for duty ; the rest, nfter remaining three or four days, deserted u.." From 
 Berkshire militia of 1,200 about 1,000 deserted. Of Hampshire militia over 
 200 left. Of Albany County " 1,060 are left, being forty-six more than half 
 of what were upon the ground, when it was resolved to let half return to 
 their habitations." [Gordon 5i. 211.] 
 
 "Schuyler," Bancroft states, " gave leave for one half of its militia," that 
 of New England " to go home at once, and the rest to follow in three weeks." 
 The last quotation from Gordon, giving Schuyler's official report, shews, that 
 most of the militia from New England had deserted, and that the leave to 
 one half of the militia to return to their habitations was not given to the 
 New England militia, but to the militia of Albany county, who could quickly 
 have been reassembled, the motive to which an act of mercy may be 
 inferred from Bancroft's statement [ix. 374], that, "in the other counties," 
 one of which was that of Albany, " scarcely men enough remained at home 
 to secure the plentiful harvest." Nor is this the only error ; Chancellor 
 Kent, the affectionate memorialist of Schuyler, writes " By the advice of a 
 Council of general officers, Schuyler was obliged to let one half of the militia 
 go home, under the promise of the residue to continue for three weeks." 
 Nor did Schuyler undervalue the prowess of New England soldiers. With 
 Washington he disliked the insubordination of the officers, and he stated, 
 " he wished to have his army composed of troops from as many different 
 States as possible ; the Southern people having a greater spirit of discipline 
 and subordination might, he thought, introduce it among the Eastern peo- 
 ple." [Irving's Washington, ii. 27.] Bancroft, having expatiated on the 
 insubordination of the militia, 1776 [ix. 13fi], remarks, "the want of good 
 officers was still more to be complained of; especially those from New Eng- 
 land did not fully represent the talent and military zeal of that part of the 
 country." 
 
 The truths told by Chief-Justice Marshall are not only an abundant 
 vindication of Schuyler's having relinquished his intention " to dispute every
 
 JBn. 22.] HAMILTON. 5^9 
 
 inch of the ground " for the greater objects attained by detaching from his 
 army, but are decisive proofs of what have been truly called ' his fortitude 
 and prowess in moments of difficulty, his promptness and fearlessness." 
 [Burgoyne's campaign, 51.] " General Schuyler called a council of his 
 officers, and asked their advice as to the relief of Fort Schuyler. It is per- 
 haps not generally known, that he was opposed by them. As he walked 
 about in the greatest anxiety, urging them to come to his opinion, he over- 
 heard some of them saying ' he means to weaken the army.' The emo- 
 tions of the veteran were always violent at the recollection of this charge. 
 Indignantly he exclaimed, ' Gentlemen, I shall take the responsibility upon 
 myself. Where is the brigadier that will take the command of the relief? 
 I shall beat up for volunteers to morrow.' The brave, gallant, the ill- 
 fated Arnold, started up with his characteristic quickness and offered to take 
 command of the expedition. In the morning, the drum beat for volunteers, 
 and two hundred hardy fellows, capable of withstanding great fatigue, 
 offered their services and were accepted. The result is known." 
 
 As to Bancroft's remarks as to the suspicion of Schuyler's courage and 
 the urgency of his friends to silence them, it is sufficient to refer to the 
 letters themselves to see how he has garbled them. While these letters 
 advert to the detractions of which Schuyler was aware, they prove the 
 entire confidence in him of the writers of them. Schuyler alludes to the 
 topic as affecting the public interest. " That torpor," he wrote officially, " that 
 torpor, criminal indifference, and want of spirit which so generally prevails, 
 -is more dangerous than all the efforts of the enemy. Nor is that jealousy 
 and spirit of detraction, which so unhappily prevails, of small, detriment to 
 our cause. Every effort of the enemy would be in vain, if our exertions 
 equalled our abilities, if our virtue was not sinking under that infamous 
 venality, which pervades throughout, and threatens us with ruin." 
 
 Bancroft dares to say, "the courage of the commander being gone." 
 Without a fact to warrant this assertion, and resting solely upon his author- 
 ity, its little value is notorious, This groundless aspersion is its own con- 
 demnation. Of Schuyler's manhood his life prior and subsequent to this 
 campaign is proof. His influence with the " Six Nations " of warlike Indians 
 began when, at eighteen years of age, he went forth in his "hunting and 
 trading excursions, 1 ' subsequently of such great public benefit. In the war 
 of 1756 with the French, having joined as a captain, [Life of Schuyler, 
 by Lossing, i. 131] " he shared with the common soldiers and the batteau- 
 men the perils and privations of the campaign, and when on the third 
 of July, as General Bradstreet and their party were just commencing 
 their inarch from Oswego to Albany, they were attacked by a party of 
 French regulars, Canadians and Indians, he displayed an intrepidity and
 
 590 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 humanity, creditable alike to a soldier and true man." Soon after lie was 
 appointed a Major, and when " Bradstreet, warmly supported by the zealous 
 Howe, proposed an expedition against Frontenac, Major Schuyler entered 
 upon his duties, and from that time till the close of the campaign he was 
 continually in the public service." With Bradstreet he maintained the 
 closest intimacy ; and here he gained the friendship of the hero Stark, which 
 he ever retained. 
 
 The " detraction " of which Schuyler wrote was ere long shamed. 
 Having repeatedly urged that his trial should take place, a court-martial 
 was held at Quaker Hill, the Head-Quarters of General Lincoln, in August, 
 1778. Here his activity, his energy, his ready exposure of himself, were 
 fully proved. General St. Clair being examined, acquitted him of all cen- 
 sure for his absence from Tyconderoga. Being asked by Schuyler, " Upon 
 any alarm, did I turn out myself and the troops with any degree of alacrity ? " 
 St. Clair swore, " Whenever there was an alarm and I was present, I have 
 always seen you do it with great alacrity, and you were always present 
 yourself." "Did you at that time (when at Fort Edward), or at any time be- 
 fore or since, observe any negligence in my conduct with respect to public 
 matters?" "I did not," answered St. Clair, "but at that time, and at every 
 other time before or since, I observed in you the greatest attention to public 
 matters, as far as came within my observation." On the 25th of August, 
 1778, the decision was made. The court unanimously acquitted him " with 
 the highest honor." Of this important court the members were Major- 
 General Lincoln, President; Brigadier-Generals Nixon, Clinton, Wayne, 
 Muhlenburgh ; Colonels Greaton, Johnson, Putnam, Gist, Russel, Stewart, 
 and Meigs. On the third of December following, Congress " Resolved, that 
 the sentence of the court-martial, acquitting Major-General Schuyler, with 
 the hiyhest honor, of the charges exhibited against him be and hereby is 
 confirmed." The Commander-in-Chief congratulated him, and such were 
 their relations that Washington avowed to him his "most sincere regard 
 and affection." Jay had written to him, " class yourself with those great 
 men of antiquity, who, unmoved by the ingratitude of their country, 
 omitted no opportunities of promoting the public weal." He urged 
 him to serve in a legislative capacity. After his acquittal, Schuyler again 
 took his seat in Congress. 
 
 In this note no comments are made upon Bancroft's work at large. 
 That in every extended narrative accidental errors will exist is to be ex- 
 pected. Such is not this case. A careful pervading criticism must pro- 
 nounce his work a mockery of history. The exposition here made is ex- 
 pressly confined to a refutation by indisputable evidence of the calumnies
 
 x?. 22.] HAMILTON. 591 
 
 which imperatively demanded it ; and it is in relation to these calumnies 
 that this statement is added. It is seen, that the present and the following 
 volume of this work embrace the period of the American Revolution in 
 which the services of General Schuyler are minutely detailed. Having, at 
 Bancroft's request, lent to him these two volumes, he returned them with n 
 note, of March 29, 1851 ; urging the completion of my work, and using 
 these terms: "You are constructing a noble monument to your father, and 
 adding to the treasures of the literature and political greatness of your 
 country." Deservedly reproved for his untruthfulness, he has sought and 
 found his satisfaction in maligning the illustrious dead. 
 
 February 9, 1 868.
 
 592 THE REPUBLIC. [1779. 
 
 NOTE II. 
 CHARLES LEE. 
 
 Colonel Hamilton, it is seen, charged that Lee " meditated the disgrace of 
 the Americans." As far as any record has been found, Hamilton appears to 
 have been the only officer in the American service who publicly imputed 
 treachery to General Lee. Whatever doubts may have existed on this sub- 
 ject, they are all removed by a recent publication entitled " The Treason of 
 Major-General Charles Lee," by George H. Moore, the intelligent and indefat- 
 igable librarian of the New York Historical Society. In this pamphlet, the 
 early career of Lee is traced with much ability and minuteness to the period 
 of his capture at Baskenridge. Then follows one of the most important devoir 
 opments in the history of the American Revolution. . It is the publication of a 
 paper entitled "Mr. Lee's Plan, 29th March, 1777," being a fac simile from 
 the autograph of Lee found among the papers of Henry Strachey, Secretary to 
 the Royal Commissioners, Lord and Sir William Howe, which autograph is in 
 the possession of Mr. Moore. 
 
 The " Plan '" of Lee, submitted by him to these commissioners, is a care- 
 fully prepared scheme of military movements, which he states he believed 
 would result " in the reduction or compulsion to submission of the whole prov- 
 ince of Maryland, for the preventing or intimidating Virginia from sending 
 aids to Pennsylvania . . . and will unhinye. and dissolve the whole system of 
 defence. I am so confident of the event, 1 " he adds, " that I will venture to 
 assert with the penalty of my life, if the plan is fully adopted, and no accidents 
 (such as a rupture betwixt the Powers of Europe) intervene, that in less than 
 two months from the date of the proclamation " (of pardon) '' not a spark of 
 this desolating war remains unextinguisJied in any part of the continent." 
 
 This treasonable "Plan" proposed the movement of two thousand men to 
 take post at Alexandria, and of an equal number to be placed at Annapolis, 
 supporting each other and ready for future operations. This paper explains 
 the Southern expedition of Howe, the policy of which it was at the time diffi- 
 cult to fathom. 
 
 END OF VOL. J. 
 
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