The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1856-04-17
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.

hnEAhNDER I1hMlLlUN.
The National Intelligencer, in reviewing
the Memoirs Of John NJ. Mason, d. D.
8. T. p with portions of his correspond.
snce, bv Jacob Van vechten," leaves the
memoirs themselves to give prominence to
the following "reminiscences Of Alexander
Hamilton and the closing scenes of his lfe
The whole paper is one of exceeding inter
sst, and we have no doubt will be read
with much satisfaction 10y our readers:
Leaving, therefore, his clerical repu,a.
ton to depend on his published works
inadequate con, option Of his real powers,)
we have avaied ourselves Of lhi, interest.
ing biography Of an eminent man for the
purpose of reviving few Of those rcmni-
scences which connect his name with that
Of Alexander Hamilton. With the single
exception OF Washington, perhaps no man
know Hamilton more intimately than DIR.
Mason. and no man certainly estimated his
abilities more highly. Both of these facts
--his intimacy with Hamilton and his ex.
Slted appreciation of the unrivalled genius
which distinguished that wonderful man"
will abundantly appear from the follow,
ing historical recoilections.
Associated with Gen. Hamilton bv ties
of intimate friendship, and almost trans
ported with admiration for his talents and
his character, DIR. Mason. says the editor Of
these memoirs, lameuied his loss, ly an
untime'y death, rs AN irreparable calamity.
To a correspondent in Scotland, under date
of August I i, 1901, lie writes:
"News have none but what the papers
will have announced before this reaches
you. Melancholy, most melancholy news
for America, the premature death Of her
greatest man, MAYOR General Hamilton,
SAY nothing too strong when assure you
that all things considered. the loss o'
Washington was light in comparison with
this. HIS most = upcndous talents. which
with which intrigue had not the hardihooi
to tampcr, held him up us the nation, hope
aud as the terror of the uupnnciplcd; but it
marked him out, "a, the same time. rs u
victim 10 tho disappointed and proili.s,e
ambition of Vice President Burr. Bv
the most insidious and cruel ariificc le was
cnirapped. against his judgment, his con
science, and his efforts, into duel with
that desperate man, aud mo'talIy wound.
eG. The catastrophe happened on the
norning OF the llh. and he expired nj 9
O'Clock OH the l2,h uItmo. The shock
and agony of The public mind have never
been qualed. y The cry Of !amemtarion
and Indignation assals Barr from every
point Of the compass; nor can he turA his
eye any where without reading his own in
fanny III The donors heaped upon the illus
trlous dead. The pamphlet which accom-
rames this vii. show what dart has fallen
10 myse!f.'
The reader should perhaps do DR.. Ma
son the justice 10 believe that in pronoun.
cling "the loss of Washington light in com.
parson" with that Of Hamilton he was
chiefly influenced 10y consideration of the
finished life" which, in the case of the one,
was rounded Off" by the sleep of an eu-
thana>la, while the other fell in the very
mid career of lIis activity and usefulness.
In point Of mere Intellectual greatness, it is
true, however, that DIR. Mason gave IIamil.
ton the pre- eminence over Washington.
The pamphlet 10 which he nludes in the
above extract was enlogy which he pro.
noancrd OH III ,millon before the Society OF
the Cincinnati in the State of New York
IN ID address which rivalIed bv its elo.
q"eaee and popularity The celebrated ser.
mon Of President Dwight OH the same illus
trions subject.
Writing to a European correspondent
who hal taken some exceptions TO portions
OF this Grafton ia honor Of Hamilton. DIR.
Mason remarks as follows in defence Of the
nigh positions which he had ascribed to
S,,I.l lInr. .at,. 60. e, IL n,
ut Is very natural that readers on your
side oil the water should suspect the euo-
GUM to be overchared. So do some among
ourselves; but not one ,cho kae,o him. /
knew him well, and assure YOU ,Ila, what
have said is sober, literal truth. Such a
human being | never saw, and probably
never shall see in this world"
In another letter, soon after the calamity
Of Hamilton's death, lie writes:
The greatest statesman i'll the Western
world. perhaps the greatest man Of the age,
has been cut off in the 18th year Of his age
by the mnrderOus arm of Vice President
Burr. The death Of Major General Alex
ander Hamilton has created "a waste in the
sphere Of intellect and probily which cen
tury will hardIyfll up. He has left mono
like him; no second, no third, nobody 10
put us in mind him. You can have no
conception of such man unless you knew
him."
That the Eulogy OF Hamilton rs pro.
nounced by DIR. Mason was not exapgers.
ted in ITS admiring portraiture is the testi.
m'ny OF Judicial mind like that of John
MARSHALL. In acknowledging the receipt
ola copy Of DR.. Ms oration, that pure
minded Jurist wrote as follows. We ex.
itact from los,er found I'm lhasa nn,nnri...