New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-12-30
.NEW PUBLICATIONS.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.


.. Appleton Co.
The author of the work Of which the title
gwen above published in 1884 and 1910 two 'ol-
umes Of Life Of Alexander Hamilton, in which
ne narrative was brought down TO the meeting OF
tho Convention by which the Federal Constitution
vss framed He has since been diligently and zeal
ously employed in the collection of materials oil
which be has amassed large amount, covering as
well the period embraced in the published Voumes
sbove referred to as the subsequent portion OIL
Hsmilton's life. Those volumes have been long out
Of print, and instead of mere continuation OF
them the author has adopted the plan of recasting
the whole in an enirely new Work, OF winch We
now have the first volume. In this, as IN his tor.
mer work. be by no means confines himself to
mere biography of his father, but aims rather, as
As title shows at history of the Federal Union as
iIurtrated by Alexander Hamilton's life and writ
inss Another leading object seems to be to bring
forward New.York into more conspicuous and
Leading position than has hitherto been assigned to
Der by historians of the Revolution. Yet the work
cannot properly be called history. 1t lacks the
comprehensiveness which that term implies. 1t
belongs rather to that class Of writing to which the
French give the title of Memoirs, and of which the
palue in general depends much more on the cOpi.
cusness and authenticity OF the materials than upon
The style or method of the compiler. In the pres
ent work, 10 far at least as we can judge from tho
present volume Hamilton forms the central figure,
with few other favorte characters grouped around
him, upon whom all the light of the picture is made
70 fall-a light heightened by the contrast of shadow
thrown upon another group which is also brought
pretty conspcuously into the foreground, while the
general history Of the period serves but to furnish
. background and surroundings, many important
portions being wholly omitted and others but
slightly sketched, 90 that to have full cOmprehen-
sion of the positions taken by the author his book
ought to DO read in connection with some full
history. -
He commences with historical sketch of the col
ony of New-York previous to the period Q774) at
which Alex Hamilton first made his appearance on
the political stage. As this sketch extends to less
than forty pages, it is but mere outline; yet it
serves to convey rather striking idea of the Po-
ltieal history and sentiments of the colony though
of course many important features are entirely left
cut as not included in or necessary to the plan Of
The work.
II is the opinion of Mr.. Hamilton, who, as
grandson of Gen. Schuyler, has the blood of the old
Dutch colonists in his yeins that the province OF
Ncw.York, from the very character of its popula-
zion, especially the Dutch and Huguenot sections
of it, was impeed to resistance to the authority
Of the mother country, such as was hardly to he
booked for in any other colony. He does, In TACT,
ahow that in the matter of opposing the imposition
of the English Church on the colony rs public
establishment and also in claiming for themselves
the unrestricted levy and disbursement of taxes the
New-Yorh Assembly did make, from time to time,
o strenuous opposition to the pretensions of the
Grown. Nevertheless it is equally certain that
upon both these points that opposition was only
partially successful and that the Crown did succeed
in building up a party in New-York which gave
the mother country much stronger hold there
than upon any other province north of the Poto-
mac. In fact, there was not another colony in
North America which adhered to the English con-
nection with greater tenacity. Yet it gives
color to Mr.. HamitOn's view that when the
scheme of parliamentary taxation was fisst pub
hcly preached, and partially carried out by the
passage Of the Sugar Act, New-York, by the en-
phasis Of her protest against it, so strong indeed
that no member of Parliament could be found to
present il, outdid all the other colonies. He even
undertakes to claim for her the initiative OF all
the subsequent movements to express authori-
tatiyely the united sense Of America" as witness
the following extract:
A Committee of thief Assembly was appointed
(Oet lS, I764l "to coRREsPoSD with the other Colo
nies or with Committees of them" in relation TO the
Sugar Act the act restricting the emission OF bills OF
credit and several other acts OF Parliament IN relation
70 the trade of the Northern Colonies and ION the
subiect Of impending dangers which threatened the
Colonies Of being taxed by laws to be passed in Great
Britain"
The question Of the origin, in the Colonies, of
Committees of Correspondence, has been much de-
bated. The frst was appointed by NewYork prior TO
the passage Of the Stamp Act.
This passage is sustained by the following note:
This statement is appended 10 handful issued in
liza. See New-York handbls in the New-York His
torical Society Library. The Committees of Core
spondence proposed by James Otis not appointed
until May 81 1865.
But the proposition Of Otis went a great deal
further than merely the appointment of Commit
tees Of Correspondence. 1t was no less than
proposal for the meeting of the Stamp Act Con.
gress, and the correspondence suggested by it was
in relation to that special subject.
Mr.. Hamilton Also claims for New.York the
invention of non-mpOrtatioh agreements, but we
think he is mistaken in ascrbing that measure to
public meeting held on the day (Eoveuber y on
(which the Stamp Act was to go into operation, aud
% preceding the riots in which Lieutenant Gov.
ernor Colden's carriage was destroyed all Mayor
Jsmes's house was rausacked. II we are not