The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-10-13
HAMILTON's WIFE.
BY JAMES PARTON.


BY JAMES PARTON.
Ican not wonder that women some.
times complain of their lot, because
the happiness of that lot appears tc
be so little dependent upon them.
selves. Some of their acutest suffer
, ings come from the misconduct or er-
rors of Others-a parent, a husband
a son, a brOther-Over whom they
may, indeed, exert much influence
but whom, i'm the crisis of their fate,
they can seldom control. a.
Mrs. Hamilton was a lady of stain.
less life, who was cOnspicuOusly un.
happy, solely through others fault
the victim of wrongs which were
contemplated before she knew they
were contemplated. Nevertheless, in
her case, as in that of most of the SONS
and daughters of earth, "gOOd-hap
and sorrow" were so blended that we
can hardly tell whether to regard her
as an object of envy or pity.
She was reared in one of the hap
piest of American homes. The
daughter of General Philip Schuyler,
and of his wife, Kitty Van Renssa-
l;er, she passed most of the days OF
her youth at the famous Schuyler
mansion, still standing in Albany, at
the head of the street that bears her
fathers name. AS she was born in
175S, she must have been little girl
of eight years Of age when her father
moved into the Schuyler mansion,
then just finished. Except the Van
RenssalRr's and LivingstOnes, there
was no family in that part of the
State who maintained more elegant
establishment than that of which she
was a member. Her parents Were
| blessed with fourteen children, of
whom Betsy, as she was called, was
the second daughter.
| When DIR. Franklin, at the begin
ming of the revolutionary war, with
his brother commissioners, Chase and
Carroll, made his celebrated Pilgrim
age to Canada, to try and induce the
Canadians to join the thirteen colon
les, he was welcomed ut the landing
in Albany by General Schuyler, who
took them home to dinner, presented
them to the two daughters he had at
home, Betsy and Peggy, whom one
of them described as "lively, agreea-
bic, black-eyed girls" Betsy was
nineteen then. The twoyOung ladies
and their father appeared to have
jOurneycd with the commissioners rs
far as Saratoga, where Schuyler had
a country-hOuse. At Saratoga, Mr..
Carroll (afterward Archbishop Car
roll, of Baitimore) again records the |
agreeable impression made upon his |
priestly mind by the daughters of the
General.
''The ease and affability with which |
we were treated, and the lively be-
haviOr of the young ladies, made
Saratoga most pleasing sejOur, the
remembrance of which will long re-
main with me-"
Such was Betsy Schuyler rs young
lady-Onc of the lights and Orna-
ments of an Opulent hOme-One of
the daughters of a man high in the
confidence of his countrymen. As |
the war went on during which their
Albany abode was the resort of Off
GERS, passing hither and thither,
there visited them now and then, the
young alert, and handsome aid-de-
camp of General Washington, Col.
Alexander Hamilton. She met him
first in IT'S, when he had been dis
patched, young as he was just twen-
ty-One, on secret mission to Gen.
Gates, to induce that somewhat in
subordinate officer to spare some of
troops which the surrender of Bur-
goyne had released from duty i'm the
north. Hamilton was singularly at
tached tn women, as he was by wO-
men strongly attracted. We know
nothing of the course of the true love
which sprung up between the daugh-
ter of the wealthy country gentleman,
and the adventurer from the West
Indies, with nothing but his pay.
He was at Albany again after the eX-
plosion of Arnold's treason and the
execution of Andree, his affecting
narrative of which touched SO many
hearts in l1Se.
a few weeks after those thrilling
scenes, and while he was still aid-de-
camp of Washington, he was married
at Albany to Miss Schuyler, with the
consent, as it seems, of the family.
This brilliant connection, so unequal
in the worlds eye, WAS made equal
by Hamilt0n's shining talents and
distinguished person.
L |
The young husband fresh from the
fame acquired ut Yorktown, has
studied law, has established himself
ut New York, has acquired distinc-
ton at the bar, has become one of
the foremost statesmen of the time,
the leading spirit of Westinghouse
administrations; from which he with
drew but to resume an ever-brighten-
ing career at the New York bar.
What pleasing picture of the Ham,
ilton family is that which one of the
SONS has recently given us in his Re
miniscences. SO Et4
"HamiltOn's gentle nature" writes
his son (James A., rendered his
house most joyous one to his chill
dren and friends. He accompanied
his daughter Angelica ut the piano,
when she played and sang. His in
tercourse with his children was al
ways affectiOnateand cOnfiding which
excited in them a corresponding con-
fidcnpe and devotion. / distinctly
rec0lleGt the soene ut break fast in the
front room of the house ia Hr0adway
(No. ~. My dear mother, seated as
was her wont, at the head of the ta-
piS "itH a uu ulBhiH III liSi zap CuttihS~
slices of bread, and spreading them
with butter, for the younger boys,
who, standing at her side, read in
turn chapter in the Bible, or por-
ton of GOldsmith's Rome. When
the lessons were finished, the father
and the elder children were called to
breakfast, after which the boys were
packed off to school,"
When we think of this picture of
the happy mother and wife, and with
her eight children about her, minis
tering in that homely way to their
wants, it is hard to forgive Hamilton
for his infidelity to her. While she
was absent from the city, a woman
called at the office of the Secretary of
the Treasury, and asked Hamilton
for charity. He says, IN his we'll
known explanation 9f these eNents,
that having no money, he told her he |
would call upon her in the evening;
hen he discovered, as he remarks, |
that she was willing to accept "other
than peculiarly consultations" This |
was the beginning of an ah,Orous in |
trigue which, when he was compelled |
to avow it, brought so much shame