The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1871-10-27
ALEXANDER HAMILTOx's WIFE.
BY JAMES PARTON.

| serves. some OF CneIr acuIeSC Su1TeF
in%s come from the misconduct or er
TOrs of Others-a parent, a husband
a son, brOther-over whom thel
may, indeed, exert much influence
but whom, in the crisis of their fate
they can seldom control.
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, il
her case, as in that of most of the sons
and daughters of earth, "goOd-haI
and sorrow" were so blended that we
can hardly tell whether to regard hel
! as an object of envy or pity.
She was reared in one of the hap
1 piest of American homes. The
! daughter of General Philip Schuyler
and of his wife, Kitty Van Renssa-
( ler, 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
] 1853, she must have been a little girl
| of eight years of age when her father
moved into the Schuyler mansion,
then Just finished. Except the Van
| RensSal8r's and LivingstOnes, there
was no family in that part of the
| State who maintained n 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 DR.. 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 at 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-
BILE, black-eyed girls" Betsy was
nineteen then. The twoyOung ladies
and their father appeared to have
jouTneyed with the commissioners as
far as Saratoga, where Schuyler had
a cOuntFy-hOuse. At Saratoga, Mr.
Carroll (afterward Archbishop Car
roll, of BaltimOTe) again records the
agreeable impression made upon his
priestly mind by the daughters of the
General
1.-The ease and affability with which
we were treated, and the lively be-
havior of the young ladies, made
Saratoga q most pleasing sejOur, the
remembrance of which will long re-
main with me-"
Such was Betsy Schuyler as a young
lady-One 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
En rIr Il foF,
Albany abode was the resort of Offi-
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 i77S, when he had been dis
patched, young as he was just twen-
ty-One, on q 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 in the
north. Hamilton was singuIaPly at
tached to 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 1850
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 1t seems, Of the family.
This brilliant connection, so unequal
in the worlds eye, was made equal
by HamiltOn's shining talents and
distinguished person.
Years passed, The war was ended.
The youhg husband fresh from the
fame acquired at Yorktown, has
studied law, has established himself
at New York, has acquired distinc
ton at the bar, has become one of
the foremost statesmen of the time,
the leading spirit of WashlngtoE's
administrations; from which he with
drew but to resume an eVeT-brighten-
ing career at the New York bar.
What pleasing picture of the Ham
iltOn family is that which one of the
soHs has recently given us in his Re
miniscences.
"HamiItOnis gentle nature" writes
his seH (Jamcs Al, rendered his
house a HQst jQYags one TO his chill
iren and friends. lie accompanied
his daughter Angelica at the plane,
when she played and sang, His In
teTcouPse with his children was hl-
ways affectiOnateand cOntiding which
excited in them a corresponding con-
fidence and devotion. l distinctly
recollect the scene at breakfast in the
front room of the house in Broadway
LTa, 24). My dear mother, seated as
was Iiep &QAt, e. the head of the ta-
slices of bread, and spfeadlpg them
with butter, for the younger boys,
vim, standing at her side, read in
tIIrn a chaEteF ia the Bible, or q poT-
ton of Cfoldsnlith's Rome; When
ths lessons were finished, the father
and the elder children were called u
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
teFinG 7in ItIat hQmely way to their
wants, it is hard TO foEgI%S FiHffIiIItCG,nn
| for his infidelity to her. While slie
was absent from the city, a woman
! called at the office of the Secretary 70
! tue TREASURY, and asked Hamilton
/ known elSsplanati65iifis Of these eEeHts,
| that having no money, he told her he
would call upon her in the evening;
] when he discovered, as he remarks,
/ that she was willing TO accept "Other
/ than pecIfHiaTy consultations" This
! was the beginning of an amOr0us in
( trigue which, when he was compelled
I 40 aE0y it, brought 50 much shame
{ dpOn him. and sorrOsZ uE1l the Vile
! ne had wron9ed.. 'Af tlfat' p6tlod. 50
+ lightly were such things regarded,
/ ti5at many peoDle admired far more
The pubiie Apology which Hamilton