The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-08-05
alexander Hamilton.

above Hoboken, across the river from
New York, ushered in a memorable
tragedy which sank deeply in the minds
of all Americans of that day, but whose
lesson seems to have been lost as COM
pletelv as the monument which once
marked the spot where Alexander Ham
ilton fell, mortally wounded By the bull
let of Aaron Burr.
With many points of resemblance in
the brilliancy of their talents and their
career. the two men who stood for one
dreadful moment facing each other at
ten PAGES distance with loaded pistols
have gone down to after times with wide
divergent tames, the victor in the duel
execrated as the embodiment Of public
treason and personal basehess, the other
the victim OF the leealized assassination
still living influence in the country he
helped to establish, and still reverenced
not more for personal worth and emf
nent ability than as the embodiment OF
an ideal of patriotism worthy OF ever
lasting remembrance.
The bare record of the life and work
OF Hamilton attests the rarity OF his
genius and bis powers. y captain in
| the revolutionary war at nineteen, at
twenty he was the trusted aide decamp
of Washington, with the rank of lieu
tenant colonel at thirty he was chosen
a delegate to the Constitutional Conven-
ton at thirty two he was our first sec
| - ba and craotaJ bn
department. When the country was
called to arms through fear of the
| French invasion Washington refused to
assume chief command unless his trusted
friend was made second in command,
with the rank of inspector general as
a writer he was singularly original in
thought, forcible in logic, clear in style !;
as legislator he had the practical gift
of wisdom in law making; as lawyer
he easily rose to the head of his profess
sion; as politician his practical leader
ship of men asserted itself at every
peint, and it all came to an end at the
early age of forty-seven, through the
bullet of duellst, who robbed his
country and ruined himself in his greed
for revenge over political defeat
The man who has done so much for
his country, and whose career of nearly
thirty wears of uninterrupted service in
the army, the cabinet and the oonven-
ton, had merely brought him to the
prime of life, gave up his life because an
indiscreet friend had written in private
letter that Hamilton had declared Burr
to be a dangerous man, who ought not
to be trusted with the reins of govern
ment, and had expressed still more
despicaple opinion of Burr. The fatal
letter got into the papers, for then, as
now, the press was enterprising and de-
lighted in personal scandal, and then
began the diplomatic interchange of
courtesies which slowly but inexorably,
and with the steadiness of fate, led up to
the morning excursion to Weehawken
Heights, to the ten PAGES duly stepped
OFF, the question, care you ready p and
the fatal signal, and the shot that sent
one duellst to the grave and the other to
a fate worse than the grave.
Alexander Hamilton was less the vic
tim OF that malice which guided the bull
let of Burr than of that perverted social
sentiment which demanded compliance
with the code of honor. He had shown
himself to be brave man on the
field CT battle; he detested duelliIg as
barbarism; he refused to fire at his ad-
versary, and knew that he was risking
his life in criminal cause. But he
knew, also, that he dare not refuse. In
the last words he ever wrote, on the day
before the fatal meeting he said:
To those who, with me, abhorring the
practice OF dueling, may think that /
ought on no account 60 have added to
the number Of bad examples, | answer
that my relative situation, as well in
public as in private, enforcing all the
considerations which constitute what
men of the world denominate honor, i'm
posed on me las l thought) peculiar
necessity not to decline the call. The
ability to be in the future useful, wheth-
er in resisting mischief or effecting good,
in those crises of our public affairs which
seem likely to happen, would probably
be inseparable from conform ty with
public prejudice in this particular
Recent events seem to point to a re
vival of that public prejudice, and the
country which, seventy-six years ago,
was stirred to its utmost depths and
IL Il