The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-03-28

new political order which we have in
herited. One Of the corners was laid On
the quicEsands of the old political order
and went down in 1861 with oataclysm
and fire and red flashes Of blood-went
down to be rebuilt with an expenditure
hard for mankind to bear for Shyl1ck
has been the architect Of the reconstruc-
ton.
But if Burrs pistol had missed!
Hamilton on the day of his death was
a. years, G-mouths and day Of age He
was especially we'll preserved. Though
slight, he had sinewy frame. His tis-
sue was clean and strong, his form sym
mctrical, all Of his organs perfect IN
their functions. Ho had hardly ever
known sickness. He could not tire. His
mind had scarcely yet risen to the eli
max of energy and efficiency. On the
first morling Of the nineteenth century
he was positively Gle greatest political
factor in America, jefferson himself
not excepted. As fm Washington, ne
had TO the end Of his career enacted
Hamilton's S thoughts. It was his uncou-
scious policy To do so. We d. not recall
a single instance il which the serene
Father Of His Country departed material
ly from tho policies and leadings If that
statesman whom he had first met, boy
lieutenant on the day after the retreat
from Long Island. What if Burr's pistol
had missed
The Federal party weut to prema-
ture death with the fall Of Hamilton.
That party had not measured out its
/ days. 1t was the party Of construction,
just as the Democracy had becu the par
ty of destruction. The latter cared not
I to build, and the former cared not 10
I destroy more,
If Burr's pistol bad missed, the folly
and feebleuess which marked the deca-
/ dence Of Federalism would not have
/ come. Can amy one suppose that in the
first administration If Alexander Ham
/ ilton {" President Hamilton would have
sounded wellD his party would have
/ stopped To tho Hartford convention:
That body was only a residual aggresa
/ ton OF malcontent New England ship
! owners and merchandise kind not
much given to patriotism. The mortal
folly once committed, the Federal party
could live no longer Had it not been
committed, the party would probably
have survived and triumphed II wuull
not have been committed if Burr's pis
tol had missed
Note the position Of the Wings during
the Mexican war. Did they oppose thar
war? Ask the eloquent ghost Of Corwin
Did they, then, after their opposition,
/ take up the war and furnish most Of
! fIn ta1n p,,1 4 I 4
victorious conclusion? Certainly. And
with what result? With Taylor and
/ Fillmore in the presidency, with the
/ greatest Wing cabinet ever known aud
with at least u prospect Of success as
late as the deaths of Clay and Webster.
The Federalsts under Hamilton, late
general in chief Of the American army,
would not have failed to be lOudost and
strongest i'll tie war of 1912 In that
event the treaty of Ghent, instead Of
being the most inconsequential and alb
surd compact ever done into 1iplcn.'ical
history, would have been n real treaty,
in which the large doctrines of tho
treaty Of Paris Of 1856 would have been
forestalled hy 4 years. FREQ flag would
have made free goods On all tho seas,
and free goods under any dag would
have been exempt from Spitzber6on to
Rosario, from the strait Of Malacca to
Hudson bay.
If Burr's pistol had missed the diyi
sion and evolution Of political parties in
America would have been simple and
rational. There would have been a con
/ structive party strong in IL synlpathies
for general power extending over the
nation and weak in its sympathics for
/ local independence There would have
been party great in its attachment to
local Independence and indifferent to
centralized dominion. From this mid
die line Of division tie two parties
would have stood of Oh the one side
and the other, contending quadrennial-
ly, biennially and annually for power
and the spoils Of Office. There would
have been simple Democratic principle
in America ON The one hand, contend
ing with the simplifed Federalist rrin-
ciplc on the other. With the fall Gf
Hamilton the latter principle became
confused. indistinCt, fimbriatod, of 10
effect--until the shock Of the civil war
evoked it III a new form and made 1t
masterful Federalism, in a word, went
to pieces, and the opposition to the
Jeffersonian theory and practice became
chaOtic-because Burr's pistol did not
miss
1t were not e1travasant to say that
with Alexander Hamilton i'll the presi-
dency from the year 1909 to the year
1917 the civil war would never have
been. 1t appears that events would have
taken another course. Monroe, in that
event, might have been a possibility,
but not Jackson. The sword, in thai
event, might still have hung by the con
stitution i'll the executive mansion, but
not the bowie knife In that event, john
Quincy Adams might have been, or even
Van Buren, but not Polk and much less
Buchananl In that event, Democracy
could hardly have been so welded to
slavery as to suggest the dissolution Of
the Union in order that one-half might
be built forever ON human servitude. III
that event, Federalism must have be
come imbued with the principles Of free
dom to the degree that the abolition Of
slavery throughout the British empire
would not have preceded the like hu-
mauity in the American TaDublic bv tho