The herald., 1896-04-09

A. years, 9 months and day Of age. He
was especially well preserved. Though
slight. be had sinewy frame. His tis-
sue was clean and strong, his form SYM
metricsI, all of his organs perfect in
their functions. He 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 morning Of the nineteenth century
be was positively the greatest political
factor in America, Jefferson himself
not excepted. As for Washington, he
had 20 the end Of his career enacted
Hamilton S thoughts. 1t was his uncon-
scious policy 10 do SO. We do not recall
a single instance in which the serene
Father Of His Country departed material
Iy from the policies and headings of that
statesman whom he had first met, boy
lieutenant, on the day after the retreat
from Long Island. What if Burr pistol
had missed
The Federal party went TO prema-
ture death with the fall Of Hamilton.
That party had not measured out its
days. II was the party Of construction,
just as the Democracy had been the par
ty Of destruction. The latter cared not
TO build, and the former cared not to
destroy more.
II Burr's pistol had missed, the folly
and feebleness which marked the deca-
dence Of Federalism would not have
come. Can any one suppose that in the
first administration Of Alexander Ham
ilton WPresident Hamilton" would have
sounded wellD his party would have
stopped to the Hartford convention?
That body was only a residual aggrega-
tion Of malcontent New England ship.
owners and merchants-a 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. 1t would
not bave been committed if Burr's pis-
tol had missed!
Note the position Of the Wings during
the Mexican war. Did they oppose that
war? Ask the eloquent ghost Of CorwiD.
Did they, then. after their opposition,
take up the war and furnish most Of
the talent and patriotism needed for its
victorious conclusion? Certainly. And
with what resultf With Taylor and
Fillmore in the presidency, with the
greatest Wing cabinet ever known and
with at least prospect Of success as
late as the deaths Of Clay and Webster.
The Federalias under Hamilton, late
general in chief of the American army,
would not have failed to be loudest and
strongest in the war Of 1912. In that
event the treaty Of Ghent, instead Of
being the most inconsequential and abb
surd compact ever done into diplomatical
history, would have been a real treaty,
in which the large doctrines of the
treaty Of Paris Of 1856 would have been
forestalled by Al years. Free flags would
have made free goods on all the seas
and free goods under any flag would
have been exempt from Spitzbergen to
Rosario, from the strait Of Malacca to
Hudson bay.
If Burr's pistol had missed, the divi-
sion and evolution Of political parties in
America would have been simple and
rational. There would have been con-
structive party, strong in its sympathies
for general power extending over the
nation and weak in its sympathies 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 the two parties
would have stood of on 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 tho simplified Federalist prin-
ciple on the other With the fall of
Hamilton the latter principle became
confused, indistinct, fimbriated, Of no
effect--until the shock Of the civil war
evoked it in new form and made it
masterful Federalism. in word. went