New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-29


with all his personal ardor all his intellectu,r
power all his faculties Of terse and Luminous,
address He is a gallant figure the horizon
Jay is no less imposing. but in another wav
He is stately and deliberate. his four confirm
tions to "The Federalist" rejecting a temper,
ment almost glacial in comparison with Hamu
TONS 1t is dverting to contrast the two men
in their writings. for it carries US back to tn.
scene OF their activity and increases our sens.
of the variety Of the picture. After an uu
eduivccal experience OF the ineiticiency Of thu
subsisting Federal Government" says Hami
ton. al the beginning OF his first paper, You
are called upon to deliberate on new Constitu
ton for the United States of America" II 4
like a trumpet call. The challenge is thrown
down with uncompromising drectness. and the
writer plunges into the fray too eagerly to care
whether his blunt speech offends or not "Ths
| want Of political tact typical, indeed. Of
Hamilton through all his life is pointed out
| by Mr. Ford but 1t gave an Irresistible accent
| 20 his impassioned argument. He was bora
| fighter The reader feels this on nearly every
| page Of THE Federalist" that Hamilton wrote
in other words in the bulk Of this famous work
Here we feel the personal note to which alu
sion has been made and read The Federalst
| as something more than a political treatise. Il
IS a treatise. indeed only by accident fOr it was
| primarily a contribution to contemporary De.
| bate and whatever lofty ideas ray have been
| held by the writer's touching the general prnci-
| ples Of republican government were subordL
mated TO their desire to show that the i-Feder.
aIists with Clinton at their head. We're contem.
Mating wrong to the State, and that they. tn.
three who wrote over the signature Of Publlua
were superior advisers They builded better
| than they knew, and the arguments for the day
| became arguments for the century ms
| chiefly. because Hamilton was at the helm
Consider. for example. what The Federalist"
would have been like IL Jay alone had carried
| the burden OF its composition on MS genue
manly but somewhat priggish shoulders Here
is an example OF his style ut has often glvec
| me pleasure TO observe that independent Amer
| lea was not composed Of detached and distant
territories but that one connected. fertile Vide
| spreading country was the portion OF our "ss1'
ern sons OF liberty. Providence has IN a PAY
| ticular manner blessed It with = variety OF Sous
and productions. and watered 1t with innumef'
| able streams. for the delight and accornmoda'
ton OF its inhabitants. With equal pleas
ure have 80 often taken notice that Providence
has been pleased To give this one connected
country TO united people" etc. vol
ume Of writing like this would be maddening u
| II were not comic. treasury OF WISDOM u
might also be- but il Tay safely be conJectured
that the number OF statesmen and citizens VINO
cared to consult it would be very small rhe
| intellect Of Jay was too powerful to dinuse
itself utterly in mere words. Beneath the vero'
age lie the fine principles OF which Hamilton
! himself no warmer advocate. and sometimes
the pressure of debate would urge even this
bland observer OF the doings OF Providence 10
handle pertinent illustration with pertinent
force. Abiding to the apology extorted by LOUIS
| XIV from the Genoese State in ltSo. and the
humiliatng Journey Of the Doge and four Sena'
tors to France to sue for pardon on abJect terms
| he fortifies his appeal for the uniiicatlon ana
consequent strengthening OF our States by ask
ing: Would he Qouis) on any occasion either
| have demanded or have received the like humiI'
iation from Spain or Britain. or any other pow
erfu nation?" Such use OF historical allusion
as this was certainly effective in Jays hands
| But on the whole. he had himself too much OK
the historical pose. too much Of the Academican
| about hm-a flavor which sends the reader
with renewed appetite to Hanilton's forcibie'
nervous prose. In which ideas are stripped OF all
| rhetoric and go swiftly To their appointed emu
Such passage that just quoted although
we repeat. pertinent and even eloquent. would
be far less useful if submitted to the people IN
the present crisis than these lucid observations
OF Hamton's. making for the same result, but
| along more definite lines
| A further resource. for influencing the conduct
| Of European nations toward us wouia
| arise from the establishment Of a Federal Navy
There can be no doubt that the continuance OF
| IF,,t..