Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-19
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
A Foreign Estimate Of Our First Sec
rotary Of the Treasury.

From the London Spectator.
Mr.. divers monograph upon Alexander
Hamilton appears at fortunate moment
Hamilton is not only one of the three great
est figures in American history; ne Is one
of the ma ster-m inds-in Talleyrands opln-
ion, the master-mnd-of the greatest
epoch in modern politics Inc de-
tails Of Hamilton's precocious youth are IA
miliar to most readers. Born in 115I, ne
began life as a clerk in store In the Lee
ward Islands. At fifteen he went to new
York to college; at eighteen he was
soldier in the American army, and spent
tary secretary to Washington. To have
been a lieutenant colonel at twenty ana
to have earned for his gallantry at York
town one of Washingtons infrequent eu-
logies were no bad preparation for career.
At twenty-five he was called to the bar,
and speedily won large practice. But
politics was his absorbing interest. and as
a member of the House of representatives
and the most intimate of Washington 8
friends he found the chance he desired.
The war had shown the weakness OF Con-
gresS AS executive power, ana It's close
saw the independence ard INSTRUMENTATION
of the thirteen states intensified. There was
no central brain to think out the common
problems or central authority to enforce
the solution.
The army was almost in revolt the
pudiation had reduced the public credit to
zero "It was believed" says Mr.. Oliver,
that a federal power could be preserved
by occasional outbursts of high emotion
1t was forgotten that a government de-
pending upon emotion for its authority Is
more likely in the end to be destroyed by
that incalculable force than to be saved
by it." Hamilton, with the clear eye OF
genius, began by concentrating his efforts
upon the devising of constitution. The
first step was the convention of Annapolis,
where only five states were represented.
Next year came the convention of Phila-
delphia where after much dispute, q
scheme was accepted which, though far
from Hamilton's own idea, was yet some
thing to work upon. Mr.. Oliver notes that
Hamilton's object was the British consti-
tuition as George Ill wished to amend it,
that his opponents attacked 1t from the
point of view of state rights, not because
it was in conflict with democratic prin-
ciples.
His aim was a strong executive and a
balance of authority-an assembly elected
every three years, a Senate elected for life
and a governor chosen for life to whom
should belong the right to veto on legtsla-
ton and the supreme executive control-in
word. an elective monarchy. The Philadel-
phia constitution fell short of this, but
Hamilton accepted 1t as something on ac-
count 1t was ratified by the states after
a hard struggle, which produced, among
other things. that masterpiece Of political
theory, the federalist. and Hamilton set
ting the new system into working order.
"A constitution was to him but skeleton,
and had it been put together by the wisest
men In the coolest hour there would still
have been no virtue in it until 1t was in
spired with life. Its strength lay not in
the written words, but in the tradition that
was still to seek. The first administration
would have greater powers in molding the
destinies of the nation than the whole
convention of Philadelphia voting unani-
mously."
Washington was the first President, with
Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury,
and "out of nothing the whole machine of
government had to be called into exist
ence." The brain of the administration
was Hamiltons, and few statesmen have
ever had harder task. He had to make
the country first solvent, then prosperous;
he had 30 to guide her foreign policy that
she should keep outside European compli-
cations; above all, he had to cherish a
nascent unity till it became plant which
would defy the winds of opposition. In his
Ave years work he succeeded in the first
two aims, succeeded so effectually that his
creed became insensibly part of the creed
of his avowed opponents. American fiscal
policy was his creation; the Monroe doc
trine was of his devising, and when the
final struggle for the Union came Lincoln
was only fighting the battle which he had
begun seventy years before.