The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-31

and Lansing opposed to him, under the scheme. he would have no voice except Tn debate Thus shackled. a man who had the capacity to aid the cause of 2 stronger union and a desire so to aic must have proceeded to Philadelphia 10 assist in all possible ways by coun- sel, private and public to consummaee work ardently longed for by thou sands. What did Hamilton do? He went to Philadelphia and at an early stage or the deliberations he took the floor to expound scheme of govern ment. He wanted to destroy the State governments. to have an executive for life and q Senate Tor fife. State gov ernors. ruling petty political divisions, were to be appointed by the chief ex- scutiye. hold for life ands exercise a veto on all Legislation. He confessed to a great admiration for the English .constitutional system and believed the corruption practfced in England was essential to the maintenance of an equilibrium. It is trite enough to say but true. that throughout his life he professed q decided partiality for q monarchical form of government. In- ured as we now are to the trundle- bed thinking of the trundle-bed states man from Indiana and his congeners who would so greatly exalt the nation at the expense of the States, these ideas of Hamilton are shocking. They shocked the convention at the time they were uttered. The plan got no attention whatever. Other plans were referred, his was not. Disguised with the outlook he abandoned his seat and remained away for six weeks, during the entire time the substantive work of the convention was in progress He returned to sign the constitution as he said flor the sake of propriety and public opinion.' but declared as he af- fixed his signature mo mans ideas are more remote from the plan than mine are known to be-" Gouyerneur Morris member of the convention. and Ham ilton's friend and euIogist, wrote this: General Hamilton had little share in forming the constitution He disliked 1t. believing all Republican govern ment to be radically defective" Now let me hand you a leaf of the Hamil- ton legend. Professor McMaster in his first volume declares "of all the men who in the judgment of posterity are ranked high among the founders of the Republic and the framers and defenders of the constitution by far the most brilliant and versatile was Hamilton Let me sandwich with this gross perversion of historical fact Hamtlton's own words in 1902. writing to Morris: 'Contrary to all my antici- pations of it's tthe constitution's), fate. as you know from the very be- BtHlltuSg I diIh StAAl tADOTlnk tO QTOp the frail and worthless fabric" He. plainly had expected the new constitu- tion to prove an utter failure long be- fore. Does McMaster compel us to think Walpole was right when he ex- claimed Read me not history; history is a lie"
 Now again let us go on to consider his services in procuring the ratifi- cation of the constitution. his writ ts.a~ fa. q A1..Hf -.x.r~ I.mA a.s "A speech in the New York convention. The Federalist is an excellent. strik- ing commentary on the constitution The papers composing 1t were written mainly by Hamilton, largely by Madi- son, while few were written by Jay. A dfscreditable effort has been made and is still making to deprive Madison of the credit of writing certain of the numbers. He has left ns his own tes- timony as to what numbers he wrote. The idolaters of Hamilton, like Lodge. coolly dispute MadisUnss veracity and as coolly commit q petty theft to aid the reputation of thesr hero. Judged most partially in Hamilton's interest his contributions merely exhibit his skill in defending something in which he did not believe. But what did the Federalist accomplish at the time in the cause of ratification? We have contemporary testimony that the effect of the papers was practically none. They were printed in a local journal in New York city and we shall see how ineffective they were in swaying the New York State convention. We admire the Federalist without reading It and conclude it must have compelled conviction throughout the colonies. Surely men must have been more di- rectly under the sway of reason then. than they now are At the present we look to see men determined in all their conduct. political and social by their interests Intere1t and not the logic of the Federalist controlled the colonists of that time. The outlying States and the smaller States ratify- ing--ratified promptly under the in- fluence of apprehension, dread of ene- mics. The deeply significant fact In weighing Hamilton's services during this period is that when New York ratified ten States had already given in their adhesion and nine States rati- flying assured the unions establish ment The union had already been formed when New York entered. We are now prepared to look sensibly at the pretensions put forward in Ham ilton's behalf and we have Hamilton's own account of the struggle he made. He knew the importance to New York of the action of the ninth ratifying State, eight having already ratified
 
 New York, in New Hampshire and Virginia. He arranged for quick posts to bring the news to Pough- keepsie from one or both those States. In the meantime he made not one, but many speeches: he fought for time. On January 27, 17SS. he wrote Madison: we eagerly wait for fur ther intelligence from you. There are | some slight symptoms of relaxation in some of the leaders, which authorizes a gleam of hope; If you do well, but | certainly, think not otherwise." In i despair he writes Madison at another | time asking whether a conditional rat | ification should be agreed to. He | thought success was hopeless without It. Madison replied "Any condition
 whatever must vitiate the ratification |" | The Virginian thus held the great 1 apostle of energy in government to
 a standard of energy. New Hampshire
 ratified; Hamilton posted the news | speedily southward to Madison and not
 long afterward Madison was able to inform him Virginia had acceded and
 thus braced by events. the friends of l the Constitution won by a narrow mar | gin In New York, the convention how | ever, expressing full confidence" that | certain suggested amendments would | be adopted, Events had forced New i York reluctantly to come under the national roof. Tn coming in even as she did, New York demanded a new constitutional convention.
 Now let us hear the legend This time we will take leaf from the Life Of Gouveneur Morris by Theodore Roos- eVelt. Here it is Tt needed all Ham