The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-31
Alexander Hamilton
By Hon. Thomas Fl. Clark.


BMlk&h Afaz fz a&i U lEI IzI " 4 XE z1I Wh8&bi monstrous, but Is significant I think. throwing as It does q passing light on. the aspiring. ambitious negro amongst us. Apart from the immediate cir cufnstances. of his coming into the world, Alexander Hamilton was in fig ure. features and complexion a typi- cal son of the North, small, handsome, 1.-the, fair. And I hasten to add, l have said what I have solely with the desire to interpret and meaning to in- terpret To ,allege his irregular birth with a purpose to degrade would only serve to remind you that he stood in the great company of Leonardo da Vinci with his world-embracing gem ius. with the saintly Erasmus, the H. lustrious William the Conqueror, and in later times. in the company of Will Ham Wirt end William Pitt Fessenden- If it is added. however, that Hamil- ton's father and mother drifted apart, the son losing track of his father al- together, are we not warranted in view of the deep significance rightly to be attached to the law of inheri- tance. fin looking to the circumstances of his birth and to his bringing up, practically without home, for an ex- planation of that note of adventure so manifest In his career.
 This note of adventure we get in the earliest bit of writing of his that has besn preserved. This is a letter from hiia, written when boy. twelve years old. He there confesHes ambition to be characteristic of himself "so that contenan," he says. "the grovelliny condition of a clerk or the like, to which my fortune, etc. condemns me, and would willingly risk my life, though not my character to exalt my station. I mean to prepare the way for futurity; we have seen such schemes successful when the projec- tor was constant. I will close by saying. wish there was a war" It was this martial cry of an infant that half arsuaded the historian Ban- croft that the date of Hamilton's birth had been falsified, and that he was older than he professed to be. But remembering the precocity of Grotius and of William of Orange, to mention no others, we need not scruple to ac- cept. it seems to me, Hamilton's own statement that he was born in l757.
 That year furnished proof that ad- venturous spirits moved by like i'm pulses with the youthful Sydney who urged Whenever you hear of a good war go to it." should not lack for op- portunities to challenge circumstance to take fortunes buffets and mount quite possibly the heights of fame The whole face of the earth was in process of reconstruction, politically and institutionally. The immortal Pitt the elder, In 1757, took over the ad- ministration of government in Eng land and proceeded to lay broad and deep the foundations of the British empire In Hindoostan, Give, with master ly effort overthrow Surajah D0wiah at Plassey and paved the way for D'israeli's tinseI India addition more than a hundred years afterwards to the reigning title in Great Britain. Tn Prussia. Frederick, quit for a while of inane trifling with voltaire. had thrown himself upon Silesia and at Rossbach and Leuthen had proved that the Almighty Is on the side of trained and not heavy batallions simply. Three years later in 1760, George III came to the throne Tn 1763 the peace of Amiens was negotiated and signed. tween France and England, France renouncinr conquests and withdrawing her standard from the New World. Amid the deep contentment of that great triumph, the first taxing act aimed at the colonies, the sugar act. was passed by Parliament. This was followed by the stamp act of 1765. In 176s, Massachusetts addressed a circular letter with cooperation in view to each of the colonies and in I774 a. Congress, Virginia leading. was convened and the cloud pretending revolution hung heavily over our coasts from Massachusetts, to South Carolina.
 The year before at the age sixteen, young Hamilton set foot for the first time on continental soil, going to New York In search of an education. After a years preparatory study he entered Kings College, now Columbia, as an irregular student. While still a stu dent he attended a political meeting a fxI .l-ff. IToll la,e1x York; and catching its spirit, mounted the speakers stand, won the crowd by his youth. his directness and fervor so that the heartening cry "a colle- gian, collegian" resounded in his ears. The crowd was plainly surprised to see a collegian there. This was the turning point in the young adVentur- CTS career. He confessed he had | formed strong prejudices on the min | isterial side until he became convinced | of the superior force of the arguments | in favor of the colonial claims" MT
 Lodge admits that Hamilton had g 1 poor outlook under constituted author | ity and that for him change, revolu- i ton and war might bring almost any | thing in the way of military or civic | glory" Sentiment and conviction apart | Hamilton chose wisely for himself
 though ambition was in all likelihood | his spur. To determine in truth tn, merits of the contentious current ir 1 the colonies was no easy matter. w
 are far enough away from that em
 broiled time to try at least dispassion
 ately to judge the crown, the Parlia l ment and the American colonists l There is no need to inquire here ant
 now what the navigation acts were
 what writ of assistance, what th | stamp duty, what the regulations gov | erning the purchase of tea. Ccmlcall,
 enough, we as a people, are engaget