The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-31
.F' A Hostile Cificisn, of the AdUocate of Capitalization

aRMiR lA3HNaNlR Hllf VI . AMfMEMiHU UlMM today In enforcing in colonial depen- dencies policies more dsastic in kind than those against which odr forefa- thers rebelled. We can say here shortly these forefathers declared and achieved independence; that this was accomplished despite strong Tory sem timent at home, with the aid of strong liberal or Whig sentiment in England; that Chatham. Burke. Fox, Wilkes and Barre fought your battles there and your whig ancestors fought the Englishman's battle here. Prerogative was destroyed with us and deeply trenched upon across the water. The great result had been the dismeniber- ment of the empire. The modern Englishman looking back at the deter mined and fatuous efforts of George the Third, to assert his crowns pre- negatives in the new world, may well synnpathize with Rudyard Kjpling as he stood before the painting Signing the Declaration of Indrendence" in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington and reflecting upon the differing world there might have been if George had been less dcgged and less obtuse, and there muttering aloud to himself Damned fool"
 Hamilton had now found what as child he had longed for. war and he threw himself ardently into the conflict. His efficiency and energy won him presently a post as captain of artillery and the admirable service of his battery on the retreat through Long Island and later through New Jersey attracted the kindly notice of Greene. Greene recommended him to Washington and he was by Washing ton invited to become member of his staff He did good service as an aide, but there is no propriety in cred iting this youth of fwenty-one with dominating Washington at this period as his eulogists would have us be- lieve. He did just what another aide, Harrison. did; he took Washington's ideas and framed them into a corre spondence; this and nothing more. Washington's letters of that time, like those written before he knew Hamil- ton as well as those written after they had parted. disclose ths serenity that had always been a part of Washing ton and that was not, never became and never. could have become a part of Hamilton. A o1e-sided quarrel arose and in a manner discredftable to the younger man. The younger pledged the older to secrecy on the quarrel and himself left an account of 1t, that partial as he could make 1t. shows him consumed with an idea of
 
 taught him promptly what events never again permitted him to forget that Washington was an "aegis very essentiaH to him. He had not long before married daughter of General Schuyler, a most fortunate union for him in every way, but his restless am~ bition made him weary of home life and he worried Washington at inter- vals in the summer following his own outbreak of temper, begging for an in- dependent command, addressing Wash ington "Sir" with all formality, beg ginR a favor nevertheless. Washing ton could not comply at once without exhibiting gross partiality, but with the coming on of the Yorktown cam paign he saw an opportunity to favor Hamilton and he did this. We may pause here for just a moment and ob- serve the young warrior on his way to his much coveted command We encounter here the most human touch and one of the exceedingly few human From Head of Elk, Sept, 6 1781, he wrote to hls wife. concluding thus.
 Every day confirms me in the in | tention of renouncing public life and | devoting myself wholly to you. Let others waste their time and their tranquility in a vain pursuit of power l and glory: be 1t my ohejct to be hap ! RJ if q INANb tANNAN&S WfNi ny OCI- l ter angel"
 How delightful thisl How just | like a man! All masculine human l kind must warm to him in this pas sage. How they become one another, the husband and his lie. Hamilton must have pictured his dear Eliza, i proud happy. in tears, while he hurries on to Yorktown to head an assault on a redoubt. to be killed 1t may be in that very pursuit of power and glory. | Is 1t unfair to recall the nobler say ing that other knight who on going to the wars, cried to Lucasta:
 I could not love thee. dear, so well
 Loved I not honor more?
 Hamilton commanded a successful storming party at Yorktown but it should be mentioned that to the French was assigned the task of taking the stronger and more nupaerously manned defense. Did you ever. bv the way, candidly ask yourselves what would have been the probable outcome of | the American Revolution if we had been compelled to dispense with the aid of France?
 After Yorktown the armies on both sides rested while peace negotiations slowly progressed. Hamilton returned to New York to study law, but he man. aged though not a shot had been fired In the meantime, to wriggle himself from colonelcy at Yorktown into g major generaship by the time peace was actually concluded. The evacua. ton of New York by the British gave him many chances at the bar and the active manner in which he befriende6 the Tories harried as they were tolt something of his deeper feelings an( furnishes the earliest known grount for the distrust his opinions excited among the people generally.
 The period between the conclusion ot peace 17s3 and 17S7, the date when tn, constitutional convention assembled i, now known to have been an extremely critical one for the colonies. Every. body recognized the confederation a,