The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-18

the army. He had laid plans for the reformation of the evils before Con gress various times and had made ad dresses to that body, but without eff feet. In the multitude of his duties he even found time for the preparation and presentation of a plan for read justing the fearfully involved and orip pied finances of the young republic This had gone to Robert Morris, and had been declared by him to be mas terly in conception and in detail. It is marvellous how he found time to do the thousands of things he accom- plished. It is more amazing how he did so many things so well. His let ters and reports are models. There Is no ambiguity to any of them. He thought clearly and wrote clearly. It mattered not whether the subject was finance; tactics, military law, foreign relations, civil law or politics, he ap- peared to know it in all its forms and phases. Washington treated him more as a younger brother than as 8 son or private secretary. Rare indeed was the time when their opinions clashed or WilSn llSy WClS iOb III lHC hCChCoI sympathy. One day however the break came. Washington was worried. On the way to headquarters he met Hamilton and asked him to join him in a few minutes Hamilton, while on his way to obey, met Lafayette. The two young men chatted longer than they thought. Meanwhile the commander in chief fumed. What Washington said was harsh and unwarranted. The little sec retary was icily respectful until the general finished, Then he said he was not conscious of the delay, but as the general considered his aid de camp had been neglectful they must part. Wash ington went further in his effort to ap- pease Hamilton than was right, but Hamilton was obdurate.
 In the early summer of 17s1 Wash ington assigned Hamilton to command light corps. Hamilton was eager for chance to distinguish himself. The chance did not come until Yorktown. Then he won the praise of all. Wash ington declared that in the taking of the redoubt Hamilton showed magnifi- cent proof of intrepidity, frmness and courage.
 Danger After the War
 No one saw more clearly than Hamilton that the closing of the war ushered in a most dangerous period for the nation. No one realized more than did he the weak ness of Congress, the bitter jealousies of the 13 states and the menace of civil war unless a central government strong enough to deal with the situation was created. There had to be a real union, not loose connection between the states. But Massachusetts was jealous of New York and Virginia had little sympa- | thy with North Carolina Rhode Island had ideas of its own and Maryland had others. There were boundary disputes and there were various other complications. Congress had little or no power to enforce | its will. Many persons had a false or ex- aggerated notion of what freedom meant. To them freedom meant license. They wanted no taxation. They had fought England on a question of taxation More over, they wanted to punish the loyalists for the part they had played in the revo- lution
 By the treaty of peace 1t had been agreed that no obstacle should be put in the way of the recovery of debt sdue to British subjects by citizens of the repub- l lic that no fresh prosecutions or con- fiscations should be directed against loyalists and that Congress should en- deavor to get the various states to repeal exiStinp of cinffscatiOn
 | Candor compels acknowledgement of the fact that in few if any of the 13 states were the treaty obligations lived up to. On the contrary. various states passed more oppressive acts against loyalists than had been in force. As for a British creditor collecting a debt, 1t was not thought of.
 Hamilton was a stickler for national honor. He fought against this current of passion with all the strength of his pow erfu1 influence. He lost popularity, but he won respect He had determined on the law for a profession, and after four months study was admitted to the bar Within a few years he became the leader at the bar He dominated there as he did in almost every field he entered.
 | England, although she had lost the col onies, did not despair of recovering them
 British statesmen saw in the disorder that followed the war an opportunity to win by trade discrimination what had been lost by the sword. They planned to play on the jealousies of the states. tc favor one port as against another, te