The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-07-25

mund Randolph attorney general
young men all, except Jefferson. and
he was but forty-six
The fate of the government was
certain to turn, first of all, upon ques-
tions of finance. 1t was hopeless pow
erty that had brought the Confedera-
ton into deep disgrace; the new gov
eminent had inherited from it nothing
but a great debt; and the first test
of character to which the new plan
in affairs would be put, whether at
home or abroad, was the test of its
ability to sustain its financial credit
with businesslike thoroughness and
! statesmanlike wisdom.
Har1iIton's Critical Post.
Alexander Hamilton was only thirty
two years old. He had been a spirited
and capable soldier and an astute and
eloquent advocate; but he had not had
a days experience in the administra-
ton of a great governmental depart
ment, and had never bandled-so far
as men knew, had never studied
questions of public finance Washing
/ Ton chose him, nevertheless, without
hesitation, for what must certainly
I turn out the most critical post in his
! administration. No man saw more
/ clearly than Washington did how
large a capacity for craftsmanship
/ Hamilton had shown in his mastery
papers in advocacy of the Constitu-
ton. He had known Hamilton, more
over, through all the quick years that
had brought him from precocious
youth to wise maturity; had read his
letters and felt the singular power
/ that moved in them; and was ready to
trust him with whatever task he would
| consent to assume.
Henry Knox, that gallant officer of
| the Revolution, had been already four
years secretary of war for the Confed-
Grafton. In appointing him to the
same Office under the new Constitu-
ton, Washington was but retaining
a man whom he loved and to whom
he had for long been accustomed to
look for friendship and counsel.
Jefferson's Wide Experience.
He chose Thomas Jefferson to handle
the delicate questions of foreign af-
fairs which must press upon the young
state because, John Adams being vice
president there was no other man of
equal gifts available who had had so
large an experience in the field of di-
plomacy. Again and again Jefferson
had been chosen for foreign missions
under the Confederation; he was
American minister to France when
Washington's summons called him to
the secretaryship of state; and he
came of that race of Virginia states
men from whom Washington might
reasonably count upon receiving a sup
port touched with personal loyalty.
Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry
and George Mason were housekeeping
! spirits, and doubted of the success of
the new government; but Jefferson,
though he had looked upon it's making
from across the sea. approved, and
was ready to lend his aid to its sue
cessful establishment
In appointing Edmund Randolph to
be attorney general, Washington was
but choosing a brilliant young man
whom he loved out of great family
| of lawyers who had held a sort of
primacy at the bar in Virginia ever
| since he could remember-almost ever
since she had been called the Old Do,
minion
Knox was thirty-nine, Edmund Ran
| dolph thirty-six; but if Washington
chose young men to be his comrades
and guides in counsel, it was but an
other capital proof of his own mastery
in affairs. Himself a natural leader,
he recognized the like gift and capac-
ity in others, even when fortune had
not yet disclosed or brought them to
the test
Hard to Fill Offices.
1t was hard, in filling even the great
er offices, to find men of eminence who
were willing to leave the service of
their states or the security and ease
of private life to try the untrodden
paths of federal government The
states were old and secure-so men
thought-the federal government was
new and an experiment. The stronger
sort of men, particularly amongst
| IhOoO VI GU W tnC law, oltOWCU,
of them, great reluctance to identify
themselves with new institutions set
but five or six months ago; and Wash
ington, though he meant to make very
liberal allowance for differences of
opinion, would invite no man to stand
with him in the new service who did
not thoroughly believe in it.
He was careful to seek out six of
the best lawyers to be had in the
country when he made up the SUI
preme court, and to choose them from
as many states-John Jay of New
York to be chief justice; John Rut-
ledge of South Carolina, William
Gushing of Massachusetts, John Blair
of Virginia; James Wilson of Penn
sylvania, and r. H. Harrison of Mary
land-for he knew that the govern
ment must draw it's strength from the
men who administered it, and that the
common run of people must learn to