Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander
was ambitious is demonstrated by everything he did, yet it was not the ambition of selfish men nor the kind which led him to sacrifice others for his own advancement. A parallel, for instance, may be drawn between Napoleon, who was a contemporary, and himself, to the detriment of the former.
Estabrook, an eloquent New York lawyer, in a rare appreciation says:
To sum up Hamilton's temperament, therefore, I would say that he was nobly ambitious, but wisely cautious, sometimes most tentative when he was really most assured." When Washington wrote to Adams in his behalf he said: "By some he is considered as an ambitious man, and therefore a dangerous one; that he is ambitious I shall readily grant, but it is of the laudable kind which prompts a man to excel in whatever he takes in hand. He is enterprising—quick in his perceptions—and his judgment intuitively great." The first few words have especial significance, when we consider that Hamilton's enemies had insinuated to Adams that the ambitious designs of the former would minimize his influence.
At an early age he longed to distinguish himself in the world, and his familiar letter to Edward Stevens, the friend of his childhood, may, in part, be reproduced to illustrate his early aspirations. This was written when he was a boy about twelve.
Alexander Hamilton to Edward Stevens.
St. Croix, Nov. 11, 1769.
... As to what you say respecting your soon having the happiness of seeing us all, I wish for zn accomplishment of your hopes, provided they are concomitant with your welfare, otherwise not: though I doubt whether I shall be present or not, for to confess my weakness, Ned, my ambition is prevalent, so that I contemn the grovelling condition of a clerk or the like, to which my fortune condemns me, and would willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt my station. I am confident, Ned, that my youth excludes me from any hopes of immediate preferment, nor do I desire it; but I mean to prepare the way for futurity. I'm no philosopher, you see, and may be justly said to build castles in the air; my folly makes me ashamed, and beg you'll conceal it: Yet, Neddy, we have seen such schemes successful when the projector is constant. I shall conclude by saying I wish there was a war.
Whatever his ambition may have been, in later years there does not appear to have been any indication that he expected political preferment or that he was engaged in any attempt to advance himself, and although he had been seriously considered as a successor to Washington, it is doubtful if he would have accepted the great office. On the other hand, it seems to have been his constant and only desire to labor for the welfare of his country so long as he could do any good, and to retire as soon as possible to the quiet pursuit of a pastoral life.
Like all other public men, he had been approached by friends who did not think it amiss that he should give them information of impending public transactions that might be utilized for speculation. He undoubtedly had his temptations to help his friends, but he ever resolutely refused to disclose the operations of his own department. Even so circumspect a man as Henry Lee wrote a letter to him, which probably was sent without any dishonorable intentions whatever, but was ill advised.
"My dear Sir;" wrote Lee in 1789, "Your undertaking is truly arduous, but I trust as you progress in the work, difficulties will vanish. From your situation you must be able to form with some certainty an opinion concerning the domestic debt; will it speedily rise? Will the interest accruing command specie, or anything nearly as valuable—what will become of the indents already issued? These queries are asked for my private information. Perhaps they may be improper. I do not think them so, or I would not propound them. Of this you will decide, and act accordingly— nothing can induce me to be instrumental in submitting my friends to an impropriety. . . .
"The anti-federal gentlemen in our own assembly do not relish the amendments proposed by Congress to the constitution. Yours always and affectionately,
"Henry Lee.
"To Col. Alexander Hamilton."
Hamilton replied:
My dear Friend: I received your letter of the 16th of November. I am sure you are sincere when you say that you would not subject me to an impropriety, nor do I know there would be any in answering your queries; but you remember the saying with regard to Caesar's wife. I think the spirit of it applicable to every man concerned in the administration of the finances of the country. With respect to the conduct of such men, suspicion is ever eagle-eyed, and the most innocent things may be misinterpreted. Be assured of the affection and friendship of yours.
A great deal of nonsense has been written about Hamilton's gallantry, and his name has been quite unjustifiably connected with that of Madame Jumel, the widow of a French wine-merchant, and before this the widow of a British officer with whom she eloped. Although her home at the upper part of Manhattan Island was a rendezvous for the gay young men of the day, it does not appear that either Washington or Hamilton, as has been alleged, knew her particularly well. Certainly it is absurd to say that Hamilton had an amour with her, as has been suggested, and this gossip may, with other contemporary scandal, be disregarded. She subsequently married Aaron Burr when he was an elderly man, but the union did not last, for he misappropriated her funds and otherwise behaved badly.
It is quite to be supposed that Hamilton with his attractive equipment was like many others of his time so far as his moral laches was concerned, but his tender devotion to, and kindly care of his wife were always evident in his letters that have been preserved.
With Angelica Church he kept up a sprightly correspondence, which bristles with badinage, and to many suggests the existence of a more tender feeling than would appear to be conventional, but an inspection of his whole life and hers disproves this.
Some of her letters, of which the following is an example, are written in the flowery style of the day:
Angelica Church to Alexander Hamilton.
London, Oct 2, 1787.
You have every right, my dear brother, to believe that I was very inattentive not to have answered your letter, but I could not relinquish the hopes that you would be tempted to ask the reason of my silence, which would be a certain means of obtaining the second letter when perhaps had I answered the first, I should have lost all the fine things contained in the latter. I indeed my dear Sir, if my path was strewed with as many roses as you have filled your letter with compliments, I should not now lament my absence from America, but even Hope is weary of doing anything for so assiduous a votary as myself. I have so often prayed at her shrine that I am now no longer heard. Church's head is full of Politics, he is so desirous of making one in the British House of Commons, and where I should be happy to see him if he possessed your eloquence. All the graces you have been pleased to adorn me with, fade before the generous and benevolent action of my sister in taking the orphan Antil under her protection. I do not write by this packet to either of my sisters, nor to my father. It is too melancholy an employment today, as Church is not here to be my consolation; he is gone to New Market. You will please to say to them for me everything you think that the most tender and affectionate attachment can dictate. Adieu, my dear brother! be persuaded that these sentiments are not weakened when applied to you and that I am very sincerely your friend,
A. C.
After the appearance of his report upon the finances which was presented to Congress, January 7, 1790, she wrote:
Many thanks to my dear Brother for having written to his friend at a moment when he had the affairs of America on his mind; I am impatient to hear in what manner your Budget has been received and extremely anxious for your success.
I sometimes think you have now forgot me and that having seen me is like a dream which you can scarcely believe.— adieu I will not write this idea of being lost in the tumult of business and ambition does not enliven my spirits—adieu soyex heureux au dessus de tout le monde.
At a time when he thought it possible that he might be sent to Europe to facilitate the acceptance of Jay's treaty, she wrote on August 15, 1793:
Are you too happy to think of us? Ah petit Fripon you do not believe it:—no I am not too happy, can I be so on this side of the Atlantic? ask your heart, and read my answer there.
My