fame, but with the strongest attachment to untarnished integrity, guarantees of the splendid success which he achieved in after years.

Hamilton prosecuted his studies, while with Mr. Cruger, with the greatest diligence, giving all his spare time to his books. Some of his youthful compositions were published, and the talent which he displayed in writing them, induced his friends to send him to New York for the purpose of completing his education. He arrived in this country in October, 1772, and was placed at a grammar school in Elizabeth, N. J., under the instruction of Francis Barber, afterward a distinguished officer in the American army.

Hamilton entered King's (now Columbia) College, where he soon "gave extraordinary displays of genius and energy of mind."

Here, while a student, Hamilton began his glorious political career, performing services for his country which will cause his name to shine forever in the annals of our country.

In college, Hamilton pursued with the greatest assiduity those studies which his natural tastes and glowing ambition required. His powerful mind, versatile pen, and eloquent voice were from the first employed in defending colonial opposition to the acts of the British Parliament.

He wrote, anonymously, in December, 1774, and February, 1775, several pamphlets in favor of the pacific measures of defence recommended by Congress.

At that early day Hamilton suggested the policy of giving encouragement to domestic manufactures, as a sure means of lessening the needs of external commerce. "He anticipated ample resources at home, and, among other things, observed that several of the southern colonies were so favorable in their soil and climate to the growth of cotton, that such a staple alone, with due cultivation, in a year or two would afford products sufficient to clothe the whole continent. He insisted upon our unalienable right to the steady, uniform, unshaken security of constitutional freedom; to the enjoyment of trial by jury; and to the right of freedom from taxation, except by our own immediate representa

tives, and that colonial legislation was an inherent right, never to be abandoned or impaired."

"Freedom or Death," was the motto inscribed on the leathern caps which he and his fellow-students wore as members of the military corps which he organised while at college. Hamilton was not only busy promoting measures of resistance, but at the same time he mastered the science of political economy, the laws of commerce, the balance of trade, and the circulating medium, so that when these topics came afterward to be discussed, Hamilton was fully prepared to take his part in the discussion.

The author regrets that he is not permitted by the nature of this work to record all the achievements of the great Hamilton in the Cabinet, the Field and the Forum. He can only say that Hamilton entered the army in 1776, and became the inseparable companion of the peerless Washington, and continued with him till 1781. He took part in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth; and he led, at his own request, at the siege of Yorktown, the detachment which carried by assault one of the strongest outworks of the foe.

The first political speech to a popular assembly was delivered by Hamilton at "the great meeting in the fields," as it was called. The object of it was to choose delegates to the first Congress. He was at that time a student in King's College, and was very juvenile in appearance. As Hamilton was unexpectedly called upon, his effort was unpremeditated, and at first he hesitated and faltered, being awed by the immense audience before him. His youthful countenance, slender form, and novel aspect, awakened curiosity and excited universal attention. The "infant orator," as they called him, astonished and electrified the vast multitude.

After discussing in an able and striking manner the important principles involved, he depicted in glowing colours the long-continued and constantly aggravated oppressions of the mother country. In speaking upon this topic he burst forth in a strain of bold and thrilling eloquence. He

said, in part: "The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rumaged for among old parchments or musty records; they are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.'

Hamilton insisted on the duty of resistance, pointed out the means and certainty of success, and described “the waves of rebellion sparkling with fire, and washing back on the shores of England the wrecks of her power, her wealth, and her glory." Under this spontaneous burst of mature eloquence from lips so youthful, the vast multitude first sank in awe and surprise, and then arose with irrepressible astonishment. The death-like silence ceased as he closed, and repeated huzzas resounded to the heavens.

At the age of thirty-eight, in 1795, Hamilton resumed the practice of the law, in New York, where he continued in active professional pursuits until the tragical close of his life.

At that time Hamilton was under the middle size, thin in person, but remarkably erect and dignified in his deportment. His hair was turned back from his forehead, powdered, and collected in a club behind. His complexion was exceedingly fair, and varying from this only by the delicate rosiness of his cheeks. In form and tint his face was considered uncommonly handsome. When in repose, it bore a serene and thoughtful expression; but when engaged in conversation, it immediately assumed an attractive smile. His ordinary costume was a blue coat with bright buttons, the skirts being unusually long; he wore a white waistcoat, black silk small clothes, and white silk stockings. His appearance and deportment accorded with the exalted distinction which, by his stupendous public services, he had attained. His voice was engagingly pleasant, and his whole mien commanded the respect due to a master-mind. His natural frankness inspired the most affectionate attachment; and his splendid talents, as is usual, elicited the firmest love and the most furious hate. One of the ablest writers of modern times pays him the following high compliment as a statesman:

"Hamilton must be classed among the men who have best known the vital principles and the fundamental conditions of a government; not of a government such as this (France) but of a government worthy of its mission and of its name. There is not in the Constitution of the United States an element of order, of force, or of duration, which he has not powerfully contributed to introduce into it and caused to predominate."

The following account has been given of Hamilton's eloquence: "The eloquence of Hamilton was said to be persuasive and commanding; the more likely to be so, as he had no guide but the impulse of a great and rich mind, he having had little opportunity to be trained at the bar or in popular assemblies.

Those who could speak of his manner from the best opportunities to observe him, in public and in private, concurred in pronouncing him to be a frank, amiable, high-minded, open-hearted gentlemen. He was capable of inspiring the most affectionate attachment; but he could make those whom he opposed, fear and hate him cordially.

He was capable of intense and effectual application, as is abundantly proved by his public labours. But he had a rapidity and clearness of perception in which he may not have been equalled. One, who knew his habits of study, said of him, that when he had a serious object to accomplish, his practice was to reflect on it previously; and when he had gone through his labour, he retired to sleep without regard to the hour of the night, and having slept six or seven hours, he rose, and having taken strong coffee, seated himself at his table, where he would remain six, seven, or eight hours; and the product of his rapid pen required little correction for the press. He was among the few, alike excellent, whether in speaking or in writing. In private and friendly intercourse, he is said to have been exceedingly amiable, and to have been affectionately beloved.

It has been said that he "was the most sagacious and laborious of our Revolutionary orators. He anticipated time and interrogated history with equal ease and ardour.

He explored the archives of his own land, and drew from foreign courts the quintessence of their ministerial wisdom. He illuminated the councils where Washington presided, and with him guarded our youthful nation with the eyes of a lynx, and the talons of a vulture."

Hamilton's political writings will be read with interest while time lasts. Aside from the seductive charms of his style, the comprehensive and valuable thoughts upon the science of government, which they contain, render them invaluable to the statesman earnestly desirous of promoting the public welfare.

Fisher Ames said: "That writer would deserve the fame of a public benefactor who could exhibit the character of Hamilton, with the truth and force that all who intimately knew him conceived it; his example would then take the same ascendant as his talents. The portrait alone, however exquisitely finished, could not inspire genius where it is not; but if the world should again have possession of so rare a gift, it might awaken it where it sleeps, as by a spark from Heaven's own altar; for surely if there is anything like divinity in man, it is in his admiration for virtue.

"The country deeply laments when it turns its eyes back and sees what Hamilton was; but my soul stiffens with despair when I think what Hamilton would have been. It is not as Apollo, enchanting the shepherds with his lyre, that we deplore him; it is as Hercules, treacherously slain in the midst of his unfinished labours, leaving the world over run with monsters."

It is unnecessary to give an account of the fatal duel by which Hamilton lost his life in 1804. The facts are universally known.

The following extract will serve to illustrate the style of Hamilton's political oratory. It is on the Constitution of the United States:

"After all our doubts, our suspicions, and speculations, on the subject of Government, we must return, at last, to this important truth,-that, when we have formed a Constitution. upon free principles, when we have given a proper balance