CHAPTER V.

CLOSE OF THE WAR.

HE struggle had now lasted for upwards of

THE

five years, and still there seemed to be no sign of a speedy termination of the contest. Both France and Spain were in alliance with America, Holland was threatening to join the coalition, and the States of Northern Europe had united in an armed neutrality against the naval pretensions of Great Britain; but still the invincible pride of England refused to yield. On her own element, Rodney maintained her supremacy; from the rock of Gibraltar, her flag waved defiance to the world; and she clung with desperate tenacity to what remained of her dominion on the continent of America. When the prolonged resistance to the independence of the colonies is ascribed (as it often is) to the obstinacy of George III., it should not be forgotten that, throughout the greater part of the war, the king fairly represented the opinions of the majority of the

nation. There was, indeed, a minority, brilliant in eloquence and talent, who, from the first, had taken the side of the Americans; but even these were slow to acquiesce in the dismemberment of the empire, and the main body of the people looked upon the surrender of their transatlantic possessions as tantamount to disgrace and ruin. We have since learned, indeed, that a kindred race may be more valuable as friends and customers than as subjects, and that a sovereignty which can only be preserved by force is not worth preserving at all: but the lesson was hard to learn; and the knowledge of that fact should make us tolerant in our judgment of others, who, in our own day, have striven, with equal stubbornness, and hitherto with as doubtful fortune, to uphold the integrity of an empire against states resolved to be independent.

Meanwhile, the Americans had to suffer many privations, and were by no means exempt from reverses. Charleston had been taken by the English; and, in North Carolina, Lord Cornwallis had surprised and defeated Gates, whose military reputation was rapidly declining. Besides all the old difficulties, Washington had to contend with a mutiny in his army, arising from the neglect of Congress to provide

pay for the men, and also from a breach of faith in detaining them beyond their term of enlistment. But, in fact, the Confederacy was altogether disorganized; and the finances were in such a condition that it was almost impossible to raise money for any purpose. Hamilton, who saw more clearly than most men the full danger of the situation, was also one of the first to divine the causes of the existing evils, and to suggest a remedy. He traced the weakness and insolvency of the Congress in a great measure to the want of a central authority, and to the loose way in which the States were held together, without any settled government for the whole Confederacy. And already his busy and versatile mind. had sketched the plan of a Constitution for the Union. "At the age of three-and-twenty," says an able American writer, Mr. George Ticknor Curtis, "he had already formed well-defined, profound, and comprehensive opinions on the situation and wants of these States. He had clearly discerned the practicability of forming a confederated government, and adapting it to their peculiar conditions, resources, and exigencies. He had wrought out for himself a political system, far in advance of the conceptions of his contemporaries.”

And, until a definite Constitution could be agreed upon, he suggested, as measures of primary importance-1st. An army raised for the war, and not for any shorter term. 2d. A foreign loan, to extricate. the Congress from the immediate pressure of insolvency. 3d. Full powers to the same body, to deal with all matters of war, peace, trade, and finance, that concerned the common interest. 4th. The appointment of executive officers, instead of boards, to administer the several departments of the public service. 5th. The establishment of a national bank, to regulate the issue of notes, and to place the currency of the country on a solid basis.

Yet all this activity of mind did not prevent his attending to interests of a more tender nature. He was at this time paying his addresses to Miss Eliza Schuyler, second daughter of the gallant general of that name, and in December, 1780, he was married. to the lady of his choice, at her father's house in Albany. She is described by a French traveller as a charming woman, who united to grace and beauty "all the candour and simplicity of an American wife." By this marriage, Hamilton became permanently established as a resident in the State of New York.

H

And now an event occurred which has occasioned much discussion, and which certainly cannot be recorded without regret. A misunderstanding arose between Washington and his favourite aide-de-camp, which led to the resignation by the latter of his place on the staff. Hamilton's account of the affair is contained in a letter to General Schuyler :

"Since I had the pleasure of writing you last, an unexpected change has taken place in my situation. I am no longer a member of the general's family. This information will surprise you, and the manner of the change will surprise you more. Two days ago the general and I passed each other on the stairs; he told me he wanted to speak to me. I answered, that I would wait upon him immediately. I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent to the Commissary, containing an order of a pressing

nature.

Returning to the general, I was stopped on the way by the Marquis de Lafayette, and we conversed together about a minute on a matter of business. He can testify how impatient I was to get back, and that I left him in a manner which, but for our intimacy, would have been more than abrupt. Instead of finding the general, as is usual, in his room, I met him at the