Evening Star Newspaper, October 18, 1931, Page 88

f S THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 18, 1931. s = e Hamilton and Surrender at Yorktown Mrs. Alexander (“Betsy”) Hamilton. BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. ERE were several cutstanding char- acters who participated in the siege and surrender of Yorktown, whose names, no doubt, might well be per- petuated as long as the country and the flag under which we live shall survive. Indeed, the name of every patriot, regardless of rank, who helped, ever so little, to bring about the formal surrender at York- town on October 19, 1781, just 150 years ago tomorrow, should be preserved in the hearts and minds of the American peocple. The District of Columbia, as such, did not exist at that time, but Moritg-mery County and Prince Georges County, Md. out of which the Federal Cagital as we find it today was carved, were very much in evidence during the Revolutionary War, and unquestionably were fully represented at the great surrender. Washington, Lzafayette, de Grasse, Rocham- beau, n Steuben, Nelson, Mercer, Hamilton! Ah, the very menti‘n of such familiar names tends but to arouse emotion in the patriotic breast, and bring tears of national joy to the eye of the citizen whose devoticn to the cause cf liberty is unfeigned and sincere, and causes him to sing with added fervency—with all his heart and soul—those God-inspired words of 8. P. Smith: “My country, ‘'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, = Land of the pilgrims’ pride, From ev'ry mountain side Let freedom ring.” UCH has been written regarding the War of the American Revclution and the men who played important parts in that great struggle. Washington, of course, is to us the greatest and dearest character of all, and even the most fluent writer living, or yet to come— should he so desire—cannct lessen his greatness and importance in the “hearts of his county- men,” and what Lincoln said of him, was not only true then, but is true now, and always will be. It was this: “Washington is the mightiest name on earth —long since mightiest in the cause of ecivil liberty; still mightiest in moral reformation. On that name no eulogy is expected. It cannot be. To add brightness to the sun or glory to the name of Washington is alike impossible. Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name and in its naked deathless splendor leave it shining on.” ERHAPS of all the men who were present with Washington at Yorktown, and for that matter, assisted him throughout the en- tire war, none was as much responsible as Alexander Hamilton fcr placing the Capital on the present site, no doubt most ardently desired by Washington. This young man had brains, and he knew how to use them, and be- sides, whatever he engaged in or undertook, he did enthusiastically; just as he did at York- town, when he requested Washington to per« mit him to lead the assault on the redoubt on the night of October 14, which was performed, we are told, with a billiancy of courage and success that could not be surpassed. Referring to this particular heroic incident, George Washington Parke Custis has this to say in his recollections: “At the siege of Yorktown, it was determined to storm the two advanced redoubts of the enemy, and the selecticn of officers and men for this daring achievement was intrusted to Maj. Gen. the Marquis de Lafayette. The mar- quis lost no time in choosing as the gallant officer who was to lead the assault, Lieut. Col. Gimet, a gallant Frenchman, who had been at- tached to the marquis's military family., Ham- liton, belonging to the division of light infan- try commsnded by Lafayette, was about to prefer his claim when his warmest friends and admirers dissuaded him, owing as they said, to the vast influence in favor of the Prench- man, from the presence of a splendid French fleet and army, and the universal desire of do- Ing every possible honor to our generous and gallant allies. Hamilton observed, ‘I am aware that I have mighty influences to con- tend with, but I feel assured that Washington is inflexibly just. I will not urge my claim on the plea of my long and faithful services, coeval with nearly the whole war; I will only plead my rank.’ He accordingly repaired to headquarters. The general received his for- mer and favorite aide-de-camp with great cor- diality and kindness, listened patiently to his representations and finally granted his claims; and Lieut. Col. Hamilton, in presence of three armies, led the assault of the redoubt on the e A : = St e ARp His Part in Great Event Is Recalled—Subse- quent Career and Duel With Burr—Mrs. Hamilton’s Life in Washington and Hom‘e on H Street. George Washington firing the first gun in the bombardment of the British at Yorktown. “As the Americans mounted the works, the cry of the soldiers wash ‘Remember New Lon- don,’” alluding to the cruel massacre of the American troops at Fort Griswold the year before. When the redoubt was carried, the vanquished Britons fell on their knees, mo- mentarily expecting the exterminating bayo- net; not a man was injured, when no longer resisting. For Hamilton, who commanded, and Lieut. Col. Laurens, who participated as a volunteer on this brilllant occasion, courage and mercy have entwined a wreath of laurel that time or circumstance can never fade.” ND so it was in everything he undertook, he was painstaking and thorough; as scldier, statesman, jurist, philosopher—he was great in all. In war he was Washington's right arm, in peace he was his main support and chief adviser, and the most versatile man of his time. The part played by him, resulting in the placing of the Capital here, showed skill and shrewdness worthy of an older head and the trade he made, in this connection, in order to secure the passage of his bill for the funding of the public debt and the assumption of the State debts, showed marked ability on his part. Hamilton's pet measure, which showed & stroke of financial genius, meant that the United States as a whole should pay cff the foreign debt amounting to something like 12 millions of dollars, and assume the State debts, totaling $21,500,000. The Northern States were keen for this legislation. Pennsylvania alcne possessed $3,000,000 on which it would draw interest, and in addition to this, the citizens held $15,000,000 upon which they would secure pay- ment. However, Hamilton’s motives were not prompted by this fact at all, since he eloquently maintained that the public debt was “the price cf liberty.” The South was not in favor of the bill as proposed by Hamilton and which had been defeated in tise House. Hamilton knew that the South wanted the Capital City located within its midst; the North did not. Hamil- ton’s bill meant more toward the salvation of the United States than did the locating of the Federal Capital, a fact the Secretary of the Treasury was also well aware of, and he pro- ceeded in a statesmanlike way to satisfy both parties and above all, to put the newly-formed country in a goocd light before the world. He was willing to locate the Capital anywhere to secure the passage of his bill and he so in- formed Morris and Jefferson. F this Jefferson says: “As I was going to the President’s one day, I met him (Hamiltcn) in the street. He walked me backwards and forwards before the President’s door for half an hour. He painted pathetically the temper into which the legis- lature had been wrought; the disgust of those who were called the creditor States; the dan- ger of the secessicn of their members and the separation of the States. He observed that the members of the administration ought to act in concert; that though this question was not of my department, yet a ccmmon duty should make it a common concern; that the Presidcnt was the center on which all admin- Istrative questions ultimately rested, and that all of us should rally around him and support with joint effcrts measures approved by him. “I proposed to him, however, to dine with me the next day and I would write another friend or two, bring them into conference together, and I thought it impossible that reasonable men, consulting together coolly, could fail, by some mutual sacrifices of opinion, to form a compromise which was to save the Union. “But it was finally agreed that whatever importance had been attached to the rejec- tion of the proposition, the preservation of the Union and of concord among the States was more important. But it was observed that this pill would be particularly bitter to the Southern States and that some concomitant measure should be adopted to sweeten it a little to them. There had been before propo- sitions to fix the seat of Government either at Philadelphia or Georgetown on the Potomac, and it wa$ thought that by giving it to Phila- delphia for 10 years, and to Georgetown per- manently afterward, this might, as an ano- dyne, calm, in some degree, the ferment which might be excited by the other measure alone. Bo two of the two Potomac members, White and Lee—but White with a revulsion of stomach almost convulsive—agreed to change their votes * * * and so the assumption was passed.” important part played by Jefferson and Madison in securing the Capital for its present location must not be minimized, for Mrs. Hamilton at 94, three years before she died in Washington. Mrs. Hamilton at 68. they worked hard to get the necessary votes to carry out the compromise. The biography of Alexander Hamilton has been repeated often. He was born on the Isle of Nevis, British West Indies, on January 11, 1757, and emigrated to the American colonies in 1772. His education in this country was received in the schools of Elizabethtown, N. J., and in King's College, New York City, re=- named Columbia University. At 17 years of age we find him addressing a public meeting for the purpose of protesting against the acts of the authorifies, and expressing with his pen his views in opposition to thosz of Myles Cooper, the Tory president of the college, and in answer to the threat made, to keep from the colonists all supplies of clothing in event of a rupture with the mother country, he made the prediction that more than came true, that the cotton plant could and would be grown in the Southern colonies, and would yield an abundance of the raw material, sufficient for the needs of the people. Two years later he entered the Continental Army as captain of artillerv, and at Washing~ ton's own request was appointed an aide-dee camp on his staff March 1. 1777, and contine ued in that capacity until February 16, 1781. The following year he became a member of the Continental Congress, and was also in that body during 1783, 1787 and 1788, and be- side other public offices, served as a member of the Philadelphia constitutional convention in 1787, which adopted the Constitution of the United States. When Washington, in 1789, tendered to Robert Morris the portfolio of Sec- retary of the Treasury, and that gentleman declined it on account of the pressure of prie vate business, he took the opportunity to suge gest to the first President, for the office, Col. Hamilton, saying: “* * * you will be no loser by my declining the secretaryship of the Trease ury, for I can recommend to you a far cleverer fellow that I am for your minister of finance, in the person of your former aide-de-camp, Col. Hamilton.” Washington, we are told, seemed amazed and replied to the suggestion by remarking: “I always knew Col. Hamilton to be a man of superior talents, but never sup= posed that he had any knowledge of finance,” to which Morris replied: “He knows everything, sir. To a mind like his nothing comes amiss.” In 1795 Col. Hamilton resigned from the cabinet and returned to New York and ree sumed the practice of law in which he was very successful. His nearest competitor at the bar in those days was also a former officer in the Revolutionary Army. and a son of the first president of Princeton College, namely, Aaron Burr, who a few years later was to become Vice President of the United States. HERE was much in common between Hamile ton and Burr. The former had been an aide on Washington's staff, and was one of his closest friends. Burr also for a short while, during the early stage of the war, came closely in contact with Washington, being a member of his family for about six weeks., but unlike Hamilton, who almost idolized the general, Burr formed a dislike for him. Hamilton and Burr were both impetuous soldiers—Burr at the head of a brigade and Hamilton as a staff officer; both distinguished themselves at Monmouth and in other engagee ments, and both were famous lawyers of theif day. Though Hamilton did not seek public office yet he and Burr were in a sense political rivals, It is probable there never was the best of feele ing between the two men, and when Burr, if 1791, defeated for the United States Senate, Gen. Philip J. Schuyler, the incumbent, and the father-in-law of Hamilton, any ill feeling which may have existed was surely not lesseneds In 1797, the tables wer turned and Schuyler was returned by almost a unanimous vote to his former seat in the Senate, and their relas tions, if anything, became even more strained. . Burr next ran for President, and he and Thomas Jefferson each received 73 votes, Johri Adams 65 and Pinckney 64, and the House of Representatives on the thirty-sixth ballot, elected Jefferson President and Burr Vice President. = Jefferson was then the Vice President, and in§ the National Intelligencer of November 28, 1800y we find recorded his arrival here to preside over the Senate, which states: “Last evening arrived in Washington Thomagd Jefferson, Vice President of the United States, and took up his lodgings in Messrs. Conrad and McMunn’s apartments.” On March 2, 1801, according to the samé source, Burr arrived in Washington for the x@u@nm two days later. Of this the press “Yesterday afternoon arrived in this city Aaron Burr, Vice President-elect of the United States. On his arrival in Baltimore the preced=