has hitherto conducted himself with great ability,
has acquired an entire personal confidence, revived
in some measure the public credit, and is conciliating
fast the support of the moneyed men. His opera-
tions have hitherto hinged chiefly on the seasonable
aids from your country; but he is urging the es-
tablishment of permanent funds among ourselves;
and though, from the nature and temper of our



300 Alexander Hamilton

governments, his applications will meet with a dil-
atory compliance, it is to be hoped they will by de-
grees succeed.

The institution of a bank has been very service-
able to him; the commercial interest, finding great
advantages in it, and anticipating much greater, is
disposed to promote the plan; and nothing but
moderate funds, permanently pledged for the secur-
ity of lenders, is wanting to make it an engine of the
most extensive and solid utility. By the last ad-
vices there is reason to believe the delinquent States
will shortly comply with the requisition of Congress
for a duty on our imports. This will be a great
resource to Mr. Morris; but it will not alone be
sufficient.

Upon the whole, however, if the war continues
another year, it will be necessary that Congress
should again recur to the generosity of France for
pecuniary assistance. The plans of the financier
cannot be so matured as to enable us by any possi-
bility to dispense with this ; and if he should fail for
want of support, we must replunge into that con-
fusion and distress which had liked to have proved
fatal to us, and out of which we are slowly emerging.
The cure, on a relapse, would be infinitely more
difficult than ever.

I have given you an uninteresting but a faithful
sketch of our situation. You may expect, from
time to time, to receive from me the progress of our
affairs ; and I know you will overpay me.



Private Correspondence 301

TO GENERAL GREENE

Albany, October 12, 1783.

Dear General:

It is an age since I have either written to you or
received a Hne from you ; yet I persuade myself you
have not been the less convinced of my affectionate
attachment and warm participation in all those
events which have given you that place in your
country's esteem and approbation which I have
known you to deserve, while your enemies and rivals
were most active in sullying your reputation.

You will perhaps learn before this reaches you
that I have been appointed a member of Congress.
I expect to go to Philadelphia in the ensuing month,
where I shall be happy to correspond with you with
our ancient confidence; and I shall entreat you not
to confine your observations to military subjects,
but to take in the whole scope of national concerns.
I am sure your ideas will be useful to me and to the
public.

I feel the deepest affliction at the news we have
just received of the loss of our dear and estimable
friend Laurens. His career of virtue is at an end.
How strangely are human affairs conducted, that so
many excellent qualities could not insure a more
happy fate! The world will feel the loss of a man
who has left few like him behind, and America of a
citizen whose heart realized that patriotism of which
others only talk. I shall feel the loss of a friend I
truly and most tenderly loved, and one of a very
small number.

* 3ic :|c :ic :ie 4e



302 Alexander Hamilton

TO ROBERT MORRIS

Albany, October 26, 1782.

Sir:

I am honored with your letters of the 5th, 15th,
and 1 6th instant.

The detail you have been pleased to enter into
in that of the 5 th exhibits very cogent reasons for
confining yourself to pretty large denominations of
notes. Some of them had occurred to me, others
had not; but I thought it my duty to state to you
the operation which that circumstance had, as in the
midst of the variety and extent of the objects which
occupy your attention, you may not have so good
opportunities of seeing the effect of your plans in
detail. While I acknowledge that your observa-
tions have corrected my ideas upon the subject,
and shown me that there would be danger in gener-
ally lessening the denominations of the paper issued,
I should be uncandid not to add that it still appears
to me there would be a preponderance of advan-
tages in having a part of a smaller amount. I shall
not trouble you at present with any further reasons
for this opinion.

I have immediately on receipt of your letter taken
measures for the publication of your advertisement
in the newspapers of this State.

You will perceive by the enclosed cash account
that, since my last, I have received five and twenty
hundred dollars. This was procured in part of the
loan I mentioned to you. It was chiefly paid to me
in specie, and I have exchanged it with Col. Picker-
ing and Mr. Duer for the notes ; the latter had twelve



Private Correspondence 303

hundred dollars. Taxes collect slowly, but I must
shortly receive two or three hundred pounds more,
of which Mr. Duer will have the principal benefit, as
it appears by your letter to him, that you hoped he
might receive three thousand dollars from me.

As I may shortly set out for Philadelphia, I wish
to surrender to Mr. Tillotson, as soon as you think
proper, the office in which he is to succeed.



TO LAFAYETTE

Albany, Nov. 3, 1782.

Since we parted, my dear Marquis, at Yorktown,
I have received three letters from you; one written
on your way to Boston, two from France. I ac-
knowledge that I have written to you only once, but
the reason has been that I have been taught daily to
expect your return. This I should not have done
from my own calculations, for I saw no prospect but
of an inactive campaign; and you had much better
be intriguing for your hobby-horse at Paris than
loitering away your time here. Yet they seem to be
convinced at headquarters that you were certainly
coming out; and by your letter it appears to have
been your own expectation. I imagine you have
relinquished it by this time.

I have been employed for the last ten months in
rocking the cradle and studying the art of fleecing
my neighbors. I am now a grave counsellor-at-law,
and shall soon be a grave member of Congress. The
Legislature, at their last session, took it into their



304 Alexander Hamilton

heads to name me, pretty unanimously, one of their
delegates.

I am going to throw away a few months more in
public life, and then retire a simple citizen and good
pater jamilias. I set out for Philadelphia in a few
days. You see the disposition I am in. You are
condemned to run the race of ambition all your life.
I am already tired of the career, and dare to leave it.

But you would not give a pin for my letter unless
politics or war made a part of it. You tell me they
are employed in building a peace, and other accounts
say it is nearly finished. I hope the work may meet
with no interruptions. It is necessary for America,
especially if your army is taken from us, as we are
told will soon be the case. That was an essential
point d'appui, though money was the primum mobile
of our finances, which must now lose the little ac-
tivity lately given them. Our trade is prodigiously
cramped. These States are in no humor for con-
tinuing exertions ; if the war lasts it must be carried
on by external succors. I make no apology for the
inertness of this country. I detest it, but since it
exists I am sorry to see other resources diminish.
Your ministers ought to know best what they are
doing, but if the war goes on and the removal of the
army does not prove an unwise measure, I renounce all
future pretensions to judgment. I think, however,
the circumstances of the enemy oblige them to peace.

We have been hoping that they would abandon
their posts in these States. It no doubt was once in
contemplation, but later appearances are rather am-
biguous. I begin to suspect that if peace is not



Private Correspondence 305

made, New York and Charleston — the former at
least — will still be held.

There is no probability that I shall be one of the
Commissioners of Peace. It is a thing I do not de-
sire myself, and which I imagine other people will
not desire.

Our army is now in excellent order, but small.

The temper we are in respecting the alliance, you
will see from public acts. There never was a time
of greater unanimity on that point.

I wish I durst enter into a greater detail with you,
but our cipher is not fit for it, and I fear to trust it in
another shape.

Is there any thing you wish on this side the water?
You know the warmth and sincerity of my attach-
ment. Command me.

I have not been so happy as to see Mr. De Segur.
The title of your friend would have been a title to
every thing in my power to manifest. Adieu.

General and Mrs. Schuyler and Mrs. Hamilton all
join warmly in the most affectionate remembrances
to you.

As to myself, I am in truth,

Yours pour la vie.

I wrote a long letter to the Viscount De Noailles,
whom I also love. Has he received it? Is the
worthy Gouvion well? Has he succeeded? How is
it with our friend Gimat? How is it with General
Du Portail? All those men are men of merit, and
interest my best wishes.

Poor Laurens! He has fallen a sacrifice to his



3o6 Alexander Hamilton

ardor in a trifling skirmish in South Carolina. You
know how truly I loved him, and will judge how
much I regret him.

I will write you again soon after my arrival at
Philadelphia.

TO THE GOVERNOR OP RHODE ISLAND '

Philadelphia, Dec. ii, 1782.

Sir:

Congress are equally affected and alarmed by the
information they have received that the Legislature
of your State, at their last meeting, have refused
their concurrence in establishing a duty on imports.
They consider this measure as so indispensable to the
prosecution of the war, that a sense of duty and re-
gard to the common safety compel them to renew
their efforts to engage a compliance with it. And
in this view they have determined to send a deputa-
tion of three members to your State, as expressed in
the inclosed resolution. The gentleman they have
appointed will be able to lay before you a full and
just representation of public affairs, from which,
they flatter themselves, will result a conviction of
the propriety of their solicitude upon the present
occasion. Convinced by past experience of the zeal
and patriotism of the State of Rhode Island, they
cannot doubt that it will yield to those urgent con-
siderations which flow from a knowledge of our true
situation.

They will only briefly observe that the increasing
discontents of the army, the loud clamors of the pub-

^ At this time William Greene.



Private Correspondence 307

lie creditors, and the extreme disproportion between
the public supplies and the demands of the public
service, are so many invincible arguments for the
fimd recommended by Congress. They feel them-
selves unable to devise any other that will be more
efficacious, less exceptionable, or more generally
agreeable; and if this is refused, they anticipate
calamities of the most menacing nature— with this
consolation, however, that they have faithfully dis-
charged their trust, and that the mischiefs which
follow cannot be attributed to them.

A principal object of the proposed ftmd is to pro-
cure loans abroad. If no security can be held out to
lenders, the success of these must necessarily be very
limited. The last accounts on the subject were not
flattering; and when intelligence shall arrive in Eu-
rope that the State of Rhode Island has disagreed
to the only fund which has yet been devised, there
is every reason to apprehend it will have a fatal in-
fluence upon their future progress.

Deprived of this resource, our affairs must in all
probability hasten to a dangerous crisis, and these
States be involved in greater embarrassments than
they have yet experienced, and from which it may
be much more difficult to emerge. Congress will
only add a request to your Excellency, that if the
Legislature should not be sitting, it may be called
together as speedily as possible, to enable the gen-
tlemen whom they have deputed to perform the pur-
pose of their mission.^

^ This letter was written by Hamilton as one of the committee of
Congress to whom the matter was referred.



3o8 Alexander Hamilton

TO GOVERNOR CLINTON

Philadelphia, Dec, i8, 1782.

Dear Sir:

I shall very shortly be out of cash, and shall be
much obliged to you to forward me the State allow-
ance. It will answer as well in Mr. Morris' notes as
specie, provided the notes have not more than a
fortnight or so to run. It will be better if they are
due. A disappointment in this will greatly em-
barrass me, and from what your Excellency said, I
take it for granted it cannot happen. Nothing new
except a probable accoimt of the evacuation of
Charleston.*



TO GOVERNOR CLINTON

Philadelphia, Jan. 12, 1783.

Sir:

I am honored with your Excellency's letter of the
29th of December. I have received an order from
Colonel Hay on Mr. Sands, which I have no doubt
will shortly be paid. I have felt no inconvenience
from not having the money sooner.

Since my last to you we have received no further
accounts from Europe, so that we remain in the
same uncertainty with respect to the negotiations
for peace. Whether it will take place or not is a
problem of difficult solution. The duplicity and un-
steadiness for which Lord Shelburne is remarkable
will not justify any confidence in his intentions ; and
the variety of interests to be conciliated in a treaty

^ Reprinted from the History of the Republic, iii., 7.



Private Correspondence 3^9

of peace, with the best dispositions on all sides, must
render it a work of difficulty. I suspect too the
Spaniards and the Dutch will have large demands.

We have now here a deputation from the army,
and feel the mortification of a total disability to
comply with their just expectations. If, however,
the matter is taken up in a proper manner, I think
their application may be turned to a good account.
Every day proves more and more the insufficiency
of the Confederation. The proselytes to this opinion
are increasing fast, and many of the most sensible
men acknowledge the wisdom of the measure recom-
mended by your Legislature at their last sitting.
Various circumstances conspire at this time to in-
cline to the adoption of it, and I am not without
hope it may ere long take place. But I am far from
being sanguine.

We are deliberating on some mode for carrying
that article of the Confederation into execution,
which respects the valuation of lands, to ascertain
the quotas of the several States. None has yet
been proposed that appears to me eligible. I confess
I dislike the principle altogether; but we are tied
down by the Confederation.

The affairs of the Grants have been no further
touched since the resolutions transmitted to you. It
is a business in which nobody cares to act with de-
cision. As intimated before, I must doubt the per-
severance of Congress, if military coercion should
become necessary. I am clear the only chance the
Legislature have for a recovery of any part of the
revolted territory is by a compromise with New



3IO Alexander Hamilton

Hampshire, and this compromise must originate
between the States themselves. I hope the Legis-
lature will revise the late act for confirming the pos-
sessions of those who hold lands in that country. I
am certain there are doubts upon the subject, and it
were much to be wished such doubts did not exist.
The present dissatisfaction of the army is much op-
posed to any experiment of force in a service where
scruples of interest or prejudice may operate.'



TO WASHINGTON

Philadelphia, February 7, 1783.

Sir:

Flattering myself that your knowledge of me will
induce you to receive the observations I make, as
dictated by a regard to the public good, I take the
liberty to suggest to you my ideas on some mat-
ters of delicacy and importance. I view the present
juncture as a very interesting one. I need not ob-
serve how far the temper and situation of the army
make it so. The state of our finances was perhaps
never more critical. I am under injunctions which
will not permit me to disclose some facts that would
at once demonstrate this position; but I think it
probable you will be possessed of them through
another channel. It is, however, certain that there
has scarcely been a period of the Revolution which
called more for wisdom and decision in Congress.
Unfortunately for us, we are a body not governed
by reason or foresight, but by circumstances. It is

» Now first printed from the Clinton papers at Albany.



Private Correspondence 3 1 1

probable we shall not take the proper measures;
and if we do not, a few months may open an em-
barrassing scene. This will be the case whether we
have peace or a continuance of the war.

If the war continues, it would seem that the army
must, in June, subsist itself, to defend the country.
If peace should take place, it will subsist itself, to
procure justice to itself. It appears to be a prevailing
opinion in the army that the disposition to recom-
pense their services will cease with the necessity for
them, and that, if they once lay down their arms,
they part with the means of obtaining justice. It is
to be lamented that appearances afford too much
ground for their distrust.

It becomes a serious inquiry: What is the true
line of policy? The claims of the army, urged with
moderation, but with firmness, may operate on those
weak minds which are influenced by their apprehen-
sions more than by their judgments, so as to produce
a concurrence in the measures which the exigencies
of affairs demand. They may add weight to the
applications of Congress to the several States. So
far a useful turn may be given to them. But the
difficulty will be to keep a complaining and suffering
army within the bounds of moderation.

This your Excellency's influence must effect. In
order to do it, it will be advisable not to discoimten-
ance their endeavors to procure redress, but rather,
by the intervention of confidential and prudent per-
sons, to take the direction of them. This, however,
must not appear. It is of moment to the public
tranquillity, that your Excellency should preserve



312 Alexander Hamilton

the confidence of the army without losing that of
the people. This will enable you, in case of ex-
tremity, to guide the current, and to bring order,
perhaps even good, out of confusion. 'T is a part
that requires address ; but 't is one which your own
situation, as well as the welfare of the community,
points out.

I will not conceal from your Excellency a truth
which it is necessary you should know. An idea is
propagated in the army that delicacy, carried to an
extreme, prevents your espousing its interests with
sufficient warmth. The falsehood of this opinion
no one can be better acquainted with than myself,
but it is not the less mischievous for being false. Its
tendency is to impair that influence which you may
exert with advantage, should any commotions im-
happily ensue, to moderate the pretensions of the
army, and make their conduct correspond with their
duty.

The great desideratum at present is the establish-
ment of general funds, which alone can do justice to
the creditors of the United States (of whom the army
forms the most meritorious class), restore pubHc
credit, and supply the future wants of government.
This is the object of all men of sense. In this
the influence of the army, properly directed, may
co-operate.

The intimations I have thrown out will suffice to
give your Excellency a proper conception of my
sentiments. You will judge of their reasonableness
or fallacy, but I persuade myself you will do justice
to my motives. General Knox has the confidence of



Private Correspondence 313

the army, and is a man of sense. I think he may be
safely made use of. Situated as I am, your Ex-
cellency will feel the confidential nature of these
observations.



TO GOVERNOR CLINTON

February 24, 1783.

Sir:

In my letter of the 14th I informed your Excellency
that Congress were employed in devising a plan for
carrying the eighth article of the Confederation into
execution. This business is at length brought to a
conclusion. I enclose, for the information of the
Legislature, the proceedings upon it in different
stages, by which they will see the part I have acted.
But as I was ultimately left in a small minority, I
think it my duty to explain the motives upon which
my opposition to the general course of the House
was founded.

I am of opinion that the article of the Confedera-
tion itself was ill-judged. In the first place I do not
believe there is any general representative of the
wealth of a nation, the criterion of its ability to pay
taxes. There are only two that can be thought of —
land and numbers.

The revenues of the United Provinces (general
and particular) were computed, before the present
war, to more than half as much as those of Great
Britain. The extent of their territory is not one
fourth part as great, their population less than a
third. The comparison is still more striking be-
tween those provinces and the Swiss Cantons, in



314 Alexander Hamilton

both of which extent of territory and population are
nearly the same, and yet the revenues of the former
are five times as large as those of the latter; nor
could any efforts of taxation bring them to any
thing like a level. In both cases the advantages for
agriculture are superior in those countries which
afford least revenue in proportion. I have selected
these examples because they are most familiar, but
whoever will extend the comparison between the
different nations of the world will perceive that the
position I have laid down is supported by universal
experience.

The truth is, the ability of a country to pay taxes
depends on infinite combinations of physical and
moral causes which can never be accommodated to
any general rule — climate, soil, productions, advan-
tages for navigation, government, genius of the
people, progress of arts and industry, and an endless
variety of circumstances. The diversities are suf-
ficiently great in these States to make an infinite
difference in their relative wealth, the proportion of
which can never be found by any common measure
whatever.

The only possible way, then, of making them con-
tribute to the general expense in an equal proportion
to their means, is by general taxes imposed imder
Continental authority.

In this mode there would no doubt be inequalities,
and, for a considerable time, material ones, but ex-
perience, and the constant operation of a general
interest, which, by the very collision of particular
interests, must, in the main, prevail in a Continental



Private Correspondence 315

deliberative, would at length correct those inequali-
ties, and balance one tax that should bear hard upon
one State by another that should have proportional
weight in others. This idea, however, was not, at
the period of framing the Confederation, and is not
yet, agreeable to the spirit of the time. To futurity
we must leave the discovery how far this spirit is
wise or foolish. One thing only is now certain:
that Congress having the discretionary power of
determining the quantum of money to be paid into
the general treasury towards defraying the common
expenses, have in effect the constitutional power of
general taxation.

The restraints upon the exercise of this power
amount to the perpetuating a rule for fixing the pro-
portions, which must of necessity produce inequality,
and by refusing the Federal Government a power
of specific taxation and of collection, without sub-
stituting any other adequate means of coercion, do,
in fact, leave the compliance with Constitutional
requisitions to the good-will of the respective States.
Inequality is inherent in the theory of the Confedera-
tion, and, in the practice, that inequality must in-
crease in proportion to the honesty or dishonesty of
the component parts. This vice will either, in its
consequences, reform the Federal Constitution or
dissolve it.

If a general standard must be fixed, numbers were
preferable to land. Modes might be devised to as-
certain the former with tolerable precision; but I
am persuaded the experiment will prove that the
value of all the land in each State cannot be



3i6 Alexander Hamilton

ascertained with any thing like exactness. Both
these measures have the common disadvantage of
being no equal representative of the wealth of the
people, but one is much more simple, definite, and
certain than the other.

I have indulged myself in these remarks to show