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equally noticeable for the absence of any local element. The nationality of Hamilton's views is apparent from the first. To him New York was no more nor nearer than Virginia, or Georgia, or Rhode Island. Hamilton comes upon the scene full-grown, in his mission to the north in November, 1777, to make Gates and Putnam obey their orders. His conduct, as detailed in his series of letters at that time, evinces amazing energy, capacity, and self-control, in a lad of twenty. How to deal with the conqueror of Saratoga, in the flush of his new-blown bays, would have been a problem for Talleyrand. That a hot aide-de-camp, scarcely out of his teens, should have made any thing of it, or that he should not even defeat his errand by bluster and fret, was almost too much to expect. But there was an old and cool head on those young shoulders. In November, 1777, he writes thus to Washington, from Albany.

“DEAR SIR,

"I arrived here yesterday, at noon, and waited upon General Gates immediately, on the business of my mission; but was sorry to find his ideas did not correspond with yours for drawing off the number of troops you directed. I used every argument in my power to convince him of the propriety of the measure; but he was inflexible in the opinion, that two brigades, at least, of Continental troops should remain in and near this place. His reasons were, that the intelligence of Sir Henry Clinton's having gone to join Burgoyne was not sufficiently authenticated to put it out of doubt; that there was, therefore, a possibility of his returning up the river, which might expose the finest arsenal in America (as he calls the one here) to destruction, should this place be left so bare of troops as I proposed; and that the want of conveniences, and the difficulty of the roads, would make it impossible to remove the artillery and stores here for a considerable time; that the New England States would be left open to the depredations and ravages of the enemy; that it would put it out of his power to enterprise any thing against Ticonderoga, which, he thinks, might be done in the winter, and which he considers it of importance to undertake.

"The force of the reasons did by no means strike me, and I did every thing in my power to show they were unsubstantial; but all I could effect, was to have one brigade despatched in addition to those already marched. I found myself infinitely embarrassed, and was at a loss how to act. I felt the importance of strengthening you as much

as possible; but, on the other hand, I found insuperable inconveniences in acting diametrically opposite to the opinion of a gentleman, whose successes have raised him into the highest importance. General Gates

has won the entire confidence of the Eastern States. If disposed to do it, by addressing himself to the prejudices of the people, he would find no difficulty to render a measure odious, which, it might be said with plausibility enough to be believed, was calculated to expose them to unnecessary danger, notwithstanding their exertions during the campaign had given them the fullest title to repose and security. General Gates has influence and interest elsewhere; he might use it, if he pleased, to discredit the measure there also. On the whole, it appeared to me dangerous to insist on sending more troops from hence, while General Gates appeared so warmly opposed to it. Should any accident or inconvenience happen in consequence of it, there would be too fair a pretext for censure; and many people are too well disposed to lay hold of it. At any rate, it might be considered as using him ill, to take a step so contrary to his judgment, in a case of this nature.

"These considerations, and others which I shall be more explicit in, when I have the pleasure of seeing you, determined me," &c. Vol. ii. pp. 26-28.

With Putnam, he did not feel compelled by the same reasons of prudence to use so much ceremony.

“SIR,

Head-Quarters, New Windsor, 9 November, 1777.

"I cannot forbear confessing, that I am astonished and alarmed beyond measure, to find that all his Excellency's views have been hitherto frustrated, and that no single step of those I mentioned to you has been taken to afford him the aid he absolutely stands in need of, and by delaying which, the cause of America is put to the utmost conceivable hazard.

"I so fully explained to you the General's situation, that I could not entertain a doubt you would make it the first object of your attention to reënforce him with that speed the exigency of affairs demanded; but, I am sorry to say, he will have too much reason to think other objects, in comparison with that insignificant, have been uppermost. I speak freely and emphatically, because I tremble at the consequences of the delay that has happened. General Clinton's reënforcement is probably by this time with Mr. Howe. This will give him a decisive superiority over our army. What may be the issue of such a state of things, I leave to the feelings of every friend to his country, capable of foreseeing consequences. My expressions may perhaps have more

warmth than is altogether proper; but they proceed from the overflowing of my heart, in a matter where I conceive this Continent essentially interested. I wrote to you from Albany, and desired you would send a thousand Continental troops of those first proposed to be left with you. This, I understand, has not been done. How the noncompliance can be answered to General Washington, you can best determine.

"I now, Sir, in the most explicit terms, by his Excellency's authority, give it as a positive order from him, that all the Continental troops under your command may be immediately marched to King's Ferry, there to cross the river, and hasten to reënforce the army under him. "The Massachusetts militia are to be detained instead of them, until the troops coming from the northward arrive. When they do, they will replace, as far as I am instructed, the troops you shall send away in consequence of this requisition. The General's idea of keeping troops this way does not extend farther than covering the country from any little irruptions of small parties, and carrying on the works necessary for the security of the river. As to attacking New York, that he thinks ought to be out of the question at present. If men could be spared from the other really necessary objects, he would have no objections to attempting a diversion by way of New York, but nothing further." Vol. ii. pp. 549, 550.

Poor, generous "Old Put!" Almost the only strokes of pathos in the volumes, due to private sorrows, are from his rude hand. And they are so touching, because they are so unconscious. October 16, 1777, he writes to Washington a full letter relating to the loss of Fort Montgomery, the surrender of Burgoyne, and his own subsequent dispositions, and concludes as follows, crushing the great grief of his stout heart into a period.

"The enemy's loss, by the last accounts I have been able to get, is very considerable; not less than a thousand. The two Continental frigates, and the row-galley which lay above Fort Montgomery, were burnt, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, for which I am very sorry, as one, I believe, might have been saved.

"I have the unhappiness to inform you, that Mrs. Putnam, after a long and tedious illness, departed this life last Tuesday night. With the highest esteem and respect, I am, dear Sir,

"Your most obedient, humble servant." Vol. ii. p. 6.

In December, 1779, while on a visit to his family in Con

necticut, he had an attack of paralysis, on hearing of which, Washington sent him a kind letter.* The first use of his hand in writing was to testify his affection to his General.

"DEAR SIR,

"Pomfret, 29 May, 1780.

"I cannot forbear informing your Excellency, by the return of Major Humphreys to camp, of the state of my health, from the first of my illness to the present time.

"After I was prevented from coming on to the army, by a stroke of the paralytic kind, which deprived me, in a great measure, of the use of my right leg and arm, I retired to my plantation, and have been gradually growing better ever since. I have now so far gained the use of my limbs, especially of my leg, as to be able to walk with very little impediment, and to ride on horseback tolerably well. In other respects I am in perfect health, and enjoy the comforts and pleasures of life with as good a relish as most of my neighbors.

"Although I should not be able to resume a command in the army, I propose to myself the happiness of making a visit, and seeing my friends there some time in the course of the campaign. And, however incapable I may be of serving my country, to my latest hour my wishes and prayers will always be most ardent and sincere for its happiness and freedom. As a principal instrument in the hand of Providence for effecting this, may Heaven long preserve your Excellency's most important and valuable life.

"Not being able to hold the pen in my own hand, I am obliged to make use of another to express with how much regard and esteem, I am, your Excellency's

"Most obedient and very humble servant,

"ISRAEL PUTNAM.

"P. S. I am making a great effort to use my hand to make the initials of my name, for the first time. I. P."

Vol. ii. p. 457, 458.

General Greene sometimes slips in a word about domestic anxieties; but never obtrusively, and only in a way which makes more conspicuous the struggle of the patriot in the subordinating of private feelings.

Of course, this publication has much more variety and dramatic interest than Mr. Sparks's selection from Washington's

Washington's Writings, vol. vii. p. 101.

writings. But its rare attractiveness of this kind is of less importance than its historical value as the complement of that work. Here are the materials, contributed from various quarters, from day to day, on which Washington made up the judgments announced in his own letters, and embodied in his own measures. Here are some two hundred mirrors, reflecting at so many different angles, the figure of the great man, each contributing its own witness, and all representing the self-same august form and port. Nearly two hundred writers from all parts of the country, addressing him on their own occasions, without a common object or mutual knowledge, testify in every unconscious line, their profound sense of his wisdom, magnanimity, and justice. Arnold bows to these qualities, Paine recognizes them, as much as Lafayette and Jay love and revere them. Hamilton is disappointed, but never complains. Henry dissents and opposes, but never thinks of blaming. Knox feels deeply hurt, but does not cease to be respectful and affectionate. Everybody's troubles come to Washington. Sullivan, Schuyler, Montgomery, even Greene, tease him with the recital of their discomforts and discontents, but the reader perceives that they are ill at ease in troubling him to think of them, who never thinks of himself, and that they are sensible that, after all, his equanimity will no more be shaken by their embarrassments than by his own. Open to advice, close as to expression, until the time for word or action came, self-possessed and unimpassioned always, no oracle was ever more oracular than this man among the more sagacious and disinterested of his associates, while the more impetuous or self-seeking never found in the antecedents a pretence for any charge of injustice, and rarely found in the consequences any foundation for a charge of mistake. Nobody, in Congress or in camp, or elsewhere, presumed to match his own wisdom with Washington's, except Gates and his coxcomical set, for a little while; and they could never get up each other's courage high enough to blurt out their crudities to him. The unhappy Conway did all that he could to resist, in himself, the feeble remains of a better nature; but by and by it triumphed, while death seemed to be

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*Vol. ii. p. 164.

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