De Alexander

Hamilton's funding system, especially the proposed assumption of state debts, then dividing the public mind, afforded plausible cause for opposing federalism; and ostensibly for this reason, the Livingstons ceased to be Federalists.

His associates were the leading Federalists; his principles were the pillars of his party; and his ambitions centred in the success and strength of his country.

What Cæsar said of Gaul used to be said of the Empire State, that all New York was divided into three parts--the Clintons, the Livingstons, and the Schuylers.

If Clinton thought himself fortunate in gaining Burr, he was still more fortunate in the defection of the influential Livingstons.

Such a man would attract the attention of any political manager, and although Clinton up to this time had had no particular relations with Burr, the latter's enthusiastic support of Yates accentuated his political value.

It can hardly be supposed that in appointing Burr attorney-general, Clinton did not have in mind the necessity of securing to the ranks of the anti-Federalists all talented and spirited young men; but it is none the less evident that…

Perhaps their only common characteristic was an ungoverned admiration for the charms of women, though, unlike Burr, Hamilton neither bragged of his amours, nor boasted that success attended his pursuit of pleasure.

Both were fearless and brave, but the one was candid, frank and resolute; the other subtle, crafty and adventurous.

There is a legend that from the first, destiny seemed determined to oppose the genius and fame of Hamilton with the genius and fame of Aaron Burr.

Burr's prejudices settled into positive dislike; Hamilton's appreciation voiced the sentiment of the people and the judgment of posterity.

Burr thought Washington inferior as an officer, and weak, though honest, as a man; Hamilton thought him a great soldier and a great statesman, upon whose services the welfare of the country largely depended.

But the master-stroke of Clinton's diplomacy displayed itself in the appointment of Aaron Burr as attorney-general.

Of the lights and ornaments of the law in his day, Richard Harrison excelled in an intimate knowledge of its intricacies and mysteries.

He was not, like Smith, a great debater, but his ready eloquence classed him among the orators who were destined to live in the memory of a later generation.

However agreeable to him it might be to defeat and humiliate Clinton, greater satisfaction must spring from the consciousness that while in its leading-strings, at least, the general government would have the hearty support of New York.

From Hamilton's standpoint, therefore, it was more principle than men.

The new government, soon to be placed on trial, needed the help of sympathetic governors and legislatures, and Clinton and his supporters, forced to accept the Constitution, could hardly be regarded as its wisest and safest guardians.

All that we know of Yates would seem to deny his surrender of principle, or his condescension to any act of baseness, to obtain office.

If Clinton was the Hampden of the colonial period, Robert Yates could well be called its Pym.

He abated the intemperate zeal of patriotic juries, and he refused to convict men suspected of disloyalty, without proof.

After the ratification of the Constitution, however, Robert Yates charged the grand jury that it would be little short of treason against the Republic to disobey it.

And, though his opposition to the new Constitution was such as his friends cannot but disapprove, yet, since the period of its adoption, his conduct has been tempered with a degree of moderation, and seems to point him out as a man likely…

It is well known that the inhabitants of this city are, with few exceptions, strongly attached to the new Constitution.

Doubtless Clinton derived some advantage from the control of appointments, which multiplied in number and increased in influence as term succeeded term, but his popularity drew its inspiration from sources other than patronage.

The march of events has so clearly proved the wisdom of Hamilton and the unwisdom of Clinton, that the name of one, joined inseparably with that of Washington, has grown with the century, until it is as much a part of the history of the…