In January 1795, secretary Hamilton resigned the direc tion of the treasury department, and once more returned to private life. He still felt himself charged to vindicate another important measure of the government, of which he had been a strenuous advocate; hut which had been distort ed not a little by party-misrepresentation—Jay's treaty with Great Britain. This ireaty had to encounter inveterate prejudices, which had their root in the animosities of the revolutionary war, and which had been rekindled, and arm ed with increased violence, by the effects of the French revolution on the minds of the American people. Even at this day, it is delicate to comment on some of the events produced by the spirit of party at that period. The ex-secre tary devoted all his leisure from professional avocations, in the summer of 1795, to a defence of the treaty, in a series of essays, under the signature of Can:illus. Error and pre judice were dissipated by their point and truth. The treaty was ratified ; and the nation consequently derived great and immediate advantages from the provisions relating to the western posts, and the liquidation of unsettled claims ; and subsequently enjoyed a long course olcommercial prosperity.
The last great occasion which called secretary Hamilton upon the theatre of public action, arose in 1798. France for some years had been making depredations upon the commerce of the United States. A pacific adjustment by negociation had been repeatedly attempted on their part without success. Their minister had been refused audi ence. Three ministers extraordinary had been treated with unwarrantable contumely ; and money was demanded of them, on the most degrading terms, and in the most indig nant manner. The door of reconciliation being thus closed, they had left no honourable alternative but open and deter mined resistance of injury and insult. France was a pow er the most terrible in strength ; the most daring in pro ject ; the least scrupulous in the choice of means ; the most fatal to its victims, of any that a righteous Providence had hitherto permitted to rise up for the chastisement of the human race. All the republican states of Europe within her wide-spreading grasp, the United Netherlands, Geneva, the Swiss Cantons, Genoa, and Venice, had already been prostrated by her arms, or her still more formidable caresses. She was at the moment rioting in schemes of universal domination ; and was actually fitting out a vast armament, in the ports of the Mediterranean, for some ex pedition of conquest or plunder. At this portentous peri od, the ex-secretary published The Stand, a series of es says, under the signature of Titus Manlius, with the view to arouse his fellow-citizens to a sense of impending danger, and to prevail on the government without delay to adopt measures of defence, at once vigorous and The Stand glowingly pourtrays the conduct revolu tionary France towards her own people, and towards other nations; and shows that she had undermined the main pa_ lays of civilized society ; that she betrayed a plan to disor ganize the human understanding itself, by destroying all re ligious sentiment, and perverting a whole nation to atheism ; that her ruling passions were ambition and libertinism ; and that she aimed equally to proselyte, subjugate, and debase every government without distinction, to effect the elevation and aggrandizement of the "Great Nation." It details the
accumulated injuries and insults the United States had re ceived from France; and demonstrated, that her object was to degrade and humble their government, excite the Ame rican people to revolution, and prepare the way to conquest for herself. In the conclusion, it recommends a suspension of the good understanding which had subsisted between the United States and France; fortification of their harbours ; to defend their commerce on the ocean ; attack her pre datory cruisers on our coast ; create a respectable navy ; raise, organize, and discipline a provisional army; as indis pensible precautions against attempts of invasion, which might distress the inhabitants of the Atlantic border, and seriously prejudice the domestic peace of the nation. Final ly, it entreats the people and government of the United States, having taken the attitude recommended, to meet the aggressor in the spirit and fortitude of calm defiance. So undeniable were the facts ; so irresistible the conclu sions ; and so palpable the policy recommended, that, in 1798, the measures suggested by the writer were all lite rally carried into execution by congress, and approved by a majority of the nation. An honourable, proud, and man ly sentiment pervaded the people. The Stand reflected honour on the national character. That character was re spected in Europe ; and afforded additional security to the rights of the United States.
A provisional army was voted by congress ; and the late secretary, upon the express solicitation of Washington, the commander in chief, with the rank of lieutenant-general, was appointed inspector-genet-al. The following extract of a letter from general Washington, insisting upon the ap pointment of Hamilton second in command, and inspector general, exhibits the sentiments entertained of his merits, by one of the best judges of men : " It is, at all times, an invidious task to draw comparisons ; and I shall avoid it as much as possible : but I have no hesitation in declaring, that, if the public is to be deprived of the set-vices of colo nel Hamilton, in the military line, the post he was destined to fill will not be easily supplied ; and, that this is the sen timent of the public, I may venture to pronounce.