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intention was, as soon as I could be removed, to send a Mr. Pinckney, of South Carolina, in my room." When I heard of Mr. Pinckney's appointment, this London information came into my mind, and diverted me, because I supposed Mr. Pinckney, after eight years, had carried his point, and occasioned the sentiments expressed in the letter, which, from the sportive, playful, careless air of it throughout, must be easily perceived to have been confidential. It may be easily ascertained who was the Mr. Pinckney, who was a member of Congress in 1784 or 1785, when my commission was granted, and dated, and when the limitation to three years was inserted.

"On this occasion, it is but justice and duty in me to declare, that I have not at this time the smallest reason to believe or suspect, that you or your brother ever solicited any appointment under government, abroad or at home; that the whole conduct of both, as far as it has come to my knowledge, (and I have had considerable opportunities to know the conduct of both since .1792) has shown minds candid, able and independent, wholly free from any kind of influence from Britain, and from any improper bias in favour of that country or any other; and that both have rendered, with bonour and dignity to themselves, great and important services to our country. And I will add in the sincerity of my heart, that I know of no two gentlemen, whose characlers and conduct are more deserving of confidence.

"I cannot conclude without observing, that we are fallen on evil times-on evil times indeed are we fallen, if every conversation is immediately to be betrayed and misrepresented in newspapers, and if every frivolous and confidential letter is to be dragged by the hand of treachery from its oblivion of eight years, and published by malice and revenge, for the purpose of making mischief.

"I am, Sir, with great truth and regard,
"Your friend and humble servant,
"JOHN ADAMS."

The Honourable THOMAS PINCKNEY, Esq.
Charleston, South Carolina.

As your letter has been so long on the way to me, I shall publish this answer immediately, which I hope you will excuse.

By comparing this letter with the letter of COXE, the reader will clearly perceive what a dilemma Mr. ADAMS has reduced himself to. If his insinuations were founded in truth, what shall we say of his letter to PINCKNEY? And, if they were not founded in truth, what shall we say of his letter to CoxE?

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That he has been most shamefully betrayed is certain; and all the world must detest the treacherous wretch, who, to answer party purposes, could so readily divulge, and publish, the confidential expressions of his friend. But while we execrate the conduct of CoxE, it is impossible for us to refrain from condemning that of Mr. ADAMS,

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The close of the poor old man's letter to PINCKNEY is truly pathetic: " on evil times, indeed, are we fallen, if every frivolous and confidential letter "is to be dragged, by the hand of treachery, from "its oblivion of eight years, and published by ma"lice and revenge, for the purpose of making mis"chief."-Excellent observation! But, does Mr. ADAMS recollect no other instance of this species of perfidy and malice? Does he not recollect, that Doctor FRANKLIN, (the old Zanga of "Boston,") purloined the letters of Governor HUTCHINSON and Lieut. Governor OLIVER, with those of several other persons, and conveyed them to the Assembly of Massachusetts; which Assembly voted him their thanks for so doing; and of which Assembly, we believe, Mr. JOHN ADAMS was a member !!" His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come "down upon his own pate."

ADAMS's PUBLIC CONDUCT.

Review of a Letter from Mr. ALEXANDER HA MILTON, concerning the Public Conduct of Mr. ADAMS, President of the United States, published at New-York, in August, 1800.-From the Anti-Jacobin Review.

MOST of our readers are well acquainted with the character of Mr. HAMILTON: to such as are not, it may be proper for us to state some circum

stances

stances respecting a person, who has rendered himself famous in the American annals, who long has been, and who yet is, a leading man in the United States.

This gentleman, who is a native of the West Indies, having been, early in life, connected with a mercantile house at New-York, went to take up his residence in that city, not many years before the breaking out of that revolt, which, by the humane instrumentality of a Howe and a Shelburne, terminated in the total separation of the colonies. from the mother country, Mr. Hamilton entered into the American army at a very early stage of the contest, and was soon distinguished for his discretion and his valour, His high reputation for both procured him the post of Aid-de-Camp to General Washington, whose fame is, perhaps, more indebted to Mr. Hamilton than to any intrinsic merit of his own.

In the history of the war, we find Mr. Hamilton rising from rank to rank, till, at the siege of York town, we see him a Colonel, commanding the attack on one of the redoubts, the capture of which decided the fate of Lord Cornwallis and his army. Mr. Hamilton's conduct on this occasion was such as marks the true hero. Previously to the assault, La Fayette, who was high in command in the American army, proposed to Washington to put to death all the British officers and soldiers that should be taken in the redoubts, Washington, who, as Dr. Smyth truly observes, "never did one generous action in his life," replied, that, as the Marquis had the chief command of the assault, "he might do as he pleased." This answer, which was very much like that of Pontius Pilate to the Jews, encouraged the base and vindictive Frenchman to give a positive order to Colonel Hamilton to execute his bloody intention. After the redoubts

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doubts were subdued, La Fayette asked why his order had not been obeyed, to which the gallant and humane Hamilton replied, "that the Americans knew how to fight, but not to murder," in which sentiment he was joined by the American soldiers, who heard the remonstrance of La Fayette with indignation and abhorrence*.

The war being at an end, the army disbanded, and no provision made for either soldiers or officers, Mr. Hamilton was led to the profession of the law. He retired to Albany, where he secluded himself from the world for some months, at the end of which he was admitted to the bar, and, to the utter astonishment of every one, was, in a very little time, regarded as the most eminent advocate at a bar, which is far from being destitute either of legal knowledge or rhetorical talents. In this situation he acquired still greater honour by his courageous resistance of those violent and unjust measures which were proposed, and, in some cases, carried into execution, against the property and the persons of the loyalists, who remained in the state after the evacuation of the city of New-York. He had fought bravely against them, and he now, as bravely, defended them against the persecution of those selfish and malignant cowards, who had never dared to face them in the field: and, it may be safely asserted, that the state of New-York owed the restoration of its tranquillity and credit to his exertions more than to any other cause whatever.

When the federal government was established, in the year 1788, Mr. Hamilton was appointed Secre

* For a detail of these facts the reader is referred to the American account of the revolutionary war, published by DODSON of Philadelphia, and inserted in the American edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica,

tary

tary of the Treasury, an office, in America, similar to those of our Lord Treasurer and Chancellor of the Exchequer joined in one. This situation, considering the state of the American finances, and the total want of public credit that prevailed, was a most arduous one; but Mr. Hamilton's genius, his inflexible integrity, and his indefatigable industry, surmounted all obstacles. In a very

short space, the American government regained the lost confidence of both natives and foreigners; the payment of the public debts was provided for, trade and commerce revived, and the nation rose to that importance, to which, without Mr. Hamilton's measures, it never would have attained.

Haying thus grafted the soldier upon the merchant, and the statesman upon the lawyer; having excelled his contemporaries in all these widely various professions, he was justly regarded as a man, to whom the nation might look with confidence in any future crisis of its affairs. The weight which his advice always had with General Washington was well known; his ambition was gratified, as far as it could be, under a government like that of America; but ambition cannot supply the place of the means of existence, and Mr. Hamilton, after having, for eight years, helped out his salary by the small fortune he had acquired at the bar, was absolutely compelled, by the foolish parsimony of the government, to return to that bar, in order to retrieve the losses which he had sustained, and to pay the debts which he had contracted, in the service of his country!

At the approach of the expected war with France, in 1798, he was appointed Major-General and Inspector-General of the army of the United States, which nominally placed him next in command to General Washington, and, in reality, made him first in command, because it was stipulated, that

General

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