HAMILCAR BARCA 



2674 



HAMILTON 



German navy .are built here in yards employing 

 more than 5,000 men in times of peace. Popu- 

 lation in 1910, 931,035. 



Hamburg State. A free state of the former 

 Empire containing the metropolitan district of 

 Hamburg. It has an area of 160 square miles. 

 It lies between Schleswig-Holstein on the north 

 and Hanover on the south, extending to Cux- 

 haven at the mouth of the Elbe. Hamburg is 

 a republic governed by a Senate and a House 

 of Burgesses. The country districts are devoted 

 to agriculture. The soil is very fertile and pro- 

 duces good crops of rye, barley, wheat and po- 

 tatoes. In addition to Hamburg, the chief 

 towns are Bergedorf, with 14,907 inhabitants, 

 Ritzebuttel 3,140, and Cuxhaven, which be- 

 came an important naval base at the beginning 

 of the War of the Nations in 1914. Population 

 of the state, exclusive of the city of Hamburg, 

 83.600. 



HAMILCAR BARCA,hahmU'kahr bahr'kah 

 (270-228 B.C.), a commander-in-chief of the 

 army of ancient Carthage, whose wonderful 

 military genius prepared the way for the found- 

 ing of a new empire in Spain by his famous 

 son, Hannibal. While still a young man he 

 was given command of the Cathaginian forces 

 in Sicily, shortly before the close of the First 

 Punic War. Although the Romans were mas- 

 ters of almost the whole island, he conducted 

 war against them with great ability for several 

 years, making Rome tremble for the safety 

 of its Italian possessions. In 241 B. c. the 

 Carthaginian admiral, Hanno, was severely 

 defeated, and Hamilcar Barca was compelled 

 to leave Sicily. A revolt of the returned troops, 

 in which they were joined by some native 

 African tribes, was successfully repressed by 

 him. 



After the close of the First Punic War the 

 Carthaginians determined to repair their losses 

 by new conquests in Spain, and in 236 B.C. 

 Hamilcar led the march westward, where for 

 nine years he devoted his commanding genius 

 to organizing the different Iberian tribes into 

 a compact state. His great design of making 

 Spain a point of attack against Rome was 

 carried out by his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, and 

 his son, Hannibal. See PUNIC WARS; HANNI- 

 BAL; CARTHAGE. 



HAMILTON, ALEXANDER (1757-1804), an 

 American statesman of the early national 

 period, the first Secretary of the Treasury and 

 one of the most able and farseeing officials 

 who ever held that office. He took his seat in 

 Washington's first Cabinet at a time when the 



treasury of the nation was ejmpty and the 

 government was without credit. How he ac- 

 quitted himself in the difficult role he was 

 called upon to play is summed up in the elo- 

 quent words of Daniel Webster: 



He smote the rock of the national resources, 

 and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. 

 He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and 

 it sprung upon its feet. 



Alexander Hamilton was born at Charles 

 Town, on the island of Nevis in the West 

 Indies, on January 11, 1757, an illegitimate son 

 of a Scotch trader. At the age of sixteen the 

 boy came to America to complete his educa- 

 t i o n , studying 

 for a year in a 

 grammar school 

 at Elizabethtown, 

 N. J., and then 

 entering King's 

 College (now 

 Columbia Uni- 

 versity). The 

 struggle of the 

 colonies against 

 England early en- 

 listed his ardent 

 sympathy, and 

 before the open- 

 ing of hostilities he published anonymously two 

 remarkable pamphlets in support of the patriot 

 cause. On the outbreak of the Revolution he 

 joined the Colonial forces and displayed such 

 valor and coolness in Washington's New Jersey 

 campaign of 1776-1777 that the latter made 

 him an aid on his staff, 'with the rank of 

 lieutenant-colonel. 



After the close of the war Hamilton took a 

 course in law, and in 1782-1783 represented 

 New York in the Continental Congress. He 

 was keenly alive to the weakness of the govern- 

 ment under the Articles of Confederation and 

 he bore a conspicuous part in the assembling 

 of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, in 

 which he sat as one of the delegates from New 

 York. No one labored more fervently than he 

 for the adoption of the new Constitution; his 

 masterly papers in its support, published in 

 The Federalist, and his speeches in the New 

 York Convention which ratified it exerted a 

 tremendous influence in its favor. 



In 1789, when the Treasury Department was 

 organized, President Washington appointed 

 Hamilton the first Secretary of the Treasury, 

 and his handling of the nation's financial prob- 

 lems during his term of office laid the founda- 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 



