(?:i)c Javiucr's iHoutlilri bisitor. 



11 



iler till) iiiiliUr iihil iiion^ lifiicfirci.t lonii — lie lo- 

 iiiaiiieil while lie lived a feiieralisl oftlie striiif;lit- 

 est sect ; ntid to the day of iiis death probuhly 

 never gave in to the opinion that theie was suffi- 

 cient virtue and luiowled^e in the people with 

 none or very little liiiiilcd restriction of the right 

 of suffrage to prevent the necessity of a more se- 

 vere and suuiuiary method of rule, llaiiiillon 

 continued to look towards an idiiniato monarchy 

 as the destiny of the country: his efforts, in the 

 rise of the two parlies, were against deinocraiic 

 tendencies. Yet it is surprising that the conven- 

 tion wliicli framed our Con.-titnlion brought to- 

 gether the be'tereleinents of both parties: Ilani- 

 ilton and Madison uniting both extremes, were 

 equally anxious to adopt and give effect to the 

 great charter of American Liberty, lioth of these 

 gentlemen united In producing those incompara- 

 ble essays of The Fedcialist, which have been 

 during the whole existence of the Constitution 

 the textbook of all partiesand all shades of opin- 

 ion. 



Mrs. Hamilton mentions the fact o( her hus- 

 band's great anxiety for the adoption of the Con- 

 stitution, when it had been submitted by the Con- 

 vention to the States. Engaged, from necessity, 

 in the support of his young family in the prac- 

 tice of the New York courts, he hud not time to 

 consider every subject. Separating and parcel- 

 ling out the prominent points of the instrument, 

 he submitted |)orlions to Mr. .Madison and Mi: 

 Jay, which he had not time to consider; and to 

 tliis circumstance was it due that the world had 

 the benefits of the whole reach between the two 

 extremes in learning liovv to appreciate an instru- 

 ment conceived in the liighest wisdom. Gen. 

 Hamilton, during the lengthened passage of sloop 

 navigation between New ^'orU and .Mbaiiy, in 

 the company of his wife, wrote the initiatory 

 niunber of the Federalist while on board. Ke- 

 turning to New York before her husband, she 

 was the bearer of this manuscript with instruc- 

 tions to send for the printer of the newspaper in 

 w liich it first ap| eared, ami deliver it herself. A 

 second number enclosed to her before he left 

 Albany was disposed of in the same way. 



It will be rememliered that Gen. Hamilton was 

 of the first Cabinet of Gen. Washington as Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury: i\lr. Jefferson was the 

 first Secretary of Slate. With all the procee<l- 

 ings of the Executive at the time of the first 

 Congress in the city of New Y'ork, having a fiini- 

 ily residence in that city, t!ie venerable lady is 

 fiimiliar in her recollection : she thinks the first 

 House of Represetitatives was not a fac simile of 

 those whose proceedings she has recently wit- 

 nessed : //if_i/ were, she says, very orderly and ci- 

 vil gentlemen. 



Talking freely as Mrs. Haniilion did upon ev- 

 ery thing pertaining to the cares of government 

 and that of the young family in which she deep- 

 ly interested herself, (and it being the same day 

 in which we were informed that a challenge for 

 a duel had been proferred late of an evening 

 recklessly in presence of a wife and mother who 

 was kept for several days in a deep and agoniz- 

 ing anxiety) we ventured the question whether or 

 not she knew what was going on in the duel ar- 

 rangement between Col. ISnrr and her husband. 

 She answered that she knew nothing of it till the 

 appalling sound of her hiisliand's death came to 

 her ears. Gen. Hamilton fell in the duel with 

 Burr in the year 1804, at the early age of forty- 

 two years. If living, his age would now be eigh- 

 ty-seven, probably two years younger than his 

 wife. It will be remembered that the cause of 



Uiis duel was a refusal mi the part ol' Hainilioii 

 to retract .something he had offered in conversa- 

 tion, as doiditful of Burr's moral integrity. This 

 was done while Burr, having chosen a position 

 hostile to Mr. Jefferson after the great contest 

 for the Presidency, in 1801, had become a candi- 

 date for Governor in New York, supported by 

 the lifderalisls. Burr atlrilinted his defeat in that 

 election to Hamilton : the opposing democratic 

 candidate was the late Gen. Morgan hewis, also, 

 like Hamilton and Burr, an officer of the revolu- 

 tion. 



Mrs. Hamilton says liir husband had been on 

 terms of familiarity and intimacy with Col. Biirj:. 

 They were both members of the bar, in whose 

 practice such intimacy could not be well avoided. 

 She says she always had, she knew not why, a 

 dread of the face of Mr. Burr ; and although pru- 

 dence prevented her from speaking it to her hus- 

 band, she feared he would be led into difficulty 

 by hill). Not a great while before the fatal duel, 

 a loud ringing of the house bell, near niidnight, 

 aroused her husband and herself from their re- 

 |iose. Her aged father and mother then living, 

 her first thought was that a messenger from Al- 

 l)aiiy might firing news of the illness or death of 

 one of them. It was Col. Burr seeking a loan ot 

 money for a present exigency which was readily 

 granted him \ 



Left with a numerous young family of children 

 which she has luntnred and educated, Mrs. Ilaiii- 

 ilton, for a longer term since his death than the 

 years of her husband's whole term of life, has 

 kept house and resided in the city of New York. 

 A widowed daughter, the youngest of her chil- 

 dren, living at home with her, also accompanies 

 her residence at Washington. The venerable 

 matron who, for nearly half a century, has stood 

 in the place of both parents, dresses in all the 

 plainness of the widow of some revolutionary 

 man, who, after he had conquered Independence, 

 made his first opening among our granite hills, 

 being outlived by the mother of two and perhaps 

 tliiee generations, who have been sustained and 

 educated and now form a portion of the real 

 bone and nuiscle of the Stale: she rides With no 

 gaily caparisoned coach and horses to make calls 

 upon the dignitaries at the seat of government ; 

 but she visits all parts of the " city of great dis- 

 tances" wlierever acquaintance calls her — she 

 goes abroad to dine — :issisted somiitimes by the 

 arm of her danirhter, but often alone and imaid- 

 ed— with the firm step which evinces a stamina 

 much beyond what is common in persons of her 

 age. 



A member of the Protestant Episcopal com- 

 iiinnion, she is scarcely ever absent from the 

 .'Sunday morning services at St. John's church : 

 no inclemency of the weather, not even a severe 

 norlli-cnster, prevents her from the exercise of 

 that habitual devotion to Deity which has sus- 

 tained her through many trials. Familiar as 

 hoiiseluild words to her is the book of Common 

 Praver. The moving lips show t.'ie operations of 

 that "inward and spiritual gr;ice" which scarcely 

 heeds siirroimding external nbjecls. This piety, 

 like that of the Hero of the Hermitage in his lat- 

 ter days, evinces a determination of the veteran 

 matron' to complete and carry out the work given 

 her to do, to the ;icceptance of the Almighti 

 Hand uho tries his children as in the fiirnace of 

 affliction, that their hearts may lie the lieiier fit- 

 ted for mansions of eternal rest and peace in a 

 world where sorrow shall never enter. 



. • Lands should be well drained before they are 

 manured. 



Ileiiiii ill llie United Ntiitesi An iin|>ortaiit dis- 

 covery us ii substitute for i^isal and i>Iiinilla 

 Ilemii. 



mishitiaion, Jan. V.\ 1847. 

 To the Editor of Ihc Visitor : 



Hkaii Sir : My attention was directed to an 

 article in your late Visitor n|ioii llie cultivation 

 and preparation of the Westein Hemp, and also a 

 plant indigeneous to iIk; Souih w hich in my judg- 

 ment is pussesfti.'d with properties calcnlaled to 

 supersede the use of Manill.i and Sisal hemp. 



For the interest of the public, 1 beg leave 

 through your columns to ofi'er a few remarks up- 

 on this important subject, and with it extracts of 

 letters from gentlemen who are hirge inannluc- 

 turers and itnporters of hemp, and who have ex- 

 amined samples of hemp produced from this 

 plant caljed liear grass, and have pronounced them 

 equal to Sisal, and lor soirie purposes it may be 

 preH-rred from its fine texture. 



1 have given this subject my attention for the 

 year past, gathering all the facts in relation to it, 

 and pressing the matter upon the consideration 

 of the planters, and have succeeded so far as to 

 cause some to enter upon its ciiltiv:ition and pre- 

 paration lor market. And there can be no doubt 

 but in time it will become one of the great sta- 

 [lies of the South. 



Previous to my commencement in 1840 with 

 the We.stern plant, the cultiv.ition of that article 

 was confined principally to Kentucky, and was of 

 su<-h intcuior character as to be only suitable for 

 manulaclnring into cotton flagging and bale rope. 

 Since that period my operations have produced 

 a new impetus, not only in its mode of cultiva- 

 tion liiit its extension in other slates, and more 

 particularly its preparation, which has produced 

 a demand for onr navy and coinniercial enter- 

 prise : also a great and increasing fiireign <le- 

 inand, concentrating wealth into the pockets of 

 onr own agricnllmists, where previously we were 

 sending millions annually to Europe lirir a pro- 

 duction that we could raise in abimd.ince on onr 

 own soil ; and an article which has been proven 

 to be fifty percent superior. In addiiion to this 

 there are fiictories now established in llie West 

 which will continue to increase, at Cincinnati, 

 Louisville and St. Louis, for the purpose of man- 

 nfactmiiiy this article into finer tiilirics. And 

 from present appearances it seems to lie deslined 

 to be to the West as a means of manuliiclin iiig 

 wealth, as the collon maimlactiire is at the East. 

 As a prodiiclion I'or export it will lu'ciiuie next in 

 value to cotton. Ii has ahead) produced a hap- 

 py change in onr I'omnieice liy drawing some 

 (brly sail of vessels out of the carrving trade of 

 the fiireigu prndiiclinn to this country, to carry 

 our staple to Europe. 



EXTRACT FROM MESSRS. SEWALL & DAY OF BOS- 

 TON. 



"We commenced the mannl'-ictiire of Ameri- 

 can Hemp in any consideralile qiianlity, in 1812, 

 when onr w hole purchases amounted to 



30,008 pounds. 

 In 1843 we ptirchaeed ]9G,6(i9 " 



" 1844 " 34f;,0.51 " 



" 1645 " 50'^.il5 " 



and we have ii|i to the 1st inst. of 1846, mamifiic-' 

 Hired 340,000 pomnls of cordagi; from Anierii'aii 

 Hemp, anil shall proliably inannliii'liire to the 

 amount of 700,000 oi' 800,000 pounils by the close 

 of the year. 



" We have no doubt that your exertions to irn- 

 (Move the quality of the Hemp pro<lnced in the 

 United Stales, to enalih' \ou to fullil your con- 

 tract with the governmiuit, made w hen Mr. Pauld- 

 ing was Secret.'iry, has contributed materially to 

 increase the consiimption of this .article, inas- 

 mncli as previous lu your attempts, the American 

 Hemp firouglit to this market wasof such a qual- 

 ity that it w;is next to iinp.ossible to mannliicture 

 it into tarred corilago of a quality that would 

 command a remunerating price to the inanuliic- 

 tmer. Since that time, however, the quality has 

 steadily improviil, .-ind we nmv make an article 

 that will cniiipete in iill its es.scntial qualilies 

 (strength and durability) with the liest Russian 

 cordage. 



"The result of this has already been to al- 

 most entirely stop the unportalion of Russian 

 Hemp, and very little cordage is now imported, 

 and that for exportation principally some small 

 quantities long used by sailmakers lor bolt rope; 

 but the importation of Russian Hemp has de- 



