military presence, one without the intolerable acc 
martinet; his general address indicates beauty, enaeee ol 
activity of mind. He has a bright, ruddy complexion bright 
colored hair, a mouth infinite in expression with a sweet smile 
being most observable, while his eyes are lustrous with mean- 
ing and reflection, or glancing with quick canny pleasantry 
his whole countenance being decidedly Scottish in form and 
expression; his forehead is lofty, capacious, and prominent 
which betoken the possessor of a masterly intellect. Thus, 
we now hear his voice, one that is musical, exact in pro- 
nunciation, correct in articulation, while his manner, his ges- 
ticulations, are frank and impulsive. On the other hand, his 
ordinary dress is a blue coat with gilt buttons, a white silk 
waistcoat, black silk small-clothes, and white stockings. 
. The great intellectual qualities of the mind of Alexander 
| Hamilton were a clear, vigorous, reasoning faculty, a chaste, 
prolific imagination, whereupon he possessed a rare and beau- 
. tiful proportion of these mental qualities; on the other hand, 
in the discussion of any subject, he seized hold of the main 
points with the vigor of an intellectual giant, manipulating 
them gracefully, being in a philosophical state of the greatest 
ease. Hence, no matter how abstruse the details of a discus- 
sion or an inquiry was to other men, his well trained, power- 
ful intellect followed and unraveled all its intricacies, exposing 
them clearly; no matter how profound a theme was, Hamilton 
easily and perseveringly sounded its lowest, obscurest depths, 
revealing them plainly to the observation of men. Here we 
see that he was always thorough and exhaustive in his re- < 
searches, as his reports as Secretary of the Treasury will a 
clearly evince. Moreover, he went to the profundity of every 
subject; for, having arranged his premises plainly and fairly, 
he argued from said premises with the most logical clearness, 
accuracy, and force, his reasoning forming a chain of iron that 
a giant could not break, a chain, though ponderous and power- 
ful, was a gilded one, because it was burnished with all the 
beauty and polish of a rich imagination. Few writers in our 
language, not even those who have cultivated elegance and 
euphony of style as their sole accomplishment, and whose en- 
tire attention has been devoted to the labor limae, excelled him 
in this particular. His essays, pamphlets, and reports are 
aa annce each being perfect, symmetrical, and finished in 
: itselt. 
| Let us go a little farther into the intellect of this great 
American character. As a financier, not less than a statesman, 
Hamilton showed exceptional ability, having the rare qualities 
of intellect that enabled him to perceive the legitimate sources 
of revenue, proper conditions of national credit, and the best 
method of distributing over a term of years the payment re- 
5 
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