Theophile Cazenove to Elizabeth Hamilton
Paris, 10th September, 1805.
My dear and highly esteemed Lady: Your letter of the 6th of December last did not reach me until July, and owing to the absence of M. Talleyrand it was sometime before I received an answer in reply to your request for the picture of the friend we have all lost. Notwithstanding the great value M. Talleyrand sets upon the image of the friend of whom we speak almost daily, your request and the circumstances are of a nature requiring self-sacrifice. The picture being executed in pastel, time and crossing the sea have impaired it, yet the likeness still remains, and on seeing it I fear your tender and afflicted heart will bleed, but tears will assuage these pangs, and my tears will flow with yours. May it bring comfort to the wife of the man whose genius and firmness have probably created the greatest part of the United States, and whose amiable qualities, great good sense, and instruction have been a pleasure to his own friends. Good God—must such a man fall in such a manner! . . . In fear the original picture should not reach you with my present letter, I have ordered a copy of it in oil-painting, which I send by another opportunity, and which I request you will give to my godson in case the original shall reach you; if not to dispose of the copy in the manner you shall wish. . . . M. Talleyrand desires me to tell you of his respect and friendship and the part he has taken in your affliction.
Your obedient servant and friend,
Theophile Cazenove.
The sculptor's chisel has also been busy, but with little result in the way of serious artistic production, if we may except the Ceracci bust, the Ball statue which was destroyed by fire, and the excellent modem work of Ordway Partridge, one of whose striking statues stands in front of a Hamilton Qub in Brooklyn, and the other at the entrance of Hamilton Hall, a building of Columbia University. Ceracci's bust, which is very strong in its classical character, suggests a head of one of the Caesars, and is more familiar than any other, although Houdin about the same time made a bust, when he executed that of Washington, which is also well known. Many other stiff and conventional statues exist, among them that in Central Park. The majority, however, are unworthy of serious consideration because they are commonplace or inartistic. Giuseppe Ceracci came here during the French Revolution, but returned to France and was guillotined after being concerned in a conspiracy against the life of Napoleon. A rather amusing entry in Hamilton's expense-book is the following: $620.oo on March 3rd, 1796. For this sum through delicacy paid upon Ceracci's draft for making my bust on his own importunity, & 'as a favour to me.'"
Ceracci seems to have been a person with rather grandiose ideas, for he wrote to Hamilton from Amsterdam in July, 1797, suggesting that he should be employed by the United States Government to execute "a colossal, monumental group to commemorate National Triumph, and to celebrate the Epoch of Glory, to perpetuate the heroes of the Revolution. ... To give an idea of the grandeur of the subject it is necessary to imagine a group in sculpture sixty feet high, and having a base three hundred feet in circumference. It is to be composed of sixteen statues fifteen feet high, of Colonels, and other characters in marble, an Eagle, and other objects; the whole to be surmounted by a figure of Hero in bronze. The blocks of marble for each statue would measure 16x6 perches." The cost was to be $50,000, an enormous sum in those days, and it was to be paid in ten portions.
There is little contemporary information regarding Hamilton's actual physical appearance, but two interesting Frenchmen who saw much of him and his family have written delightfully of the social life in New York during the latter half of the eighteenth century, giving us a quaint idea of the city as it then was. One of these was J. P. Brissot de Warville, who, during the French Revolution was a Girondist and bitterly opposed to both Damon and Robespierre, and took a radical and active part in the affairs of the ever-troubled and unstable republic. As editor of the Moniteur and the Patriot Francais and other newspapers at the time of the Directory, he is pictured by Sergent Marceau as the original yellow journalist, for his attacks upon his companions and his attempts at blackmail were of the orthodox kind. His first book was published in 1791. Finding his position a dangerous one after the overthrow of the Girondists he again came to the United States, and on his return published a second book of travels. In this he said: f Mr. Ham-ikon is the worthy fellow-laborer of Mr. Madison. He appears to be a man of thirty-eight or forty; he is not tall, his features are firm and his expression decided; his manner is frank and martial. He was aide de camp to Gen. Washington who had great confidence in him, and he well merited it. Mr. Hamilton has the determined air of a Republican— Mr. Madison the meditative air of a politician."
The Duke de Rochefoucauld-Liancourt was a chivalrous loyal gentleman of another kind, and remained with his king as long as he could without actual danger to his neck, escaping to England with other Royalists. It will be remembered that he was the Grand Master of the king's wardrobe, when he broke the news of the capture of the Bastille to his royal master, and was the first person to tell Louis XVI that the Revolution had actually begun.
At a later period, when Louis was urged to escape to England, he offered him protection, the whole of his fortune, reserving only one hundred louis a year for his children, and an asylum in the Chatteau de Gallon, near Rouen. On August 7, 1792, the king accepted this magnificent and unselfish offer, but almost immediately after changed his mind, as he was so in the habit of doing.
He, too, finally had to leave France, and came to America with a letter of introduction 'to Alexander Hamilton from John Jay who was then in London, and the following from. Angelica Church, and later became one of Hamilton's warmest friends.
Angelica Church to Alexander Hamilton
London, September 19, 1794.
My dear Brother: I have very particular and very good motives to ask your kindness for the Duke de Liancourt, he loved liberty with good sence and moderation; and he meant so well towards his country as to introduce into France a better system of Agriculture and to soften the situation of the Lower class of people there. Virtue, has not found its reward, for in the many scenes of distress that has afflicted his unfortunate country, he like many more good men, has been obliged to leave his possessions and seek an Asylum in this country.
He goes to America, and goes there without a friend, unless my dear Brother, who is always so good, will extend to Monsieur de Liancourt his care—besides many good qualities, this gentleman is the friend of the Marquis de La-Fayette.
Adieu my dear friend, remember me to Beaumetz and Monsieur de Talleyrand.
Angelica Church.
In writing later he said: "I met again in New York M. Hamilton, one of the most interesting men in America. He united with dignity and feeling, and much force and decision, delightful manners, great sweetness, and was infinitely agreeable. As was generally known he exerted a positive influence, and at the same time had much to do with the administration of General Washington during the last year of the Presidency." And again: "Mr. Hamilton is one of the finest men in America, at least of those I have seen. He has breadth of mind, and even genuine clearness in his ideas, facility in their expression, information on all points, cheerfulness, excellence of character, and much amiability. I believe that even this eulogy is not adequate to his merit."
Alexander Hamilton to Angelica Church
Philadelphia, Dec. 8, 1794.
Liancourt has arrived, and has delivered your letter. I pay him all the attention due to his misfortunes and his merits. I wish I was a Croesus; I might then afford solid consolation to these children of adversity, and how delightful it would be to do so. But now sympathy, kind words, and occasionally a dinner are all I can contribute.
Hamilton's personality appears from all sources of information to indicate a mixture of aggressive force and infinite tenderness and amiability. The former led him always to speak his mind freely—perhaps too freely for his own comfort when he knew he was right, and when he had a wrong to master or disclose, or an end to accomplish.
This he did with an unselfishness and absolute fixity of purpose,