USA > New York > Portrait gallery of the Chamber of Commerce of the state of New-York : catalogue and biographical sketches > Part 6
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Though devoted to business, he read widely and was well informed upon general topics. Being fond of the sea, he studied mathematics for amusement, and mas- tered not only the science of navigation, but on more than one occasion navigated the ship in which he was a passenger, during the illness of its captain. Astronomy was his delight, and he kept up with its progress to the end of his life.
In 1841 he married ELIZABETH, the second daughter of JOSHUA GILPIN, of Wilmington, Del., and had two chil- dren, a son and daughter. In early life Mr. MAURY was confirmed in the Church of England, and was a constant and faithful attendant at St. Thomas' Church, and after- wards at St. Mark's in this City.
He died at his home, September 18th, 1877. The spon- taneous testimony to his personal character by the mer-
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chants among whom he moved was summed up and graven upon his tombstone in the following words :
"A merchant in this City for nearly fifty years, his stainless character commanded the respect of all his asso- ciates, and worthily upheld the honored name bequeathed him by his much honored father."
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
No man in our national history presents a more com- pletely rounded character for genius, industry, intuitive perception, integrity, ability and vast attainments than ALEXANDER HAMILTON. As patriot, publicist, soldier, jurist, economist, financier and statesman, he stands, in the opinion of those best qualified to judge, pre-eminent among the men of his time. Dying at the early age of forty-seven, when most men have hardly reached the full maturity of their powers, he had been before the public for thirty years, and, in no instance, had failed to accomplish more than his most sanguine friends had dared to anticipate.
The Prince DE TALLEYRAND, the ablest and clearest headed of French statesmen, who had for some years been intimately acquainted with HAMILTON, and knew all his plans for his nation's advancement, said of him, when in the zenith of his own power in France: "I consider NAPOLEON, Fox and HAMILTON as the three greatest men of our epoch, and, if I were called upon to decide between the three, I should, without hesitation, give the first place to HAMILTON. Il avait deviné l' Europe." The full sig- nificance of this favorite word of TALLEYRAND, "deviné," cannot be expressed in any literal translation. The thought seems to be, that his genius had entranced Europe.
Chancellor KENT, in an address before the Law Asso- ciation of New-York in 1836 said : "Among his brethren, HAMILTON was indisputably pre-eminent. This was uni- versally conceded. He rose at once to the loftiest heights
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of professional eminence by his profound penetration, his power of analysis, the comprehensive grasp and strength of his understanding, and the firmness, frankness and integrity of his character."
The Marquis DE TALLEYRAND PERIGORD, son of the great statesman, and himself a man of great genius and learning, in his Etude sur la Republique des Etats Unis d' Amerique, says : "It was to the constructive political genius of ALEXANDER HAMILTON that America owed her Consti- tution ; it was he who furnished the essential materials which composed it; it is to him that the general plan of the edifice is due ; it was he who designed the lines which made that Constitution one of the most remarkable monu- ments of history. By his energy, his patriotism, his marvellous intelligence and his eloquence he succeeded in directing the public mind to the necessity of a more coherent, more perfect union. Knowing how to silence the selfish views of the different States, he led them to unite in the achievement of a great work. The Constitution completed and adopted, there remained something still to be accomplished ; it was necessary to give a judicial, clear, precise and lucid interpretation of this Constitution, in all those constantly recurring conditions, in which it would be called upon to guide and control public events."
Both these great boons to his country were bestowed by the genius and the extraordinary ability of HAMILTON. He had been, young as he was, a thorough student of every form of constitutional government ; he had perceived the necessity of the substitution of a strong national govern- ment for the effete and outworn confederation ; by pen and voice, he had demonstrated the necessity of the Constitu- tion ; he was one of the most active members of the Con- vention which formed it; he procured its adoption and ratification in the Convention of New-York against strong opposition ; he expounded and defended it in the " Fede- ralist,""as well as in other publications ; when our Govern- ment was re-organized under the Constitution, and he was called to administer on a bankrupt treasury, a national debt of vast proportions, and to rescue the nation from im-
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pending ruin, he devised measures, which speedily gave our country a credit abroad and at home which was equal to the best.
The City of New-York and its Chamber of Commerce are under the greatest obligations to ALEXANDER HAMIL- TON for what he did to revive and fully establish its credit. as well as for his previous good deeds in defending it, and rescuing it from threatened bombardment, at the beginning of the war of the Revolution. His genius and financial skill made New-York possible.
Let us, then, briefly review the career of this extraordi- nary man. ALEXANDER HAMILTON was born in Nevis, one of the British West India Islands, January 11, 1757. His father was JAMES HAMILTON, of a good Ayrshire family ; his mother, whose maiden name was FAUCETTE, was of Hugue- not stock. The father had set up in mercantile business in St. Christopher, but had become insolvent from endorsing for others. They had several sons ; but only THOMAS and ALEX- ANDER attained maturity. The mother died when ALEXAN- DER was yet a small child, but he had vivid recollections of her beauty and of her superior intellect and cultivation. ALEXANDER was taken by his mother's relatives to St. Croix and put at school there, where he speedily became profi- cient in French and English, with some little knowledge of Hebrew. He absorbed knowledge rapidly. In the autumn of 1760, he entered the counting house of Mr. NICHOLAS CRUGER, in St. Croix. Mr. NICHOLAS CRUGER was a New- Yorker by birth and education, a nephew of JOHN CRUGER, who was so eminent in the ante and post Revolutionary history of New-York, and was the first President of the New-York Chamber of Commerce. Mr. N. CRUGER had a warehouse in St. Croix, and also one in New-York, to which his West India goods were shipped. Here he showed such diligence, intelligence and aptitude for business that a year later he had a confidential relation with his employer, and during Mr. CRUGER's absence at New-York, was put in charge of the business. He was here, as always, a diligent student in commercial science, history and the classics. In August, 1772, before his sixteenth birthday, he was in St.
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Eustatia on business, when a cyclone burst upon the Lee- ward Islands. A full description of the storm and its effects was published in a local paper, and attracted much attention. Inquiry was made by the Governor of St. Croix for the author, and the discovery was made that it was the work of the boy HAMILTON. Arrangements were offered to him and accepted, by which he was to receive a liberal education at or near New-York. He had letters to several eminent men, among others to WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, then of Elizabethtown, New-Jersey, in whose country seat he found a home while attending the Grammar School in Elizabethtown. He was a most earnest and diligent student, and endeared himself to the LIVINGSTONS. WILLIAM LIV- INGSTON was the associate editor of the " American Whig," then published in New-York, and was a liberal in politics, and from him HAMILTON, perhaps, received his first im- pulses toward political composition.
In 1773, HAMILTON entered King's (now Columbia) College, stipulating that he should be admitted to any class for which he was qualified, and that he might advance from class to class, as his attainments might justify. He was here a diligent student, not only keeping up with his classes, but studying political and economical science, medicine and philosophy. But he mingled, also, boy as he was, with the patriots of his time. He was one of the "Sons of Liberty," and advocated the cause of the Boston patriots as he had opportunity.
There appeared in November, 1774, anonymously, two pamphlets, written with great ability, advocating the Tory, or, as they preferred to call it, the Loyalist views of those, who, at this time, were defending the oppressive measures of the English Government ; their titles were " Friendly Address to all Reasonable Americans on the subject of our Political Confusions," and " Free Thoughts on the Pro- ceedings of the Continental Congress ;" both "By a West- chester Farmer." They were from the pen of Rev. (after- wards Bishop) SAMUEL SEABURY, an intense Loyalist, and one of the most accomplished writers of the time. While the Whigs and Sons of Liberty were looking, with trepida-
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tion, for some writer on their side, who could meet this able and adroit adversary, and overthrow his specious argu- ments, there appeared, also anonymously, within two weeks after the publication of the Tory pamphlets, " A Vindica- tion of the Measures of the Congress from the Calumnies of their Enemies, in answer to a Letter under the Signature of A Westchester Farmer," embracing, in addition, " A General Address to the Inhabitants of America, and a particular Address to the Farmers of the Province of New- York," by " A Friend of America." This reply was in no respect inferior to the pamphlets which had called it forth ; in learning, in argument, in eloquent appeal, and in its complete demolition of the "Farmer's" positions, it was superior to them. Who wrote it ? was the universal ques- tion. It was attributed, by both parties, to WILLIAM LIV- INGSTON OF JOHN JAY, the ablest men on the Liberal side, but both denied its authorship. The controversy went on ; the Westchester Farmer appearing with two more pamphlets, one addressed to the " Very accomplished writer of the Vindication ;" and to these that writer replied February 5, 1775, with a still more crushing answer, to which the Farmer never made reply. When it was finally proved that these powerful vindications of the Liberal cause were from the pen of ALEXANDER HAMILTON, a student in King's College, who had just passed his eighteenth birthday, the Tories were confounded, and the friends of Liberty encouraged and strengthened. We must pass rapidly over the subsequent events of Mr. HAMILTON's wonderful career. Before gradu- ating, he had studied diligently military tactics, and quali- fied himself to command a company. He had also made an elegant and effective address to the merchants of New- York, which brought them into hearty co-operation with the Revolutionary party.
In March, 1776, when but 19 years of age, he was com- missioned a Captain of Artillery, by the Provincial or State Congress, and served with credit at the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton and Princeton, his Company being admirably drilled, and both they and their leader exhibiting undaunted courage. "He was at this time fair
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of complexion, slender, somewhat below the average size, and though boyish in stature, and looking even younger than he was, he possessed an energy, dignity and military bearing, which produced the most perfect obedience in all his command.
A year later, when just twenty, he was made one of WASHINGTON'S Aids-de-Camp, became soon his private Secretary, and assisted in planning campaigns. He re- mained with the Commander in Chief till February, 1781, when he was twenty-four years old. In December, 1780, he married a daughter of General SCHUYLER. In July, 1781, he became commander of a New-York battery, and captured, on October 14, 1781, a redoubt at Yorktown. After the surrender of CORNWALLIS he applied himself to the study of the law, was a member of Congress in 1782-83, and Chairman of important Committees. He returned to the practice of law in New-York City in August, 1783, and soon took the lead in his profession, though the bar of New-York was at that time very brilliant and able. He still took a lively interest in political, financial and social matters ; protected the Tories from persecution ; was active in establishing the Bank of New-York ; helped to found an Anti-Slavery Society ; studied intently the question of the Union os. the Confederation ; was a member of the New- York Legislature in January, 1787, and one of the dele- gates and the most active member in the National Conven- tion to form the Constitution of the United States. In that Convention he advocated and carried the doctrine of implied powers, by which the Constitution was made the broad, comprehensive and enduring charter of a nation's rights, which it became. A large part of the Constitution was from his pen. He advocated and carried its ratification be- fore the New-York State Convention ; defended it in a series of essays, afterwards published as " The Federalist," in which he was assisted by MADISON and JAY ; was ap- pointed Secretary of the Treasury in September, 1789, and in January, 1790, presented a report and plans, which res- cued the nation from bankruptcy, and became the basis of its financial system, restoring its credit at home and abroad.
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He proposed plans for funding the national debt, for as- suming those of the several States, for receiving and dis- posing of the public lands, for obtaining revenue from public lands, and from imposts by a protective tariff, for a mint, and a national bank. He remained at his post for six years, and having perfected all his plans, restored public credit, witnessed the revival of trade and industry, he resigned in January, 1795, and returned to his legal practice. But he was too much of a statesman and publicist to lay down his pen and relinquish his interest in public affairs. He advocated neutrality in the French Revolu- tionary struggle, and supported JAY's treaty with great ability. He assisted in the preparation of WASHINGTON'S " Farewell Address." In 1797 he declined the position of Chief Justice of the United States. In 1798, in conse- quence of the hostile action of the French Directory, the Army was re-organized, WASHINGTON taking the chief command, and HAMILTON second in command, as Major- General and Inspector-General. On the death of WASH- INGTON, in December, 1799, HAMILTON succeeded him as Commander-in-Chief, but the Army was soon disbanded.
When the House of Representatives were called to choose, in February, 1801, between JEFFERSON and BURR, the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes for the Presidency, HAMILTON advised his friends to vote for JEFFERSON ; and when, in 1804, BURR was a candidate for Governor of New-York, HAMILTON opposed his election, as a dangerous man, unfit to be trusted with power. BURR was defeated, and attributing his defeat to HAMILTON, chal- lenged him to a duel. HAMILTON was opposed to duelling, but for once in his life he made the mistake of accepting the challenge, and on July 11, 1804, met his adversary at Weehawken, was mortally wounded, and died the fol- lowing day in this City. Since the founding of the Re- public no man of greater gifts, of more ardent patriotism, or more untiring industry, has taken a prominent part in its councils.
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JOHN SHERMAN.
IN the political and financial history of our country for the last hundred years and more, there have been many masters of finance, who would have achieved high honors in any country, and who have rescued our nation from seemingly impending ruin. Among these heroes of finance we may name ROBERT MORRIS, the illustrious banker of the Revolution ; ALEXANDER HAMILTON, who delivered the nation from bankruptcy, and gave it a credit unsurpassed at that time by any other nation ; ALBERT GALLATIN, who remained in office for twelve eventful years, and whose financial ability was as conspicuous as his statesmanship. Coming down to a later period, SALMON P. CHASE, the projector of the national banking law, who, with his able lieutenants in the Senate, WILLIAM P. FESSENDEN and JOHN SHERMAN, provided for the bankrupt treasury the means of conducting a great war ; WILLIAM P. FESSENDEN, whose nine months' service was illustrious for its reduction of the gold premium ; HUGH MCCULLOCH, whose man- agement was judicious and able, looking to the rapid reduction of the national debt ; and, after a little further interval, JOHN SHERMAN, whom twenty years of financial experience had made wise, in laying such foundations for the nation's wealth and prosperity as should prove per- manent ; the man who perfected the national banking system, funded, at low rates of interest, the remainder of the national debt, and brought about resumption of specie payments without shock or financial disturbance. Of living financiers in this country or Europe, he is easily chief, and the glowing eulogy which the late Hon. WILLIAM E. DODGE, addressed to him in February, 1879, as the bearer of a congratulatory letter to him, from the Chamber of Com- merce, did not exceed his merits: "You will henceforward be known as Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, in the second great epoch of the nation's financial history, as one of the founders of the national banking law, as the
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restorer of the public credit, and the successful funder of the national debt."
With all honor, then, to those financial princes who had preceded him, we must give still higher praise to the right royal work of our modern monarch of finance.
JOHN SHERMAN was born in Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, May 10th, 1823, being the eighth child of Hon. CHARLES R. SHERMAN, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and MARY (HOYT) SHERMAN. He was of excellent lineage, his ancestors having been for more than two hundred and fifty years in the country, and two hundred in England, of thatintelligent, upright, GOD-fearing class, which has furnished our ablest lawyers, judges and pro- fessional men. ROGER SHERMAN, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was from another branch of the same family. Nearly a dozen Judges of the higher Courts, as well as many eminent professional men, have honored the SHERMAN name since 1634, the date of the first settlement in this country. Hon. CHARLES R. SHERMAN, the father of JOHN, was a man of mark, both in Connecticut, where he was born and educated, and in Ohio, to which State he removed in 1811, and where he died. He was eminent as a lawyer, and was appointed by President MONROE, Collector of Internal Revenue. By the defaulting of two of his deputies he became financially embarrassed. In 1823 he was elected by the Legislature Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, but was cut off by a sudden illness, in 1829, in the sixth year of his term, and the forty- first of his age, leaving eleven children, between the ages of eighteen years and six weeks, with very limited means for their support. Mrs. SHERMAN was, however, a woman of the highest character, and of excellent capacity for business. Friends and relatives gathered about her, and offered to take her children, and bring them up as worthy descendants of the beloved Judge. Four of them were thus taken, one (afterward General W. T. SHERMAN) by Hon. THOMAS EWING, and JOIN by his kinsman, JOHN SHERMAN, a merchant of Mount Vernon, Ohio, where it was expected he would be educated and trained for business. It was
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two years after his father's death, before he went to Mount Vernon, and those years were spent under his mother's careful training. He remained in Mount Vernon four years, and was in school most of the time, where he made remarkable proficiency in his studies, and became well grounded in Latin and mathematics. From there he was taken by his sister to Lancaster, and placed under the instruction of Mr. S. C. HOWE, whose school was considered one of the best in the Western States. Here he continued for three years, and was prepared to enter the Sophomore year in college, but he had not the means to defray his college expenses. He engaged, therefore, as junior rodman on the Muskingum Improvement. He remained for two years on this improvement, gaining in health and strength and knowledge of men, and sustaining himself. In 1839 he returned to Lancaster, and resumed his studies, but in the spring of 1840, his older brother, CHARLES T. SHERMAN, who was in a good practice, invited him to Mansfield to assist him in his office while preparing for college. Here he found an uncle, Judge PARKER, an eminent scholar and jurist, who took a great interest in him, and directed his studies. At the Judge's advice, he devoted the whole of the next four years to law studies instead of entering college. He became very thoroughly familiar with the best legal works, and in his brother's office had considerable practice. When he was twenty-one years of age he was unusually well prepared for admission to the bar. For a full year before this time, he was able to more than pay his way, and on his graduation was at once admitted as an equal partner in his brother's business. He remained in partnership with his brother for ten years, and such was his success that he became the trusted counsellor of some of the large railroad lines, and, among others, of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago, of which he was, and still is, a director. During all this time, he laid up more than $1,000 a year from his earnings, and made some ven- tures in land and manufactures, which have turned out well.
Mr. SHERMAN was married in 1848 to Miss CECILIA
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STEWART, of Mansfield, who has proved to be all that a good wife should be, and has exerted an admirable influence on his character.
Mr. SHERMAN was first elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress, in 1854, and took his seat in December, 1855. He was elected as a Free Soiler, or opponent of slavery extension, by the elements which afterwards crystallized into the Republican party.
He supported NATHANIEL P. BANKS for Speaker, who was finally elected on a plurality vote, after 133 ballot- ings. Mr. SHERMAN was placed on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, but, as a new member, was not entrusted with the lead on any very important topics. He made a vigorous opposition to the bill for adjusting the French Spoliation Claims, and secured its defeat ; took part, on the Republican side, in the Kansas debate, and made a powerful and fearless report on the outrages on the ballot and the murders, committed there. He was re-elected to the Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses, and soon took a high position as an able, clear-headed and fearless debater, and a legislator of great skill in all finan- cial questions, who could not be swerved, by any influence, from any position which he believed to be right. ' He showed very soon his thorough mastery of the questions of finance, and he became a terror to the corruptionists, then in power in the departments. He was in the minority, but his able reports showed the people and Congress what an earthquake there would be, when the Republicans came into power. In the Thirty-sixth Congress he was a prominent candidate for Speaker, having a plurality of votes, and steadily gain- ing till the thirty-ninth ballot, when he withdrew, and five days later, on the forty-fourth ballot, Mr. PENNINGTON, of New-Jersey, a Republican, was elected. Mr. PENNINGTON made Mr. SHERMAN Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means. It was a trying position, in the last half of Presi- dent BUCHANAN'S administration, and required thorough knowledge of finance, and a fearless, but not a quarrelsome, spirit. The credit of the United States was very low; the national debt was $62,000,000 ; on this the Government was
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compelled to pay 12 per cent. interest, and a loan of twenty millions, offered at 88, could not find purchasers. A civil war, or a disruption of the Government was believed by many to be pending. Mr. SHERMAN began by retrenching expenses in all directions, breaking up, as far as possible, the frauds which, in the Navy and other departments, were drawing the life blood of the nation. Mr. SHERMAN did what he could to help the national credit, but the President (BUCHANAN) had become very much offended by the inves- tigations into frauds in the Navy Department, and thwarted, by every means in his power, the measures he proposed. Mr. SHERMAN was re-elected to the Thirty-seventh Con- gress ; but before he could take his seat, was elected Senator in place of SALMON P. CHASE, appointed by President LINCOLN, Secretary of the Treasury.
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