r respective departments required an interchange of
opinion. He had vanquished his enemy in print, made him ridiculous in
the eyes of all who read the _Gazettes_. Moreover, Washington, disturbed
during the summer by the constant nagging of Jefferson and his agents,
respecting the "monarchical schemes" and "corrupt practices" of the
Secretary of the Treasury, had formulated the accusations and sent them
to Hamilton for refutation. The vindication, written without passion, as
cold, clear, consistent, and logical, as if dealing with an abstract
proposition, had convinced, and finally, all to whom it was shown; with
the exception of Jefferson, who had no intention of being convinced.
Hamilton was conscious that there was no vulnerable point in his public
armour. Of his private he was not so sure; Reynolds was in jail, for
attempting, in company with one Clingman, to suborn a witness to commit
perjury, and had appealed to him for aid. He had ignored him, determined
to submit to no further blackmail, be the consequences what they might.
But he was the last man to anticipate trouble, and on the whole he was
in the best of humours as the Christmas holidays approached, with his
boys home from their school on Staten Island, his little girl growing
lovelier and more accomplished, and his wife always charming and pretty;
in their rare hours of uninterrupted companionship, piquant and
diverting. He had gone out with her constantly since Congress assembled,
and had enjoyed the recreations of society after his summer of hard work
and angry passions. Everywhere he had a triumphal progress; men and
women jostled each other about him, eager for a word, a smile, making
him talk at length, whether he would or not. The confidence in him was
stronger than ever, but his enemies were the most powerful, collectively
and individually, that had ever arrayed against a public man: Jefferson,
Madison, and Monroe, with the South behind them; the Livingstons and the
Clinton faction in New York; Burr, with his smiling subterranean
industry; the growing menace of the Republican party. Pamphlets were
circulating in the States warning voters against all who supported the
Secretary of the Treasury. It was one man against odds of appalling
strength and resource; for by common consent both of friends and enemies
Hamilton was the Federal party. Did he fall, it must go; all blows were
aimed at him alone. Could any one man stand for ever an impregnable
fortress b