hat came properly within his department to which he did not
give his entire attention; and as he was laboring for a new nation, it
necessarily happened that all the machinery had to be improvised, To the
demands made on his intellect, his time, and his industry, the Secretary
was found to be more than equal. His triumphs astonished and gratified
the friends of good government throughout the world, and carried his
name to all nations. In only eighteen months, a change had been effected
such as it well might have taken as many years to accomplish, and which
thoroughly justified the new polity, and the measures which had been
adopted under it. Foreign commerce flourished, and also the domestic
trade. The agricultural interest prospered, and manufactures steadily
increased. "The waste lands in the interior were being rapidly settled;
towns were springing up in every direction; the seaports were increasing
in wealth and population; and that great career of internal improvement,
by numerous highways, with which the United States have amazed the
world, was begun." Fisher Ames wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury
that the national bank and the Federal Government possessed more
popularity than any institution or government could long maintain. "The
success of the government, and especially of the measures proceeding
from your department," he said, "has astonished the multitude; and while
it has shut the mouths, it has stung the envious hearts, of the State
leaders." American credit was raised so high in Europe, that, at the
opening of 1791, a great loan was taken in Holland in two hours, on
better terms than any European government but one could have obtained.
The subscriptions to the national bank were filled in a day, and could
easily have been doubled. Such another instance of successful
statesmanship it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find.

It is sometimes said that the success of the Hamiltonian system was due
to European events,--that the great wars which grew out of the French
Revolution created so extensive demands for our productions that we must
have prospered, no matter what should have been the course of American
political life. What might have been, had the Constitution failed of
adoption, it is not necessary to discuss; but this we know, that the
success of Secretary Hamilton's plans was pronounced and complete before
the European wars alluded to began. That success was seen in the early
days of 1791, a