nd war did not commence until 1792; and then it was not
waged on that grand scale to which it subsequently reached. The war
between France and England, which affected this country most, broke out
in 1793, two years after Ames had written so encouragingly to Hamilton,
and yet warning him to prepare for the inevitable Nemesis, that "envy of
the gods," which, according to the Hellenic superstition, but fairly
justifiable by innumerable historical facts, waits on all prosperity and
rebukes human wisdom. To us it seems that the most that can be said of
the effect of the wide-spread and long-continued European quarrel on our
business was this,--that it gave to it much of its peculiar character,
but did not create it, and was not necessary to its creation or its
continuance. What Hamilton did was to remove depressing influences from
American life and the American mind,--to substitute order for disorder,
hope for fear, and confidence and security for dread and distrust. This
was what was done by Hamilton and his associates; and this done, the
native energies of the people did all the rest. It is all but certain
that the extraordinary career of material prosperity that began
immediately after it was seen what was to be our policy under the new
polity, would have been essentially the same, as to the general result,
had Europe remained quiet for twenty years longer, and had there been no
downfall of the old French monarchy. The details of American business
life would have been different, but the result would have been pretty
much the same as what we have seen.

Events soon justified the apprehensions of the sensitive, but sagacious
Ames. Hamilton's prosperity bred its natural consequences, and he became
the target at which many aspiring men directed their attacks,--Thomas
Jefferson standing at their head. The cause of this, which has been
sought in the French Revolution, in opposition to the supposed
centralizing tendencies of the Hamiltonian policy, and so forth, really
lies on the surface. It grew out of men's ambition, and their desire for
power. It was plain to Southern men, that, if Hamilton were permitted to
accomplish his purpose entire, he must become the man of men, and that
his influence would become equal to that of Washington, whose influence
they bowed to most unwillingly. Not less plain was it that power would
be with the North. Hence their determination to "break him down," which
they would have pursued with all thei