t in arms during the insurrection of Western Pennsylvania, and the
creation of a National Bank. His reports on these subjects, and on
manufactures, in which he advocated protection, are among the most
important contributions of their kind to our national archives. In
allusion to the financial measures of Hamilton, and their success at the
time in the welfare of the country, Daniel Webster, in a speech at New
York, half a century afterward, exclaimed: "He smote the rock of the
national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He
touched the dead corpse of the public, and it sprung upon its feet."

The measures of Hamilton, however, were not adopted without opposition.
Jefferson was their persistent opponent; local interests and State
pretensions arose to thwart the measures of Government, and gave birth
to the party feuds of Federalism and its opponents. A growing element of
disaffection was added to the political caldron in the relations with
England and the disturbing influences of the principles of the French
Revolution. Hamilton bore the brunt of much of this popular opposition,
which came to a crisis in the discussions attending the British Treaty
of Jay, in 1794, as he defended its provisions in the papers signed
"Camillus," while it was before the country, and advocated its leading
neutrality principles in "The Letters of Pacificus," published by him
the previous year. When France had wearied out all indulgence by her
aggressions on the high seas, and by her treatment of our ministers at
Paris, and Washington was again called to the field in anticipation of
an expected invasion, Hamilton was appointed second in command, and now
employed himself in the organization of the army. On the death of
Washington he became commander-in-chief. On the conclusion of a treaty
with France the army disbanded.

In the intervals of these public duties, Hamilton was actively employed
in his profession in the higher courts of the State. The late Chancellor
Kent afterward recalled his "clear, elegant, and fluent style and
commanding manner. He never made any argument in court without
displaying his habit of thinking and resorting at once to some
well-founded principle of law, and drawing his deductions logically from
his premises. Law was always treated by him as a science, founded on
established principles. His manners were gentle, affable, and kind. He
appeared to be frank, liberal, and courteous in all his professio