to give him the satisfaction of regaining his former mastery
of her mind; but she ceased to speak of it. Meanwhile, he was devoting
his energies to winning her again, and he had never found life so
interesting. She radiated a new bewitchment, and he had always thought
her the most adorable woman on the planet. He divined a good many of her
mental processes; but if he was a trifle amused, he was deeply
respectful. She was sufficiently uncertain in this new character to
torment him unbearably, and when she occasionally betrayed that she was
interested and fascinated, he was transported. When she finally
succumbed, he was more in love than he had ever been in his life.

XXXVII

The next seven years of Hamilton's life must be reviewed very rapidly.
Interesting as they might be made, space diminishes, and after all they
were but the precursor of the last great battle of the giants.

In the spring of 1794 the Virginian ring rallied for their final assault
in Congress. Their spokesman this time was a worthless man, named
Fraunces, and he brought forth a charge against the Secretary of the
Treasury of unfaithfulness in office. Hamilton promptly demanded another
investigation. The result may be found in the following letters from
eminent Federals in Virginia. The first is from Colonel Carrington,
dated Richmond, July 9th.

I do not write this letter as congratulatory upon the final issue
of the Inquiry into the Treasury Department, as I never conceived
you exposed to receive injury therefrom. I write to express my most
sincere wishes that you will not suffer the illiberality with which
you have been treated to deprive the public of your services, at
least until the storm which hangs over us, and is to be dreaded,
not less from our own follies and vices than the malignance and
intrigues of foreigners, blows over. It is true you have been
abused, but it has been and still is, the fate of him who was
supposed out of the reach of all slander. It is indeed the lot, in
some degree, of every man amongst us who has the sense or fortitude
to speak and act rationally, and such men must continue so to speak
and act if we are saved from anarchy.

On July 20th, Thomas Corbin wrote to Hamilton deploring the political
conditions in Virginia created by Thomas Jefferson, in which these
significant passages occur:--

Calumny and misrepresentation are the only weapons