self in the siege at the head of the artillery. Previously to the adoption of the present constitution general Knox succeeded general Lincoln as secretary at war in March 1785; and after our present government was organized in 1789 president Washington nominated him for the same office. He continued to fill this department till the close of the year 1794, when he resigned it, being driven from the service of the public by the scantiness of the compensation allowed him. In his letter to the president he says, " after having served my country near twenty years, the greater portion of the time under your immediate auspices, it is with extreme reluctance I find myself constrained to withdraw from so honorable a situation. But the natural and powerful claims of a numerous family will no longer permit me to neglect their essential interests. In whatever situation I shall be, I shall recollect your confidence and kindness with all the fervor and purity of affection, of which a grateful heart is susceptible." General Washington in reply assured him of his sincerest friendship, and declared him to have "deserved well of his country." During the last years of his life general Knox lived at Thomastown in the district of Maine. It was in that place, that he died after a short illness, October 25, 1806, aged fifty six years. His death was occasioned by his swallowing the bone of a chicken.

General Knox was distinguished for his military talents, his bravery, perseverance, and integrity. He possessed in an uncommon degree the esteem and confidence of Washington. Though a soldier and a statesman, he did not dismiss the amiable virtues of the man. There was a frankness in his manners, which was pleasing, and his heart was susceptible of the kindly affections.

GENERAL ALEXANDER HAMILTON.

Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, was a native of the Island of St. Croix, and was born in 1757. At the age of sixteen, he accompanied his mother to New York, and entered a student at Columbia college, in which he continued about three years. While a member of this institution, the first buddings of his intellect gave presages of his future eminence. The contest with Great Britain called forth the first talents on each side, and his juvenile pen asserted the claims of the colonies against very respectable writers. His papers exhibited such evidences of intellect and wisdom, that they were ascribed to Mr. Jay, and when the truth was discovered, America saw with astonishment a lad of seventeen in the list of her able advocates. At the age of eighteen, he entered the American army as an officer of artillery. The first sound of war awakened his martial spirit, and as a soldier he soon conciliated the regard of his brethren in arms. It was not long before he attracted the notice of Washington, who in 1777 selected him as aid, with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Throughout the campaign, which terminated in the capture of lord Cornwallis, col. Hamilton commanded a battalion of light infantry. At the siege of York, in 1781, when the second parallel was opened, two redoubts which flanked it, and were advanced three hundred yards in front of the British works, very much annoyed the men in the trenches. It was resolved to possess them, and to prevent jealousies, the attack of the one was committed to the Americans, and of the other to the French. The detachment of the Americans was commanded by the marquis de la Fayette, and col. Hamilton, at his own earnest request, led the advanced corps, consisting of two battalions. Towards the close of the day, on the fourteenth of October, the troops rushed to the charge without firing a single gun. The works were assaulted with irresistible impetuosity, and carried with but little loss. Eight of the enemy fell in the action; but notwithstanding the irritation lately produced by the infamous slaughter in fort Griswold, not a man was killed who ceased to resist.

Soon after the capture of Cornwallis, Hamilton sheathed his sword, and at the age of twenty-five applied to the study of the law. He soon rose to eminence in his profession, but his mind could not be detached from the public welfare. In a few years a more important affair demanded his talents. In 1787, he was appointed a member of the Convention for forming a national Constitution. His views on this subject were different from the majority of that august body. He was in favour of a more permanent executive and senate; and he wished for a strong government, which would not be shaken by the conflict of different interests and parties. These were his views and feelings, but believing the constitution to be incomparably superior to the old confederation, he exerted all his talents in its support, though it did not rise to his conception of a perfect system. By his pen in the papers, signed Publius, and by his voice in the convention of New York, he contributed much to its adoption. When the government was organized, in 1789, Washington placed him at the head of the treasury. In the new demands which were now made upon his talents, the resources of his mind did not fail him. In his reports he proposed plans for funding the debt of the union, and for assuming the debts of the respective states, for establishing a bank and mint, and for procuring a revenue. He wished to redeem the reputation of his country by satisfying her creditors, and to combine with the government such a monied interest, as might facilitate its operations. But while he opened sources of wealth to thousands, by establishing public credit, and thus restoring the public paper to its original value, he did not enrich himself. He did not take advantage of his situation, nor improve the opportunity he enjoyed for acquiring a fortune. Though accused of amassing wealth, he did not vest a dollar in the public funds. He was exquisitely delicate in regard to his official character, being determined if possible to pre

vent the impeachment of his motives, and preserve his integrity and good name unimpaired.

On the last of January, 1795, he resigned the office of Secretary of the Treasury. In 1798, when a provisional army was raised, in consequence of the injuries and demands of France, Washington suspended his acceptance of the command of it, on the condition, that Hamilton should be bis associate and second in command. This arrangement was made. After the adjustment of our affairs with the French Republic, and the discharge of the army, he returned again to his profession in the city of New York. In this place he passed the remainder of his days.

In June, 1804, col. Burr, vice president of the United States, addressed a letter to gen. Hamitton, requiring his acknowledgment or denial of the use of any expression derogatory to the honour of the former. This demand was deemed inadmissible, and a duel was the consequence. At the close of the circuit court, the parties met at Hoboken, on the morning of Wednesday, July the eleventh, and Hamilton fell on the same spot, where his son, a few years before, had fallen, in obedience to the same principle of honour, and in the same violation of the laws of God and of man.

In the conversation which ensued, he disavowed all intention of taking the life of col. Burr, and declared his abhorrence of the whole transaction. When the sin of which he had been guilty, was intimated to him, he assented, with strong emotion; and when the infinite merit of the Redeemer, as the propitiation for sin, the sole ground of our acceptance with God, was suggested, he said, with emphasis, I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.' The reverend bishop Moore was afterwards sent for, and after making suitable inquiries of the peni tence and faith of general Hamilton, and receiving his assurance, that he would never again, if restored to health, be engaged in a similar transaction, but would employ all his influence in society to discountenance the barbarous custom, administered to him the communion. After this his mind was composed. He expired about two o'clock on Thursday, July 12, 1804, aged about forty-seven years.

General Hamilton possessed very uncommon powers of mind. To whatever subject he directed his attention, he was able to grasp it, and in whatever he engaged, in that he excelled. So stupendous were his talents, and so patient was his industry, that no investigation presented difficulties which he could not conquer. In the class of men of intellect, he held the first rank. His eloquence was of the most interesting kind, and when new exertions were required, he rose in new strength, and touching at his pleasure every string of pity or terror, of indignation or grief, he bent the passions of others to his purpose. At the bar he gained the first eminence.

LIEUT. GOVERNOR CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN.

Christopher Gadsden, lieutenant governor of South Carolina, and a distinguished friend of his country, was born about the year 1724. So high was his reputation in the colony in which he lived, that he was appointed one of the delegates to the congress which met at N. York, in Oct. 1765, to petition against the stamp act. He was also chosen a member of the congress which met in 1774, and on his return early in 1776, received the thanks of the provincial assembly for his services. He was among the first who openly advocated republican principles, and wished to make his country independent of the monarchical government of Great Britain. The decisive genius,' says Ramsay, of Christopher Gadsden in the south, and of John Adams in the north, at a much earlier day, might have desired a complete separation of America from Great Britain; but till the year 1776, the rejection of the second petition of congress, and the appearance of Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense, a reconciliation with the mother country was the unanimous wish of almost every other American.' During the siege of Charleston, in 1780, he remained within the lines, with five of the council, while governor Rutledge, with the other three, left the city at the earnest request of gen. Lincoln. Several months after the capitulation, be was taken out of his bed on the 27th of August, and with most of the civil and military officers, transported in a guard ship to St. Augustine. This was done by the order of lord Cornwallis, and it was in violation of the rights of prisoners on parole. Guards were left at their houses, and the private papers of some of them were examined. A parole was offered at St. Augustine; but such was the indignation of lieut. gov. Gadsden, at the ungenerous treatment which he had received, that he refused to accept it, and bore a close confinement in the castle for forty-two weeks with the greatest fortitude. In 1782, when it became necessary, by the rotation established, to choose a new governor, he was elected to this office; but he declined it in a short speech to the following effect. 'I have served you in a variety of stations for thirty years, and I would now cheerfully make one of a forlorn hope in an assault on the lines of Charleston, if it was probable, that with the loss of my life you would be reinstated in the possession of your capital. What I can do for my country, I am willing to do. My sentiments of the American cause from the stamp act downwards, have never changed. I am still of opinion, that it is the cause of liberty and of human nature. The present times require the vigor and activity of the prime of life; but I feel the increasing infirmities of old age to such a degree, that I am conscious I cannot serve you to advantage. I therefore beg for your sakes, and for the sake of the public, that you would indulge me with the liberty of declining the arduous trust.' He continued, however, his exertions for the good of his country, both in the assembly and council,

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and notwithstanding the injuries he had suffered, and the immense loss of his property, he zealously opposed the law for confiscating the estates of the adherents to the British government; and contended that sound policy required to forgive and forget. He died in September, 1805, aged eighty-one years.

COLONEL JOHN LAURENS.

John Laurens, a brave officer in the American war, was the son of Henry Laurens, president of Congress, and a native of South Carolina. John Laurens received his education in England. He joined the army in the beginning of 1777, from which time he was foremost in danger. He was present and distinguished himself in every action of the army under general Washington, and was among the first who entered the British lines at York Town. Early in 1781, while he held the rank of lieut. col. he was selected as the most suitable person to depute on a special mission to France, to solicit a loan of money, and to procure military stores. He arrived in March, and returned in August, having been so successful in the execution of his commission, that Congress passed a vote of thanks for his services. Such was his despatch, that in three days after he repaired to Philadelphia, he finished his business with Congress, and immediately rejoined the American army. On the 27th of August, 1782, in opposing a foraging party of the British, near Combahee river, in South Carolina, he was mortally wounded, and he died at the age of twenty-six years. His father, just released from imprisonment, and happy in a son of such distinction and virtues, now witnessed the desolation of all his hopes. Colonel Laurens, uniting the talents of a great officer with the knowledge of the scholar, and the engaging manners of the gentleman, was the glory of the army, and the idol of his country. Washington, who selected him as his aid, and reposed in him the highest confidence, declared that he could discover no fault in him, unless it was intrepidity, bordering upon rashness. His abilities were exhibited in the legislature and in the cabinet, as well as in the field. He was zealous for the rights of humanity, and, living in a country of slaves, contended, that personal liberty was the birth-right of every human being, however diversified by country, colour, or powers of mind. His insinuating address won the hearts of all his acquaintance, while his sincerity and virtue secured their lasting esteem.

MAJOR GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM.

Israel Putnam was born at Salem, Massachusetts, January 7, 1718. His mind was vigorous, but it was never cultivated by education. When he for the first time went to Boston, he was insulted for his rusticity by a boy of twice his size. After bearing his sarcasms until his good nature was exhausted, he attacked and vanquished the