[1] These facts were first definitely determined by Mrs Gertrude
Atherton from the Danish Archives in Denmark and the West Indies; see
article in _North American Review_, Aug. 1902, vol. 175, p. 229; and
preface to her _A Few of Hamilton's Letters_ (New York, 1903).
[2] These were written in answer to the widely read pamphlets
published over the _nom de plume_ of "A Westchester Farmer," and now
known to have been written by Samuel Seabury (q.v.). Hamilton's
pamphlets were entitled "A Full Vindication of the Measures of the
Congress from the Calumnies of their Enemies," and "The Farmer
Refuted." Concerning them George Ticknor Curtis (_Constitutional
History of the United States_, i. 274) has said, "There are displayed
in these papers a power of reasoning and sarcasm, a knowledge of the
principles of government and of the English constitution, and a grasp
of the merits of the whole controversy, that would have done honour
to any man at any age. To say that they evince precocity of intellect
gives no idea of their main characteristics. They show great
maturity--a more remarkable maturity than has ever been exhibited by
any other person, at so early an age, in the same department of
thought."
[3] George Bancroft was the first to point out that there is small
evidence that Hamilton ever really appreciated Washington's great
qualities; but on the score of personal and Federalist indebtedness
he left explicit recognition.
[4] For Hamilton's letter to General Schuyler on this episode--one of
the most important letters, in some ways, that he ever wrote--see the
_Works_, ix. 232 (8: 35).
[5] Especially the letter of September 1780 to James Duane, _Works_,
i. 213 (1: 203); also the "Continentalist" papers of 1781.
[6] His most famous case at this time (_Rutgers_ v. _Waddington_) was
one that well illustrated his moral courage. Under a "Trespass Law"
of New York, Elizabeth Rutgers, a widow, brought suit against one
Joshua Waddington, a Loyalist, who during the war of American
Independence, while New York was occupied by the British, had made
use of some of her property. In face of popular clamour, Hamilton,
who advocated a conciliatory treatment of the Loyalists, represented
Waddington, who won the case, decided in 1784.
[7] As Mr Oliver points out (_Alexander Hamilton_, p. 156),
Hamilton's idea of the British constitution was not a correct picture
of the British constitution in 1787, and still less of that of the
20th century. "What he had in mind was the British constitution as
George III. had tried to make it." Hamilton's ideal was an elective
monarchy, and his guiding principle a proper balance of authority.
[8] Briefly, he proposed a governor and two chambers--an Assembly
elected by the people for three years, and a Senate--the governor and
senate holding office for life or during good behaviour, and chosen,
through electors, by voters qualified by property; the governor to
have an unqualified veto on federal legislation; state governors to
have a similar veto on state legislation, and to be appointed by the
federal government; the federal government to control all militia.
See _Works_, i. 347 (1: 331); and cf. his correspondence, which is
scanty, _passim_ in later years, notably x. 446, 431, 329 (8: 606,
596, 517), and references below.
[9] Nearly all the papers in _The Federalist_ first appeared (between
October 1787 and April 1788) in New York journals, over the signature
"Publius." Jay wrote only five. The authorship of twelve of them is
uncertain, and has been the subject of much controversy between
partisans of Hamilton and Madison. Concerning _The Federalist_
Chancellor James Kent (_Commentaries_, i. 241) said: "There is no
work on the subject of the Constitution, and on republican and
federal government generally, that deserves to be more thoroughly
studied. I know not indeed of any work on the principles of free
government that is to be compared, in instruction and intrinsic
value, to this small and unpretending volume.... It is equally
admirable in the depth of its wisdom, the comprehensiveness of its
views, the sagacity of its reflections, and the fearlessness,
patriotism, candour, simplicity, and elegance, with which its truths
are uttered and recommended."
[10] The position was offered first to Robert Morris, who declined
it, expressing the opinion that Hamilton was the man best fitted to
meet its problems.
[11] Hamilton's _Report on Manufactures_ (1791) by itself entitles
him to the place of an epoch-maker in economics. It was the first
great revolt from Adam Smith, on whose _Wealth of Nations_ (1776) he
is said to have already written a commentary which is lost. In his
criticism on Adam Smith, and his arguments for a system of moderate
protective duties associated with the deliberate policy of promoting
national interests, his work was the inspiration of Friedrich List,
and so the foundation of the economic system of Germany in a later
day, and again, still later, of the policy of Tariff Reform and
Colonial Preference in England, as advocated by Mr Chamberlain and
his supporters. See the detailed account given in the article
PROTECTION.
[12] That is, while Jefferson hated British aristocracy and
sympathized with French democracy, Hamilton hated French democracy
and sympathized with British aristocracy and order; but neither
wanted war; and indeed Jefferson, throughout life, was the more
peaceful of the two. Neutrality was in the line of commonplace
American thinking of that time, as may be seen in the writings of all
the leading men of the day. The cry of "British Hamilton" had no good
excuse whatever.
[13] e.g. his prediction in 1789 of the course of the French
Revolution; his judgments of Burr from 1792 onward, and of Burr and
Jefferson in 1800.
[14] After the Democrats won New York in 1799, Hamilton proposed to
Governor John Jay to call together the out-going Federalist
legislature, in order to choose Federalist presidential electors, a
suggestion which Jay simply endorsed: "Proposing a measure for party
purposes which it would not become me to adopt."--_Works_, x. 371 (8:
549). Compare also with later developments of ward politics in New
York City, Hamilton's curious suggestions as to Federalist charities,
&c., in connexion with the Christian Constitutional Society proposed
by him in 1802 to combat irreligion and democracy (_Works_, x. 432
(8: 596).
[15] Hamilton's widow, who survived him for half a century, dying at
the age of ninety-seven, was left with four sons and four daughters.
He had been an affectionate husband and father, though his devotion
to his wife had been consistent with occasional lapses from strict
marital fidelity. One intrigue into which he drifted in 1791, with a
Mrs Reynolds, led to the blackmailing of Hamilton by her husband; and
when this rascal, shortly afterwards, got into trouble for fraud, his
relations with Hamilton were unscrupulously misrepresented for
political purposes by some of Hamilton's opponents. But Hamilton
faced the necessity of revealing the true state of things with
conspicuous courage, and the scandal only reacted on his accusers.
One of them was Monroe, whose reputation comes very badly out of this
unsavoury affair.
[16] In later years he said no debt should be incurred without
providing simultaneously for its payment.
[17] He warmly supported the Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798 (in
their final form).
[18] The idea, he wrote to Washington, was "one of those visionary
things none but madmen could undertake, and that no wise man will
believe" (1792). And see his comments on Burr's ambitions, _Works_,
x. 417, 450 (8: 585, 610). We may accept as just, and applicable to
his entire career, the statement made by himself in 1803 of his
principles in 1787: "(1) That the political powers of the people of
this continent would endure nothing but a representative form of
government. (2) That, in the actual situation of the country, it was
itself right and proper that the representative system should have a
full and fair trial. (3) That to such a trial it was essential that
the government should be so constructed as to give it all the energy
and the stability reconcilable with the principles of that theory."
[19] Cf. Gouverneur Morris, _Diary and Letters_, ii. 455, 526, 531.
[20] Cf. even Mr Lodge's judgments, pp. 90-92, 115-116, 122, 130,
140. When he says (p. 140) that "In Hamilton's successful policy
there were certainly germs of an aristocratic republic, there were
certainly limitations and possibly dangers to pure democracy," this
is practically Jefferson's assertion (1792) that "His system flowed
from principles adverse to liberty"; but Jefferson goes on to add:
"and was calculated to undermine and demolish the republic." As to
the intent of Hamilton to secure through his financial measures the
political support of property, his own words are honest and clear;
and in fact he succeeded. Jefferson merely had exaggerated fears of a
moneyed political engine, and seeing that Hamilton's measures of
funding and assumption did make the national debt politically useful
to the Federalists in the beginning he concluded that they would seek
to fasten the debt on the country for ever.
[21] Cf. Gouv. Morris, _op. cit._ ii. 474.
[22] He dreamed of saving the country with an army in this crisis of
blood and iron, and wished to preserve unweakened the public
confidence in his personal bravery.
[23] His own words in 1802. In justification of the above statements
see the correspondence of 1800-1804 _passim_--_Works_, vol. ix.-x.
(or 7-8); especially x. 363, 425, 434, 440, 445 (or 8: 543, 591, 596,
602, 605).
[24] Cf. Anson D. Morse, article cited below, pp. 4, 18-21.
[25] Chancellor Kent tells us (_Memoirs and Letters_, p. 32) that in
1804 Hamilton was planning a co-operative Federalist work on the
history and science of government on an inductive basis. Kent always
speaks of Hamilton's legal thinking as deductive, however (ibid. p.
290, 329), and such seems to have been in fact all his political
reasoning: i.e. underlying them were such maxims as that of Hume,
that in erecting a stable government every citizen must be assumed a
knave, and be bound by self-interest to co-operation for the public
good. Hamilton always seems to be reasoning deductively from such
principles. He went too far and fast for even such a Federalist
disbeliever in democracy as Gouverneur Morris; who, to Hamilton's
assertion that democracy must be cast out to save the country,
replied that "such necessity cannot be shown by a political
ratiocination. Luckily, or, to speak with a reverence proper to the
occasion, providentially, mankind are not disposed to embark the
blessings they enjoy on a voyage of syllogistic adventure to obtain
something more beautiful in exchange. They must feel before they will
act" (_op. cit._ ii. 531).
HAMILTON, ANTHONY, or ANTOINE (1646-1720), French classical author, was
born about 1646. He is especially noteworthy from the fact that, though
by birth he was a foreigner, his literary characteristics are more
decidedly French than those of many of the most indubitable Frenchmen.
His father was George Hamilton, younger brother of James, 2nd earl of
Abercorn, and head of the family of Hamilton in the peerage of
Scotland, and 6th duke of Chatellerault in the peerage of France; and
his mother was Mary Butler, sister of the 1st duke of Ormonde. According
to some authorities he was born at Drogheda, but according to the London
edition of his works in 1811 his birthplace was Roscrea, Tipperary. From
the age of four till he was fourteen the boy was brought up in France,
whither his family had removed after the execution of Charles I. The
fact that, like his father, he was a Roman Catholic, prevented his
receiving the political promotion he might otherwise have expected on
the Restoration, but he became a distinguished member of that brilliant
band of courtiers whose chronicler he was to become. He took service in
the French army, and the marriage of his sister Elizabeth, "la belle
Hamilton," to Philibert, comte de Gramont (q.v.) rendered his connexion
with France more intimate, if possible, than before. On the accession of
James II. he obtained an infantry regiment in Ireland, and was appointed
governor of Limerick and a member of the privy council. But the battle
of the Boyne, at which he was present, brought disaster on all who were
attached to the cause of the Stuarts, and before long he was again in
France--an exile, but at home. The rest of his life was spent for the
most part at the court of St Germain and in the _chateaux_ of his
friends. With Ludovise, duchesse du Maine, he became an especial
favourite, and it was at her seat at Sceaux that he wrote the _Memoires_
that made him famous. He died at St Germain-en-Laye on the 21st of April
1720.
It is mainly by the _Memoires ducomte de Gramont_ that Hamilton takes
rank with the most classical writers of France. It was said to have been
written at Gramont's dictation, but it is very evident that Hamilton's
share is the most considerable. The work was first published anonymously
in 1713 under the rubric of Cologne, but it was really printed in
Holland, at that time the great patroness of all questionable authors.
An English translation by Boyer appeared in 1714. Upwards of thirty
editions have since appeared, the best of the French being Renouard's
(1812), forming part of a collected edition of Hamilton's works, and
Gustave Brunet's (1859), and the best of the English, Edwards's (1793),
with 78 engravings from portraits in the royal collections at Windsor
and elsewhere, A. F. Bertrand de Moleville's (2 vols., 1811), with 64
portraits by E. Scriven and others, and Gordon Goodwin's (2 vols.,
1903). The original edition was reprinted by Benjamin Pifteau in 1876.
In imitation and satiric parody of the romantic tales which Antoine
Galland's translation of _The Thousand and One Nights_ had brought into
favour in France, Hamilton wrote, partly for the amusement of Henrietta
Bulkley, sister of the duchess of Berwick, to whom he was much attached,
four ironical and extravagant _contes_, _Le Belier_, _Fleur d'epine_,
_Zeneyde_ and _Les Quatre Facardins_. The saying in _Le Belier_'
"Belier, mon ami, tu me ferais plaisir si tu voulais commencer par le
commencement," has passed into a proverb. These tales were circulated
privately during Hamilton's lifetime, and the first three appeared in
Paris in 1730, ten years after the death of the author; a collection of
his _Oeuvres diverses_ in 1731 contained the unfinished _Zeneyde_.
Hamilton was also the author of some songs as exquisite in their way as
his prose, and interchanged amusing verses with the duke of Berwick. In
the name of his niece, the countess of Stafford, Hamilton maintained a
witty correspondence with Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
See notices of Hamilton in Lescure's edition (1873) of the _Contes_,
Sainte-Beuve's _Causeries du lundi_, tome i., Sayou's _Histoire de la
litterature francaise a l'etranger_ (1853), and by L. S. Auger in the
_Oeuvres completes_ (1804).
HAMILTON, ELIZABETH (1758-1816), British author, was born at Belfast, of
Scottish extraction, on the 21st of July 1758. Her father's death in
1759 left his wife so embarrassed that Elizabeth was adopted in 1762 by
her paternal aunt, Mrs Marshall, who lived in Scotland, near Stirling.
In 1788 Miss Hamilton went to live with her brother Captain Charles
Hamilton (1753-1792), who was engaged on his translation of the
_Hedaya_. Prompted by her brother's associations, she produced her
_Letters of a Hindoo Rajah_ in 1796. Soon after, with her sister Mrs
Blake, she settled at Bath, where she published in 1800 the _Memoirs of
Modern Philosophers_, a satire on the admirers of the French Revolution.
In 1801-1802 appeared her _Letters on Education_. After travelling
through Wales and Scotland for nearly two years, the sisters took up
their abode in 1803 at Edinburgh. In 1804 Mrs Hamilton, as she then
preferred to be called, published her _Life of Agrippina, wife of
Germanicus_; and in the same year she received a pension from
government. _The Cottagers of Glenburnie_ (1808), which is her
best-known work, was described by Sir Walter Scott as "a picture of the
rural habits of Scotland, of striking and impressive fidelity." She also
published _Popular Essays on the Elementary Principles of the Human
Mind_ (1812), and _Hints addressed to the Patrons and Directors of
Public Schools_ (1815). She died at Harrogate on the 23rd of July 1816.
_Memoirs of Mrs Elizabeth Hamilton_, by Miss Benger, were published in
1818.
HAMILTON, EMMA, LADY (c. 1765-1815), wife of Sir William Hamilton
(q.v.), the British envoy at Naples, and famous as the mistress of
Nelson, was the daughter of Henry Lyon, a blacksmith of Great Neston in
Cheshire. The date of her birth cannot be fixed with certainty, but she
was baptized at Great Neston on the 12th of May 1765, and it is not
improbable that she was born in that year. Her baptismal name was Emily.
As her father died soon after her birth, the mother, who was dependent
on parish relief, had to remove to her native village, Hawarden in
Flintshire. Emma's early life is very obscure. She was certainly
illiterate, and it appears that she had a child in 1780, a fact which
has led some of her biographers to place her birth before 1765. It has
been said that she was first the mistress of Captain Willet Payne, an
officer in the navy, and that she was employed in some doubtful capacity
by a notorious quack of the time, Dr Graham. In 1781 she was the
mistress of a country gentleman, Sir Harry Featherstonhaugh, who turned
her out in December of that year. She was then pregnant, and in her
distress she applied to the Hon. Charles Greville, to whom she was
already known. At this time she called herself Emily Hart. Greville, a
gentleman of artistic tastes and well known in society, entertained her
as his mistress, her mother, known as Mrs Cadogan, acting as housekeeper
and partly as servant. Under the protection of Greville, whose means
were narrowed by debt, she acquired some education, and was taught to
sing, dance and act with professional skill. In 1782 he introduced her
to his friend Romney the portrait painter, who had been established for
several years in London, and who admired her beauty with enthusiasm. The
numerous famous portraits of her from his brush may have somewhat
idealised her apparently robust and brilliantly coloured beauty, but her
vivacity and powers of fascination cannot be doubted. She had the
temperament of an artist, and seems to have been sincerely attached to
Greville. In 1784 she was seen by his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, who
admired her greatly. Two years later she was sent on a visit to him at
Naples, as the result of an understanding between Hamilton and
Greville--the uncle paying his nephew's debts and the nephew ceding his
mistress. Emma at first resented, but then submitted to the arrangement.
Her beauty, her artistic capacity, and her high spirits soon made her a
great favourite in the easy-going society of Naples, and Queen Maria
Carolina became closely attached to her. She became famous for her
"attitudes," a series of _poses plastiques_ in which she represented
classical and other figures. On the 6th of September 1791, during a
visit to England, she was married to Sir W. Hamilton. The ceremony was
required in order to justify her public reception at the court of
Naples, where Lady Hamilton played an important part as the agent
through whom the queen communicated with the British minister--sometimes
in opposition to the will and the policy of the king. The revolutionary
wars and disturbances which began after 1792 made the services of Lady
Hamilton always useful and sometimes necessary to the British
government. It was claimed by her, and on her behalf, that she secured
valuable information in 1796, and was of essential service to the
British fleet in 1798 during the Nile campaign, by enabling it to obtain
stores and water in Sicily. These claims have been denied on the rather
irrelevant ground that they are wanting in official confirmation, which
was only to be expected since they were _ex hypothesi_ unofficial and
secret, but it is not improbable that they were considerably
exaggerated, and it is certain that her stories cannot always be
reconciled with one another or with the accepted facts. When Nelson
returned from the Nile in September 1798 Lady Hamilton made him her
hero, and he became entirely devoted to her. Her influence over him
indeed became notorious, and brought him much official displeasure. Lady
Hamilton undoubtedly used her influence to draw Nelson into a most
unhappy participation in the domestic troubles of Naples, and when Sir
W. Hamilton was recalled in 1800 she travelled with him and Nelson
ostentatiously across Europe. In England Lady Hamilton insisted on
making a parade of her hold over Nelson. Their child, Horatia Nelson
Thompson, was born on the 30th of January 1801. The profuse habits which
Emma Hamilton had contracted in Naples, together with a passion for
gambling which grew on her, led her into debt, and also into extravagant
ways of living, against which her husband feebly protested. On his death
in 1803 she received by his will a life rent of L800, and the furniture
of his house in Piccadilly. She then lived openly with Nelson at his
house at Merton. Nelson tried repeatedly to secure her a pension for the
services rendered at Naples, but did not succeed. On his death she
received Merton, and an annuity of L500, as well as the control of the
interest of the L4000 he left to his daughter. But gambling and
extravagance kept her poor. In 1808 her friends endeavoured to arrange
her affairs, but in 1813 she was put in prison for debt and remained
there for a year. A certain Alderman Smith having aided her to get out,
she went over to Calais for refuge from her creditors, and she died
there in distress if not in want on the 15th of January 1815.
AUTHORITIES.--_The Memoirs of Lady Hamilton_ (London, 1815) were the
work of an ill-disposed but well-informed and shrewd observer whose
name is not given. _Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson_, by J. C. Jefferson
(London, 1888) is based on authentic papers. It is corrected in some
particulars by the detailed recent life written by Walter Sichel,
_Emma, Lady Hamilton_ (London, 1905). See also the authorities given
in the article NELSON. (D. H.)
HAMILTON, JAMES (1769-1831), English educationist, and author of the
Hamiltonian system of teaching languages, was born in 1769. The first
part of his life was spent in mercantile pursuits. Having settled in
Hamburg and become free of the city, he was anxious to become acquainted
with German and accepted the tuition of a French emigre, General
d'Angelis. In twelve lessons he found himself able to read an easy
German book, his master having discarded the use of a grammar and
translated to him short stories word for word into French. As a citizen
of Hamburg Hamilton started a business in Paris, and during the peace of
Amiens maintained a lucrative trade with England; but at the rupture of
the treaty he was made a prisoner of war, and though the protection of
Hamburg was enough to get the words _efface de la liste des prisonniers
de guerre_ inscribed upon his passport, he was detained in custody till
the close of hostilities. His business being thus ruined, he went in
1814 to America, intending to become a farmer and manufacturer of
potash; but, changing his plan before he reached his "location," he
started as a teacher in New York. Adopting his old tutor's method, he
attained remarkable success in New York, Baltimore, Washington, Boston,
Montreal and Quebec. Returning to England in July 1823, he was equally
fortunate in Manchester and elsewhere. The two master principles of his
method were that the language should be presented to the scholar as a
living organism, and that its laws should be learned from observation
and not by rules. His system attracted general attention, and was
vigorously attacked and defended. In 1826 Sydney Smith devoted an
article to its elucidation in the _Edinburgh Review_. As text-books for
his pupils Hamilton printed interlinear translations of the Gospel of
John, of an _Epitome historiae sacrae_, of Aesop's _Fables_, Eutropius,
Aurelius Victor, Phaedrus, &c., and many books were issued as
Hamiltonian with which he had nothing personally to do. He died on the
31st of October 1831.
See Hamilton's own account, _The History, Principles, Practice and
Results of the Hamiltonian System_ (Manchester, 1829; new ed., 1831);
Alberte, _Uber die Hamilton'sche Methode_; C. F. Wurm, _Hamilton und
Jacotot_ (1831).
HAMILTON, JAMES HAMILTON, 1ST DUKE OF (1606-1649), Scottish nobleman,
son of James, 2nd marquess of Hamilton, and of the Lady Anne Cunningham,
daughter of the earl of Glencairn, was born on the 19th of June 1606. As
the descendant and representative of James Hamilton, 1st earl of Arran,
he was the heir to the throne of Scotland after the descendants of James
VI.[1] He married in his fourteenth year May Feilding, aged seven,
daughter of Lord Feilding, afterwards 1st earl of Denbigh, and was
educated at Exeter College, Oxford, where he matriculated on the 14th of
December 1621. He succeeded to his father's titles on the latter's death
in 1625. In 1628 he was made master of the horse and was also appointed
gentleman of the bedchamber and a privy councillor. In 1631 Hamilton
took over a force of 6000 men to assist Gustavus Adolphus in Germany. He
guarded the fortresses on the Oder while Gustavus fought Tilly at
Breitenfeld, and afterwards occupied Magdeburg, but his army was
destroyed by disease and starvation, and after the complete failure of
the expedition Hamilton returned to England in September 1634. He now
became Charles I.'s chief adviser in Scottish affairs. In May 1638,
after the outbreak of the revolt against the English Prayer-Book, he was
appointed commissioner for Scotland to appease the discontents. He
described the Scots as being "possessed by the devil," and instead of
doing his utmost to support the king's interests was easily intimidated
by the covenanting leaders and persuaded of the impossibility of
resisting their demands, finally returning to Charles to urge him to
give way. It is said that he so far forgot his trust as to encourage the
Scottish leaders in their resistance in order to gain their favour.[2]
On the 27th of July Charles sent him back with new proposals for the
election of an assembly and a parliament, episcopacy being safeguarded
but bishops being made responsible to future assemblies. After a wrangle
concerning the mode of election he again returned to Charles. Having
been sent back to Edinburgh on the 17th of September, he brought with
him a revocation of the prayer-book and canons and another covenant to
be substituted for the national covenant. On the 21st of November
Hamilton presided over the first meeting of the assembly in Glasgow
cathedral, but dissolved it on the 28th on its declaring the bishops
responsible to its authority. The assembly, however, continued to sit
notwithstanding, and Hamilton returned to England to give an account of
his failure, leaving the enemy triumphant and in possession. War was now
decided upon, and Hamilton was chosen to command an expedition to the
Forth to menace the rear of the Scots. On arrival on the 1st of May 1639
he found the plan impossible, despaired of success, and was recalled in
June. On the 8th of July, after a hostile reception at Edinburgh, he
resigned his commissionership. He supported Strafford's proposal to call
the Short Parliament, but otherwise opposed him as strongly as he could,
as the chief adversary of the Scots; and he aided the elder Vane, it was
believed, in accomplishing Strafford's destruction by sending for him
to the Long Parliament. Hamilton now supported the parliamentary party,
desired an alliance with his nation, and persuaded Charles in February
1641 to admit some of their leaders into the council. On the death of
Strafford Hamilton was confronted by a new antagonist in Montrose, who
detested both his character and policy and repudiated his supremacy in
Scotland. On the 10th of August 1641 he accompanied Charles on his last
visit to Scotland. His aim now was to effect an alliance between the
king and Argyll, the former accepting Presbyterianism and receiving the
help of the Scots against the English parliament, and when this failed
he abandoned Charles and adhered to Argyll. In consequence he received a
challenge from Lord Ker, of which he gave the king information, and
obtained from Ker an apology. Montrose wrote to Charles declaring he
could prove Hamilton to be a traitor. The king himself spoke of him as
being "very active in his own preservation." Shortly afterwards the
plot--known as the "Incident"--to seize Argyll, Hamilton and the
latter's brother, the earl of Lanark, was discovered, and on the 12th of
October they fled from Edinburgh. Hamilton returned not long afterwards,
and notwithstanding all that had occurred still retained Charles's
favour and confidence. He returned with him to London and accompanied
him on the 5th of January 1642 when he went to the city after the
failure to secure the five members. In July Hamilton went to Scotland on
a hopeless mission to prevent the intervention of the Scots in the war,
and a breach then took place between him and Argyll. When in February
1643 proposals of mediation between Charles and the parliament came from
Scotland, Hamilton instigated the "cross petition" which demanded from
Charles the surrender of the annuities of tithes in order to embarrass
Loudoun, the chief promoter of the project, to whom they had already
been granted. This failing, he promoted a scheme for overwhelming the
influence and votes of Argyll and his party by sending to Scotland all
the Scottish peers then with the king, thereby preventing any assistance
to the parliament coming from that quarter, while Charles was to
guarantee the establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland only. This
foolish intrigue was strongly opposed by Montrose, who was eager to
strike a sudden blow and anticipate and annihilate the plans of the
Covenanters. Hamilton, however, gained over the queen for his project,
and in September was made a duke, while Montrose was condemned to
inaction. Hamilton's scheme, however, completely failed. He had no
control over the parliament. He was unable to hinder the meeting of the
convention of the estates which assembled without the king's authority,
and his supporters found themselves in a minority. Finally, on refusing
to take the Covenant, Hamilton and Lanark were obliged to leave
Scotland. They arrived at Oxford on the 16th of December. Hamilton's
conduct had at last incurred Charles's resentment and he was sent, in
January 1644, a prisoner to Pendennis Castle, in 1645 being removed to
St Michael's Mount, where he was liberated by Fairfax's troops on the
23rd of April 1646. Subsequently he showed great activity in the futile
negotiations between the Scots and Charles at Newcastle. In 1648, in
consequence of the seizure of Charles by the army in 1647, Hamilton
obtained a temporary influence and authority in the Scottish parliament
over Argyll, and led a large force into England in support of the king
on the 8th of July. He showed complete incapacity in military command;
was kept in check for some time by Lambert; and though outnumbering the
enemy by 24,000 to about 9000 men, allowed his troops to disperse over
the country and to be defeated in detail by Cromwell during the three
days August 17th-19th at the so-called battle of Preston, being himself
taken prisoner on the 25th. He was tried on the 6th of February 1649,
condemned to death on the 6th of March and executed on the 9th.
Hamilton, during his unfortunate career, had often been suspected of
betraying the king's cause, and, as an heir to the Scottish throne, of
intentionally playing into the hands of the Covenanters with a view of
procuring the crown for himself. The charge was brought against him as
early as 1631 when he was levying men in Scotland for the German
expedition, but Charles gave no credence to it and showed his trust in
Hamilton by causing him to share his own room. The charge, however,
always clung to him, and his intriguing character and hopeless
management of the king's affairs in Scotland gave colour to the
accusation. There seems, however, to be no real foundation for it. His
career is sufficiently explained by his thoroughly weak and egotistical
character. He took no interest whatever in the great questions at issue,
was neither loyal nor patriotic, and only desired peace and compromise
to avoid personal losses. "He was devoid of intellectual or moral
strength, and was therefore easily brought to fancy all future tasks
easy and all present obstacles insuperable."[3] A worse choice than
Hamilton could not possibly have been made in such a crisis, and his
want of principle, of firmness and resolution, brought irretrievable
ruin upon the royal cause.
Hamilton's three sons died young, and the dukedom passed by special
remainder to his brother William, earl of Lanark. On the latter's death
in 1651 the Scottish titles reverted to the 1st duke's daughter, Anne,
whose husband, William Douglas, was created (third) duke of Hamilton.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Article in the _Dict. of Nat. Biog._ by S. R. Gardiner;
_History of England and of the Civil War_, by the same author;
_Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton_, by G. Burnet; _Lauderdale Papers_
(Camden Society, 1884-1885); _The Hamilton Papers_, ed. by S. R.
Gardiner (Camden Society, 1880) and _addenda_ (Camden Miscellany, vol.
ix., 1895); _Thomason Tracts_ in the British Museum, 550 (6), 1948
(30) (account of his supposed treachery), and 546 (21) (speech on the
scaffold). (P. C. Y.)