You cannot imagine how entirely domestic I am growing. I lose all taste for the pursuits of ambition. I sigh for nothing but the company of my wife and my baby. The ties of duty alone, or imagined duty, keep me from renouncing public life altogether. It is, however, probable I may not any longer be engaged in it. I have explained to you the difficulties which I met with in obtaining a command last campaign. I thought it incompatible with the delicacy due to myself, to make any application this campaign. I have expressed this sentiment in a letter to the General, and, retaining my rank only, have relinquished the emoluments of my commission, declaring myself, notwithstanding, ready at all times to obey the calls of the public. I don’t expect to hear any of these, unless the state of our affairs should change for the worse, and lest by any unforeseen accident that would happen, I choose to keep myself in a situation again to contribute my aid. This prevents a total resignation.
You were right in supposing I neglected to prepare what I promised you at Philadelphia. The truth is, I was in such a hurry to get home that I could think of nothing else. As I set out to-morrow morning for Albany, I cannot from this place, send you the matter you wish.
Imagine, my dear Meade, what pleasure it must give Eliza and myself to know that Mrs. Meade interests herself in us. Without a personal acquaintance, we have been long attached to her. My visit at Mr. Fitzhugh’s confirmed my partiality. Betsy is so fond of your family, that she proposes to form a match between her boy and your girl, provided you will engage to make the latter as amiable as her mother.
Truly, my dear Meade, I often regret that fortune has cast our residence at such a distance from each other. It would be a serious addition to my happiness if we lived where I could see you every day; but fate has determined it otherwise. I am a little hurried, and can only request, in addition, that you will present me most affectionately to Mrs. Meade, and believe me to be,
With the warmest
And most unalterable friendship,
Yours,
A. Hamilton.
LA FAYETTE TO HAMILTON.[18]
Paris, April 12, 1782.
Dear Hamilton:
However silent you may please to be, I will nevertheless remind you of a friend who loves you tenderly, and who, by his attachment, deserves a great share in your affection. This letter, my dear sir, will be delivered or sent by Count de Segur, an intimate friend of mine, a man of wit and of abilities, and whose society you will certainly be pleased with. I warmly recommend him to you, and hope he will meet from you with more than civilities. Now let us talk politics.
The old Ministry have retired, and Lord North was not sorry at the opportunity. The new ministers are not much our friends: they are not friends to each other: they have some honest men with little sense, and some sensible men without honesty. They are forced to new measures, not only by circumstances, but also by the dispositions they have formerly announced.