The morality, purity, and temperance of Gen. Hamilton were of the highest order, and all the domestic virtues he possessed in an eminent and enviable degree. His deep devotion and almost childlike adoration of his most venerable and patriarchal father (even when he was Governor, and amidst the turmoil of nullification and of arming the State for her defence) were the subject of wonderment to those who knew not the perfect simplicity of his loving nature. His first act of noble beneficence and filial piety on coming of age, was the sacrifice of his entire patrimony to pay the debts and engagements of his generous and liberal father who had become the security and endorser of numerous friends. As a husband his devoted loyalty was of the most elevated and chivalrous character, and as a father his affection for his children amounted almost to idolatry. His habits were of the utmost simplicity, like those of Democritus and Zeno, and he never indulged in one single article of mere gratification to the senses. At the grandest banquets, and none ever gave more sumptuous ones than himself when Governor, he invariably selected the simplest dish, and with that he was content; nor did he ever expend a dollar for luxury or splendor, though he devoted a vast fortune to the service of his State in preparing her to defend her homes and firesides from the invasion of Jackson. Like all great men, he had the most perfect contempt for "vile lucre" in itself, and for the base misers who worship it, and only attached any sort of value to it as one of the means of doing good, where it may assist the philanthropist in acts of benevolence and in the relief of suffering humanity; and this the writer has known him, in his once great prosperity, to give thousands to the needy and the wretched. For all other purposes he regarded it as mere "earthly dross," and beneath the regard of any good or great mind; agreeing with Lord Bacon that "the only true end of just ambition is the power to do good" and this noble purpose of doing good was the sole aim and object of his life. For his native State, whilst he possessed the means and power, his efforts were unceasing and his sacrifices were unparalleled. Amongst other great objects to which he devoted his resources and his energies, the extensive, important and at that time unequalled railroad enterprise for constructing "the South Carolina railroad" throughout the length of the State was projected and established by his devoted efforts; and repeatedly was it sustained and saved from failure by his means and his exertions. For his native city of Charleston also he made greater sacrifices and expenditures of private means than any other citizen. To him is she indebted for the establishment of her beautiful public walks, her Battery, or Prado, (as he desired it should be named,) by devoting to that purpose at an almost nominal value the most eligible locations and dwellings of himself and his brother-in-law, Judge Prioleau. He originated and established the celebrated "Southern Review," and wrote many of its ablest and most eloquent articles. He also established, when Governor, that admirable and solid institution, the "Bank of Charleston," which has never (with its immense capital of over five millions) ceased to pay specie in any crisis, and which, after his retirement from public life, he conducted with signal ability until he unfortunately resigned his post as President, to engage, with all the impulsive and generous enthusiasm of his noble heart, in the cause of Texas; for which country he made the most ruinous sacrifices of his own great resources to secure her independence. From this his contempt of lucre, and of all those who so greatly worship it, many of those who had lost by his heavy sacrifices and embarrassments in behalf of Texas, and by his subsequent failure, had become his enemies. When, at the time of his failure, his friends urged him to take the benefit of the bankrupt act, merely to free himself from persecution until he could arrange his widely-extended and complicated affairs and settle with his creditors in quietude and justice, he indiguantly repelled the proposal, nobly exclaiming, "I will do nothing that can bear the slightest semblance to taking advantage of any creditor, but will labour with every power that God has bestowed upon me for their benefit, amidst all persecutions, to my latest breath." The consequence of this noble conduct has been, as his friends predicted, (with very few honourable exceptions,) the most virulent, harrassing, and unrelenting persecution, whilst his exertions for his persecutors have been herculean, self-sacrifieing, and unceasing to the very last moment of his life, for he was then on his way to labour for them in pressing his claims upon the Texas Legislature for their heavy debt to him for his great advances and his greater services. Such is the gratitude of a heartless and mercenary world! But, as he himself so beautifully said, in one of his eloquent eulogies upon his great compeer and most intimate friend, Calhoun, "His enemies, like the Indian who madly fired his arrow at the Sun, shall, at the great day of account, be struck down with blindness and dismay." And now, that his gallant and dauntless spirit has departed from his cold and stiffened corpse, let no fiendish hyena sacrilegiously dare to prowl, no dastardly and recreant ass venture to kick against the body of the dead lion." Hamilton had not the slightest desire for power and place or political preferment, (not even for the Presidency,) except in so far as it might enable him to do good to his fellow-beings. And his chief, if not his only, object in at all desiring the United States Senatorship, was to do, if possible, some justice to the heroism and patriotism of the martyrs of the Revolution, (to whom we owe our country and our independence,) by aiding in the noble and glorious work of gratitude and right, in passing an act to provide for their still unsettled pay for the benefit of their suffering descendants. Beyond this "power to do good" he had no desire whatever for any office, however high it might appear in the estimation of the world; and no degree of scorn and contempt could exceed that which he at all times uttered against the despicable scramble for place and pelf with which our country is disgraced. From this feeling it was that he has so long preferred the retirement of private life. Whenever he would in any way refer to the abuse of his enemies, (and he had not one on earth beyond the worshippers of lucre who had lost something by his overwhelming misfortunes,) he would draw himself proudly up and exclaim, with the grandest expression on his nobly expressive face, lit up by his elevated soul, "Let them return their vile abuse for all the efforts and sacrifices I am making in their behalf; I despise their abuse, for I KNOW that I am an honest man." And again, on one of these occasions, in the language of the great patriot, EMMETT, he would exclaim, "When I am dead let no man dare to charge me with dishonour; let no man write my epitaph unless he knows my motives, and dares to vindicate them; otherwise let them and me repose in obscurity and peace until enmity and prejudice shall pass away--until other times and other men shall do justice to my character; then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written." That epitaph, noble spirit, I would fain essay to write, if I could imbibe the inspiration of your own glowing and soul-stirring eloquence; for none, as you well know, so loved you from childhood, "with a love passing the love of woman." "Heu quantum minus est cum reliquis versari, quam tui meminisse." And to me "not another calamity like to this can e'er succeed in unknown fate." But, alas! I am neither gifted with your lofty genius, (which none have so well known, and to which you have never done justice by any laboured effort,) nor if I were so gifted would the depth of my grief allow of its coherent utterance; for, "Whilst memory bids me weep thee I must be content to write down for your epitaph that glorious Roman verse which you so much cherished, and which, if you could have died (as you so often wished) the death of the patriot and the hero, you would have made (like the immortal martyr, Egmont, whose memory you so greatly venerated) your last, your dying words: "Justum et tenacem propositi virum AMICUS. Since the foregoing was written, the public journals have contained a most powerful and eloquent Address of Gov. HAMILTON to the Legislature of South Carolina, written just before embarking on the fatal steamer in which he was so ruthlessly slain. From this noble Address we extract the following most feeling allusion and glorious apostrophe to the august spirit of the great CALHOUN : His 66 "In the session in which Mr. Calhoun died, I was in Washington, and for six weeks preceding his decease I was the constant companion of his sick bed. Instead of seeking the hospitality of the metropolis, every evening of my life I sought the instructive consolations of the conversation of my great friend. Although sinking hour by hour, his cheerfulness as little deserted him as his tenderness and affection to his friends. great intellect, like the glorious luminary of the world, seemed to shine with a milder yet more perfect radiance as it was about to dip beyond the horizon forever. We were generally alone, and at an hour just before sunset, which prevented the intrusion of other visitors, to whom he generally denied himself, his conversation had an indescribable interest, and was imbued with the charm of a tenderness and charity to others of unspeakable beauty. hand upon my arm, he said: 'My friend, you must return to the public service of our State, to carry out my principles and unfinished labours. A great crisis will come when her interests and your reputation will demand it.' "But I must stop. A sense of delicacy and propriety prevents my going any further with these disclosures. The reasons of his preference of myself are locked in my own bosom. To recollect them seems to recover a part of the forgotten value of existence.' In the hour of adverse fortune, sweet will ever be their odor, sweet the balm of their consolation! August Spirit, at the throne of the Almighty! Look down from that footstool, where you gaze undazzled at the glories of your God, and bless the State which in your life you served with so much honour! Look down, too, with tenderness on your weak, humble, and suffering friend, who believes the crisis has come when he might obey your high commands. He comes ready to peril all of life and honour on the issue, if others will it so. Mighty Spirit, all hail, and farewell!" Equally beautiful was his letter in reply to the requests of his friends who urged him to be a candidate for the United States Senatorship. From this letter we make the following extract: "I belong to a past generation—to a confederation of men who have passed from the strifes and contentions of this fitful and feverish world to an immortality of happiness. When I think of those companions of my then comparative youth, those associates in a glorious struggle, my heart grows liquid as I write, and I could pour it out like water.' I hope that I, the humblest of the throng, may be permitted to place a poor garland on their graves. They rise unbidden to my memory in all the strong lineaments of life. "There stands Calhoun, in all the grandeur of his genius and the solidity of his immovable integrity. What inscription of praise does he need beyond the utterance of his name? "There stands Hayne, in all the mild radiance of his character, with an ability of the highest possible compass, with all his transcendant powers for government and administration, pure, spotless, and undismayed. "There stands McDuffie, with his robust intellect and stern honesty, exerting powers of analysis and argument which made him one of the first dialecticians of his time, and with a Roman patriotism which burned even in the portal caverns of the tomb. "There stands Turnbull, whose head was as gigantic as his heart was incorruptible-who, with his fine Grecian face, disclosed the great qualities of the race from which he sprung--burning enthusiasm, intense genius, and unconquerable courage. There stands Harper, a bright emanation of that intelligence which God confers on the most gifted of his creaturessimple, artless, and with a subjugated self love beyond all praise. "Of the leaders of the old guard' but two of us are left-Preston and the hum ble individual who addresses you. Preston, who, having been sorely smitten by the hand of infirmity, still survives, thank God, in renovated health and usefulness. It was said by a distinguished cotemporary that our association contained a great and extraordinary variety of talent, a place for every man, and every man suited to his place, and that no country was ever better prepared for revolution than South Carolina in the efficiency of her public agents. Preston was emphatically our orator, and was the first orator of his time. The variegated richness of his imagination, the purity of his taste, his power of argument, as if he had never cultivated aught but the severe faculty of ratiocination, whilst over all he flung the drapery of a most attractive modesty, and a private character without reproach. An association with such men, however humble my station, each of whom was fitted for empire, is a full measure of honour, without my looking further for distinction." CROMWELL. "Cromwell was formed to delude the minds of men. His hypocrisy, a thing far removed from what is ordinarily known by that name, was fervent, and excited sympathy, and created awe in the beholders. The bluntness of his manner, and the occasional familiarity of his deportment, even to the entire emptying himself of all extrinsic and accidental greatness, won the favour of those with whom he had intercourse. There was something deep in his conceptions, that none of his assistants could fathom. He was moderate in his temper, and forbearing in his actions; never allowing himself in violence more frequently, or to a greater extent, than was necessary to his purposes. Add to which the firmness and courage of his spirit, and the greatness of his abilities, whether to procure intelligence, or to overawe the insidiousness and crooked hostility of foreign courts: and we shall own that he was most singularly fitted for the station he filled." A PLEA FOR COUNTRY LIFE. "O Rus! Oh! well may poets make a fuss In summer time, and sigh, 'O Rus,' I a am a country lad. Aye, I am not ashamed to confess it, even in your ears, O dainty walker upon hard bricks, that these hands have sometimes had hold of the plough-helves and have tossed the hay upon the fragrant meadows in the hours of many a summer day. They are doing neither now, but I am not less a child of the country. Since the period of my agricultural exploits, I have toiled over books both new and old, fresh and rare; I have wrestled with the great thoughts of great men till awe and trembling possessed me, and have been delighted with the fancies and sweet rhymes of poets; but never have I found other breezes making music in the summer leaves of poesy or rippling the mighty ocean of heroic deed, than those which swept the country in the beautiful summers that are gone. O, the country! Mother of great men, almoner of great thoughts, why is she despised? Because men respect not the wants of their spiritual natures and have warped their minds from the perception, and their hearts from the enjoyment, of what is truly beautiful and lovely. And besides, to tell the truth, nature does not appear best on first acquaintance. She is not only conventional, demanding an introduction, but, furthermore, is suspicious, and does not unbosom herself to any but tried friends. The qualifications for her friendship are numerous. There must be feeling, humility, simplicity, zeal and enthusiasm, or failure will be the result. But her friendship is worth having. It is more valuable than rubies; the source of exquisite delights, of pure pleasures, of holy thoughts. It will deck you with truths that will cause your soul to sparkle forever; it will furnish principles and laws that will work you to greatness; it will throw around your mind a mantle of imagery equal in texture or finish to that of the Hebrew or Greek. Would you have your mind broad, comprehensive, free? Make your home on the hills; learn the speech of the elements, it will be of more benefit than the languages of barbarous people; master the philosophy of the seasons, it will be of far greater value than those vain researches and sophistical reasonings which do only cease in incoherent Atheism. And, unless history is false, your mind will grow broad and fertile as the plains you tread, free as the air that cools your brow, and as bold and firm in its thought and action as the mountains that tower before you. Would you have your heart aglow, your imagination vivid, your fancy light as the roe upon the hills? There is "the rose of dawn," wooing each morn in the gardens of the East, and each evening when the sun goes to his setting there are the gorgeous palaces of sunset from whose magic towers are unfurled the golden gonfalons of fairy land. And when the splendid pageant has faded, and the stars look out from their watch-towers, if you would know your own soul, gaze down into its depths; and the morn will find you a wiser man than ever was he who consulted the oracle of old. in your experience will be written by the finger of deed that glorious maxim which did only adorn the portals of the temple at Delphos, "Know thyself." For I say, fearlessly, that there is no more striking development of modern humbuggery than the fashion of country living, as practised by the denizens of the city. Do not understand me to say that their country houses are not cooler, that their butter and vegetables are not fresher than those to which they have been accustomed in the city. This is granted. But above and beyond these things, how much real advantage do they gain by their summer-life in the country. Now I speak what I do know when I say, that the glorious beauties and enticing charms of |