THE BRIEFING BY ALEXANDER HAMILTON ON THE CHINESE COMMUNIST POLICY

THE BRIEFING BY ALEXANDER HAMILTON ON THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY*

IN PURSUIT OF THE TRUTH - HTTP://WWW.CINOPSBEGONE.BLOGSPOT.COM - FRI. MAY 1, 2020

 

THE LAW PRACTICE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON, DOCUMENTS AND COMMENTARY VOLUME 1, JULIUS GOEBEL, JR. EDITOR - WILLIAM  NELSON CROMWELL FOUNDATION, BY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, NEW YORK AND LONDON, 1964

Background:  p. 218-219

      It was in such times as these that Alexander Hamilton started his legal career in the City of New York. At the age of twenty-nine, he was already a leading patriot and military hero. A political pamphleteer and campaigner before the war, he became equally effective during the Revolution, having served first as an artilleryman, then aide-de-camp to General Washington, and finally a Lieutenant Colonel leading his regiment in a winning charge on the British fortifications at York town.

 

    AFTER THE WAR HE ACTED AS COLLECTOR OF FINANCE IN NEW YORK FOR THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, AND, AS HE WROTE TO JAY, SERVED "A SHORT APPRENTICE IN CONGRESS." IT MUST HAVE SEEMED PERPLEXING, THEN, TO MOST NEW YORK THAT HAMILTON, THE ARDENT PAMPHLETEER-PATRIOT, MADE A SEEMING ABOUT-FACE AND BECOME A DEFENDER OF LOYALISTS IN SUITS BROUGHT IN THE NAME OF THE CAUSE HE HAD SERVED SO RIGOROUSLY....

 

WHY HAMILTON REPRESENTED THE LOYALISTS IN COURT IN AN IMPORTANT POINT THAT HAS BEEN TREATED CONSIDERABLY BY HIS BIOGRAPHERS. SOME HAVE CREDITED HIM WITH ARISTOCRATIC LEANINGS WHICH WOULD LEND HIS SYMPATHIES TO THE GENERALLY ARISTOCRATIC TORIES. ALSO, IT HAS BEEN CONCLUDED, HE OPPOSED MOB ACTION AND DEFENDED THE LOYALISTS IN THE FACE OF IT. 

 

HAMILTON'S LETTERS ON THE SUBJECT, HOWEVER, DO NOT INDICATE EITHER OF THESE REASONS, ALTHOUGH EACH MAY BE, IN SOME MEASURE TRUE. BY DEFENDING LOYALISTS, HAMILTON WAS PUTTING INTO PRACTICE HIS BELIEFS IN "NATIONAL HONOR, SAFETY AND ADVANTAGE." HE KNEW HIS ROLE WOULD BE UNPOPULAR: "THOSE WHO CONSULT ONLY THEIR PASSIONS MIGHT CHOOSE TO CONSTRUE WHAT I SAY AS TOO FAVORABLE TO A SET OF MEN WHO HAVE BEEN THE ENEMIES OF THE PUBLIC LIBERTY."

 

IN THIS ROLE, ALSO, HE WOULD APPEAR INCONSISTENT. EVEN BEFORE THE RATIFICATION OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, HAMILTON HAD COMPLAINED OF THE LACK OF AUTHORITY IN THE EXISTING CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND HAD MADE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ITS IMPROVEMENT. HE HAD CALLED FOR A CONVENTION TO REVISE ARTICLES THAT HE THOUGHT WERE DEFECTIVE, "NEITHER FIT FOR WAR NOR PEACE." IN 1782, AFTER THE ARTICLES HAD BEEN RATIFIED, HAMILTON STILL BELIEVED THAT THEY SHOULD BE REVISED.

 

*NOW FOR THE MATTER IN U.S.A. DEALING WITH THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

 

IN SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES, FRANCE'S QUASI-WAR WITH AMERICA FROM 1798-1800 INSPIRED ALEXANDER HAMILTON TO WRITE A SERIES OF SEVEN LETTERS TITLED :         

 

 "THE STAND"

IN HAMILTON' LETTER OF APRIL 19, 1798 HE CONTINUES TO ELABORATE ON A PERENNIAL DIPLOMATIC CHALLENGE TO FREE NATIONS: HOW TO MEET AGGRESSION AND SUBVERSION WITHOUT APPEASEMENT WHILE AVOIDING EITHER WAR OR SURRENDER. "THE QUESTION RETURNS - WHAT IS TO BE DONE? SHALL WE DECLARE WAR? NO - THERE ARE STILL CHANCES OF AVOIDING A GENERAL RUPTURE WHICH OUGHT TO BE TAKEN. 

 

WANT OF FUTURE SUCCESS MAY BRING THE PRESENT DESPOTS TO REASON. EVERY DAY MAY PRODUCE A REVOLUTION WHICH MAY SUBSTITUTE BETTER MEN IN THEIR PLACE AND LEAD TO HONORABLE ACCOMMODATION . 

OUR TRUE POLICY IS IN THE ATTITUDE OF CALM DEFIANCE, TO MEET AGGRESSION UPON US BY PROPORTIONATE RESISTANCE AND TO PREPARE VIGOROUSLY FOR FURTHER RESISTANCE.

George H. Kubeck