Shortly after the war, your favor--no, your discernment, called him to
public office. You sent him to the convention at Philadelphia; he there
assisted in forming the constitution which is now the bond of our union,
the shield of our defense, and the source of our prosperity. In signing
the compact, he exprest his apprehension that it did not contain
sufficient means of strength for its own preservation; and that in
consequence we should share the fate of many other republics, and pass
through anarchy to despotism. We hoped better things. We confided in the
good sense of the American people; and, above all, we trusted in the
protecting providence of the Almighty. On this important subject he
never concealed his opinion. He disdained concealment. Knowing the
purity of his heart, he bore it as it were in his hand, exposing to
every passenger its inmost recesses. This generous indiscretion
subjected him to censure from misrepresentation. His speculative
opinions were treated as deliberate designs; and yet you all know how
strenuous, how unremitting were his efforts to establish and to preserve
the constitution. If, then, his opinion was wrong, pardon, O pardon,
that single error, in a life devoted to your service.

At the time when our Government was organized, we were without funds,
tho not without resources. To call them into action, and establish order
in the finances, Washington sought for splendid talents, for extensive
information, and above all, he sought for sterling, incorruptible
integrity. All these he found in Hamilton. The system then adopted, has
been the subject of much animadversion. If it be not without a fault,
let it be remembered that nothing human is perfect. Recollect the
circumstances of the moment--recollect the conflict of opinion--and,
above all, remember that a minister of a republic must bend to the will
of the people. The administration which Washington formed was one of the
most efficient, one of the best that any country was ever blessed with.