[ l8o ] BOOK BEVIEWS THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON Volume XXII: July iyg8-March 1799. Volume XXIII: April-October 1799. Edited by Harold C. Syrett; Barbara A. Chernow, Joseph G. Henrich, and Patricia Syrett, Associate Editors. (New York: Columbia University Press. Vol. XXII, 1975, pp. xiv, 649, Vol. XXIII, 1976, pp. xiv, 728; preface, guide to editorial apparatus, appendix, index. $20.00 per volume.) Now nearing completion, this series is unique among the projects of definitive publication of the papers of the Founding Fathers in that the editors promise handsomely to survive their labors. The more than two decades of assiduous work would have been longer had not Hamilton's life been cut short at less than fifty years of age. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison lived more than thirty years longer, and three of these being presidents, multiplied their correspondence and other writings. While George Washington died at sixty-seven, his public stations swelled his papers to a volume beyond all the rest. The editors of Alexander Hamilton's papers have left nothing to be desired in diligence of preparatory search and in resourceful annotation. The Columbia University Press has maintained its high standard of book- making. The volumes here cover the least satisfactory period of Hamilton's career—the period during which he sacrificed his flourishing law practice to become Inspector General and Major General to augment the military in the undeclared war with France. The first of these volumes opens with the cross-fire of letters in which Hamilton shouldered aside his good friend Henry Knox—with, be it said, Washington's approval—to be first in authority under the commander-in- chief. Hamilton would have been happier had Knox been in active charge, and the work would have been done in equally desultory fashion. The whole business was tentative and half-hearted; Hamilton expended his energies on tasks beneath his capacity and lost patience with President Adams's successful efforts to produce peace. He also resented Adams's order for the dissolution of additional regiments, but it is questionable whether this factor was the main cause of souring him against Adams. In any event, Hamilton endorsed the accommodation with France when it was accomplished. The last letter in Volume 23, from Hamilton to his friend Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, outlined a national program to counter the anti-Federalist intentions of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. It was his proposal that a system of turnpikes and canals bind all parts of the country; that the judiciary, down to local justices of the peace, be expanded to render law enforcement more convenient and certain; and that special provisions be made to serve farmers and mechanics, which would endear the central government to classes of citizens hitherto less attached to it. All of these policies were brought to pass, but not until many years later. Hamilton might well