Look through the rich and the poor of this community,
the learned and the ignorant--Where does virtue predominate? The
difference indeed consists not in the quantity, but kind of vices
which are incident to various classes; and here the advantage of
character belongs to the wealthy. Their vices are probably more
favourable to the prosperity of the State than those of the
indigent; and partake less of moral depravity.
More than once Hamilton left his seat and went up to the belfry to
strain his eyes down the Albany post road or over the Dutchess turnpike,
and every afternoon he rode for miles to the east or the south, hoping
to meet an express messenger with a letter from Madison, or with the
good tidings that New Hampshire had ratified. Madison wrote every few
days, sometimes hopefully, sometimes in gloom, especially if he were not
feeling well. Each letter was from ten to twelve days old, and it seemed
to Hamilton sometimes that he should burst with impatience and anxiety.
On the 24th of June, as he was standing in the belfry while Chancellor
Livingston rained his sarcasms, he thought he saw an object moving
rapidly down the white ribbon which cut the forest from the East.
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