The vindication, written without passion, as
cold, clear, consistent, and logical, as if dealing with an abstract
proposition, had convinced, and finally, all to whom it was shown; with
the exception of Jefferson, who had no intention of being convinced.
Hamilton was conscious that there was no vulnerable point in his public
armour. Of his private he was not so sure; Reynolds was in jail, for
attempting, in company with one Clingman, to suborn a witness to commit
perjury, and had appealed to him for aid. He had ignored him, determined
to submit to no further blackmail, be the consequences what they might.
But he was the last man to anticipate trouble, and on the whole he was
in the best of humours as the Christmas holidays approached, with his
boys home from their school on Staten Island, his little girl growing
lovelier and more accomplished, and his wife always charming and pretty;
in their rare hours of uninterrupted companionship, piquant and
diverting. He had gone out with her constantly since Congress assembled,
and had enjoyed the recreations of society after his summer of hard work
and angry passions.
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