Introduction

Major George Beckwith was a well-connected and seasoned observer of American politics. He had been an intelligence officer under Lord Dorchester (then Sir Guy Carleton) in New York toward the end of the war and had visited the city in 1787 and 1788. During their October 1789 meeting, he nonetheless admitted his puzzlement to Hamilton on one point. He had been “much surprized [sic] to find among those Gentlemen so decidedly hostile” to Britain, “a person, from whose Character for good sense, and other qualifications, [he] should have been led to Expect a very different conduct.” Hamilton immediately understood and admitted that he too had been “rather surprized.” Said Hamilton, “The truth is, that although this gentleman is a clever man, he is very little Acquainted with the world. That he is Uncorrupted And incorruptible I have not a doubt; he has the same End in view that I have, And so have those gentlemen, who Act with him, but their mode of attaining it is very different.” A year later Hamilton offered a different analysis: “You know we have two parties with us; there are gentlemen, who think we ought to be connected with France in the most intimate terms . . . there are others who are at least as numerous, and influential, who decidedly prefer an English connexion.” By 1790–91, Hamilton was no longer in a position to say that he and the gentleman had “the same End in view.”