Hamilton

recently received from you considerable sums of money. Hamilton You are apparently in his confidence, Mr. Monroe. Giles Those letters were brought to us unasked. Hamilton I see. The letters were also uncalled for. Monroe You say you are not intimately acquainted⁠—what was that money paid for? Hamilton May I be allowed to see the documents in question? Monroe takes them from his pocketbook, and hands them to Hamilton. Giles After Hamilton has looked at a few of them. What was that money paid for? Hamilton Didn’t your friend tell you⁠—I mean before he was arrested for perjury? Giles Hotly. He’s not my friend! I never saw the man till he came to me on the subject of these letters. Hamilton Are you sure? Giles Of course I’m sure! Crosses his legs uneasily. Looks under seat. Hamilton That is George Washington’s chair! Giles Angrily pulls chair around to face Hamilton. There seems to be no doubt that you paid him the money. Hamilton There seems to be no doubt about that. Monroe Mr. Hamilton, I should not be here if I had not been forced by the facts before me. But I cannot disbelieve the evidence of my own eyes. There are your letters proving that the money was paid to Reynolds, and we are compelled to ask you why you paid it. Hamilton Who compels you to do that? Monroe Our sense of duty, Citizen Hamilton. Hamilton Duty to whom? Monroe To the country⁠—to the people⁠—to the citizens of this Republic. Hamilton This has nothing to do with the country or the people. This is my own private affair. Giles We know why you paid the money⁠—Reynolds told us. Hamilton Oh, you know, do you? Giles Yes, we know. Hamilton Then you haven’t come for information⁠—but merely for the love of sport. Monroe That money was paid out of the Treasury of the United States. Hamilton It was paid out of my own personal account. Monroe That we shall require to have proved. But you know what it was paid for. Hamilton Yes, I know what it was paid for, and from what Mr. Giles says, you know also. Opening drawer of table, drawer on R. Monroe I do. It was paid to this man that he might buy up the states’ paper⁠—the states’ debts. Hamilton Stopping opening drawer quickly. What do you mean? Monroe That he might buy up the states’ debts, for your benefit. Hamilton Rising. What! Monroe A stock-jobbing gamble. Jay Come, come, Mr. Monroe. You have only the man’s word for that. Schuyler The word of a man who is arrested for perjury. Monroe Turning to Schuyler. Reynolds gives conclusive evidence that Mr. Hamilton gave him advance information of the proposed Government Assumption of States’ Debts; that he gave him the money to buy up the paper at bargain prices; and that his share in the spoils will be five million dollars. Turning to Hamilton and striking table. Hamilton Genuinely surprised. So that’s what he told you, did he? That’s the reason for the whole⁠—thing. Monroe And there are the proofs of the money you gave him. Pointing to paper in Hamilton’s hands. Hamilton After a pause and looking through letters. Thirty dollars⁠—twenty-five dollars⁠—one hundred dollars⁠—Very modest amounts for purposes of speculation. Jay Very. Giles Just as dishonest to steal ten dollars as ten millions. Monroe You can’t dodge, Hamilton. I owe it to this country to expose this damned business. You use your official information to rob the patriots who raised the money to save this nation! Jay No! No! Schuyler Mr. Monroe! Monroe He makes them believe their loans will never be paid, and then he hires this man to buy up their claims⁠—and hoodwinks us into passing his bill for him. Jay Senator Monroe, we entirely lack proof of this. Hamilton Gentlemen⁠—let us try to be frank with one another. You have come here today not because you believe me guilty of this accusation, not because you feel any duty to the public, but because you repent the bargain you made with me to vote for my bill. You are afraid of your own party. Your courage has failed you, and you believe this to be a tremendous opportunity to free yourselves from your promise. Jefferson protests. That is the true statement of fact, Mr. Jefferson, whatever you may think to the contrary. You dislike me⁠—you are afraid of me⁠—and this is part of an organized conspiracy to force me to resign, and so to end your difficulties. This is not the first time that you have accused me, but it is the first time that I have been unwilling to strike back at you. Time and again you have charged me with dishonesty in the Treasury. Three months ago you set the trusty Giles on to covertly accuse me of cooking the accounts. Within ten days, as you know, after going through endless records, I proved that there was no shadow of foundation for your accusation, and you slunk away whipped and defeated. And now here you are yelping at my heels again and ready to tear me to pieces. This time you are bolder. You come to me with an open accusation of absolute dishonesty. This accusation is based on the evidence of one James Reynolds, an obscure and worthless man. Had I desired to defraud the Treasury should I have been driven to the necessity of unkennelling Reynolds to assist me? Gentlemen, it is not a reasonable accusation. If I felt that you really believed that this was even remotely connected with my office, I should not hesitate to give you proof to the contrary. But you know that what you accuse me of has no foundation in truth. Pause. I admit that I had transactions with the man Reynolds movement of interest from the others, but they were of a private nature, and I swear that my connection with him is in no way bound up with my public office. I make an appeal to your sense of justice, and I ask you, gentlemen, to drop this investigation. Jay After a slight pause.