"Exactly.He was in control of civics rules spouting civics lessons to state governors under his commander in chief who relied on his views for most political projects.The congressional committee report of a proposed army reorganisation was also handled by him when Washington sought his views and advice on the matter .Then he enumerated list of potential abuses that should be curbed and that only officers to be court-martialed must be officers who overstay their furloughs by ten days.He not only recommended surprise inspections to keep watchdog on sentries alert but also the method and pattern of doing so,in the manner that they should sleep.He was detailed when he says " : Every man must have his haversack under his head and if the post is dangerous his arms in his hand."A martinet with unbridled taste for military discipline.He cited condition for hundred lashes of Cain to be administered to a dragoon who permitted his horse to be ridden by another person.."
"And the condition..?"
"That such use if permitted must be in notification to the regulatory officer.That such permission to ride his horse by another person should not be allowed without first notifying the inspector general."
"So that constitute the basis of lashings"
"Exactly,to "receive one hundred lashes for such neglect".
"Panache and thorough!"
"A great martinet indeed.See another marvel and very evident in March in the way he contemplated the political future of America when commander in chief assigned the role of negotiation with the British in respect of the prisoner exchange.He was seconded by Elias Boudinot for the delicate task.Nobody was eligible for the negotiation than Hamilton having constantly interrogated diverse Hessian and British desserters . Boudinot was his former Elizabethtown mentor and commissary general of prisoners in general.Against the opposition of many in the Congress who wanted the negotiation to fall and prefer to blame the British instead ,he wrote to Clinton baffled by duplicity and says " it is thought to be bad policy to go into exchange .But admitting this to be true it is much worse policy to commit such frequent breaches of faith and ruin our national character ".He was determined to fabricate a concrete structure for the united states by taking decisive steps in the most beligerent manner on the battlefield.
A Prussian army with dreary face shortly after he penned the report on army reorganisation emerged at the Valley Forge.He was Frederick von Steuben though the inclusion of the honorific 'von' was somewhat fictitious.Nevertheless he claimed to be German baron from a military family and an aide to Frederick the Great.At his own expense, migrated to america, rejected every pay until the patriots triumphed.Under Washington he became provisional inspector general specialized with the mandate to foster army discipline and instill discipline into the force.He spoke french as lingua franca and bunch of English though sparingly and it made him closer to bilingual Hamilton and John Laurens who doubled as interpreters.The age gap between him Hamilton twenty three and the forty eight years old was like father child gap, still they became friends united by french and fondness for military science.
He taught the amateur troops at valley Forge how to march in formation , natural parade,loading of muskets, fixing bayonets and dishing out horrendous nightmare of sparkling orders,much endeared to the army through his bounteous polyglot expletives, aristocratic bent and colourful display.
Hamilton was direly fond of him especially in the way he instilled monumental discipline into the continental army and was awarded the rank of Major general for the great effort.A young private spoke fondly of him when he says:"Never before or since have I had such an impression of the ancient fabled god of war as when I looked on the baron.He seemed to me a perfect personification of Mars.The trappings of his horse the enormous holsters in his pistols his large size and his strikingly martial aspect all seemed to favor the idea".Not only did he completely overhaul the army but also overhaul the army "blue book" or drill book or drill manual so to say . Hamilton like Laurens was fond of the drillmaster when he says"The baron is a gentle man for which I have a particular affection"though chastised his fondness of power and significance nevertheless worked magical transformation of the continental army including their elan.He later told John Jay it was through his bounteous techniques that singlehandedly thorough discipline was introduced into the army .Little wonder he too rose in rank and on may 5,1778 he was recognized as major general.
Frankly speaking the winter encampments was a different ball game entirely for Hamilton availing every opportunity to radically grow his knowledge equipping his mind for the greater task ahead.Henry Cabot Lodge subsequently wrote of him .He says"force of intellect and force of will were sources of his success "Ransacking the book of history Ron Chernow had found traces of extensive intellects from his days as artillery captain blank pages behind playbook as Washington's staff filled up over hundred pages testimony of his extracurricular studies ransacking the rest of the world for books and history of the rest of the world.His self improvised autodidactic nature was unveiled as an aristocratic versatile man of knowledge skilled at considerable proportion of philosophy having read all known and unknown philosophers.His playbook unfolded his versatile spirit of biblioglot as America's first polymath had browsed thr history of Bacon,Hobbes, Montaigne and Cicero together with the historical facts of big nations like Greece, Prussia and France.What an herculean task for the chief correspondence to the commander in chief after a frame breaking draining correspondence assignment still have spare time for self development and really applied them for lucrative purpose.He was never tempted to jettison the British experience as expensive or outdated as virtually all Americans do detested British political system with great disdain not considering the possibility of learning from the system to improve the virgin clime.While Americans dreamed of brand new society devoid of any traces of European civilization he was constantly learning from the British society to improve the structure of the new nation.Je often thought the new world must learn from the old world."
"Which other books did he read?"
"First Malachi Postlethwayt's Universal Dictionary Of trade and Commerce "
"Oh that book an almanac of learned politics,contains georgraphy, economics,layered with essays on taxes,money, banking, public debt."
"Yeah"
"I first saw it in the library of Congress "
"Exactly I saw it too.He guzzled the contents and quite interesting someone was reading such book and others during the looming chaos of war with a lot of psychological traumat in addition to his own recurrent ailments.To me it was magnanimous work of arts.He later hailed the dictionary as the ablest material of political arithmetic including his philosophy about manufacturing that later came with Patterson's industrial revolution was shaped by the book.Just one book shaped the American history.Can you believe that?"
"We don't read in Africa that's the problem"
"Not likely going to change soon.You don't blame the leadership for that I blame the followership for that.See what he was doing as clerk far back at St Louis.He thoroughly developed himself learnt to speak french mastered couple of skills and read extensively.Little did he know would be quite useful when he migrated to states.Was it not surprising such great foundation made him a leader?"
"I quite agreed you must evolve the true foundation as a follower."
"A good follower makes a good a good leader "
"And vice versa "
"Exactly.The book also gave him a glimpse of mixed economy perhaps for the first time in which government creates an enabling environment for the individual freedom and entrepreneurship to thrive.The pay book also exposes the rudimentary knowledge of future treasury secretary on finance."
"Uhmmmmm.interesting"
"I read the part when he says 'When you can get more of foreign coin,the coin for your native exchange is said to be high and the reverse low."
"Let me see that book in your hand where you did sketches of the speeches and write up"as he stood up from the large stone to collect the voluminous item"
"Read the underlined text"
"Oh this is Hamilton speaking..."
"Yeah read it"
"It says ' The continent of Europe is 2600 miles long and 2800 miles broad""Prague is the principal capital city of bohemia the principal part of the commerce of which is carried on by the Jews."
"See the tables on infant mortality rates , foreign exchange rates, population growth,trade balance.,..."
"I saw it including the aggregate economic output of different nations culled from the same dictionary...."as he stood up and returned the book to him and return to sit down and yawned.
"Definitely was a good student of history too"
"See he broached perfectly the books of antiquities for political precedents the muse he used to set up framework for american judicial precedents."
"Quite substantially read."
"He believed a leader should not pander to popular whims and their actions instead should dictate the trends than the other way round.It was motivated by the First Philipic Of Demosthenes.Let me read this you did not see this.He says " As a general marches at the head of his troops"so should discretionary politicians and discreet leaders "march at the head of affairs insomuch that they ought not to wait the event to know what measures to take but the measures which they have taken ought to produce the event."
"Incredible forest of timely foresight"
"See almost fifty one pages of playbook notes contain studies from Plutarch such as Plutarch Lives.."
"He had read Plutarch too"
"Exactly,see extracts from six volume edition of Plutarch 's Lives"stood up and moved closer to him as he endeavoured to stretch the book closer to his eyes and then returned to sit after illustration standing agape.
"No doubt this guy brought readership culture to america.Often fond of interpreting politics as an epic tales of lust and greed from Plutarch Lives and raves of those who plot for powers.So he was fond of Plutarch's biographical sketches being the main motivation of his political theory rooted in the study of human nature the same doctrine that his executioner Arron burr later used against him in 1804 when he was murdered in a dueling match.He broadly examined the construction of clergies,debates and other institutions created to govern the people and the society.He wrote also of vital checks and balances in power to quell anarchy and despotism when he wrote about the life of Lycurgus:
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