To Alexander Hamilton from Robert Troup, 8 August 1793
From Robert Troup
New York 8 Augt 1793
My dear Sir
We are all alive here. Perhaps this day will be distinguished by the most respectable meeting for numbers—character—& property—ever assembled in this City.1 The object is to express our warm approbation of the proclamation of neutrality & our determination to support peace. We have by pursuing a bold & manly line of conduct effected a complete consolidation of parties in favor of the great object of neutrality.
You cannot concive how different the feelings of the Federalists are from those they had a few days since. We shall inform you after the meeting of particulars.
Genets reception was noisy—but contemptible to an extreme.2 His conduct has excited general indignation. If the president pursues the manly & dignified conduct he has marked out for himself he will secure the continuance of that respect & veneration for him which reign in the hearts of all reflecting & good men.
We can & will support him with success. We never will suffer a competition to exist between him & the Minister of any country. Be prudent—steady—manly—and firm—and we shall triump over all enemies both domestic & foreign. I am in great haste. Never were men more industrious & determined than we are. The meeting will take place at 12 o’Clock.
God bless you
Rob Troup
A Hamilton Esq
I send you this as the harbinger of good news
RT
ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. The meeting was held in front of Trinity Church and, according to the [Philadelphia] Gazette of the United States, “Citizens of all parties, and every class were present; their unexampled unanimity it is hoped will discourage the few, the very few, turbulent men among us, and cannot fail to instruct foreigners, that however we may disagree in our local politics, we stand united and firm, in our decision to maintain our neutrality, and to support and defend the President of the United States.…” Nicholas Cruger, a New York merchant for whose firm H had once worked as a clerk, was chairman of the meeting, and Troup addressed the assembly. Six resolutions in support of the neutrality proclamation were passed. An account of the meeting and the text of the resolutions are printed in the Gazette of the United States, August 14, 1793, and in The [New York] Daily Advertiser, August 9, 1793.
2. The Daily Advertiser for August 8, 1793, stated that “Citizen Genet arrived here yesterday at 12 o’clock: His arrival was announced by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannon: He was received at the battery by the committee appointed to present him the address voted on Thursday last, and conducted to the New Coffee house, and from thence to his lodgings in Maiden Lane.”