Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/228

204 comrades in arms, both French and Americans; amongst others the brave and wise Colonel Hamilton, the friend of Washington, and who was afterwards unfortunately killed in a duel by Colonel Burgh. Hamilton, who had quitted the army and returned to civil life, was a lawyer, and pleaded in the courts and gave consultations. We often talked together,—much to my profit,—of the causes of the war, the actual condition of the United States, and the probable destiny of the nation. Anyone who had heard us talking about events which were then a matter of history, would have taken us for two of the speakers in Lucian's or Fénélon's Dialogues of the Dead.

"The American War," I said, "began in a very singular manner, and was carried on in a way yet more singular. It seems to me, on summing up all my observations, that the English made a mistake in send-