Excerpt from Scandalmonger by William Safire, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Outside, in the carriage, Muhlenberg exploded: "Can you imagine? Hamilton frees this criminal Reynolds and then secretly sends for him. Then the criminal breaks his appointment with us and disappears for good. Hamilton probably gave him hush money. Do you suppose the wife is part of the plot?"

Monroe thought that Mrs. Reynolds was a charmer who could keep a secret. He also guessed that, as a sensible woman, she had not been inclined to burn any letters that might become useful to her. She was also a disenchanted wife unlikely to follow her reprobate husband out of the country. Maria Reynolds was probably committing adultery with Clingman, and the testimony of both of them had to be evaluated in that light.

"In a curious way, she's protecting Hamilton," Monroe told his fuming fellow investigator, "even as she gives us information to discomfort him. I can only presume Mrs. Reynolds's motive is also to protect her husband. She may be feigning her irritation with his sudden departure. Perhaps she considers loyalty to be the greatest virtue."

The Speaker said he could hardly believe what they had found. "We have evidence that the Secretary of the Treasury has been colluding for months with a confessed speculator. Think of it! And this morning he obstructs a Congressional inquiry by freeing and sending away a material witness. Monroe, finish the letter you began last night to President Washington. We must take it to him right away."

Monroe shook his head. "That was my own first impulse, and you were right to restrain me, Mr. Speaker. Hamilton has been tracking us as we have been tracking him. I think he expects us to come and confront him." The Treasury Secretary was a formidable public figure, personally fearless, certain to present a vigorous defense. Monroe rather looked forward to Hamilton's explanation of his dealings with Reynolds, and to the report he would write of their confrontation to Jefferson, and then to the President. "I propose we do just that tomorrow morning. Then we can take both the accusation and his explanation to President Washington."

Muhlenberg saw the wisdom in knowing Hamilton's explanation before going to the Chief Magistrate. "We'll need copies made of everything -- Hamilton's notes, his letters, our reports of each interview, the draft of our letter to Washington, Clingman's affidavit."

"Get your man Beckley to do that tonight, if he has to work all night." John Beckley was Clerk of the House. Monroe said "your man" as if to defer to the Speaker of that body, but he wanted Beckley, an intensely loyal Jefferson partizan, in charge of the copying. Those documents might -- in good time, perhaps in a few years, before the next Presidential election -- bring disgrace down on Hamilton's Federalists. Muhlenberg hesitated; apparently wondering whether it was wise to trust the journeyman Beckley. Then the Speaker nodded assent and gathered all their notes.

December 19, 1792

Alexander Hamilton waited in his Treasury office for his accusers. It was a workmanlike office in a two-story building. The adjacent State Department building of three stories had more spacious offices, but pomp had no attraction for him. Nor was the acquisition of wealth his primary concern. He would leave the Treasury a poorer man than when he went in, and his closest friends told him they would probably have to bury him at their own expense. That was what made this investigation so galling: more important to Hamilton than money or even power was fair renown. The reward he sought in public service was reputation, and the high regard of his countrymen, earned on battlefield and in convention hall, was being stolen from him by backbiters and miscreants.

He was determined not to be diverted from his main pursuit by cavils or trifles. For two days, Hamilton had closely followed the progress of the Congressional investigators. From the reports of the bumpkin Clingman and the blackguard Reynolds, he had been able to ascertain much of what the investigators knew and which incriminating documents they had obtained. He had arranged for the disappearance of the central witness against him. As an experienced trial attorney preparing a vigorous and most unconventional defense, Hamilton now needed to know his accusers' preliminary conclusions and whether they planned to make them public or take them privately to the President.

Copyright William Safire February 2000. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the publisher, Simon & Schuster