Love & War (Alex & Eliza #2)(59)
“Taxation without representation,” Alex clarified. “There is a difference.”
“I for one do not miss paying taxes to one more body,” Gouverneur said.
“No one likes to pay taxes, but we can all admit, however grudgingly, that they are necessary if a government is to do the work for which it is created in the first place. To maintain a militia and a navy, for one thing, so that it can to protect its citizenry, and to build roads and bridges and ports, and to assist in the education and well-being of its people,” said Alex.
“But don’t you think such issues are best handled locally?” John said. “Surely a governor or mayor knows what his constituents require better than a government located half a thousand miles away.”
“Some of those projects are simply too large to be handled by local governments,” Alex answered. “And what does local mean, anyway? The state? The city? The village? How long can you keep passing responsibility until we end up saying that each individual is responsible solely for himself—
“Or herself,” Eliza threw in.
“—or herself, and can expect nothing from his—or her—government?”
“But why should a New Yorker, for example, come to the aid of a Virginian or a Georgian?” John said. “What does he—or she,” he added, smiling at Eliza, “get out of it?”
“Why, he gets to buy Virginia tobacco without paying a customs duty, or Georgia peaches!”
“We can grow peaches right here in New York,” Peggy said.
“They’re not as good as Georgia peaches,” Alex said. “And we cannot grow cotton and indigo and peanuts, nor can they produce wheat as we do.”
“It’s true about the peaches,” Helena said. “It has something to do with the warmth of the summers and the rain and the soil as well. They’re a class apart. John, we must go to Georgia at our first opportunity! I want a peach!”
“But can you not see,” Alex said now, “that being divided into a patchwork of little states all jumbled on top of each other is precisely what is wrong with Europe? Why, not a day goes by when one of them is not declaring war on another, or these five are forming an alliance against those three, or some erstwhile bit of Spain is declaring itself ‘the Netherlands’ or bits and pieces of Italy are being auctioned off to the highest bidder.”
“Yes, but Europe has the problem of all those different languages,” Gouverneur said. “It would be next to impossible for them to create a single large country as we have here, or even two or three, if the citizens in the various provinces cannot understand each other. Here we have English to hold us together.”
“Exactly!” Alex said. “And we must take advantage of the things that hold us together and build the kind of country that can rival Tsarist Russia or Cathay China in scope and power. But to do that, we must recognize that our common interests override our differences. That we can be united and be individuals at the same time. And for that, we must have a strong central government to provide the leadership such a vast project requires!”
John and Gouverneur laughed.
“You have a formidable husband, Mrs. Hamilton,” John said. “Or at least a talkative one.”
“Indeed,” Gouverneur added. “I wonder that you ever manage to win an argument with him.”
“Oh, trust me, the Schuyler sisters have resources of their own,” Stephen answered. “It is Alex you should worry about on that front.”
Eliza held her tongue, but exchanged a look with Peggy that said, We’ll deal with the boys later.
“So, tell us,” John said, turning back to Alex. “How is your law practice going? Do you find it much different in New York City as opposed to Albany?”
“Oh, certainly,” Alex said. “In Albany I was able, if I may be so modest, to trade on the good name of my wife’s family, which brought me more clients than I could represent. Here, though the Schuyler name is certainly respected, it is not personally known to many, and I have had to attract my own business, as it were.”
“Attract business?” Stephen said. “You make it sound like so many flowers offering up their competing petals for a bee’s attention.”
“If I had to paint my face red or blue to feed my family, I would not hesitate,” Alex said in a somewhat testy voice. He didn’t like Stephen’s insinuation that working for a living was somehow uncouth. “We can’t all be born with the proverbial silver spoon in our mouths.”
“In Stephen’s case, it was more of a silver ladle, or maybe just a bucket,” Peggy said, goosing her husband.
“Fortunately, things haven’t come to that pass,” Eliza said soothingly.
Stephen stared at Alex for a long moment, before taking a sip of his beer. “We are all born with different advantages. Most of us here were born with wealth, but I’m sure we would all trade a good portion of our fortunes to have a share of your intelligence.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” John said. “I quite like being rich and stupid.”
Helena rolled her eyes and pinched her husband’s cheek. “You’re so lucky you’re cute,” she said drily.
“Business is not so dire as Mr. Hamilton’s words might suggest,” Eliza said. “In the last week he has acquired nine, ten—” She looked at Alex for confirmation.