Sunday, December 4, 2022

A Sneak Peek at My New Novel, WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE! Lincoln, Hamilton, and Roosevelt - Oh my!

    I always enjoy trying to link my various novels together with little cross-references or homages.  My current work in progress, WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE, is the second foray into alternative history I've done, the first being PRESIDENT HAMILTON.  But among my unpublished works, there is the full libretto to a two-act musical about Theodore Roosevelt, another one of my favorite American leaders.  So, in Chapter Sixteen of my Lincoln story, set in the late fall of 1865, I decided to tip my hat to both of these past writing projects.  Let me know what you think:


Before leaving New York, Lincoln was invited to be the guest of honor at a dinner hosted by some of the city’s leading attorneys.   He delivered a few brief remarks, thanking them for the invitation, and then took his seat at the head table.  Across from him was a man who looked vaguely familiar, a white-haired septuagenarian with a prominent Roman nose and high forehead.  Lincoln was trying to figure out where he knew him from when the gentleman saw the President looking at him and smiled.

“Thank you for your remarks, Mister President,” he said, offering his hand.  “I am John C. Hamilton.  My son Alexander speaks very highly of you.”

“Of course!” Lincoln said.  “I think we met briefly at the Willard two years ago.  Your son Alex is an excellent staff officer and did a fine job delivering my daily military briefings.”

“He’s named after my father, of course, and I can’t help thinking that Papa would be proud of his service in this regrettable conflict,” Hamilton said.

“Your father was a great man,” Lincoln said.  “His grasp of economics, and of the relationship between labor and capital, was ahead of his time.  Education, especially education of the working class, is central to the general welfare of the nation, and he recognized that truth and championed it.  Jefferson wrote some memorable phrases about human liberty, but Alexander Hamilton understood the importance of economic liberty.  National prosperity does not lie in the concentration of wealth at the very top of society, but on prosperity that is shared by every level.”

“Exactly right!” John Hamilton said.  “Jefferson condemned my father as a monarchist for wanting the federal government to be stronger than that of the states, but Papa knew that people can only be free when the government is strong enough to protect their freedoms, and fairly administered enough so that every man has a chance to rise as high as his abilities will take him!”

“That is the dream of America,” Lincoln said, “and I am living proof of it.  No one will ever be able to say that I came from a life of privilege, and yet by the grace of God and no little sweat and effort on my own part, I’ve risen to lead this great land.”

“And you have led it very well!” Hamilton said.  “My father would appreciate your strong stand for our glorious union, and your implacable hostility to slavery, for he shared your views on both those issues.  You know, he wanted to arm Negroes to fight in the Revolution, but his proposal was voted down.”

“I thank you for your kind words, Mister Hamilton,” Lincoln said.  “Your father was a man I wish I could have known, and I will say that I read your biographical series about him with great interest. I like to think that in some ways I have fulfilled his vision for our nation.”

Hamilton leaned across the table and lowered his voice.

“Mister President,” he said, “I don’t speak of this very often.  I was nearly twelve when Papa took part in that dreadful duel with Aaron Burr.  Even as my father was dying, in the agonies of his mortal wound, his thoughts were of the future of our country.  After bidding farewell to my mother and younger brothers, he looked at me and the others at his bedside and said: ‘If they break this Union, they will break my heart.’  I must say, sir, that when the rebels fired on Fort Sumter, I thought that my father’s worst nightmare had finally come true.  And it might have, had it not been for you. You stood up to them, Mister President.  You led our nation through a long, dark night of disunion and rebellion, and into the glorious dawn of liberty and unity!  Thank you, Mister Lincoln, for saving the Union my father struggled and died for.  If he is looking down on this vale of tears from the hereafter, I know that he would approve of your decency, your courage, and your passion for freedom.”

“That is high praise indeed, Mister Hamilton,” said Lincoln, deeply moved. “Those words mean more to me than I can say.”

“They are heartfelt,” Hamilton replied.  “In some ways, Mister President, I feel you have completed the work my father and Washington began, by saving the Union from dissolution.”

Lincoln rose and bowed deeply, and then found himself accosted by Governor Fenton, who had ousted Horatio Seymour the previous fall.  By the time he was done speaking with the governor, the President saw that Hamilton had gone home for the evening. They did not meet again for several years thereafter, but the conversation he had with Alexander Hamilton’s son remained with Lincoln for the rest of his life.

As he was leaving the dinner, Lincoln was accosted by a familiar figure.  Theodore Roosevelt had been an active member of the Union League, and during the war he had championed the allotment system that allowed Union soldiers to send a monthly portion of their pay to their families at home.  The President had been very impressed with the idea and had appointed Roosevelt to be the allotment commissioner for all of New York.

“My dear Mr. Roosevelt,” Lincoln said, “it is good to see you again!”

“I am delighted to see you as well, Mister President,” said the sturdy, bearded figure.  Roosevelt had done much to support the Union armies but had chosen not to serve in the military himself – partly because, Lincoln suspected, Roosevelt’s wife had been an active supporter of the Confederacy and her two brothers had donned the grey to fight for the South.  Since some of his own wife’s family had also fought on the opposite side, Lincoln felt a certain empathy for a man caught in the middle.

“What can I do for a man who did so much to help our boys in blue?” Lincoln said after exchanging a few pleasantries.

“I have a son who would very much like to meet you, Mister President,” the New Yorker said.  “He’s waiting in my carriage – he’s been very sick, but he absolutely begged me to let him see you.”

“I’d be delighted,” Lincoln said.  “I know how much my Taddie enjoys meeting the people he’s looked up to.”

Trailed by his ubiquitous military guards, Lincoln followed Roosevelt to a richly appointed carriage that was waiting at the curb.

“Teedie?” the elder Roosevelt said.  “I’ve brought him to meet you!”

There was a rustle of blankets, and a pale young face sporting an enormous pair of spectacles looked out the window at the President.

“President Lincoln!” the lad exclaimed.  Even in the pale light from the nearby streetlamp, Lincoln could tell that the boy was not well.  He was very thin for his size, his face was pale, and there were dark hollows under his eyes. Moved with compassion, the President reached his long arms through the window of the carriage and lifted the child out, cradling him so the boy could look him in the eye.

“And who might you be, my lad?” he said.

“I’m Theodore Roosevelt Junior!” the child replied with evident pride in his family name. “My papa is the best man I know, and he says that you are the best man in the whole world!”

Lincoln laughed and the elder Roosevelt flushed slightly.

“Well, the good opinion of men like your daddy means the world to me,” he said.  “Your father did noble service to our great Union during the war, and I am very grateful to him.”

“I wanted the war to last longer so I could go fight!” the lad said, but then his small body spasmed as he was racked with coughs.

“What ails the lad?” Lincoln said softly as he patted the child on the back.

“The doctors call it asthma,” Roosevelt replied.  “He will be all right for several weeks, but then it will kick in again, and he wheezes and turns blue and frightens us dreadfully.”

“It’s not that bad, Papa,” the boy said as he got his breath back.  “I always get better!”

“And I have hopes that one day you will outgrow it, as many men do,” his father said, ruffling the boy’s brown hair.

“I am very glad that the war did not last another dozen years,” Lincoln said to the younger Roosevelt, “but as brave as you are, I will bet the rebels are equally glad they didn’t have to fight you!”

The boy’s eyes sparkled, and he threw his arms around the President’s neck.

“I think you are as good a man as papa says,” he told Lincoln.

“You’re quite the young politician,” the President told him.  “You mind your schooling and develop that young mind of yours, and one day you might get to live in the White House, too!”

“I’d rather be a great general,” Theodore Junior said, “but being President wouldn’t be bad either.  Could I do both?”

Lincoln laughed out loud at the boy’s ambitions and said: “It wouldn’t surprise me if you did, my lad!  Now I need to go back to my hotel – I have to leave early in the morning.  It was a delight to meet you, Theodore.”

“You can call me Teedie,” the boy said. “Everybody does!”

“Do they now?” Lincoln mused.  “Well, then, good night, Teedie, and thank you, Mr. Roosevelt, for introducing me to your remarkable son!”




And don't forget, if you'd like to get your own copy of PRESIDENT HAMILTON: A NOVEL OF ALTERNATIVE HISTORY, all you have to do is click the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/President-Hamilton-Novel-Alternative-History/dp/1632137100/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1657739091&sr=1-1