SIR: ADAMS TO HAMILTON. QUINCY, September 4, 1798. I have received your favor of the 22d of August, recommending Colonel Toussard to be Inspector of Artillery. I have no reason to suspect that your entire confidence in his honor and fidelity is misplaced. But as his native country is France, and his speech betrays his original, I am very apprehensive that in a French war, neither the army nor the people would be without their jealousies and suspicions, which might be very injurious to the service. I shall take the subject into consideration, and your judg ment will have great weight. There has been already so much uneasiness expressed on account of the French officers in the artillery, that I expect much difficulty. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, JOHN ADAMS. ADAMS TO HAMILTON. QUINCY, October, 17, 1798. SIR: I have received, last night, a letter from his Excellency Governor Jay, enclosing a copy of an act of the legislature of NewYork, for the further defence of that State, and for other pur poses. The Governor observes that it appears to be the intention of that act, that the money appropriated in it, 150,000 dollars, shall be laid out only in the manner which the national government will recognize as useful and advisable, and His Excellency proposes to my consideration whether it would not be expedient to authorize Major-General Hamilton, as a national officer in whom great confidence may be placed, to concert with the Governor the plan of laying out the money to the best advantage, and to appoint the General to superintend the execution of it. I have not hesitated to comply with the Governor's request, saving all right of the legislature of the United States. Accordingly I hereby request you, sir, to concert with His Excellency the plan, and to superintend the execution of it, at least, until some other arrangement shall be made, if any other should hereafter be thought expedient. With great esteem, I have the honor to be, Sir, Major-General ALEXANDER HAMILTON, New-York. JOHN ADAMS. HAMILTON TO M'HENRY. NEW-YORK, October 19, 1798. SIR: I was yesterday honored with your letter, transmitting my commission as Inspector and Major-General. Agreeably to your desire, I hold myself prepared to attend you within the period you assign. But as the object appears to embrace a concert of advice and assistance with General Knox (who cannot be expected in much less than the utmost limit of the time prescribed), I shall permit myself to defer my journey so as to reach you about the first of November, unless I am told that an anticipation of that day is deemed requisite. I cannot but observe with satisfaction the conclusion of your letter as to the relative rank of the three Major-Generals. I received at the same time your letter of the 11th instant, having been absent from the city for five days past. I shall to-day confer with Major Hoops and Colonel Stevens on the subject of it, chiefly to ascertain the actual state of things, and by to-morrow's post will communicate my opinion. SIR: HAMILTON TO GOVERNOR JAY. NEW-YORK, October 29, 1798. I received this day a letter from the President of the United States, requesting me to concert with you the plan and to superintend the execution of it, for giving effect to the act of the legis lature of this State, and for other purposes. This I am accordingly ready to do whenever you shall be pleased to require it. DEAR SIR: HAMILTON TO WASHINGTON. NEW-YORK, October 29, 1798. Some ill health in my family, now at an end, as I hope, interfered with an earlier acknowledgment of your favor of the 21st instant. The contents cannot but be gratifying to me. It is my intention, if not prevented by further ill health in my family, to proceeed on the first of November, to Trenton. My aid to the Secretary to the full extent of what he shall permit me to afford, will not be withheld. But every day brings fresh room to apprehend that, whatever may be the props, the administration of the War Department cannot prosper in the present very well disposed but very unqualified hands. Most respectfully and affectionately, I have the honor to remain, dear Sir, Your obliged and obedient, G. WASHINGTON. A. H. WASHINGTON TO HAMILTON. PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 12th, 1798. SIR: Herewith you will be furnished with a copy of a letter from the Secretary of War to me, suggesting many very important matters for consideration and to be reported on. It is my desire that you will bestow serious and close attention on them, and be prepared to offer your opinion on each head, when called upon. I also propose, for your consideration and opinion, a number of queries which had been noted by me, previous to the receipt of the Secretary's letter (now inclosed). In stating these, I had endeavored to avoid, and make them additional to, the objects which the Secretary of War, in a letter to me, dated the 16th ultimo, informed me would be subjects for my consideration. I find, however, that several of them, in substance, are contained in his last letter; but as they were digested previous thereto, and written, I shall, to save copying, lay them before you as they are, without expunging those parts which now appear in the Secretary's statement. With very great esteem and regard, I am, Sir, Your most obd't servant, SIR: MCHENRY TO WASHINGTON. Questions submitted to the Commander-in-Chief. WAR DEPARTMENT, November 10, 1798. It appears by a letter from the President, dated Quincy, October 22d, 1798, that it will not be in his power to be in Phila delphia till near the time fixed upon for the meeting of Congress. In order, however, to prevent any injury to the public service, as it respects officering the troops directed to be raised by the late acts of Congress, he has written to me as follows: "If you and the generals judge it necessary to appoint the officers of battalions before we can have opportunity to nominate them to the Senate, you may fill up the commissions with the blanks you have, or, if you have not enough, send new ones by post." I have thought it proper, in pursuance of this authority, to submit to you a list of all those persons, who have been recommended for commissions in the army, with their letters of pre tensions, and also a list of all the officers of the revolutionary army; and to request that you will, with the aid of Generals Hamilton and Pinckney, prepare from these, and any other sources of information, a list of the most deserving and suitable characters, in your estimation, to fill the different grades to which the authority cited applies. I have also, in conformity with my letter to you, dated the 16th of August ultimo, to request that you would submit to Generals Hamilton and Pinckney (General Knox having declined his appointment) the following questions, and that you would be pleased to take the same into mature consideration, and report to me the result of your deliberations. 1. Will it be expedient and proper to select the officers and raise the men for the twelve regiments of infantry and six companies of cavalry from the following districts, and in the following proportions, or as nearly so as circumstances will admit? First; the officers and men for four regiments of infantry from within the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Secondly; the officers and men for four regiments of infantry from within the States of New-York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. Thirdly; the officers and men for four regiments of infantry from within the States of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia. Fourthly; the whole or a principal part of the officers and men of the six companies of cavalry from within the district where it is most likely they will have to serve. |