SIR: HAMILTON TO WASHINGTON. PITTSBURGH, November 19th, 1794. 7 o'clock in the morning. I wrote you the day before yesterday, by express. Nothing material remains to be said. The army is, generally, in motion homeward-the Virginia line, by way of Morgantown, to Winchester, &c.—the Maryland line, by way of Uniontown, to Williamsport, &c.—the Pennsylvania and New Jersey, by the old Pennsylvania route, to Bedford. The judiciary is industrious in prosecuting the examinations of prisoners-among whom, there is a sufficient number of proper ones for examples, and with sufficient evidence. Col. Gaddis has been brought in. With perfect respect, and true attachment, I have the honor, &c. P. S. In five minutes I set out for Philadelphia. SIR: HAMILTON TO WASHINGTON. PHILADELPHIA, December 1st, 1794. I have the honor to inform you, that I have fixed upon the last of January next as the day' for the resignation of my office of Secretary of the Treasury. I make the communication now, that there may be time to mature such an arrangement as shall appear to you proper to meet the vacancy when it occurs. With perfect respect, and the truest attachment, I have the honor to be, Sir, Your very obd't serv't, &c. HAMILTON TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. SIR: PHILADELPHIA, December 1st, 1794. I beg leave, through you, to make known to the House of Representatives, that I have signified to the President of the United States my intention to resign my office of Secretary of the Treasury on the last day of January next. I make this communication, in order that an opportunity may be given, previous to that event, to institute any further proceeding which may be contemplated, if any there be, in consequence of the inquiry, during the last session, into the state of this Department. With perfect respect, &c. HAMILTON TO WASHINGTON. December 2d, 1794. The Secretary of the Treasury has the honor respectfully to make the following representation to the President of the United States, in order that he may determine on the expediency of laying the subject of it before Congress. The procuring of military supplies generally is, with great propriety, vested by law in the Department of the Treasury. That department, from situation, may be expected to feel a more habitual solicitude for economy than any other, and to possess more means of information respecting the best modes of obtaining supplies. It is, however, important, that the particular arrangement should be such as to enable the department to execute the trust in the best manner. This branch of business forms a very considerable one of the public expenditure. Including supplies for the navy, it is so extensive as, to be well executed, would occupy the whole time and attention of one person, possessing the requi site qualifications. This, with the growth of the country, must be every year more and more the case. It cannot, therefore, be conducted in detail by the head of the department, or by any existing officer of it, now charged with other duties, and without being less well executed than it ought to be, or interfering with other essential duties, or without a portion of both these inconveniences, to the material detriment of the public service. Experience has already verified the position. It must then, of necessity, either be confided to a special agent, employed by the head of the department, or to a new officer of the department, to be constituted by law, and to act under the discretion and superintendence of that head. The last mode is preferable to the first, for obvious reasons. Whenever an object of public business is likely to be permanent, it is more fit that it should be transacted by an officer of the government, regularly constituted, than by the agent of a department, specially intrusted. The officer can be placed, by law, under more effectual checks. In the present case, that idea is particularly important. The person intrusted ought to be prohibited, under penalties, from all dealing, on his own account, in the objects of supply. The duration and emoluments of mere agency being precarious, a well qualified man, disposed to make the necessary sacrifices of other pursuits, and to devote himself exclusively to the business, could with much greater difficulty, if at all, be found. The compensation to such an officer ought, it is conceived, to weigh nothing as an objection. Independent of the equivalent expense, arising from the necessity of employing and compensating an agent, it is morally certain that the close, constant, undivided attention of a person, charged exclusively with this object, and in condition, for that reason, to make the minute as well as extensive inquiries and investigations which are often requisite, would produce savings to the United States with which the salary of the officer could bear no comparison. It is equally evident that it would contribute greatly to punctuality, dispatch, and efficiency, in procuring the supplies. All which is humbly submitted. A. HAMILTON. SIR: J. Q. ADAMS TO HAMILTON. THE HAGUE, Dec. 5th, 1794. The bankers of the United States at Amsterdam have written to you upon the present state of affairs, in this country, which would in their opinion render the negotiation for eight hundred thousand dollars, for which they have been commissioned, altogether impracticable, even if they had received from Col. Humphreys the information for which they are instructed to wait. Under these circumstances, therefore, I find myself deprived not only of the happiness of contributing to the success, but even of the satisfaction of making all the exertions in my power for the attainment of an object so near to the wishes of the President and so important to the interests of the United States. As the contingency upon which the loan was at any rate to be attempted has not happened, it would have been perfectly unnecessary to dispute the opinion of the commissioners. As the management of this business has been committed to them entirely, it would have been improper. As their means of information upon this point are so much superior to mine, it would have been indecorous. I have therefore only observed to them that the object to which the money was intended to be applied, was of extreme urgency and importance; and that I hoped they would take advantage of the first favorable moment that should offer to make their dispositions so as to be prepared for the receipt of the order from Lisbon. The zeal and fidelity with which these gentlemen have served the United States from the time they were first interested in their affairs, has been so thoroughly tried and proved that it will certainly not be deficient on the present occasion. Their personal interest will also concur with their public duty to animate their activity if they see a possible chance of succeeding. So that when they tell me that the negotiation of the proposed loan would be impracticable, I cannot doubt but that the fact is really so, and that with the whole latitude of powers given them as to the terms, they will not venture to undertake it. It is with much pleasure however that I learn from them, and from many other quarters, that in point of credit here, the United States stand upon a higher footing than any other power. That their obligations at 4 per cent. with premium are ten per cent. above par; and their 5 per cents. at par: while those of the Emperor and of Russia are vibrating rom 75 to 90, and some others bear no price at all. By the capture of Antwerp, a difficulty has occurred upon which the gentlemen at Amsterdam have no doubt already written you. The annual interest upon the loan made there of three millions of florins, is by the tenor of the obligations made payable at the counting-house of Mr. De Wolff, and the bankers here have annually remitted the money to Antwerp for the purpose. As the circulation of assignats is compulsive, the Brabanters, holders of the American obligations, are apprehensive of receiving their interest in that currency, and our bankers have not transmitted the money for the interest that becomes due for the last year. It may be added, that many of these creditors are now emigrants, and may possibly have other apprehensions for the fate of the principal as well as of the interest. One of them called upon me at Amsterdam last week, to inquire whether I could give him any relief. I told him that I had neither instructions nor power relating to that loan, but would readily transmit any representation he wished to make, and I did not doubt but the United States would do their creditors full justice. He said an expedient had already been adopted by the court of Denmark upon the same occasion, which had been satisfactory to their creditors, in their Brabant loans, and which, if equally adopted by the United States, would very much accommodate him and many others in the same predicament. It was to declare that the holders of their obligations might receive their interest at Copenhagen instead of Antwerp, and that they might exchange the obligations themselves for others bearing the same interest. The communication between Antwerp and this country is interrupted, and I do not know whether Mr. De Wolff has paid |