tee. You, who may now say with Prince Henry of Prussia, "J'appartiens tout entier à l'histoire," will not forget a pledge given to a body of men in any way connected with that awful tribunal. I therefore solicit for them the fulfillment of that promise, which will be very gratefully received. XIV. 23 February, 1816. DEAR SIR,-Accept again my sincere thanks for the valuable present of your late report on the new tariff. As I do not understand the subject I can only join in the general approbation. One thing I well understand, that I shall be able to drink claret cheaper than before. I am not sorry for the circumstance, though I would have paid a higher duty with great pleasure for the good of the nation. On the whole, it is evident that you have determined to promote the complete independence of the country by protecting its manufactures. I hope that you and I will live to see some of the wonderful effects which this system will produce. XV. 15 April, 1816. DEAR SIR, I again intrude upon you to request a copy of your letter of the 19th of March to the Chairman of the Committee on the National Currency. Called to the head of our finances at the beginning of the paper age, I was sure you would not quit them without restoring to us the golden age, which I fondly anticipate from the measures you propose. I congratulate you and the country on the final passage of the bank bill, though it is not all that you would have wished. This you may be sure of, that your administration will be long remembered; its features are strongly marked, and will produce decisive results. Adopted sooner and with a better grace, the country would by this time have been sensible of blessings produced by your conceptions. I hear with pain that you are going to quit the ministry. This measure of yours I cannot be brought to approve, and you will excuse me for being a strong oppositionist. Certain it is, however, that the impulse is given, and there is now nothing to do but follow it. You will leave an easy task to your successors. Having done thus much, you are certainly entitled to retire from the labors of public life, and no man will be more pleased than I to see you again among us. Yet if I had any influence upon you I could entreat you to remain where you are for the public good. But your talents are so various that I console myself with the hope, if you should cease to be our purse-holder, of seeing you benefit the nation in some other equally important branch of government which wants to be set in motion, as you have done the department of finance. LETTERS BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND THE SECRETARY. 1815. DEAR SIR,-I inclose the draft of a letter to the general officers, on the execution of the act of the 3d of March, 1815, with a copy of the act. You will see by a memorandum from Mr. Monroe that he thinks the peace establishment is to be composed of ten thousand men, exclusive of officers. General Scott agrees in that opinion, and I shall be very glad to adopt it with your approbation. I shall write to you again to-morrow, and have only to request the favor of an early instruction upon the present communication. I am, dear sir, faithfully and respectfully, your obedient servant, The President. 11 April, 1815. A. J. DALLAS. DEAR SIR,-The result of the conference of the heads of departments on General Jackson's case will be seen in the inclosed draft of a letter to the general, which is submitted to your consideration. Be so good as to return it with your instructions to alter it or to send it in its present shape. There is no other copy of the letter. The fact of the release of Judge Hale and Mr. Dick is stated in a second communication from the latter to Mr. Monroe. There are no accounts from Generals Macomb, Brown, Jackson, or Gaines further than I have already mentioned. General Ripley arrived this afternoon, but I have not seen him. It is said, from several quarters, that he would prefer a civil appointment to a continuance in the army; but the intimation seems to proceed originally from interested parties. I can easily ascertain it from himself. The inclosed recommendation from General Scott to Brevet Captains Pentland and Smith is submitted to your decision. These recommendations will probably so multiply as to deprive the brevet of its complimentary character. I am, dear sir, most faithfully, your obedient servant, The President. 13 April, 1815. MONTPELIER, April 14, 1815. DEAR SIR,-I received by the mail of this morning your two letters of the 11th and 12th instant, with the several papers to which they refer. That of the 9th came to hand yesterday. The construction of the fifth section of the act fixing the military establishment is not without difficulty. Do not the terms and interpretation of former acts of Congress determine the question whether "men" means privates, etc. only, or includes commissioned officers also? Not having a copy of the laws at hand, I am not able to form an opinion. If the construction, excluding officers, be not forbidden by precedents or clear analogy, I take the more obvious meaning to be that officers should not be included in the "ten thousand" men specified in the act. I feel all the delicacy and magnitude of the task imposed by the law which your communications express, and regret that there is not less room for erring in the execution of it. In choosing the general officers, I do not see that we can do better, on the whole, than adhere to the individuals first agreed on, unless indeed something should be finally ascertained in the proceedings at New Orleans, which, I trust, will not be the case, compelling us to relinquish the preference given to the general commanding there. With respect to the fourth brigadier also, the door is not understood to be finally closed, unless something has passed with him having that effect, as was authorized. If serious difficulties are in his way, or there be decisive grounds of preference in favor of another, and there be commitment on the subject, I wish you to consult your judgment freely, and give me an opportunity of sanctioning it. Nor do I see that we can advantageously vary the course marked out for discriminating between the officers to be retained and to be discharged. I approve the idea, however, of considering the report of the board of officers as imposing no fetters on the authoritative decision. How would it do to prescribe a recommendatory list, giving to the executive an option among several candidates? I ask the question without intending to arrest the progress of the business. If the expedient should be entirely approved, and not otherwise, the form of the report required may be changed without the delay of a communication with me. If it were admissible to have the opinions of the most respectable officers of high rank, General Dearborn for example, who will have no future connection with the army, either as associates in the Board or otherwise, it might be useful in different views. But I see so many difficulties in the way that I do not press it even on my own thoughts. As neither Jackson nor Gaines can attend, I think you will do well to obtain the presence of Colonel H. in the mode which has occurred to you. The scope of your letters in general appears to be the just one. I wish you to make the final decision on the selection of officers as distinctly that of the President as you deem suitable and consistent with respect and confidence due to and felt for the head of the War Department. I am engaged with the proceedings of the court-martial on General Wilkinson. It is so extremely voluminous that I shall not be able to get through it for some days. The court acquit him, I perceive, with honor on every charge, and, of course, strengthens his claims and expectations from the public. What has become of the chance presented by the appointment of the naval officers at New York to the mayoralty? I was not unaware of some of the difficulties which you would encounter in your fiscal arrangements. The steps you have taken and contemplate accord with the best judgment I can form on the business. Whilst the money market in Europe continues as it is indicated by the present state of the English stocks, the United States will not be able to realize the advantages due to the merit of theirs. I observe that the "exposition," etc. is finding its way to the public here and to the world in different ways, and I have not yet seen that the government is charged by its opponents, as it could not justly be, with any indelicate participation. The idea of Mr. Jefferson, therefore, of publishing the work officially in a different dress, could not be excuted without more difficulty than occurred to him. Whether it ought to go out from the government at all is another question. If the truths it contains can be otherwise sufficiently promulgated, and with sufficient credibility, it will be best, I continue to think, to let them speak for themselves. Accept my great esteem and my affectionate respects, JAMES MADISON. Mr. DALLAS. MONTPELIER, April 16, 1815. DEAR SIR,-I received by the mail of this morning your two letters of the 13th and 14th. The letter for General Jackson cannot be improved, and I lose no time in returning it. The cases recommended by General Scott for brevets are strong ones, and I suppose cannot well be rejected. I am aware with you, however, that these honorary commissions, already so much multiplied, are in danger of losing their value. If you think it advisable, the cases may lie over till a fuller estimate can be made of this danger. Mr. DALLAS. Affectionate respects, JAMES MADISON. MONTPELIER, April 18, 1815. DEAR SIR, I have received your two letters of the 15th and 16th inst I approve the transfers you propose in the army appropriations, and will give the formal sanction to them as soon as I receive the usual documents for signature. I approve, also, the course you have in view for winding up the affairs of the army, and am glad to find that you will be able so far to overcome the pecuniary difficulties. I have left it with you and Mr. Monroe to make the definitive arrangement of the case of General Ripley in all its relations. Affectionate respects, Mr. DALLAS. JAMES MADISON. MONTPELIER, April 19, 1815. DEAR SIR, I have at length run through the trial of General Wilkinson, and send it to you, with an approbation of the sentence of the court. I send, also, the trial of Captain Hanson, with a decision conformable to the sentence and recommendation of the court in his case. Affectionate respects, The Secretary of War. JAMES MADISON. DEAR SIR,-I am obliged to trouble you again on Mr. Lesborough's business. He has mistaken my expression, which was, "that if the claim is not legal, still it appears to me to be equitable." However, recollecting your view of the subject, I do not wish to give a formal decision without your sanction; and |