by the urgency of his friends: I was inundated with letters, describing the crisis and the expediency of my accepting the Command.

Through the same channel, and from information I had no cause to distrust, no doubt remained on my mind that Colo. Hamilton was designated Second in command and first if I should decline acceptance, by the Federal characters of Congress; whence alone anything like a public sentiment relative thereto, could be deduced. On this authority the Paragraph which you quoted from my letter, was founded. I pretend to no other knowledge of the business.

The moment I had resolved to accept the Command, with the reservations mentioned in my letter to the President, now before the Public, my first care was to look for Coadjutors with whom I could be happy; and on whom I could place entire confidence, a second thought was not necessary for this, in the Majr. Generals for the Augmented Army; but to arrange them, with an attention to the various views the subject presented, was not easy.

in my

In a free and candid strain, I frankly declared to you last the principle, and the only principle, which operated in the arrangement of Genl. Pinckney; but as I was more concise on this head as it related to Colo Hamilton, I will ask your patience while I detail the reasons which prevailed in his case.

1. Having already informed you of the evidence (as given to me) of the public wish that he should be second in command, if I accepted; and first, if I did not; it is unnecessary to repeat it. 2. Considering that the Military establishment of this Country was about to take a new form, and to commence as it were de novo, without any particular regard to an Army which had been disbanded near fourteen years, I conceived

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HAMILTON'S SELECTION

399

that the President in the choice of Officers, and arrangement of them, would pay as much attention to circumstances, as to former rank. Not supposing then, that the latter would be viewed in so serious a light as appears by your letter, I shall readily acknowledge that I had recourse to no old resolves of Congress, nor did I recollect any, that would apply to the case. 3. I might, in some measure, have been led into this belief from what happened in consequence of the Insurrection in 1794. There you will recollect, that Genl Lee, who had never been more than a Colo. in the Army of the U. S., was put over the heads of Mifflin, Irvine, Morgan and Hand, all of whom had been General Officers in the said Service; Not because he was Governor of Virginia, for the moment he crossed the Potomac, which he was obliged to do to get at the Insurgents, his Office and powers as Governor ceased. 4. The same communications of the wishes that, Colo. Hamilton might be second in command, conveyed intimations also, that from his situation and prospects, having a large family and no certain dependence but his Profession, which was lucrative, something, as nearly adequate as the case would admit, ought to be offered to induce his acceptance; and the 2d. rank was proposed. 5. And though his services during the War were not rendered in the grade of a General Officer, yet his opportunities and experience, could not be short of those that did. And 6. adding these to the important trusts reposed in him in various Civil walks of life, he will be found I trust, upon as high ground as most men in the U. States.

I do not know that these explanations will afford you any satisfaction, or produce any change in your determination, but it was just to myself to make them. If there had been any management in the business, it has been concealed from me. I have

had no Agency therein, nor have I conceived a thought on the subject that has not been disclosed to you with the utmost sincerity and frankness of heart. And notwithstanding the insinuations wch. are implied in your letter, of the vicissitudes of friendship, and the inconstancy of mine, I will pronounce with decision, that it ever has been, still is, and notwithstanding the unkindness of the charge, ever will be (for aught I know to the contrary) warm and sincere.

I earnestly wished on account of that friendship, as well as on the score of Military talents, to have had the assistance of you and Colo. Hamilton in the arduous contest with which we are threatened: I wish it still and devoutly, as well on public, as on private account; for dissensions of this sort will have an unhappy effect among the friends of Government, while it will be sweet consolation to the French partisans, and food, for their Princpls.

60

Lengthy as this letter is, I must ask leave to make an observation on the following passage in yours, which I hope, inadvertently escaped you. Speaking of Genl. Officers you say, if &ca.

New England which must furnish the majority of the Army if one shall be raised, will be without a Major General or have the junr. one. Whether they will possess such a sense of inferiority as to bear such a state of things patiently, and whether their zeal and confidence will thereby be excited time will discover.

I hope in God that at no time, much less the present when everything sacred and dear is threatened that local distinctions; and little jealousies, will be done away. If the arrangement should go into complete effect New England, (Massachusetts alone), of three Major Generals, and three Brigadiers, for the

"Sparks omits a paragraph at this point, with the explanation that it was not "intelligible," meaning, perhaps, legible in the press copy; but said paragraph is as decipherable as the rest of the letter and is, of course, included above.

1798]

A DECLARATION

401

augmented Army, would have two Senrs. of each, and from New Jersey [illegible] ward there are four out of Six. What distribution more equal could be made with the strictest eye to locality, or Geographical refinement; may it not be asked, what advantage would a State, or States derive from the Senior, more than the junr. Major General, equal priviledges being attaching to all, on the same establishment? except that the Senior in the usual rotine has the best chance of being Commander in chief.

I will now close my letter, spun to an infinitely greater length than I expected when I began, with a solemn declaration, that if such powers as I suggested in the early part of this letter had, (as I think they ought, under the circumstances of the case) been given to the President, and the consequent meeting had taken place in Philadelphia, I should have been perfectly satisfied with any arrangement that would have produced harmony and Content; for nothing could be farther from my wish than to see you in a degraded point of view. How the Commissions are dated, I know not. I am, as I ever have been, My dear Sir Your sincere friend, and Affectionate Servt.

*To LEWIS MURARIUS 61

Mount Vernon, August 9, 1798.

Sir: I have had the honor to receive your favour of the 16th. Ulto. and thank you for your politeness in offering to become a member of my Military family. But as I do not mean to form One, until the time is near at hand when I shall take the Field; and then a variety of circumstances must combine in my choice. It is my wish that you may not forego any other prospects in expectation of being admitted therein I am etc.

Of New York.

TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR

(Private and confidential)

Mount Vernon, August 10, 1798.

My dear Sir: You will consider this letter as private and confidential. Dictated by friendship, and flowing from the best intentions. If then, anything should be found therein wch. may have too much the appearance of plain dealing, look to the motives, and manner of the communication, and my apology will be sought for in yr. candor.

From the moment I accepted my Appointment as Commander in Chief of the Armies of the U. States, I considered myself as nearly Allied to the Secretary of War, and entitled to particular attentions from him, notwithstanding I drew no pay, nor was acting in the field. It could not have been supposed, had it not otherwise been expressed, that I would be called to the Army in the moment of danger as ignorant of its formation, its municions, and every thing relating thereto, as if I had just dropped from the Clouds.

My Sollicitude, often and strongly expressed, relatively to the formation of the Army, could not but have impressed you with my ideas of its importance; but if stronger evidence was necessary, the offer I made to go, at this hot season, and in other respects inconvenient, to Philadelphia, would be conclusive. But what fruit has it produced? To this moment I am ignorant of every step that has been taken in the appointment of the Battalion Officers; for recruiting the Men, fixing the places of Rendezvouses, &ca.

With respect to the Quarter Master General, finding no mention made of one in the list of appointments, nor any thing said of him in your letter of the 18th. of July announcing them, I waited some time to see if any explanation of this matter