mands which were made on them as a preliminary to Negotiation by the latter, are evaporating fast; and Recruiting Service, which might have been successful, (of the best men,) a month ago may be found very difficult a month hence, (of the worst kind). The law passed before the middle of July, and was positive; and the middle of September has produced no fruit from it. This to me is inconceivable !

I must once more, too, my dear McHenry, request that your correspondence with me may be more full and communicative. You have a great deal of business, I shall acknowledge; but I scruple not to add, at the same time, that much of the important and interesting part of it will be to be transacted with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the U States, to whom there ought to be no concealment or want of information. Short letters, therefore, taking no notice of suggestions or queries, are unsatisfactory and distressing. Considering the light in which I think my sacrifices have placed me, I should expect more attention from the Secretary of War; but from Mr. McHenry, as a friend and coadjutor, I certainly shall look for it. Compare then my letter to you of the 3d instant, which I wrote in much pain, from the debilitated state into which the fever had thrown me, with your acknowledgment thereof, dated the 7th, and judge yourself whether I could derive any satisfaction therefrom on the score of business. Nor to this moment, although you know my solicitude respecting the General Staff of the Army, and my asking the question (in one of my letters) in direct

terms, what truth there was in the report of Colo. North's nomination to the office of Adjutant-General, has there been the least notice taken of it.

I will defer saying any thing on the President's new arrangement of the three Major-Generals, until you shall have communicated the result of Colonel Hamilton's answer to me.1

But in the name of the Army, what could have induced the nomination of Walter [Anthony Walton] White to the rank of Brigadier, after the State of New Jersey had been complimented with one Brigadier, and other States of more importance had received none? I formerly asked the same question with respect to Sevier to which no reply was made.

White's name was placed in the list of Field officers (for New Jersey) merely as one that might be considered in that grade when the general organization came on, but I had no idea when you left this place, that General Officers would be appointed at the time they were, for the Provisional Army; and taking it for granted that it was a work for after consideration

1 " In my opinion, as the matter now stands, General Knox is legally entitled to rank next to General Washington; and no other arrangement will give satisfaction. If General Washington is of this opinion, and will consent to it, you may call him into actual service as soon as you please. The consequence of this will be that Pinckney must rank before Hamilton. . . You may depend upon it, the five New England States will not patiently submit to the humiliation that has been meditated for them."-John Adams to James McHenry, 14 August, 1798.

"The President is determined to place Hamilton last and Knox first. I have endeavored all in my power to preserve your arrangements, but without effect. You shall be informed in a short time of the course of this business. I know not how it will be received, and can only hope that he will not refuse to serve." -McHenry to Washington, 7 September, 1798.

I bestowed no thought thereon. Of all the characters in the Revolutionary Army, I believe one more obnoxious to the Officers who composed it could not have been hit upon for a Genl. Officer than White, especially among those to the Southward, where he was best known & celebrated for nothing but frivolity -dress-empty show & something worse-in short for being a notorious L-r. This appointment will, I am told, exclude many valuable officers, who will not serve as his juniors. As to Sevier, the only exploit I ever heard of his performance, was the murder of Indians.

What measures, if any, are pursuing to provide small arms, I know not; nor of what sort or length they are intended to be; my opinion is that both musket & bayonet ought to be full as long as those, with whom we expect to contend, to give confidence to the soldiery. And it is a matter deserving consideration whether the latter ought not to resemble the dagger, more than those wch have been in common use with us.

If these, if the new invented artillery of G Britain at the cannon-works in Scotland, if the horse-artillery, in short, if any other articles of foreign manufacture are needed, not a moment is to be lost in the importation. Besides their coming much higher after hostilities shall have commenced, the obtaining of them at all will be attended with hazard and delay.

I have written you a free and friendly letter. It is intended, and I hope will be received, in that light from, my dear Sir, your sincere friend, &c.

TO JAMES MCHENRY, SECRETARY OF WAR.

DEAR SIR,

[PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.]

MOUNT VERNON, 16 September, 1798.

Your confidential letter dated Trenton the 10th instant, with its enclosures, has been duly received. The latter are returned. The contents of them have filled my mind with much disquietude and embarrassment but it is impossible for me to make any move in consequence at this time, from the want of official grounds, without betraying your confidential communication.

I can perceive pretty clearly, however, that the matter is, or very soon will be, brought to the alternative of submitting to the President's forgetfulness of what I considered a compact or condition of acceptance of the appointment, with which he was pleased to honor me, or to return him my commission. And as that compact was ultimately and at the time declared to him through you, in your letter written from this place, and the strong part of it inserted after it was first drawn, at my request, to avoid misconception, I conceive I have a right, and accordingly do ask, to be furnished with a copy of it.

You will recollect too, that my acceptance being conditional, I requested you to take the Commission back, that it might be restored or annulled according to the President's determination to accept or reject the terms on which I had offered to serve; and that, but for your assuring me it would make no difference

whether I retained or returned it, and conceiving the latter might be considered an evidence of distrust, it would have been done. Subsequent events evince, that it would have been a measure of utility; for, though the case in principle is the same, yet such a memento of the fact could not so easily have been forgotten or got over.

After the declaration in the President's letter to you of August 29th, (which is also accompanied with other sentiments of an alarming nature,) and his avowed readiness to take the responsibility of the measure upon himself, it is not probable that there will be any departure from the resolution he has adopted; but I should be glad, notwithstanding, to know the result of the Representation made by the Secretaries, as soon as it comes to hand; and, if there is no impropriety in the request, to be gratified with a sight of the memorial also. I am, &c.

P. S. If you see no impropriety in the measure, and do not object to it, it would be satisfactory to me to receive a copy of the powers, or instructions, from the President under which you acted when here.

TO JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. MOUNT VERNON, 25 September, 1798.

SIR,

With all the respect, which is due to your public station, and with the regard I entertain for your private character, the following representation is presented to your consideration. If, in the course of