Secretary of War, who, in urgent cases, will himself give orders, if the Inspector-General be not on the spot, which he will communicate for his future government to the Inspector-General, and in cases not urgent, will leave matters to the agency of the Inspector-General, according to the instructions which he shall receive from the Department of War.

It is easy to perceive that there are objections to this plan. I am not sure that it ought to be adopted. The pour and the contre will readily occur to you, and you will take and reject, as shall appear to you proper; assured always that personally, I shall be content with any arrangement you may think advisable.

HAMTRANCK TO HAMILTON.

DEAR GENERAL:

FORT WAYNE, January 25th, 1799.

It gives me a singular pleasure to have an opportunity of congratulating you on the choice that the President and Senate. have made in the appointment of the Inspector-General of the

army.

America will see once more those military talents which were formerly confined in their execution to too small a compass, now diffuse themselves into every department of the profession, and display themselves on a much larger scale, and the pupil under your tuition will rejoice in having an opportunity of making himself perfect in the art of war.

I hope, my dear General, that you will not give a wrong interpretation to my letter. It is not flattery; it is the real sentiment I have always entertained of your abilities since I had the honor of serving under your immediate command, and on all occasions I have proclaimed to the western army. Long and long have I wished to introduce those principles you taught me.

HAMILTON TO

(CIRCULAR.)

SIR:

NEW-YORK, January 30th, 1799.

A letter from the Secretary at War, of yesterday, places under my superintendence the posts and troops under your immediate command. All future communications therefore respecting them, including reports and returns, are to be addressed to me; not as heretofore to the Secretary at War.

It is my wish, as soon as possible, to receive a full and particular communication of the state of things within your command, embracing the number and condition of the works and buildings; the quantities and kinds of artillery, arms, and stores; the number of the troops and their situations; as to discipline, equipment, and supply; and that you will in future keep me regularly advised of whatever may be material for the successful discharge of your trust or the advancement of the service.

I cannot let this first opportunity pass, without calling your attention in an official manner to the discipline of the troops. The cursory observation which I have been hitherto able to make, has been sufficient to satisfy that there exists in this respect too general a relaxation; an evil which must, at all times, be corrected by the union of care, prudence, and energy.

No argument is necessary to prove how essential is discipline to the respectability and success of the service, and consequently to the honor, interest, and individual importance of every officer of the army. To the exertions for maintaining it, my firm support at all times may be absolutely counted upon, as it will be my steady aim, on the one hand, to promote, to every reasonable extent, the comfort of the troops; on the other, to secure a strict observance of their duty.

With great consideration,

I am, Dear Sir,

Your obedient Servant.

To the Commanding Officer of West Point and its dependencies.

SIR:

M HENRY TO HAMILTON.

WAR DEPARTMENT, February 4th, 1799.

Lieutenant-General Washington having declined, agreeably to the condition upon which he accepted of his appointment, any command whatever of the army of the United States, until such time as his presence in the field shall be required for actual operations, or his services demanded by peculiar and urgent circumstances; it is therefore proper to make such arrangements, respecting the distribution of the existing military authority, as shall most conduce to the good of the service, and is best adapted to our present situation, and to the objects to which our force may eventually be applied.

Before entering into particulars upon the principal subject at present contemplated, it will be useful to enumerate the stations of the troops of the United States, and the course taken to communicate with them.

1. There are, on the Lakes, namely, on Lake Ontario, the garrisons of Oswego and Niagara; on Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, the garrisons of Presque Isle and Detroit; on Lake Huron, at the entrance of the strait leading to Lake Michigan, the garrison of Michilimackinac; on the Miami River, Fort Wayne; on the Ohio, Fort Franklin, Fort Washington, and Fort Massac.

2. There are, on the Mississippi, garrisons at the Chickasaw Bluffs, Walnut Hills, and Natchez, or Loftus Heights.

3. There are several posts on the Creek frontier of the State of Georgia.

4. There are several posts on the Indian frontier of the State of Tennessee.

5. There are several garrisons on the seaboard from Maine to Georgia, inclusive.

The first enumerated posts (except Oswego and Niagara), while General Wilkinson was at certain stations in the Northwestern Territory, have communicated through him with the Department of War. The second, do now communicate through

The third,

General Wilkinson, who is on the Mississippi. through Lieutenant-Colonel Butler. The fourth, through Lieutenant-Colonel Gaither. The fifth, through the medium of the commandants of the several garrisons.

I have said that the first described garrisons communicated through General Wilkinson while at certain stations. For example, when the General was stationary at Pittsburg, or Fort Washington, on the Ohio, the whole of these garrisons above and below him, except Oswego and Niagara, communicated directly with the General, and the General with the Secretary of War. Again; when the General held a position at Detroit, all the garrisons between him and the seat of government, though within his sphere of command, communicated directly with the Secretary of War. Lastly; since the General entered into the Mississippi, all the garrisons above him communicated directly with the Secretary of War.

Oswego and Niagara being, in all the aforesaid positions of the General, too distant to enable him to give quick information respecting them, were always allowed to hold direct communications with the Department of War.

A slight view of the map of the country, over which troops are stationed, the distance between the garrisons, the routes by which it is practicable for them to communicate with each other and with the seat of government, added to a consideration of the serious inconveniences that might have resulted during the unsettled state of things, which has existed for some time past generally on the frontiers, rendered an adherence to the rule of making no communications to any of them unless through the commanding General, whatever might have been his position, dilatory beyond measure, and too dangerous for practice during such a period.

It has been deemed equally inconsistent with situation, and dangerous to tranquillity, to make the General, who is now at Loftus Heights, on the Mississippi, the organ by which the Department of War should communicate with the garrisons and troops on the seaboard, and the frontiers of Georgia and Ten

nessee.

The state of things common to an Indian frontier, such as that of Georgia and Tennessee, has rendered it indispensable to the success of the measures of government to obtain the earliest information of every circumstance that might lead to war in those quarters, or to serious embarrassments, if not early counteracted. That a rapid communication might at all times take place, the frontiers of Georgia and Tennessee have been formed into two districts, and the commandant of the military force within each made the organ of communication for his respective district.

Few of the fortifications on the seaboard having been garrisoned before the law passed for raising a second regiment, or corps of artillerists and engineers, the whole of these garrisons have been permitted to correspond directly with the Secretary of War.

You will see in the project of regulations, which I sketched some time since, and which was put into your hands by General Washington, that I contemplated to arrange in separate districts the force and posts on the seaboard, as well as on the western frontiers, and to combine as many of them, as could be so done with convenience to the service, under the superintendence of the then General-in-Chief. This part of the regulations had for its basis the French ordinances relative to the same subject, was intended to introduce more order and system into our military affairs, and abridge, as far as consistent with the general interest, the epistolary labors of the department. The execution of this project met with some obstructions, and has been procrastinated by causes, which it is deemed unnecessary to relate.

While the ideas presented to you exhibit the difficulties that would attend the imposing upon any General officer the entire correspondence with the army, unless indeed he was to be abstracted wholly from the troops, and to reside constantly at the seat of government, they point, nevertheless, to the practicability of dividing the army into subordinate commands, and of placing a certain number of such commands under the control and superintendence of district officers.

The President has accordingly directed me to make such an