be annexed to that part of the army under the command of General Pinckney.

One battalion of the second regiment is assigned to the posts in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New-York.

Another to the States eastward and northward of New-York. The third is reserved for the field, and will naturally form a part of my command.

The fourth battalion of this regiment not being yet raised, it of course cannot be comprehended in an immediate disposition.

In the association of officers for the companies, I have availed myself of all the indications which I was able to discover of their actual relations. But it may happen when situations and characters are better ascertained, that some alterations may promote personal harmony, and benefit the service. It is therefore desirable, that the adoption by you may be qualified by a view to further information, to be obtained through the field officers, and to eventual changes.

There were no indications to regulate the association of the officers with the western army. It is consequently proposed to refer this to Colonel Burbeck.

When you shall have approved the plan now presented, or with such alterations as you may judge advisable, it will only remain to communicate your determination to the two MajorGenerals, who will concert its prompt execution.

It is extremely to be wished that a commandant of the second regiment may without delay be appointed. You are sensible how much in the first stages of a military corps the want of the proper chief must impede the establishment of order and discipline.

M HENRY TO HAMILTON.

(PRIVATE.)

WAR DEPARTMENT, April, 1799.

DEAR SIR:

I have occasionally thought of the plan for providing and issuing military supplies, submitted in your letter of the 8th in

stant. It strikes me that the additional assistants to the purveyor and superintendent of military stores which it proposes, will tend to facilitate both purchases and deliveries; and the powers assigned to the inspector-general, and deputy inspector-general, and quartermaster and deputy quartermaster-general with a separate army over the deputies of the purveyors and superintendent with the respective armies, to the discovery and correction of abuses. The details of the business enjoined upon these officers, are similar to those under a former establishment. There was always with the main branch of the revolutionary army, the quartermaster-general, commissary-general of issues and purchases of provisions, the field commissary of military stores, and deputy paymaster, whose duties were nearly the same as specified in the plan. So far, therefore, the plan is founded upon experience.

The rest of the plan appears to correspond with general practice and the arrangements suggested by an act of the 3d day of March, and the position and duties you have concurred in with respect to the paymaster-general.

I shall request Mr. Wolcott to consider the whole, when I shall take it up for a final determination.

HAMILTON TO WASHINGTON.

(PRIVATE.)

NEW-YORK, May 3d, 1799.

DEAR SIR:

At length the recruiting for the additional regiments has begun in Connecticut, New-York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The inclosed return of clothing will sufficiently explain to you that it has at least commenced as soon as the preparations by the Department of War would permit. It might now also proceed in Maryland and Massachusetts, and the next post will, I trust, enable me to add Virginia, but that I do not think

it expedient to outgo our supply of clothing. It will have the worst possible effect, if the recruits are to wait a length of time for their clothing.

I anticipate your mortification at such a state of things. Various causes are supposed to contribute to it.

It is said, that the President has heretofore not thought it of importance to accelerate the raising of the army, and it is well understood that the Secretary of the Treasury is not convinced of its utility. Yet he affirms, that for a long time past he has been ready and willing to give every aid depending on his department.

The Secretary of War imputes the deficiency in the article of clothing to a failure of a contract which he had made, and to the difficulty of suddenly finding a substitute by purchases in the market. It is therefore obvious, that the means which have since been pursued have not been the best calculated for dispatch. The materials procured at distant places have been brought to Philadelphia to be made up. They are stated to be adequate in quantity.

You will observe that six are numbered 1. This applies to a regiment in the western country. I proposed to the Secretary to change the buttons. It has not been done.

Yet, if the Secretary's energies for execution were equal to his good dispositions, the public service under his care would prosper as much as could be desired. It is only to be regretted that good dispositions will not alone suffice, and that, in the nature of things, there can be no reliance that the future progress will be more satisfactory than the past.

Means, I trust sufficient, have been taken to procure from Europe a supply of clothing for the next year, and the Secretary has assured me, that he would immediately take measures for procuring a supply for the succeeding year.

As to other supplies, I believe things are in tolerable train, and that there is a certainty of the most essential articles in due abundance.

The officers for North Carolina have been appointed. No nominations have come forward from South Carolina.

Not a single field-officer has yet been appointed for the regiment to be raised in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island. It seems the members of Congress dissuaded from the nomination of those who were proposed by the General officers, and promised to recommend preferable characters; but this promise has not yet been performed. This want of organization is an obstacle to the progress of the affairs of this regi

ment.

It is understood that the President has resolved to appoint the officers to the provisional army, and that the Secretary has thought fit to charge the Senators of each State with the designation of characters.

With the truest respect and attachment, &c.

HAMILTON TO M'HENRY.

NEW-YORK, May 3d, 1799.

SIR:

After mature reflection on the subject of your letter of the 26th of last month, I am clearly of opinion that the President has no power to make, alone, the appointment of officers to the battalion which is to be added to the second regiment of artil lerists and engineers.

In my opinion, "vacancy" is a relative term, and presupposes that the office has been once filled. If so, the power to fill a vacancy is not the power to make an original appointment. The terms "which may have happened," serve to confirm this construction. They imply casualty, and denote such offices as, having been once filled, have become vacant by accidental circumstances. This, at least, is the most familiar and obvious sense, and, in a matter of this kind, it could not be advisable to exercise a doubtful authority.

It is clear that, independent of the authority of a special law,

the President cannot fill a vacancy which happens during a session of the Senate.

HAMILTON TO M'HENRY.

NEW-YORK, May 18th, 1799.

SIR:

It is urgent that arms for the troops to be raised be at the regimental rendezvous as speedily as possible.

Military pride is to be excited and kept up by military parade. No time ought to be lost in teaching the recruits the use of arms. Guards are necessary as soon as there are soldiers, and these require arms.

When I came to see the hats furnished for the 12th regiment, I was disappointed and distressed.

The Commander-in-Chief recommended cocked hats. This always means, hats cocked on three sides. I was assured that cocked hats were provided. I repeated the assurance to the officers. But the hats received are only capable of being cocked on one side, and the brim is otherwise so narrow, as to consult neither good appearance nor utility. They are also without cockades and loops.

Nothing is more necessary than to stimulate the vanity of soldiers. To this end, a smart dress is essential. When not attended to, the soldier is exposed to ridicule and humiliation. If the articles promised to him are defective in quality or appearance, he becomes dissatisfied, and the necessity of excusing the public delinquency towards him, is a serious bar to the enforcement of discipline. The government of the country is not now in the indigent situation in which it was during our revolutionary war. It possesses, amply, the means of placing its military on a respectable footing, and its dignity and its interest equally require that it shall act in conformity with this situation. This course is indeed indispensable, if a faithful, zealous, and well