The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Military Papers— Continued
• 1798 - Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Washington
• Washington to Mchenry, Secretary of War
• Washington to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Washington
• Answer to Questions of the Secretary At War of November 10, 1798
• Hamilton to Gunn
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry (private.)
• Hamilton to Gunn
• Hamilton to Mchenry 1 (private.)
• 1799 - Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to —— (circular).
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Wilkinson
• Hamilton to Washington
• Hamilton to Washington (private.)
• Hamilton to Mchenry (private.)
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Wilkinson
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Washington (private.)
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Hamtranck
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Col. Stevens
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Hamtranck (private.)
• Hamilton to Washington
• Hamilton to —— ——
• Hamilton to Washington (private.)
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry (private.)
• Hamilton to —— ——
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Secretary At War
• Hamilton to Stoddert
• Hamilton to Colonel Smith (circular).
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Harrison 1
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Circular
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Washington (private.)
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Colonel Moore
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Col. Moore
• Hamilton to Col. Moore
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Caleb Gibbs. 1
• Hamilton to Wilkinson
• Hamilton to Col. Smith 1 (private.)
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Washington
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to General Pinckney
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• 1800 - Hamilton to Col. Smith
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• The Step 1
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Mchenry 1
• Hamilton to De Noailles
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• Hamilton to Col. Smith
• Hamilton to De Noailles
• Hamilton to General Pinckney
• Hamilton to Adams
• Hamilton to Caleb Swan
• Hamilton to Rivardi
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• General Order
• Hamilton to Mchenry
• The Jefferson Controversy
• An American For the Gazette of the United States.
• Amicus
• Catullus to Aristides For the Gazette of the United States.
• Metellus
• Catullus
• A Plain Honest Man
• Hamilton to Washington 1
• The Adams Controversy
• The Reynolds Pamphlet

hamilton to col. smith

• New York,

May 8, 1800.

Sir:—I duly received your letter of the 2d of April, which has lain by from the pressure of more urgent business. In breaking silence now, I wish only to prevent misapprehension, as it may influence future cases.

I am persuaded in what you did you were actuated by a very praiseworthy zeal, and I perceive that there were circumstances from which you were led to infer a larger discretion than it was my intention to imply. Yet I ought in candor to observe, that those circumstances were designed by me, essentially, to enable you to exert your own immediate agency, without previous resort to me, as to objects within the purview and spirit of the general directions, and that several of the items in question do not appear to me to answer this description.

This must not be received as a censure, but as explanation to guide in future. When an officer bona fide misconstrues an instruction, and acts with a sincere view to the good of the service, I should with reluctance blame, though I should always think it proper to tell him frankly, that a misconstruction had happened, as a caution for other occasions.

I do not understand that any impediment to the settlement of the accounts exists, and if not, no further step on my part is necessary.