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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) to washington - The Works of Alexander Hamilton, (Federal Edition), vol. 10
to washington - Alexander Hamilton, The Works of Alexander Hamilton, (Federal Edition), vol. 10 [1774]Edition used:The Works of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Henry Cabot Lodge (Federal Edition) (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904). In 12 vols. Vol. 10.
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to washington
November 5, 1796. Sir:
Yesterday, after the departure of the post, I received your letter of the 3d. I have since seen the answer to Adet. I perceive in it nothing intrinsically exceptionable, but some thing in the manner a little epigrammatical and sharp. I make this remark freely, because the card now to be played is perhaps the most delicate that has occurred in our administration, and nations, like individuals, sometimes get into squabbles from the manner more than the matter that passes between them. It is all-important to us—first, if possible, to avoid rupture with France; secondly, if that cannot be, to evince to the people that there has been an unequivocal disposition to avoid it. Our discussions, therefore, ought to be calm, smooth, inclined to be argumentative; when remonstrance and complaint are unavoidable, carrying upon the face of them a reluctance and regret, mingling a steady assertion of our rights and adherence to principle with the language of moderation, and, as long as it can be done, of friendship.
I am the more particular in these observations, because I know that Mr. Pickering, who is a very worthy man, has nevertheless some thing warm and angular in his temper, and will require much a vigilant, moderating eye.
I must evening saw Doctor Bailey, our health officer, who tells me that the French Consul here, in conversation with an assistant of the doctors, who is a refugee from St. Domingo, expressed a desire to make arrangements for the sick of a French fleet expected shortly to arrive at this port. I thought this circumstance worth communication.
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