[Address page] [Central area, written diagonally:] 2 Blair, Aug 11 [undecipherable] M^r McHenry Secretary at war [Left margin, rotated:] Attachm[undecipherable] [undecipherable] this [undecipherable] Secretary [undecipherable] [Bottom left marginalia:] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] 12.27 8 Aug^t 96. Cambridg. My dear Friend The post is so out of my way that I am obliged to snatch this off by our Baltimore Packet to thank you — to rejoice with you in your having "a local habitation" and to give you an opinion, tho' not that book of one which you so charmingly expect of one upon his subject — As commander of the army he can not be tried by a court martial — nothing that I can find in the articles of war provides a mode or even bears upon — As to the general commanding — while the [Pres^t] is presumed to be the active commander in chief as well as the constitutional head of the army — but he deems to be no more that than the King of [undecipherable: probable reading "Eng^d"] is of the British army — I do not remember, nor can I find any instance of a gen^l was admitted him try'd but under the presidency of officers higher in command than himself — all that I can remember in [undecipherable: probable reading "Eng^d"] — in cases where officers as Howe Clinton Burgoyne have had inquiries under Parliamentary guidance into their conduct — there were more political than military Steps. — Many reasons will occur why the Gen^l ought not to be try'd by a court martial. His [undecipherable] infamous discipline & rewards merit will poison to the object of a thousand horrible jealousies among men who risk their lives daily — a more — at the top gives a move to all officers of our rank — But policy apart it appears to me that we have no court martial competent in point of Jurisdiction to try the Gen^l — It [undecipherable] to my unmilitary & really unenlightened mind [undecipherable] have no books that afford light — that the President alone must judge from all the knowledge he can obtain by various ways whether his confidence is well placed — and I would not indulge Gen^l Wilk[undecipherable: probable reading "inson"] [undecipherable] the old corpse had [undecipherable] gen^l W. when he had [undecipherable] say open enemies — Lee [undecipherable: probable reading "kind"] in [undecipherable: probable reading "command"] [undecipherable] deeply as if the misconduct of a commander was one of these extraordinary cases of [undecipherable] it w. be hazardous to provide written modes of [undecipherable: probable reading "redress"]. I will write you soon as the packet is sailing G F^d Obl^t. yours & y^rs [signature] you can not say confidentially whether Montgomery will serve? — my declaration is public that — I decline to serve their majesties the People longer.