[Docket, written sideways: G^o Washington — / to McHenry — / 14 July 1799 Priv^te & confidential] [undecipherable administrative notation, top left margin] Mount Vernon 14 July 1798 (79) My dear Sir, (Private & confidential) Your letter of the 8^th instant was presented to me by the Secretary of War on the 11^th, and I have consented to embark once more on a boundless field of Responsibility & trouble with two reservations: first, that the principal Officers in the line and of the Staff, that be such as I can place confidence in; — and, that I shall not be called into the field until the Army is in a situation to require my presence, or it becomes indispensable by the urgency of circumstances. — Contributing, in the mean while, every thing in my power to effecti-ve organization, but [undecipherable] to the public expence until I am in a situation to incur expence myself — It had been necessary after giving you this information, and having indelibly engraved on my mind, the assurance contained in [undecipherable] letter of the 2^d of June, to add, the I rely upon you as a Coadjutor, and a [undecipherable] in the [undecipherable] I have consented to [undecipherable] I have communicated very fully with the Secretary of War on the several matters contained in the Powers vested in him by the President — who, as far as it appears by them, is not disposed to accede. — But I must confess that, besides [undecipherable: nominat]ing me to the Command of the Armies without any previous consultation or [undecipherable] the whole of that business seems to me to be laid upon [strikethrough: [undecipherable]] such grounds as may render the Secretarys journey & our conversation of no avail. — Congress, it is said, would — [undecipherable] was k — What then has been done, or can the President do, with respect to appointments under that Bill, if it has been enacted? — Be his inclination what they may, until a law could, and has passed, enabling him, or the [undecipherable] of the Senate, to make appointments conformably thereto; the [strikethrough: [undecipherable]] appointments must have been made, & the business done here, as the Secretary [undecipherable] [undecipherable]. — By the pending Bill, if it passes to a law, [undecipherable: three] Major Generals, and an Inspector Gen^l and the Rank of [undecipherable] General and three Brigadiers are to be appointed. Assuming [undecipherable] its passage, I have given the following as my sentiments respecting the characters fit & proper to be employed in which the Secretary concurs. — Alex^r Hamilton Inspector Cha^s C. Pinckney Henry Knox — or [undecipherable] May^r Gen^ls of the last [undecipherable] [undecipherable] Henry Lee — of Virginia Henry Lee ([undecipherable] 2 May^r Gen^l) John Brooks — Massachusetts Brigadiers Will^m S. Smith — R: [undecipherable] John E. Howard — Mary^d Either Edward Hand — Penn[undecipherable] Jonathan Dayton [undecipherable] Gen^l Adj^t Gen^l? Will^m S. Smith — [undecipherable] Edw^d Carrington . . . . D^r M^r [undecipherable] James [undecipherable] . . . . Direct^r [undecipherable] And I have enumerated the most prominent characters that have occurred to my mind from [undecipherable] to select field Officers for the Regiments of Infantry, & that of Cavalry, & [those?] are proposed to be raised. —