Now I have all the pages. Let me compile the full transcription from the primary BRM05 copy (pages 3–5), using the alternate NBQ15 copies (pages 7–12) to resolve obscured passages. [12 Oct^r. 1798. — Questions submitted to the Secretaries of the departments.] [(132)] The Secretary for the Department of war, has the honour to submit, the following letters, to and from the President of the United States, and Generals Washington Hamilton & Knox from N^os. 1. to 13 inclusive, to the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Navy, and to request their attentive consideration of the same. N^o 1. The Secretarys letter to Generals Hamilton & Knox, notifying them of their appointments, dated the 25^th July 1798. N^o 2. The Secretarys letter to the President dated the 4^th of August. N^o 3. A letter from General Knox to the Secretary dated the 5^th of August. N^o 4. The Presidents letter to the Secretary dated the 14^th of August. N^o 5. The Secretarys letter to the President dated the 22^d of August. N^o 6. The Secretarys letter to General Knox, dated the 22 of August. N^o 7. The Presidents letter to the Secretary dated the 29^th of August. N^o 8 The Secretary's letter to the President dated the 6^th of Sept. N^o 9. The Presidents letter to the Secretary dated the 13^th of Sept. N^o 10 The Secretarys letter to the President dated the 18^th of Sept. N^o 11. The Secretarys letter to the President dated the 21^st of Sept. N^o 12. General Washington's letter to the Secretary dated the 16^th of Sept. N^o 13 The Presidents letter to the Secretary dated the 30^th of Sept. The purpose of submitting these letters is to obtain the sentiments of the gentle:men to whom they are submitted, relative to certain questions, arising out of, and necessary to be solved by the contents of the letters. 1^st. Whether from the tenor of the letters collectively, and particularly, from the Presidents last letter (N^o 13) including the commissions for the Major Generals of the army of the United States, all dated on the same day, it ought to be concluded, that the President acquiesces, in the settlement of the relative rank of the Major Generals, upon the principle of, and agreeably to the order of their nomination and approbation by the Senate? If answered in the affirmative, then 2^d. Whether the Secretary of war should immediately transmit their commissions to the Major Generals and inform them respectively, that their relative rank is considered as definitively settled, by the order of nomination, and approbation aforesaid. or 3 Whether the transmission of the commissions and the communications aforesaid ought not to be previously submitted to the President. 4. Whether, if the Secretaries shall collectively agree in their answers to the above questions, it will not be proper for the Secretary of war, to communicate to the President a copy of the questions now proposed and the answers thereto, as inducing to the opinion he entertains of the Presidents will, and the conduct he has pursued. With the [strikethrough: greatest] respect I have the honour to be Gentlemen your most Ob^t & very hble V^t. James McHenry 12 Oct^r. 1798.