[Ltr to the Sec^y of War a Quincy Oct^r 22. 1798 answer To his of 15 Oct.] Quincy Oct. 22. 1798. Sir I rec^d on Saturday your favour of the 15.^th When I dated the Commission of the Major Generals on the Same day I had made up my mind, that if an acquiescence by amicable Agreement in the opinion of General Washington should not take place, I would confide his Judgment whatever it might be. If I could have been at Philadelphia to receive here I should have visited General Washington to that City long ago. — I cannot go to that City nor to Trenton, very soon. M^rs Adams's health is so low and her life So precarious that it will be impossible for me to force myself away from her, till the last moment. The last has been the most alarming Summer of my Life, and the prospect of a Winter is more dismal Still — for if I should not have a more melancholy Situation to remove before I Set out for the Southward, I must then leave my Family here and pass a Season as alone as the head of Government. At all Events however, I must be at the convening of Congress or your considers Nothing Shall wait for me, that you Send me here, If you and the Generals judge it necessary to appoint the officers of Battallions before We can have opportunity to nominate them to the Senate, you may fill up the Commissions with the Blanks you have or if you have not enough find new ones by the Post as is usually done from the office of State of Treasury and of the Navy, and I will Sign them without loss of time. As to the Recruiting Service — I wonder whether there has been any enthusiasm which might induce Men of common [undecipherable] to enlist. a [undecipherable] Dollars, who could have fifteen when they pleased by Sea, or for common work at Land? I have no attachment to one more than another of the Candidates for appointment — The General officers are So well acquainted with the Characters, that I Shall have no hesitation to appoint Such as you and they recommend, [undecipherable] being to tell however, to let the Secretaries of State & Treasury & Navy, if we nominate for the list, that if they have any objection they may mention it, or any Idea to Suggest they may present it. here has been no rational Plan that I have Seen as yet formed for the Maintenance of the Army. One Thing I know, that Regiments are costly Articles, even where and more So in this Country than any other under the Sun. If this Nation feels a great Army to maintain without an Enemy to fight, there may arise an Enthusiasm that Seems to be little present. — At present there is no more prospect of [strikethrough: an] being a French Army here than there is in Heaven. I am Sir, your most obedient John Adams James Mc Henry Secretary of War