General Washington Feby 25 1799

private Private [in another hand:] 209 Mount Vernon 25th. Feb.y 1799 p. 167 (87) My dear Sir Your private letter of the 16.th instant came duly to hand, & safe: and I wish you at all times, and upon all occasions, to communicate interesting occurrences with your opinions thereof (in the manner you have designated) with the utmost unreservedness, to me. If the augmented force was not intended as an interrora [?] measure the delay in Recruiting it, is unaccountable; and baffles all conjecture on reasonable grounds. The zeal and enthusiasm which were excited by the Publication of the Dispatches from our Commissioners at Paris (which, gave birth to the Law authorising the raising of twelve Regiments [undecipherable]) have evaporated. It is now no more. And if this dull season, when men are idle from want of employment, and from that cause might be enduced to enlist, is suffered to pass [in another hand:] 210 pass away also, we shall, by and by, when the business of Agriculture and other avocations call for the labour of them, set out as a forlorn hope to execute this business. Had the formation of the Army followed closely the passage of this Act; and Recruiting Orders [undecipherable] tread on the heels of that, the men which might have been raised at that time, would in point of numbers have been equal to any in the world; in as much as the most reputable yeomanry of the Country were ready at that time to have stepped forward with alacrity. Now, the measure is not only viewed with indifference but deemed unnecessary by that class of People, whose attentions Strike-through textbeing turned to other matters, the officers who in August & September could, with ease, have enlisted whole Companies of them will find it difficult to Recruit any; and if this idle & dissipated Season is spent in inactivity, none but the riff-raff of the Country, & the Scapegallowses of the large Cities will be to be had. p 168 [in another hand:] 211 Far removed from the Scene, I might ascribe these delays to wrong causes, and therefore will hazard no opinion respecting them; but I have no hesitation in pronouncing that, unless a material change takes place, our Military Theatre affords but a gloomy prospect to those who are to perform the principal parts in the Drama. Sincerely and affectionately I am always Yours Go Washington

Maj.r Gen.l Hamilton