Sir/ Charlottesville May 3^d. 1799 — Your inclosures of the Commissions to the Officers of Cap. Hays' company of volunteer riflemen, together with a letter to myself, & another to Cap Hays, have been duly received; the delay of [strikethrough: the] I can readily believe impute — to no other cause than those you have assigned. The propriety of the gov^t.'s giving incouragement to federalism in this quarter of the Union, where its sparks, I am sorry to say, are too rare, can not be unknown to those in the President's and your situation. It was my great zeal for those principles & that conduct which I have ever approved of in the administration of our gov^t. I undertook to recommend the volunteer corps of riflemen of Albemarle —; I am not a little gratified, I can assure you, to find that recommendation has met the approbation of the President & yourself, altho' all "the requisits of the law have not been complyed with." Those requests shall be attended to, & the necessity of a compliance with them fully imposed on that little band, which I will also endeavour to have encreased — But have to inform you, which is the principal object of troubling you at present that the "printed copy of general regulations," mentioned in your letter to me, was not inclosed, owing no doubt to the variety & multiplicity of other more important business of your department. You will therefore oblige me by inclosing a copy of those regulations as soon as the business of your Office will admit. — If you will before you receive this, have [strikethrough: learnt] learnt the state of our elections. As far as they are yet known, there is great reason to hope we [underline: shall] obtain a federal majority from [underline: this State]. At any rate we have secured Marshall (& Goode in the room of J. Claiborne) two important charges. I have lost my own election "by a very great majority, owing to the powerful influence, [strikethrough: the Baltimore opinions] and great exertions of my good friends, & much admired; abilities: Countrymen T. Jefferson & James Monroe —; but I flatter not, the first of those gentlemen will feel the influence of a majority of the citizens of his own State against him at the next election for a vice-president. I flatter myself the Nothern States will join us in the election of Marshall or Pinckney to that office, in case of our present good old president's declining (which God forbid) either those two, or Hamilton & one of them to the two office — with due consideration, I am D^r Sir Your most obedient humble servant John Nicholas James McHenry Esq^r.