Newport June 6^th 1799. D^r Sir The enclosed Letter is directed to the Secretary of [War]: [undecipherable] apply to M^r. McHenry as a friend, and request [him] as such to relieve my mind from the uneasiness which the Letter of General Hamilton places me under: He writes, "your Battalion, to which the company at this place is attached, is destined for the field, as part of the Army under General Pinckney — he directs me to order all the captains to get their companies in readiness to March to some point on the Patowmac" — What am I to do in case the order is issued? Am I to give up the important business you have trusted to me, and of which, I may say, I alone possess the Key? Ought I to leave the Works unfinished, or to be completed by another person, who although he may have more skill, would require more time to acquire a sufficient Knowledge of the different grounds, than I may now employ to have the Works completed? Besides which, it seldom occurs, that a person has the same [underline: coup d'oeil], the same Ideas which have determined another to plan and trace the lines of the Works, which he now is ordered to complete. Hence follows, either a desire of substituting his own Ideas, or a total disgust if he is compelled to execute those of another; both equally disadvantageous to the Service, to their reputation, and to the line of Economy so necessary to be adopted. The experience of the late transactions at Baltimore, evinces the propriety of my remark: I drew the plans and made the Estimates: had I been charged to execute them, I certainly would have remained within the limits. M^r. Leguily traced them differently than they were ordered, and it was impossible for M^r. Foncin, when receiving the business on a third hand even to see the possibility of any Agreement between the plans, the tracing on the ground and the Estimates — After mentioning the disadvantages which my immediate removal would occasion to the Public, I can before an order is issued, which I never knew to disobey, expose to you my own [underline: situation] — I was taken from my command at Fort Mifflin, and charged to complete the defence of the Eastern Harbours. Although I might have exerted myself, the Works to be completed were so considerable, that I could reasonably have expected at least one or two years Residence in one of them. In consequence I removed with my Family and furniture, at the end of last Winter to Newport, and before the end of the spring, I am ordered to be in readiness to go to the Patowmac. I know that private interest ought to be overlooked, when in opposition to, but when connected with, public interest, some consideration ought to be granted to it. From the uselessness of my application for the Inspectorship and for preferment; from what you have so candidly expressed in several conversations with me, I see plainly that I may give up all Ideas of Promotion and Favour: if it is so, and if, every six months, I am to be ordered from one end of the Continent to the other, my situation in the Army will be only a respected hardship, and finally the ruin of my Family. 800 Dollars would not defray the expense of my last removal and cover the losses which I sustained, among which are the most valuable books of my library, which remained six weeks in the Water — Excuse, D^r Sir, my prolixity, and in addition to your former kindness, pray inform me, if on the Order of General Hamilton, I must set out for the Patowmac, or consider myself as detached by your Order on a special Mission, which I must not abandon but by your immediate Order, and when the Works are completed, your compliance with my request will highly relieve my perplexed mind, and add to the Gratitude which I feel for the marks of friendship you have bestowed on me, and which, I may say, have only supported [undecipherable]