Private Correspondence 47

establishment, and in my next shall communicate
the result of my inquiry into the present state of
your cannon. The General is now perfectly recov-
ered, and, added to the pleasure of returning health,
enjoys the solace of his lady's company, who has
lately joined the army.



TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, ETC.

Headquarters, Morristown, March 22, 1777.

Gentlemen:

Two days ago I accepted your challenge and met
you for the first time in the epistolary field, since
which I had the pleasure of receiving yours of the
19th instant, and, as far as circumstances will per-
mit, close with your proposal of interchanging blows
twice a week.

The present time is so unfruitful of events that it
affords no intelligence worthy of your notice. As to
transactions of a military nature, I can only say that
the British army continues to decrease by the daily
loss of prisoners and deserters taken at and coming
into the different posts, which is a striking symptom
that the situation of affairs with the enemy is not so
favorable as it might be; for when an army is in
good humor and its affairs prosperous, desertion is a
disease that seldom prevails in it.

From all the accounts they have given us, seconded
by considerations that obviously present themselves,
it is my opinion the enemy will make no grand
movement before the beginning of May, and perhaps
not then. There is no expectation in their army of



48 Alexander Hamilton

their being speedily called to the field, nor the least
disposition of matters that I have heard of for a sud-
den excursion. It will be a long time before the
roads will be fit for the transportation of artillery,
which is an essential instrument in their operations;
and a still longer before the ground will permit of an
encampment consistent with the health and comfort
of the soldiers ; and it would defeat their purpose to
undertake any thing of importance under circum-
stances that would oblige them to divide their army
in order to accommodate it. It seems also to be an
opinion supported by the best reasons, that the
main object with which they will open the campaign
will be the capture of Philadelphia. If so, they will
have a greater probability of success by co-operating
both by sea and land ; and the preparations for this,
added to the dangers of making an attempt by water
at too early a season, will in all likelihood protract the
execution of their project at least till the time I have
mentioned.

I intimated that it might perhaps be later before
they would move. It seems to me a pretty general
idea in their army, that they will wait for reinforce-
ments before they take the field. Should they do
this, I see not from what quarter they can expect any
succors worth mentioning so early as the beginning of
May. But I would lay no great stress upon this.
Notwithstanding the idea is countenanced by their
weakness in numbers, which must make their success
more doubtful and expose them to greater hazards in
whatever they attempt than can be agreeable where
so much is at stake, much will depend, however, upon



Private Correspondence 49

the comparative strength of our army, and the con-
ception they may form of it.

Though I do not doubt your discretion, which
occasioned me so readily to embrace your proposal,
yet such is the delicacy of my situation, that I must
beg leave to repeat what I before observed to you,
that whenever I give opinions they are merely my
own, and will probably, so far from being a transcript
of those of the General, differ widely from them in
many respects. The one I now advance is of this
kind, and is besides improper to be generally circu-
lated; for many people who have the management
of affairs are of so lethargic a complexion that they
are to be kept in action only by the fear of immediate
danger, — and should they get it into their heads that
the enemy would remain idle for six weeks, would
think they had a right to doze away forty days at
least.

In my last I mentioned a rumor concerning Doctor
Franklin ; since that I have seen something said (and
I believe it) to be an extract of a letter from him to
Mr. Bache, of Philadelphia, in which he represents
things to be in an excellent train in France, and uses
this strong emphatical language, that a war between
her and Britain "was as inevitable as death." No
public advices from him that I know of have reached
headquarters.

I spoke to General Knox about your cannon in the
Continental service. He answered that it would be
difficult to ascertain to what particular class the
pieces that had been left belonged, but he considered
the Continent at all times bound to make good the



50 Alexander Hamilton

number borrowed from your State ; and that he had
still your six pieces in his hands. I have always
looked upon the matter in the same light.



TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE NEW YORK CONVENTION
Headquarters, Morristown, April 5, 1777.

Gentlemen:

Since my last I have had the pleasure of receiving
your reply to my two favors of the 29th ultimo and
2d current. I am happy enough to be able to inform
you that my indisposition, which was the occasion of
my brevity when I last wrote, is now removed.

The opinion I advanced respecting the enemy's not
moving before the beginning of May, seems to be
shaken, though not entirely overthrown, by some
present appearances. We have received information
that they are embarking about three thousand men
on board of transports, which are lying at the Hook,
by way of Staten Island. This, it is conjectured, is
with a view to the Delaware; and the supposition
is confirmed by the circumstance of a confederacy
lately detected at Philadelphia, who, among other
things, were endeavoring, by the temptation of fifty
pounds, to engage persons as pilots up that river.
The extreme difficulties they must labor under for
want of forage, and the infinite hazard they must run
by moving with a small body of about five thousand
men, with an enemy in the rear, incapable of sparing
any considerable body of troops to form a post be-
hind, and be an asylum to them in case of accident, —



Private Correspondence 51

these circumstances will hardly allow me to think
they will be daring enough to make an attempt at
this time. But on the other hand, as they know we
are in a progressive state as to numbers, and other
matters of importance, and as they have no prospect
of early reinforcement, and are in a state of uncer-
tainty as to any, from the bustling aspect of Euro-
pean affairs, it is probable they may conceive a
necessity of making a push at all risks. Perhaps,
however, this embarkation is intended for some other
purpose ; to make a diversion, or execute some parti-
san exploit elsewhere. On the whole, I find it diffi-
cult to beUeve they are yet ready for any capital
operation.

As to your apprehensions of an attempt up the
North River, I imagine you may discard any im-
easiness on that score, although it will be at all times
advisable to be on the watch against such a contin-
gency. It is almost reduced to a certainty, that the
principal views of the enemy, in the ensuing cam-
paign, will be directed towards the southward, and
to Philadelphia more immediately ; of which idea, the
discovery before mentioned, with respect to pilots, is
no inconsiderable confirmation. Philadelphia is an
object calculated to strike and attract attention. It
has all along been the main source of supplies towards
the war; and the getting it into their possession
would deprive us of a wheel we could very badly
spare, in the great political and military machine.
They are sensible of this, and are equally sensible,
that it contains, in itself, and is surrounded by, a
prodigious number of persons attached to them, and



52 Alexander Hamilton

inimicable to us, who would lend them all the assist-
ance they could, in the further prosecution of their
designs. It is also a common and well-grounded
rule in war, to strike first and principally, at the
capital towns and cities, in order to the conquest of
a country.

I must confess I do not see any object equally
interesting to draw their efforts to the northward.
Operations merely for plundering and devastation
can never answer their end; and if they could, one
part of the continent would do nearly as well as an-
other. And as to the notion of forming a junction
with the northern army, and cutting off the com-
munication between the Northern and Southern
States, I apprehend it will do better in speculation
than in practice. Unless the geography of the
country is far different from^ any thing I can conceive,
to effect this would require a chain of posts, and such
a number of men at each as would never be practi-
cable or maintainable, but to an immense army. In
their progress, by hanging upon their rear, and
seizing every opportunity of skirmishing, their situa-
tion might be rendered insupportably uneasy.

But for fear of mistake, the General has determined
to collect a considerable body of troops at or about
Peekskill, which will not be drawn off till the
intentions of the enemy have acquired a decisive
complexion. These will be ready, according to con-
junctures, either to proceed northerly or southerly, as
may be requisite. Every precaution should be taken
to prevent the boats from being destroyed, by col-
lecting them, at the first movement of the enemy,



Private Correspondence 53

under cover of one of the forts, or into some inlet,
difficult of access, and easily defensible with a small
number of men. The loss of them would be an
irreparable disadvantage.

The enemy's attempt upon Peekskill is a demon-
stration of the folly of having any quantity of stores
at places so near the water, and so much exposed to
a sudden inroad. There should never be more there
than sufficient to answer present demands. We have
lost a good deal in this way at different times, and I
hope experience will at last make us wiser.

His Excellency lately had a visit from the Oneida
Chief and five others. He managed them with a
good deal of address, and sent them away perfectly
satisfied. He persuaded them to go to Philadelphia,
but they declined it, alleging their impatience to
return, and remove the erroneous opinions of their
countrymen, from the misrepresentations of British
emissaries, which they were apprehensive might draw
them into some rash proceedings. They parted, after
having made the most solemn protestations of friend-
ship and good will. His Excellency has been very
busy all day in dispatching the southern post, which
has prevented me giving him your resolve. It will,
no doubt, be very acceptable; and it is with pleasure
I inform you that the zeal and abilities of the New
York Convention hold the first rank in his estimation.

No news from France, save that the Congress have
obtained a credit there, for which they can draw bills
to the amount of ;^ 100,000 sterling. This will be
extremely serviceable in carrying on a trade with the
French. The new troops begin to come in. If we



54 Alexander Hamilton

can shortly get any considerable accession of strength,
we may be able to strike some brilliant stroke.

P. S. — We have been some time endeavoring to
negotiate a regular cartel; but it has been lately
broken off, principally on account of Major-General
Lee. General Howe will not allow him to be compre-
hended under the general idea of American prisoners.



TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, ETC.

Headquarters, Morristown, April 12, 1777.

Gentlemen:

I this day have received your favor of the 8th
instant. Hurry of business prevents my entering
into a particular detail of affairs, either with respect
to the enemy or ourselves, though matters remain
much in the same situation as when I last wrote.
The enemy are unquestionably preparing to take the
field as soon as possible, notwithstanding which I
believe it may be full as late as I at first suggested
before they will be perfectly ready for a general
movement. By several persons who have come out
of New York within these few days, it is pretty well
confirmed that they have constructed a bridge to be
laid upon boats, for the purpose, in all probability, of
crossing the Delaware.

The new levies begin to come in from the south-
ward, but not in such large numbers as could be
wished. It is to be hoped, however, that we shall
shortly be sufficiently reinforced to give an effectual
obstruction to their designs. The Congress have
resolved, if the General approves, to form a camp on



Private Correspondence 55

the west side of the Delaware, and have called upon
Pennsylvania to furnish 3,000 militia to join the
same. Every nerve must and will be strained to
prevent Philadelphia falling into the enemy's hands.
It is a place of infinite importance.

It is said there are favorable accoimts lately re-
ceived from Doctor Franklin; but we have no au-
thentic advice of the kind, nor does the report extend
to any particulars.

Your sentiments of Major Edmonston's conduct
correspond with the General's ideas of it. He had
given some directions to General Schuyler on the
subject. Besides other purposes it might serve, the
design of his going to Canada was evidently that he
might be a vehicle of instructions to General Carleton.
It would be the most convenient, certain, and expe-
ditious mode they could have fallen upon to convey
them. I communicated the paragraph of your letter
respecting him to his Excellency. He wishes the
major might be sent on directly to Philadelphia. I
fancy he would be glad to be saved the trouble of an
interview with him.

I should be obliged to you to inform the conven-
tion, that it is my opinion the General will not permit
Mr. Leroy to go into New York. It is a determined
point with him to grant no such indulgence when any
matter of the kind is referred to him, unless the per-
son applying can assign the most substantial reasons
for his request, and can also produce explicit creden-
tials of his political principles and conduct being
favorable to the American cause. I conclude from
my being instructed to require his parole, that he



56 Alexander Hamilton

cannot give satisfaction on these points. If, how-
ever, he should obtain permission, I will execute the
resolve transmitted to me. For the future, if the
convention have cogent reasons for allowing any sub-
ject of the State to go in to the enemy, as they are
the best judges of all the circimistances concerning
him, they had better send him in without referring
the matter particularly to the General.

I take the liberty to inclose a letter to the care of
Mr. Jay, the delivery of which to him will be a favor
conferred on, etc.



TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE NEW YORK CONVENTION

Headquarters, Morristown, April 20, 1777.

Gentlemen:

The disposition of the convention, with respect to
the disaffected among you, is highly commendable,
and justified by every principle of equity and policy.
The necessity of exemplary punishment throughout
the States is become evident beyond a doubt, and it
were to be wished every one of the thirteen would
imitate the judicious conduct of New York. Lenity
and forbearance have been tried too long to no pur-
pose: it is high time to discard what the clearest
experience has shown to be ineffectual.

But in dispensing punishment, the utmost care and
caution ought to be used. The power of doing it, or
even of bringing the guilty to trial, should be placed
in hands that know well how to use it. I believe it
would be a prudent rule to meddle with none but
those whose crimes are supported by very sufficient



Private Correspondence 57

evidence, and are of a pretty deep dye. The appre-
hending innocent persons, or those whose offences are
of so slender a nature as to make it prudent to dis-
miss them, furnishes an occasion of triumph, and a
foundation for a species of animadversion which is
very injurious to the pubUc cause. Persons so appre-
hended generally return home worse than they were,
and by expatiating on their sufferings, first excite the
pity towards themselves, and afterwards the abhor-
rence towards their persecutors, of those with whom
they converse. I believe it would also be in general a
good rule either to pardon offenders entirely, or to
inflict capital and severe punishments. The advice
given by a certain general to his son, when the latter
had the Roman army in his power, was certainly very
politic : he advised him either to destroy them utterly
or to dismiss them with every mark of honor and
respect. By the first method, says he, you disable
the Romans from being your enemies; by the last,
you make them your friends. So with respect to the
Tories; I would either disable them from doing us
any injury, or I would endeavor to gain their friend-
ship by clemency. Inflicting trifling punishments
only embitters the minds of those on whom they fall,
and increases their disposition to do mischief without
taking away the power of doing it.

I shall communicate your additional resolve to the
General and consult him on what you mention, and
shall let you know his opinion in my next: mine,
however, is that those who appear to be of such a
character as to be susceptible of reformation, should
be employed; but it is a delicate point.



58 Alexander Hamilton

As to news, the most material is, that from in-
telligence received from Rhode Island, it appears
the enemy are abandoning it. This is a preparatory
step to the intended operations of the enemy.

The other day we surprised a lieutenant's guard,
took sixteen prisoners, and killed three or four.

In a private letter from Philadelphia I am informed
that a treaty of a very particular nature is on the
point of being concluded between the Court of
France and the States of America. There is a pro-
spect of opening a trade with Sweden. I hear Mr.
Morris,' of Philadelphia, has a vessel arrived from
thence.



TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE NEW YORK CONVENTION
Headquarters, Morristown, April 28, 1777.

Gentlemen:

Extreme hurry of business puts it out of my power
to say but very little.

Your information concerning a piece of ordnance
lately constructed at Philadelphia is true. There is
such a piece at headquarters, weighs 227 pounds,
carries a three-pound ball. The iron is wrought,
hooped, and welded together. The General and
others esteem it a great acquisition. It has been
fired twenty times, as fast as possible, and is sup-
posed to be thorough proof. For my part I am
rather dubious of this matter, and have recom-
mended fifty successive discharges instead of twenty.
If she would stand that, her sufficiency would be

I Robert Morris, the distinguished financier of the revolution.



Private Correspondence 59

ascertained beyond a doubt, and her value would be
immense; and as it is a new experiment, we cannot
take too much pains to be sure. If Mr. Livingston
can construct pieces of the same kind and weight that
will stand a similar proof, he will render the most
essential service to his country. We cannot have too
respectable an artillery, and he need not doubt they
will be wanted.

As to ships opposite to Fort Washington, the
General first supposed they might be intended to
make a descent on the Jersey side and come by sur-
prise on our left flank ; but he now considers it wholly
as an amusement, while they were executing their
attempt on the stores at Danbury. Of this affair
you are probably as well advised as we are.

I thank you for your promise of sending me the
model of your government as soon as published. I
have sanguine expectations concerning it.

Nothing new at headquarters but the attempt
against Danbury. If the enemy do not * * * * '
till they get reinforced or receive further orders.

Troops coming on from the southward. We are
told two thousand Carolinians, far on their way to
Philadelphia — a part arrived.



TO WILLIAM LIVINGSTON '

April, 1777.

A number of disaffected persons having been taken
up and brought to his Excellency, he has ordered an

* Not legible in the manuscript.

2 The distinguished revolutionary Governor of New Jersey.



6o Alexander Hamilton

examination into their cases to know who of them
were subject to a military jurisdiction, and who came
properly under the cognizance of the civil power;
also to discriminate those who were innocent or
guilty of trivial offences from those whose crimes
were of a more capital and heinous nature, directing
that those of the former character should be dis-
missed, and those of the latter be referred to you for
further trial and punishment. The examination, at
which I was present, has been accordingly made, and
the enclosed list of names will inform you of those
who have been deemed proper subjects for a legal
prosecution ; and who are herewith sent under guard
to be disposed of as you shall direct. I have trans-
mitted you a bimdle of papers, in which you will
find the information and evidence that support the
charges against them, and the confession they made
in the court of inquiry. Many of them have nothing
against them but what is to be found in their own
acknowledgments. How far these may operate in
fixing their guilt you can best determine. Several
of them have been taken in arms, and others were
beyond a doubt employed in enlisting men for the
service of the enemy. You will readily concur with
his Excellency in the obvious necessity of inflicting
exemplary punishment on such daring offenders, to
repress that insolent spirit of open and avowed
enmity to the American cause, which, unhappily, is
too prevalent in this and some of the States. The
examination, in this instance, is somewhat irregular
and out of the common order of things. But in the
present unsettled state of government, the distinc-



Private Correspondence 6i

tion between the civil and military powers cannot be
upheld with that exactness which every friend to
society must wish. His Excellency desires to avoid
nothing more, I flatter myself you will believe me,
than deviations from the strict rules of propriety in
this respect, or the least encroachments either upon
the rights of the citizens or of the magistrate. It
was necessary to make inquiry for the sake of the
discrimination before mentioned, and tenderness to
the innocent, to save them from long and unmerited
confinement, commended the measure/



TO WILLIAM LIVINGSTON
Headquarters, Morristown, April 29, 1777.

Sir:

The inclosed was intended to be sent with the
prisoners mentioned in the list ; but before this could
be conveniently done, Mr. Sims, one of the Chief -
Justices of the State, came to this town, and informed
me, that the Governor and Council were upon the
point of adjourning; and that the sending of the
prisoners to them would only be an embarrassment,
without answering, at present, any valuable purpose.
He considered himself authorized to take the matter
under his direction, and desired a sight of the papers
relating to it. After perusing them, he determined
it was best the prisoners should remain here, until he
should receive your further orders on the subject;
and delivered me a letter for you, containing a repre-
sentation of their cases, as they appear to him, in

* Reprinted from Hamilton's History of the Republic, i., 194.



62 Alexander Hamilton

order to know your sense, in what manner they shall
be disposed of.

He admits two of them, Woolverton and Silas
Howel, to bail.

In addition to the former, I send you a second list
of four others that have been lately committed to
jail. These are high offenders, and among the num-
ber of those who it were to be wished could have an
immediate trial and punishment. Isaac Ogden, in
particular, is one of the most barefaced, impudent
fellows that ever came under my observation. He
openly acknowledged himself a subject of the king of
Great Britain; and flatly refused to give any satis-
faction to some questions that were put to him re-
specting one Moses Nichols, an emissary from the
enemy; assigning no other reason for his refusal,
than that he had given his word to be silent.

A spirit of disaffection shows itself with so much
boldness and violence in different parts of this State,
that it is the ardent wish of his Excellency, that no
delay, which can be avoided, might be used in making
examples of some of the most atrocious offenders.
If something be not speedily done, to strike a terror
into the disaffected, the consequences must be very
disagreeable.

Among others, all security to the friends of the
American cause will be destroyed; and the natural
effect of this, will be an extinction of zeal in seconding