Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1861-09-13
hamilton 20 M'uESRT.
PHILADELPHIA, July 80,

Dear McHenry ;-Scruples Of delicacy have
occ:sioncd me 10 hesitate about offering to you
certain ideas, which. it appears to me on ma
turc r, hrcrinn, cannot he withheld consistent
", either with friendship 10 you or regard to
thc service.
/ observe you plunged in a vast mass Of de-
tails. know, from experience, that it is i'm.
possible 20: any man, whatever he his talents
or diligence, 70 wade through such q mass
wiihou. peglecting the most material things,
and attaching TO his operations a ieeoleness
and s,oth Of execution. It is essential 10 the
success Q; the minister Of 4 great department,
;hat lie sabdi7ide Inc objects Of his care, dis.
tribute them anon: competent assistants, aud
content himself with q general, but vigl'ant
superintendent.
This course is particularly necessary when
an unforeseen emergency has suddenly accu-
nuist,d 4 nnmhcr Of new objects to be pro-
FidnG for aud executed.
Hence 7oa will give mr leave, in ali the
iTSnknees o; friendship, TO express to you an
opinion tast sou will do we'll 10 call affection.
atei,. to vour ajd the Inspector General, and
likewise N4ja= General Knox, aud to charge
them wi1h siv management Of particular
branches pf the service.
We have gathered these testimonials from
the past, because truth derives additional favor
from age, ard from the recognition Of the
wise d sGc1assi"B generations and because we
desire for 3 truth so important III government
matters, all the authority with which it can
Sc invested.
Cyrus, freshly enthronso over a hostile
people, aDi ruling q vast empire amid al! the
pcrplexities Of recent conquest, needed certain
" 20 have lila mind free to consider questions
aid devise plans OF the highcs: Importance,
notwithstanding that matters of ordinary de
tail vera then most likely to solicit his atten
t!oa. By his skill and statesman
ship and bis admirable system, he vas able to
condcet nil these complex affairs with perfect
success, and, at tho same time, Xenophoa in
forms rs, had mcre leisure for inquiry and
m.dl;auon than any housekeeper in his king
dom.
Hamilton .aa q man. OF great sagacity
AID large experience; and in his letter to his
friend expressed the judgment derived from
b3tI.
The necessity for such regulations as viii in.
sure t. those ilrrlsted with ths administration
Ct public affairs, opportunity to give their
thoughts ciiciy to questions Of moment, was
never greater than in our own government ard
al this time. Organizing from the beginning,
nni ln7oived IL eli the necessities and dangers
oia s:s-: wa: at the very moment that re take
CUT ssara among tee nations of the Garth
within and without, problems are presented
that demand the ~calu,est judgment and the
highrs, wisdom. New agencies are to be es.
ta5';shed ard uutried agents are TO be m
pioYcd. The resources OF the country are to
be spilled to las defence; and yet they arc not
70 bs -+as;=ially applied, and with reference
only TO tho ~exigcncy o. to-day but ccononi-
cslly ED judiciously, and so az not to cripple
or destroy them.
Here sre demands for. the closet wisdom,
aod the practical sagacity, and the ALIEN
braeing supervision, CT our statesmen and
rulers Il would DO q terrible mistake, were
those charged with the safety of The whole
to give themselves to what ara really only
clerical duties; to be confined to their rooms,
snl chained 20 their tables, and to spend the
successive dsys il tho mechanical drudgery of
append!ng their signatures to formal documents;
or to he SO eogrossed with the discharge OF petty
duties, IS to have no sufficient time either for
thought, or to give q patiout hearing to the sug.
eestioas of the discreet. The attempt thus even
{, divide their time, will necessarily have an
unhappy effect. He who endeayors. in the midst
ofliao lity 10 constant calls, to discharge duties
rtou ing abstraction OF thought, undertakes
that which will almost harass his life out of
him, ana render him at the same time ungra-
aious to those Tao approach him.
Xenophon says it was the custom Of Cyrus
10 encourage those who conceived ideas which
promised to promote the public good, to COM
nunicate them TO him sad his mioisters did
the same. AS already explained, they secured
for themselves The leisure to receive and con-
slider such suggestions. By this means he had
the benefit Of the reflections and the wisdom
Of all The discreet and sagacious Of his king
dom; and The patient audience they received,
made ,hain all the more ready to communicate
Whatever IS necessary 10 be known in order
to leior!1 abuses or aToid disadvantages.
We have chosen the general subject Of these
remarks no. with any personal references, and
49, #~ f