I
would not wish to have you for a moment withdraw from the public
service; at the same time my friendship for you, and knowledge of
your value to the United States, makes me most ardently desire that
you should fill only the first offices of the Republic. I was
flattered with an account of your being elected a delegate from New
York, and am much mortified not to hear it confirmed by yourself. I
must confess to you that at the present stage of the war, I should
prefer your going into Congress, and from thence becoming a
minister plenipotentiary for peace, to your remaining in the army,
where the dull system of seniority, and the _tableau_, would
prevent you from having the important commands to which you are
entitled; but, at any rate, I will not have you renounce your rank
unless you entered the career above mentioned. Your private affairs
cannot require such immediate and close attention. You speak like a
_paterfamilias_ surrounded with a numerous progeny.
On the 26th of May he had an appreciative letter from Robert Morris,
thanking him for his suggestions, and assuring him of their
acceptability.
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