longer to follow the
fortunes of a ruined cause, or something of a similar import.
It runs in my mind, that the expressions you declared to have
been made use of by Mr. Reed were, that he thought he ought no
longer to "risk his life and fortunes with the shattered
remains of a broken army:" but it is the part of candour to
observe, that I am not able to distinguish with certainty,
whether the recollection I have of these words arises from the
strong impression made by your declaration at the time, or
from having heard them more than once repeated within a year
past.

I am, dear sir, with great esteem, your obedient servant,
A. HAMILTON.
To General Cadwalader.

At the time I communicated the contents of Colonel Hamilton's certificate
to him, in confidence, it appears by your own acknowledgment, that[G] "no
party or prejudices existed, (at least as to you,")--"the intercourse
arising from these mingled duties and services, which were continued until
the army went into winter quarters, at the VALLEY FORGE, soon did away the
coolness which had for some years subsisted, and in no small degree revived
our former habits of friendship;"--"but it was our lot to meet again, a few
days before the battle of Monmouth; here we were again united in confidence
and danger. After the battle, we left the army together, and that period
closed our friendly intercourse forever." From these, (your expressions,)
you affect to believe, and wish the world to think, that our former
friendship was restored. It was not so; I cannot call it friendship. The
transaction I have mentioned occasioned the dissolution of that intimacy,
contracted in early life, which but little accorded with my notion of
perfect integrity. From that time, and owing solely to that cause, I took
the resolution to avoid your company, as a private gentleman, and which I
constantly adhered to. Meeting in the army, where we served most of the
time in the character of volunteers, I did not think it right to suffer
former dislikes to interrupt the duties and services required of us by the
commander-in-chief, so necessary for mutual and general safety. If, then,
my dislike to you did not proceed from such motives as sometimes induce men
to seek for opportunities of gratifying their resentments, for what purpose
could I have invented such a "_tale_?" or if my resentment was such