Lexington 3d. Sept. 1822

Dear Sir

	Your letter of the 23d. ult was recd. by the last mail.
	The sensations which its contents have excited are of the most painful character. I had hoped that my conduct towards you for nearly fifteen years, past would have shielded me from the misrepresentations of men wholly unworthy of your confidence. During the latter part of the last session of Congress, I was frequently told that efforts were making to injure me in your estimation. My reply uniformly was, that if such efforts were making, I had no means of counteracting them but by the faithful discharge of my duty to you, both as an officer and friend—that if misrepresentations were employed, I had no means evidence of the fact, & therefore could not address you upon the subject. Some time after the adjournment of Congress I was informed by a person entitled to full credit, that ^you had admitted to him great exertions had been made to induce you to believe that the rejection of certain nominations by the Senate had been were attributed to my influence with ^that body, but as my informant stated that you had assured him that their efforts had made no impression on your mind, I did not feel it necessary to mention the subject to you. Your letter however convinces me, that you were then either mistaken as to the state of your feelings, or that the same efforts have since been ^continued since that time & with better success more successful.
	You observe that “with the attempt which has been made to discriminate between the principles of the administration of 1802, & of the present administration to the prejudice of the latter, & to take advantage of your standing with the community to promote that object, you are I presume acquainted.” I am ^sir aware that an attempt has been made in the newspapers, and perhaps by the retrenching committee of the House of Representatives, during the last session of Congress, to make such discrimination, but I am not aware ignorant of any attempt in, or out of Congress, to take advantage of my standing with the community, to promote that object. I know, & I presume you do also, that the partizans of at least one member of your administration have, for two or three years past, labored incessantly, by letters & publications oral & written communications. / the latter of which have been published. / to produce an impression upon the public mind, that I was unfriendly to your administration, & I have understood from sources entitled to confidence that that gentleman has recently endeavored to make the same impression [written along the side of the page:] By them I was charged with having made in my official reports the state of the Treasury worse than it really was for the purpose of breaking down the army and navy. These charges were annually falsified by the actual state of the Treasury which was invariably found to be more auspicious(?) than had been anticipated in these reports yet the charge was annually restated. I have however never supposed that I could in any manner be ^made responsible for their misrepresentations & slanders.
	To the policy of fortifying our maritime & inland frontiers I have given ^my full support. The system now in a state of progressive execution, was devised & approved before the present Secretary of War had a seat in the cabinet, & had my full hearty assent. My opinion on that subject has undergone no change, & perhaps public opinion would have suffered none, had he not injudiciously insisted on required $1.500.000. for that object for the year 1820 for one year when it was known that a considerable amount would ^during the year have to be borrowed. In this particular act I think the administration of 1802 would have [paper torn] -tually differed from that of 1819-20 acted differently. But I this was the act of the Secretary of War, & not of the administration. So far as any attempt has come to my knowledge to discriminate between the administration of 1802 ^and the present on account of the greater expenditure of by the latter upon fortifications, than by the latter former, I have endeavored to counteract it by all the means in my power. I have in the same manner repelled the charge of general extravagance against by the present administration wherever it has been insinuated in my presence.
	I agree with you sir, that when the President has decided upon a measure, the heads of departments are bound to cooperate in the execution of the measure, where such co-operation is necessary. If the measure requires legislative sanction, the reasons in favor of its adoption, ought to be offered by the proper department, and the other departments when a proper occasion offers should not withhold their aid. In no case ought their opinions or efforts to be employed against the measure, But the Legislative bodies [word struck out] in contemplation of the constitution, & in fact ought to be independent of the executive department. After the reasons, upon which a measure has been decided upon adopted by the executive, have been unfolded, & submitted to the legislature, any further interference, any attempt to bias its decisions, by any other appeal than to its the understanding of the members, ought to be considered an attack upon its independence. I have in my intercourse with that body, after having submitted the views & reasons connected with the several subjects which my official duty compels me to bring before it abstained from further efforts to obtain their Legislative sanction, unless I have been invited to make them, by the committees to which those subjects have been referred. I have however never abstained from declined offering to individual members, who have introduced them as subjects of conversation, the reasons which have led the executive government to adopt any particular measure, whether it was connected with the Treasury or not, & have not failed to endeavor to remove such objections as were made by them. Such sir has been my conduct towards you, & towards the Legislative department. I am persuaded that your own ideas of co-operation are the same, especially where legislative sanction is necessary. It never could have been your understanding that this cooperation should suppose prevarication, or falsehood as a duty. Whenever therefore an executive