My Dear Hamilton:
You have seen, and by this time considered, General Lee’s infamous
publication. I have collected some hints for an answer; but I do not
think, either that I can rely upon my own knowledge of facts and
style to answer him fully, or that it would be prudent to undertake
it without counsel. An affair of this kind ought to be passed over in
total silence, or answered in a masterly manner.
The ancient secretary is the Recueil of modern history and anecdotes,
and will give them to us with candor, elegance, and perspicuity.
The pen of Junius is in your hand; and I think you will, without
difficulty, expose, in his defence, letters, and last production, such
a tissue of falsehood and inconsistency, as will satisfy the world, and
put him for ever to silence.
I think the affair will be definitively decided in Congress this day.
He has found means to league himself with the _old faction_, and to
gain a great many partisans.
Adieu, my dear boy. I shall set out for camp to-morrow.
John Laurens.