But that in the present instance, it was
so far from being clearly an invasion of the executive, and would be
so little approved by the general voice, that I could not advise the
President to express any dissatisfaction at the vote of the House; and I
gave Lear, in writing, what I thought should be his answers. See it.
March the 31st. A meeting at the President's; present, Thomas Jefferson,
Alexander Hamilton, Henry Knox, and Edmund Randolph. The subject was
the resolution of the House of Representatives, of March the 27th, to
appoint a committee to inquire into the causes of the failure of the
late expedition under Major General St. Clair, with the power to call
for such persons, papers, and records, as may be necessary to assist
their inquiries. The committee had written to Knox for the original
letters, instructions, &tc. The President had called us to consult,
merely because it was the first example, and he wished that so far as
it should become a precedent, it should be rightly conducted. He neither
acknowledged nor denied, nor even doubted the propriety of what the
House were doing, for he had not thought upon it, nor was acquainted
with subjects of this kind: he could readily conceive there might be
papers of so secret a nature, as that they ought not to be given up. We
were not prepared, and wished time to think and inquire.
April the 2nd. Met again at the President's, on the same subject.
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