Page:Observations on Certain Documents Contained in No. V & VI of "The History of the United States for the Year 1796," In which the Charge of Speculation Against Alexander Hamilton, Late Secretary of the Treasury, is Fully Refuted.pdf/155

Rh meet. This is what I meant by that part of my letter which you say you do not understand.

Alexander Hamilton, Esq.

(Copy)New-York, August 4, 1797.
 * Sir,

In my opinion the ides of a personal affair between us ought not to have found a place in your letters or it ought to have assumed a more positive shape. In the state to which our correspondence had brought the question, it lay with you to make the option whether such an issue should take place. If what you have said be intended as an advance towards it, it is incumbent upon me not to decline it. On the supposition that it is so intended, I have authorized Major Jackson to communicate with you and to settle time and place.

James Munroe Esq.