1. Hamilton refers to the various memoranda composed by GW, Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, and Secretary of War James McHenry that contained suggested content for GW’s annual message to Congress (see GW to Hamilton, 12 Nov., and n.2 to that document).

2. Hamilton had begun preparing a draft of GW’s annual message. For both Hamilton’s draft and the final version of the annual message, see Hamilton to GW, 10 Nov., and n.1 to that document; and GW to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 7 December.

3. This paragraph has not been identified, but it may have served as a draft of the final paragraph of the annual message, in which GW briefly hinted at his retirement and congratulated Congress on the republican experiment.

4. Hamilton refers to paragraph seven of GW’s letter to him of 12 November. GW expressed support for the creation of a navy in his 7 Dec. speech to Congress.

5. French minister Pierre-Auguste Adet’s most recent “communication” was his letter to Pickering of 15 Nov., which denounced the ratification of the Jay Treaty as an act of alliance with Great Britain, cited U.S. infringements of its treaties with France, and condemned U.S. neutrality policies of 1793 and 1794 that prohibited outfitting foreign armed vessels in U.S. ports. Adet began the letter by recalling the friendship between the United States and France established in their 1778 Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which stipulated “that French vessels of war … may freely conduct … the prizes they shall have made upon their enemies.” Contrary to these stipulations, “French privateers” had been “arrested in the United States, as well as their prizes,” during the war between France and Britain in the 1790s. After listing examples of “shocking persecutions against the French privateers,” Adet aimed strong criticism at the Jay Treaty: “all that could render the neutrality profitable to England, and injurious to France, is combined in this treaty. … But, by the 18th article … the articles for arming and equipping vessels are declared contraband of war. The Government of the United States has … granted to the English a right which they had refused … to other nations with whom they have made treaties; that of seizing on board their vessels, articles proper for the construction … of vessels.” The conduct of the United States had prompted French officials to “suspend” Adet’s “ministerial functions with the Federal Government.” Adet added that “the American people, are not to regard the suspension of his [Adet’s] functions as a rupture between France and the United States, but as a mark of just discontent, which is to last until the Government of the United States returns to sentiments, and to measures, more conformable to the interests of the alliance, and the sworn friendship between the two nations” (ASP description begins Walter Lowrie et al., eds. American State Papers. Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. 38 vols. Washington, D.C., Gales and Seaton, 1832–61. description ends , Foreign Relations, 1:579–83). Like his letter to Pickering of 27 Oct., Adet’s 15 Nov. missive was timed to influence the presidential election in favor of Thomas Jefferson, since it appeared in print soon before the scheduled meeting of presidential electors in December (see GW to Hamilton, 2 Nov., and n.2 to that document; see also GW to Hamilton, 3 Nov., n.1).

In a letter to Adet of 19 Nov., Pickering acknowledged the French minister’s lengthy communication of the 15th but did not address or refute its accusations (see Pickering to George Washington Craik, 19 Nov., n.3). Adet’s 15 Nov. letter was published in The Philadelphia Gazette & Universal Daily Advertiser for 21 November. Treasury Secretary Oliver Wolcott, Jr., forwarded Hamilton a copy of the letter by 22 November. On that date Hamilton wrote Wolcott with his ideas for an appropriate response to Adet (see Hamilton Papers description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 20:411–14). Writing under the pseudonym “Americanus,” Hamilton penned a document titled “The Answer,” which countered the charges raised by Adet in his 15 Nov. letter to Pickering. For the full text of Hamilton’s “Answer,” see Hamilton Papers description begins Harold C. Syrett et al., eds. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton. 27 vols. New York, 1961–87. description ends , 20:421–34. Hamilton published his “Answer” in The Minerva, & Mercantile Evening Advertiser (New York) for 8 Dec. 1796. Other Federalist responses to Adet’s letter include articles signed “Wm. WILLCOCKS” and printed in The Minerva, & Mercantile Evening Advertiser for 3, 5, and 26 Dec. 1796.

In a letter of 26 Nov. to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, the U.S. minister to France, Pickering enclosed Adet’s 15 Nov. letter (DNA: RG 59, Diplomatic and Consular Instructions, 1791–1801). In accordance with Hamilton’s advice that a response to Adet be directed to Pinckney, Pickering wrote a lengthy letter to Pinckney dated 16 Jan. 1797, in which he detailed the history of U.S. relations with France, particularly during GW’s second term as president, and rebutted Adet’s charges. In early 1797, GW submitted to Congress Pickering’s letter to Pinckney and its accompanying papers (see GW to Pickering, 4 Jan. 1797; see also GW to Pickering, 9 Jan.; Pickering to GW, 12 Jan.; and GW to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, 19 Jan., and n.4 to that document). For Pickering’s response to Adet’s letter of 27 Oct., see GW to Hamilton, 3 Nov., and n.1 to that document.

6. Reports of Adet’s recall circulated in newspapers on 15 Nov. 1796. The Mercury (Boston) for that date reported that “ADET’S Recal, and the appointment of another Ambassador from the French Republic, is spoken of with confidence.” Adet’s official announcement of his recall, dated 15 Nov. and written in French, appeared in the Gazette of the United States, & Philadelphia Daily Advertiser for 16 November. A translation of that announcement, printed in The Minerva, & Mercantile Evening Advertiser for 17 Nov., reads: “The Citizen P. A. Adet informs his fellow-citizens that by order of the Executive Directory, he has this day notified the Secretary of State of the suspension of his functions as Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republic, with the United States of America, and that in consequence of said suspension, they will, from this day, address their requests and applications only to the Consul General or to the particular Consuls of the Republic.” Adet sailed back to France aboard the Liberty in May 1797, when Philippe-André-Joseph de Létombe, the French consul general to the United States, replaced him as French minister (see New-Jersey Journal [Elizabeth], 10 May 1797; see also Nasatir and Monell, French Consuls in the U.S. description begins Abraham P. Nasatir and Gary Elwyn Monell. French Consuls in the United States: A Calendar of their Correspondence in the Archives Nationales. Washington, D.C., 1967. description ends , 563).