It was under these circumstances, Sir, that I held the conferences now immediately in question. It was my most earnest desire to be dismissed from office, and I stood pledged for it to the public. But a circumstance of peculiar nature, which had not been foreseen, now presented itself. That army to whom we were indebted for our national existence was to be disbanded, either in extreme misery, or with some little relief. Every principle of justice and gratitude called loudly to administer it; but this could not be done without entering into engagements beyond our resources. The dictates of prudence would, indeed, have determined me to adhere inflexibly to the resolution expressed in my letter of the 24th of January. By so doing I hazarded nothing. And as far as my own reputation was concerned, I could have placed it in security. For I must be permitted to say, that if solid arrangements had been taken to establish national credit, four times the required sum might have been easily obtained. No evils, therefore, had arisen, which I had not predicted, and none which it was possible for me to guard against. But, Sir, my conduct was not influenced either by personal or prudential motives. A sense of the situation to which Congress were reduced, an earnest desire to support their dignity and authority, a grateful regard to our fellow citizens in arms, mingled with respect for their sufferings and virtues. These sentiments, Sir, decided my opinion. I agreed for your sakes and for theirs to enter into a labyrinth, of which I did not then, nor do I now see the termination. But I could not do this, except under conditions and limitations. The conditions were, that Congress should ask my continuance, and pledge themselves for my support; the limitations, that the objects of my continuance should be accurately expressed, and that it should be confined to the fulfilment of such engagements, as those objects might require. These terms were expressed to the committee, and I am sure they will do me the justice to acknowledge that they were so. Whether they were reasonable, and whether they have been complied with, form questions of some importance.