Chapter XXVI: Letter X: Roxbury, June 1, 1778

The hint you have received of a design to remove general Washington from the command of the American army, will have made you desirous of knowing more of that business; let it then be first related. The general being applied to by one of his correspondents, answered from Valley-forge, January the 23d, 1778—“Whether a serious design of placing general Lee, (before captivation) at the head of the army, had ever entered into the head of a member of congress or not, I never was at the trouble of enquiring. I am told a scheme of that kind is now on foot by some, in behalf of another gentleman—whether true or false—serious or merely to try the pulse—I neither know nor care. Neither interested nor ambitious views led me into the service. I did not solicit the command; but accepted it after much entreaty, with all that diffidence which a conscious want of ability and experience equal to the discharge of so important a trust must naturally excite in a mind not quite devoid of thought; and after I did engage, pursued the great line of my duty, and the object in view (as far as my judgment could direct) as pointedly as the needle to the pole. So soon as the public gets dissatisfied with my services, or a person is found better qualified to answer her expectation, I shall quit the helm with as much pleasure, and retire to a private station with as much content, as ever the wearied pilgrim felt upon his safe arrival at the holy land, or haven of hope; and shall wish most devoutly, that those who come after, may meet with more prosperous gales than I have done, and less difficulty. If the expectation of the public has not been answered by my endeavors, I have more reasons than one to regret it; but at present I shall only add, that a day may come, when the public cause is no longer to be benefited by a concealment of our circumstances, and till this period arrives, I shall not be among the first to disclose such truths as may injure it, however my character in the mean while may suffer.” On the 15th of February he had occasion for writing—“I can assure you that no person ever heard me drop an expression that had a tendency to resignation. The same principles that led me to embark in the opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great-Britain, operate with additional force at this day; nor is it my desire to withdraw my services while they are considered of importance in the present contest. But to report a design of this kind, is among the arts which those who are endeavoring to effect a change, are practising to bring it to pass. There is not an officer in the service of the United States, that would return to the sweets of domestic life with more heart-felt joy than I should, but I mean not to shrink in the cause. The design is not only seen through, but reprobated.” On the 20th, Patrick Henry, esq. governor of Virginia, forwarded an anonymous letter which had been sent him, to the general, and added—“There may be some scheme or party forming to your prejudice. The enclosed leads to a suspicion. Believe me, Sir, I have too high a sense of the obligations America has to you, to abet or countenance so unworthy a proceeding. I really think your personal welfare, and the happiness of America are intimately connected.” The anonymous letter was dated—York-Town, January 12, 1778. It begins with highly complimenting Mr. Henry, and then proceeds to sketch out a dismal picture, and to hint at the remedy—“America can be only undone by herself. Her representation in congress is dwindled to only twenty-one members—her Adams—her Wilson—her Henry—are no more among them. Her counsels weak—and partial remedies applied constantly for universal diseases. Her army—what is it? _a mob_. Discipline unknown, or wholly neglected—the quarter-masters and commissioners departments filled with idleness, ignorance and peculation.——Our hospitals crowded with six thousand sick, and more dying in one month than perished in the field during the whole of the last campaign. The country distracted with the Don Qnixote attempts to regulate the price of provisions. An _artificial_ famine created by it, and a _real_ one dreaded from it. The northern army has shown what Americans are capable of with a _general_ at their head. The southern army is no ways inferior. A Gates, a Lee, or a Conway, would in a few weeks render them an irresistible body of men. The last in one of his letters to a friend, says, “A great and good God hath decreed America to be free; or the——and weak councellors would have ruined her long ago. You may rest assured of _each_ of the facts related in this letter.” When Conway had recovered his original letter, which was written in October, he said to gen. Washington, in one of January the 27th—“I find, with great satisfaction, that the paragraph so much spoken of, does not exist in said letter, nor any thing like it. I must depend upon your justice, candor and generosity, for putting a stop to this forgery.” Had he sent the letter itself, the conviction of the forgery might have been deemed much stronger; whereas many will doubt whether there was a forgery, upon being told that one of his warmest friends quoted the paragraph as authentic so early as October the 21st. Periodical letters were published and circulated in the continental newspapers, under the signature of De Lisle, and the pretence of being translations from the French, artfully calculated to promote the design against Washington, by insinuating into the mind of the reader, ideas tending to lessen him in the eye of the public. The writer of the preceding anonymous letter, is supposed to be the author of them. The design has not succeeded. The general has had too great a share of the people’s confidence and affection, to admit of an open attempt to remove him. Several members of congress were engaged in the business—some of the Massachusetts delegates—particularly Mr. Samuel Adams. The army was so confident of it, and so enraged, that persons were stationed to watch him as he approached the camp, on his return home. But he is commonly possessed of good intelligence, and was careful to keep at a safe distance. Had he fallen into the hands of the officers when in that paroxism of resentment, they would probably have handled him so as to have endangered his life, and tarnished their own honor.

The plan seems to have been this—To engage the Massachusetts assembly and Virginia house of burgesses to give instructions to their delegates in congress, to move for an enquiry into the causes of the ill success attending the campaign of 1776; and then to contrive that such resolves should be given into, as would either remove the general or produce his resignation. Mean while the names of Gates and Mifflin were held up, and played off to ripen the measure. But the anonymous attempt upon the governor of Virginia was reprobated by him, and the Massachusetts assembly was not in a temper to admit of the trial to ensnare them. As to generals Gates and Mifflin, they had cleared themselves from having any design of removing the commander in chief. The former has written to an intimate correspondent—“York-Town, 4th April, 1778. Dear Sir, Last night I received your affectionate letter of the 16th last; that of the 25th of February came to hand a few days before. Your remarks upon the works and defences of your capital city are just; and I am convinced the town is lost in a very few hours after they are attacked. I have daily and weekly been telling your, and the other eastern delegates, that not only the metropolis, but the whole coasts of New-England were, in my opinion, the grand object of the enemy’s resentment for the ensuing campaign; they were a parcel of blundering blockheads not to make that their object the last year. I think they might then have united their whole force, and have made a much more honorable end of their summer’s work than it pleased Heaven to give them. I find by your letters, that Boston, as well as this part of the continent, is infected by incendiaries, who endeavor, by every villainous art, to impress a belief that general Mifflin and myself, are in a league with other designing and ambitious spirits, to supersede general Washington. Nothing can be more wicked, nothing more false, than this diabolical calumny. General Mifflin, to whom I made known the industry of his enemies and mine, and the tricks of their emissaries, writes to you by this conveyance. You know his honor, merit and services to the public; you also know that whenever I have been called forth, I have done my best for the establishment of independence and peace: Is it generous, therefore, that we two should be selected for a sacrifice to a junto? For my part, I solemnly declare, I never was engaged in any plan or plot for the removal of general Washington,[83] nor do I believe any such plot ever existed—so help me——Yours most truly.”

You may credit Gates’s not believing such plot; but you must believe differently. The stile of general Mifflin’s letter was—“Dear Mr.——_Audi et alterem partem._ I declare to you, with the greatest sincerity and solemnity, that I never formed a plan or a party to injure general Washington’s command. I never desired to have any person whomsoever, take the command of the American army from him; nor have I said or done any thing of, or respecting him, which the public service did not require; and which I would not have said, with great freedom to you, as his friend, and as a friend to American independency. I never aspired, in thought, to the command of the army; and always would have deprecated the idea as improper and dangerous to myself and to America, had that idea occurred, which it never did to me—I hope to see you before long—I most ardently wish it—and I pledge myself to you and my country, that I can and will justify my character of a patriot _in all points_, to your satisfaction.” This disagreeable relation will finish with a paragraph from general Washington’s letter of March the 28th.——“My caution to avoid every thing that could injure the service, prevented me from communicating, but to a very few of my friends, the intrigues of a faction which I know was formed against me, since it might serve to publish our internal dissentions; but their own restless zeal to advance their views, has too clearly betrayed them, and made concealment on my part fruitless.”

Let us pass on to another event, which has the appearance of being related to some plot. On Monday, January the 12th, the president laid before congress a packet containing blank papers, which he received the day before from capt. John Folger, who was sent by the commissioners at Paris with dispatches to congress. Mr. Folger was ordered to be confined in close prison; but in the beginning of May, the committee who were appointed to examine into his conduct reported, “That they have made as full an examination into that business as the evidence they were able to obtain would permit, and on the whole have no proof of any guilt in Mr. Folger;” whereupon the captain has been permitted to go home, and has had all his expences paid him. The committee suspect there has been foul play somewhere.—They have taken off the seal from the packet, and sent it back to Paris, to be examined by the original impression, that they may see if the fraud can be detected by that mean. What makes the affair more mysterious, is, that the other dispatches brought by the captain, contained state papers directed for the late president Mr. Hancock, and had no appearances of having been searched. Time must produce an explanation of this dark business; which has been rendered the more suspicious by the arrival of Mr. Francey with a letter from Mr. Deane _only_, dated Paris, September the 10th, 1777, recommending him as Mr. Beaumarchais’ agent, and pressing the execution of the business which he came upon. The committee for foreign affairs, in their first letter to the commissioners after his arrival, said, “We think it strange that the commissioners did not _jointly_ write by Mr. Francey, considering the very important designs of his coming over, viz. to settle the mode of payment for the past cargoes, sent by Roderique Hortales and comp. [alias Mr. Beaumarchais] and to make contracts for future. It is certain that much eclaircissement is, at this last moment, wanting.” Mr. Francy from time to time sent to the committee of commere, letters upon the business with which he was intrusted, which were reported to congress for their consideration. After being before them once and again, Mr. Francey, as agent for Roderique Hortales and company, settled his contract with them, on the 8th of April. By that contract is was stipulated among other articles, that the costs of the several cargoes _already_ shipped by the said company, were to be fairly stated at the current prices and usual mercantile charges in France, of the dates at which they where shipped.

Let us for a while employ ourselves about military concerns.

[Jan. 1. 1778.] The condition of the army at Valley-forge, was far from being the most eligible or respectable: and in case the enemy had come out of Philadelphia, and made a general push, would have been exceeding hazardous. Gen Washington was compelled by necessity to employ the troops in making seizures; which excited the greatest uneasiness imaginable among their best and warmest friends, beside spreading disaffection among the people. He ever regrets being forced upon such a measure, and considers it among his worst misfortunes; as it not only occasions a dreadful alarm, but never fails, even in vetern armies, under the most rigid and exact disciplince, to raise in the soldiery a disposition of licentiousness, plunder and robbery. The relief obtained was of no long continuance.

He thus described the distresses of the army on the 16th of February—“For some days past there has been little less then a famine in camp. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not, ere this, been excited by their suffering to a general mutiny and dispersion. This is the second time in the present year, that we have been upon the verge of a dissolution for want of provision.” As to clothing, “he was continually tantalized with accounts from all quarters, of the prodigious quantity that was purchased and forwarded for the use of the army, while none reached them, or so badly sorted as to be totally useless. The poor soldier had a pair of stockings given him without shoes, or a waistcoat without a coat or blanket to his back; and thus he derived little benefit from what he received. Perhaps by mid-summer he may receive thick stockings, shoes and blankets, which he will contrive to get rid of in the most expeditious manner. In this way, by an eternal round of the most stupid management, the public treasure is expended to no kind of purpose, while the men have been left to perish by inches with could and nakedness.”

Upon a full conviction that the salvation of the cause depended on making provision for the half-pay of the officers, the general communicated his thoughts to some of the congress in the following words—“With far the greatest part of mankind, interest is the governing principle. Almost every man is more or less under its influence. Motives of public virtue may for a time, or in particular instances, actuate men to the observance of a conduct purely disinterested; but they are not of themselves sufficient to produce a persevering conformity, to the refined dictates and obligations of social duty. We find it exemplified in the American officers as well as in all other men. At the commencement of the dispute, in the first effusions of their zeal, and looking upon that service to be only temporary, they entered into it without paying any regard to pecuniary or selfish considerations; but finding its duration to be much longer than they at first suspected, that instead of deriving any advantage from the hardships and dangers to which they were exposed, they on the contrary were losers by their patriotism, and fell far short of a competency to supply their wants, they have gradually abated in their ardor; and with many an entire disinclination to the service under its present circumstances has taken place. When an officer’s commission is valuable to him, and he fears to lose it, you may then exact obedience from him. It is not indeed consistent with reason or justice, to expect that one set of men should make a sacrifice of property, domestic ease and happiness, and encounter the rigors of the field, the perils and vicissitudes of war, to obtain those blessings which every citizen will enjoy in common with them, without some adequate compensation. It must also be a comfortless reflection to any man, that after he may have contributed to securing the rights of his country, by the risk of his life, and the ruin of his fortune, there will be no provision made for preventing himself and family from sinking into indigence and wretchedness. Nothing would serve more fully to re-animate their languishing zeal and interest them thoroughly in the service, than a half-pay and pensionary establishment.” The general supported his interposition in behalf of the officers, by a second letter of April 21st—“Men may speculate as they will; they may talk of patriotism; they may draw a few examples from ancient story of great achievements performed by its influence, but whoever builds upon it, as a sufficient basis for conducting a long and bloody war, will find himself deceived in the end. We must take the passions of men as nature has given them, and those principles as a guide which are generally the rule of action. I do not mean to exclude altogether the idea of patriotism. I know it exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest: but I will venture to assert, that a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest or some reward. For a time it may of itself push men to action, to bear much, to encounter difficulties, but it will not endure unassisted by interest. Without arrogance, or the smallest deviation from truth, it may be said, that no history now extant, can furnish an instance of an army’s suffering such uncommon hardships as ours has done, and bearing them with the same patience and fortitude. To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lie on, without shoes, (so that their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet) and almost as often without provision as with, marching through frost and snow, and at Christmas taking up their winter quarters within a day’s march of the enemy, without a house or hut to cover them, till they could be built, and submitting to it without a murmur, is a mark of patience and obedience, which, in my opinion, can scarce be paralleled.” Within a week after, congress resolved that there should be a provision of half-pay for the life of the officers; but then they further resolved, that nothing contained in the foregoing resolution shall be construed to extend to prevent the United States from redeeming, at any time, the half-pay of such officers as they judge proper, by paying them a sum equal to six years half-pay.” But before these resolves were passed, between two and three hundred officers had resigned their commissions, reckoning from last August.

Gen. Washington being desirous of effecting an exchange of prisoners, wrote to congress, on the 7th of March—“It may be thought contrary to our interest to go into an exchange, as the enemy would derive more immediate advantage from it than we should: but on principles of genuine extensive policy, independent of the consideration of compassion and justice, we are under an obligation not to elude it. An event of this kind is the general wish of the country. I know it to be the wish of the army, and it must be the ardent wish of the unhappy sufferers themselves. Should the exchange be deferred, till the terms of the last resolve of congress on the subject are fulfilled, it will be difficult to prevent our being generally accused with a breach of good faith. Speculative minds may consider all our professions as mere professions, or at best, that interest and policy are to be the only arbiters of their validity. I cannot doubt that congress, in preservation of the public faith and my personal honor, will remove all impediments, that now oppose themselves to my engagements, and will authorise me, through commissioners, to settle as extensive and competent a cartel as may appear advantageous and necessary, any resolutions heretofore to the contrary notwithstanding.” Congress in a few days removed the impediment, by resolving that he might proceed in the exchange of prisoners without waiting for the settlement and the discharge of their accounts: but no cartel has been agreed upon. Commissioners were appointed on both sides, and held several meetings, without effecting the business. This led congress to resolve, on the 21st of April—“That congress are sincerely desirous of settling a cartel for the exchange of prisoners, on principles of justice, humanity, and mutual advantage, and agreeable to the customary rules and practice of war among civilized nations, and that they lament the obstacles raised by gen. Howe and his commissioners during the negociations held for this desirable purpose.” However, partial exchanges of individuals have taken place, and will be continued. When major Otho Williams was exchanged, he sent a letter to American head-quarters, relating how the prisoners had been treated at New-York, and then said—“Before I conclude, permit me to acknowledge to you and the world, that I am much obliged to Daniel Chamier, esq. auditor general, for lending me money; to doctor Richard Huddleston of the seventh British regiment, for several offices of kindness to myself and other prisoners, and that I was treated in a very courteous genteel manner by major Ackland of the twentieth, for whom I was exchanged.”

In January congress concluded upon a winter’s irruption into Canada, and appointed the marquis de la Fayette, generals Conway and Stark to conduct it. The two former repaired to Albany, and were afterward joined by baron de Kalb. But in a while, the expedition was dropt, for want of men, money, clothing, sleighs, provisions and forage; and on the 22d of April, Conway requested leave to resign his commission, which was granted. Baron de Steuben, who arrived the beginning of December, with sundry letters of recommendation to congress, and was desired by them to repair to gen. Washington’s quarters, soon succeeded him as inspector general. The same day Conway’s resignation was accepted, on the 28th of April, Washington wrote to congress—“I can be no longer silent as to the merits of baron de Steuben. I consider him as an acquisition to the service, and recommend him to the attention of congress.” May the 5th, it was resolved, “The congress approve gen. Washington’s plan for the institution of a well organized inspectorship: That baron de Steuben be appointed to the office of inspector-general, with the rank and pay of major-general; his pay to commence from the time he joined the army and entered into the service of the United States; That there be two ranks of inspectors, under the direction of the inspector-general, the first to superintend two or more brigades, and the other to be charged with the inspection of one brigade: That general Washington be authorized to appoint such persons to be inspectors and brigade-inspectors for the main army, as he shall think best qualified to execute the several duties of those offices.” The commander in chief and the baron being in perfect unison, the discipline of the army has been mightily improved, and the exercise of the battalions has become uniform. In order to establish these points, the officers were formed into a body, and when completely exercised and instructed, were put upon doing the like by their men. When the baron manœuvred the battalions, the brigades, the divisions, or the army, he explained matters to the respective commanding officers, and taught them to understand the meaning and intention of the various movements. The office of inspector-general was one of the regulations in view for the reform of the army, some time before Conways’ appointment; and the foreign officers who had no commissions, and no commands, and who were of ability, were to have been recommended, and particularly baron D’Arendt, with whom the idea originated.

The sufferings of the army for want of provision, led congress to think at length of changing the commissary-general; they therefore directed the president to write to col. Jeremiah Wadsworth of Connecticut, requesting his attendance on matters of consequence. When informed of his arrival, they appointed a committee of four to confer with him, and inquire whether he would undertake the office of commissary-general of purchases. The colonel was not a stranger to the nature of the business, nor the way in which it was necessary to conduct it, for the service of the army. He considered the matter thoroughly; laid his own plan; and informed the committee upon what terms he would undertake the conducting of that department; from these he would not recede. He would not be tied up by any regulating acts, but would be left at liberty to purchase as he was able. After repeated conferences, “Congress proceeded to the election of a commissary-general of purchases, and the ballots being taken Jeremiah Wadsworth, esq. was unanimously elected,” on the 9th of April. In five days more, upon the resumption of the consideration of the report of the committee appointed to confer with him, they resolved, “That the commissary-general of purchases have full power to appoint and remove every officer in his department:” which was follewed by various other resolutions, and closed with one declaring, “That all former regulations of congress, relative to the department of the commissary-general of purchases, which interfere with the foregoing resolutions, be repealed.” Thus they abandoned that plan, which induced their first commissary-general, col. Joseph Trumbull, to quit the department: and in its operation, had nearly destroyed their army.

Congress began the year with authorising a committee to take every necessary measures for the immediate relief of the sick soldiers, and to report whether alteration in the medical department might be requisite. They soon after recommended it to the clergy of all denominations in the middle destrict, to solicit charitable donations of woolens and linens, made and unmade, for the service of the sick; many of whom were lost for want of these articles. They also ordered doctor Shippen, the director-general of the hospitals, and doctor Rush, physician-general of the middle district, to attend them on the 26th of January. A committee of five upon their arrival was chosen to send for, and to hear them and to report specially. The afternoon of the 27th, and the next morning, were spent in that service. A gentleman who could not but know what passed, wrote on the 28th—“Doctor R—— says in a letter, “that _one half of the soldiers that died last year, perished by the present medical establishment_. A shocking black picture indeed doctor Rush painted—but by all accounts it is a just one. It is a very melancholy reflection, that buildings erected for the relief and comfort of the sick and wounded, should become tombs to them. A bad system and a bad administration have produced great mischiefs in the hospital. Peculation and embezzlement of stores, prevail as much in this department as in others. I do not alledge these things without authority or proof. They are facts too well authenticated.” Another, in his correspondence, expressed himself thus upon matters—“The _wealth of worlds_ could not support the expence of the medical department alone, above two or three years. There is but _one_ right system for a military hospital, and that is the one made use of by the British army. That would save half a million a year to the continent, and, what is more, would produce perfect satisfaction and happiness.” On the 30th Dr. Rush requested leave to resign, which was accepted. Congress on the 6th of February, came to various resolutions upon the report of the first committee, for the better regulating the hospitals of the United States. On the 25th Dr. Rush sent a letter from Princeton, to general Washington, containing a well attested certificate from Bethlehem, setting forth, that the wine allowed the hospital was so adulterated as to have none of the qualities of Madeira—that none of the patients under the care of the signers, eat of venison, poultry and wild fowl (unless purchased by themselves) and that large quantities were purchased by the director-general—that the director entered the hospital but once during six weeks residence in Bethlehem, though the utmost distress and mortality prevailed—that the sick were too much crowded, and wanted blankets, shirts, straw and other necessaries—that there died in the place two hundred soldiers (eight tenths of them by a putrid fever caught in the hospital) within three months. Dr. Rush mentioned that Dr. Shippen, in the height of the mortality, wrote to congress—“No fatal disease prevails in the hospitals, very few die, and the hospitals are in very good order.” He said—“Our director-general was employed in selling large quantities of Madeira wine, brown and loaf sugar, &c. (which had been transported through the country in hospital waggons, and secured as hospital stores) under the name of private property.” This and another letter from the doctor, were read in congress the third of April, when a committee was appointed and directed to enquire into the charges contained in the letters, against Dr. Shippen, and into his conduct as director-general, and to report specially to congress. The diminution of the army by sickness, has been very great; and you will easily conceive whence it was that no more of the sick recovered. The sickness of the soldiers, before going to the hospitals, was brought upon them not altogether through the want of clothes or provision, but of cleanliness in their huts and in the camp. Notwithstanding repeated positive orders enjoining cleanliness, in some places of the camp the stench was intolerable, through the neglect or the want of necessaries.

It has been resolved that count Pulaski shall raise and have the command of an independent corps, to consist of 68 horse and 200 foot; the horse to be armed with lances, and the foot equipped in the manner of light-infantry.

No mention has been yet made of one captain Lee, of the light-dragoons, a bold, enterprising young officer, who, if spared, is like to make a considerable figure; but a resolve of congress leads us to notice him. By the 22d of November, he and his little troop had taken a hundred and two of the enemy prisoners. The whole tenor of his conduct during that campaign, proved him to be brave and prudent. He rendered essential service to his country, and acquired to himself and the corps he commanded, distinguished honor. The congress, to reward his merit, have resolved, “That capt. H. Lee be promoted to the rank of major commandant; that he be empowered to augment his present corps, by enlistments, to two troops of horse, to act as a separate corps. These enlistments are not to be made from among the prisoners. The commander in chief opposes every thing of that kind, and has written—“We have always complained against Howe, and still do, for obliging or permitting the prisoners in his hands to enlist, as an unwarrantable procedure. The practice on our part, would justify it in him. I believe no prisoners have ever been enlisted by us. I am sure none have through compulsion.” But in the Massachusetts, a number of the convention troops, upon offering themselves, were enlisted; which occasioned the general’s writing, “Burgoyne could hardly suggest a more effectual plan for plundering us of so much money, reinforcing Mr. Howe with so many men, and preventing us from recruiting a certain number of regiments.” All the British deserters sent on from this state as recruits for one regiment, went off to the enemy by the end of March; and of a detachment of sixty of them, which marched to join col. Henley, only twelve or thirteen reached the camp. Part of the others made their escape, and the rest formed a plan for the same purpose, mutinied, and were thrown into prison. The conduct of enlisting the convention troops, was sufficiently mortifying; but it was far more provoking to observe the backwardness of the states in furnishing the recruits that were wanted. Instead of the army’s being reinforced with eight or ten thousand troops, it was scarcely joined by so many hundreds by the twelfth of April.

Lut us change the subject, and confine ourselves, for a time, more particularly to the proceedings of congress.

On the 19th of January, they resolved to grant a brevet of lieut. col. to the chevalier de Maduit du Plussis, as a reward for his services. Gen. Washington recommended him in a letter adding, “that the gallant conduct of this young gentleman at Brandywine, Germantown, and at Port Mercer, (on the Delaware) entitles him to the particular notice of congress:” that he made several judicious alteration in the works at Red-bank, and showed great good conduct during the action in which the Hessious were repulsed;” and that “after the evacution was determined on he became the means of saving some valuable artillery and stores, and cheerfully undertook as volunteer the hazardous operation of blowing up the magazine, &c. without apparatus usually provided upon such occasions;” and concluding with—“he possesses a degree of modesty not always found in men who have performed brilliant actions.”

Two days after, congress, on the report from the board of war, respecting the treatment of the American prisoners in New-York and Philadelphia, resolved among other things, “That the allowance of two dollars a week to officers, who are prisoners of war to these United States do cease, unless to those officers who may be, entitled thereto by any contract made on or before their captivity or surrender. That in return for permission given to purchase provisions of the American commissaries for the use of the enemy’s prisoners, gen. Washington be directed to demand of gen. Howe liberty to purchase clothing in such places as may be under his power for the use of the American prisoners: That the commissary-general of prisoners and his respective deputies, be fourthwith directed to call in all the officers and privates belonging to the enemy, and to confine them in such places, and order them to be subsisted and treated in such manner as shall render their situation similar, in all respects, to that of the officers and privates who are prisoners with the enemy; and that they continue this mode of treatment, till such time as a change of conduct on the part of the enemy shall induce congress, or the commander in chief of the armies of these states, to give directions for a different line of conduct on their part.” This threat of retaliation will have little effect upon the British commander; and if no other consideration should prevent, the general humanity of the people would be a bar to its execution. That some different measures ought to be adopted as to the British officers, than what are at present given into, must be admitted upon another account; for they have done much mischief to the American cause. During their captivity, they have formed connections in the country; have confirmed the disaffected; converted many ignorant people; and frightened the lukewarm and timid by their stories of the power of Great-Britain.

On the 27th of Feb. congress resolved, “That whatever inhabitant of these states shall kill, or seize, or take any loyal citizen or citizens thereof, and convey him, her or them, to any place within the power of the enemy, or shall enter into any combination for such purpose, or attempt to carry the same into execution, or hath assisted or shall assist therein; or shall by giving intelligence, acting as a guide, or in any other manner whatever, aid the enemy in the perpetration thereof, he shall suffer death by the judgment of a court-martial, as a traitor, assassin and spy, if the offence be committed within seventy miles of the head-quarters of the grand or other armies of these states, where a general officer commands.” This resolution has been introduced to show you what a stretch of power congress have been guilty of. They have hereby suspended in particular cases the judicial authority of the Massachusetts state, which is not the seat of war; and subjected certain criminals to a trial by a court-martial, instead of leaving them to the laws of the state. At Providence a general officer commands a small army, at the distance of only forty-five miles from Boston. All bodies of fallible men possessed of or claiming power, ought to be narrowly watched, or from good or bad intentions, they will transgress the limits of their constitution, without a real necessity.

Major gen. Greene was appointed on the second of March, quarter-master-general; but allowed to retain his rank in the army. The next day, congress upon the report of a committee, resolved, “that lieut. gen. Burgoyne, on account of his ill state of health, have leave to embark for England by Rhode-Island; or any other expeditious route, with the officers of his family and servants.” He is engaged by parole, in case the embarkation of the convention troops is prolonged beyond the time apprehended, to return to America upon demand and due notice given, and to re-deliver himself into the power of congress unless regularly exchanged.

Congress have not lost sight of the importance of having the North-River and the passes in the Highlands well secured, so as to render any sudden attempt upon Albany by the same impracticable. Had Sir W. Howe, instead of going by sea to Philadelphia, bent his whole force for the mastering of these, as gen. Washington strongly suspected he would do, the independency of the United States must have tottered to the very foundation, if the have been completely subverted. Whether the plan of making the grand diversion sourthward, originated with the ministry, himself, or a Pennsylvania refugee—by his leaving the troops under Burgoyne to shift for themselves, in case the reinforcement from Europe did not arrive in time, the subjugation of the country may be entirely prevented. Gen. Gates was directed, on the 15th of April, to repair forthwith to Fish-kill, and to take the command of all the troops on the North-River and in the whole northern department. He was also to take effectual measures, to secure the communication between the eastern and southern states, by maintaining the possession of the river; and for that purpose was empowered to provide gallies, gun-boats, fire-rafts, chains, cassoons and chevaux-de-Frise, and to erect all necessary fortifications. West-Point has for some time been pitched upon as a proper spot; and the troops have begun, and are going on to fortify it. When the works are completed, it will be a much stronger post than Fort Montgomery, and is higher up the river, and projects into it. The soldiers, whether militia or continentals, will according to custom, be employed upon them till finished without putting the states to any particular charge for labor in erecting them.

Congress were expecting that something would turn up in Europe favorable to America; and were confirmed in their expectation, upon the receipt of draught of a bill for declaring the intention of the British parliament as to the exercise of their right of imposing taxes on the Americans as also the draught of a bill to enable the king to appoint commissioners with powers to treat, consult and agree upon the means of quieting certain disorders with the colonies. These draughts were sent from Philadelphia to gen. Washington who forwarded them to York-Town. [April 22.] congress took them into consideration, and, observing that they had been industriously circulated in a partial and secret manner, ordered that they should be forthwith printed for the public information; but at the same time took care to counteract their influence by the remarks they published respecting them. They declared their belief, that the parliament would confer on them the usual solemnities of their laws and then observed, that upon a supposition the matters contained in them should really go into the British statute book, they would serve to show, in a clear point of view, the weakness and wickedness of the enemy: on these they expatiated. This done they said—“It appears evident that the said bills are intended to operate upon the hopes and fears of the good people of these states, so as to create divisions among them, and a defection from the common cause; and that they are the sequel of that insidious plan, which from the days of the stamp-act down to the present time, hath involved this country in contention and bloodshed.” Congress went on to pronounce, that if any man or body of men presume to make any separate or partial convention or agreement with the British commissioners, they ought to be considered and treated as open and avowed enemies of the United States. They declared, “That these United States cannot with propriety hold any conference or treaty with any commissioners on the part of Great-Britain unless they shall, as a preliminary thereto either withdraw their fleets and armies, or else in positive and express terms acknowledge the independence of the said states.” They then, from an apprehension that it is the design of the enemy to lull them into a fatal security, call upon the states to use the most strenuous exertions to have their respective quotas of continental troops in the field as soon as possible, and to hold all their militia in readiness to act as occasion may require. The congress at this period had no knowledge of a treaty’s having been entered into by France with their commissioners; but they conjectured that there would be a rupture in Europe between the French and British nations; and to avail themselves of the occasion, and detach the tories from the enemy, they the next day recommended to the states the offering of pardon, under the restrictions that might be thought expedient, to such of their inhabitants or subjects who had levied war against them, or had adhered to the enemy, as should surrender themselves to any civil or military officer of any of the states, or return to the state they belonged to before the 10th of next June. The arrival of the conciliatory bills at New-York and Philadelphia, excited equal astonishment and indignation in the royal forces. These thought their personal honor wounded in the recantation now made of all that high language and treatment, which they had been accustomed to hold or to offer to the Americans. The disappointment was the greater, as the bills were the substitute to a reinforcement of twenty thousand men, which they had expected. But the feelings of the numerous body of American refugees is not to be described.

A committee of congress was appointed on the 1st of May, “to inquire into the laws and customs of nations respecting neutrality and to report whether the conduct of the king of Portugal in forbidding the vessels of the United States to enter his ports and ordering those already there to depart at a short day, is not a breach of the laws of neutrality and will not justify acts of hostility against the subjects of the said kingdom.” On the third, during the Sunday’s adjournment, Mr. Simeon Deane, brother to Silas Deane, esq. arrived express from France, with sundry important dispatches, whereupon congress was convened, and the dispatches opened and read, among which, to their inconceivable joy, were a treaty of commerce and a treaty of alliance, concluded between his most Christian majesty the king of France and the United States of America. The treaties were duly weighed and considered separately the next day, and upon each it was unanimosly resolved, “That the same be and is hereby ratified.” There was an act separate and secret in the following terms—“The most Christian king declares, in consequence of the intimate union which subsists between him and the king of Spain, that in concluding with the United States of America this treaty of amity and commerce, and that of eventual and defensive alliance, his majesty hath intended and intends to reserve expressly, and he reserves by this present separate and secret act to his said Catholic majesty, the power of acceding to the said treaties, and to participate in their stipulations at such time as he shall judge proper.—It being well understood nevertheless, that if any of the stipulations of the said treaties are not agreeable to the king of Spain, his Catholic majesty may propose other conditions analagous to the principle aim of the alliance, and conformable to the rules of equality, reciprocity and friendship.” This act being duly weighed, it was resolved unanimously, “That the same be and is hereby ratified.” The next resolution was, “That this congress entertain the highest sense of the magnanimity and wisdom of his most Christian majesty, so strongly exemplified in the treaty of amity and commerce, and the treaty of alliance; and the commisioners representing these states, at the court of France, are directed to present the grateful acknowledgements of this congress to his most Christian majesty, for his truly magnanimous conduct respecting these states, in the said generous and disinterested treaties, and to assure his majesty, on the part of this congress, it is sincerely wished that the friendship so happily commenced between France and these United States may be perpetual.” On the 5th they resolved, “That the commissioners be instructed to inform the court of France, that although congress have readily ratified the treaties and the act separate and secret; yet from a sincere desire of rendering the friendship and alliance so happily begun, permament and perpetual, and being apprehensive that differences may arise from the 11th and 12th articles in the treaty of amity and commerce, congress are desirous that the said articles may be utterly expunged.” Mr. Lee was against admitting these articles, and assigned his reasons to Messrs. Franklin and Deane on the 30th of January; who on the first of February wrote to Mr. Gerard, that they concurred in desiring that the same might be omitted, notwithstanding which they were retained. You will not expect me to delineate the inexpressible satisfaction that the report of these treaties spread through the United States. The people were in raptures. The several brigades of the army, by gen. Washington’s orders, assembled in the morning of the 6th, when their chaplains communicated the intelligence, offered up a thanksgiving, and delivered a discourse suitable to the occasion. They were then formed into two lines, when thirteen cannon were discharged; at the firing of the last, a running fire of infantry began on the right and continued through the whole front line; it was then taken up on the left of the second line, and continued to the right. A signal was given and the whole army huzzaed,—“Long live the king of France.” The artillery fired as before, which was succeeded by a second general discharge of all the musketry in a running fire, and by a “Long live the friendly European powers.” The military ceremony was reitered, and closed with a huzza “for the American states.” The remainder of the day passed away in universal joy and gladness. Every American will soon have, from the publication of the treaties, an opportunity of learning their contents; mean while congress have recommended to all, “to consider the subjects of his most Christian majesty as their brethren and allies, and to behave toward them with the friendship and attention due to the subjects of a great prince, who with the highest magnanimity and wisdom hath treated with these United States on terms of perfect equality and mutual advantage, thereby rendering himself the protector of the rights of mankind.”

The congress, after receiving the treaties, had a stronger feeling of their own importance than before, and resolved, “That the commissioners appointed for the courts of Spain, Tuscany, Vienna and Berlin, should live in such stile and manner at their respective courts as they may find suitable and necessary to support the dignity of their public character.” They elected Ralph Izard, esq. commissioner for the court of Tuscany; and William Lee, esq. for the courts of Berlin and Vienna. On the 8th of May they agreed to a draught of “An address to the inhabitants of the United States of America.” In it they recapitulate in a masterly and affecting manner, the occurrences and state of the three preceding years. Their language is calculated to seize and lead the passions captive at pleasure. When they come to the French treaties they say—“You have still to expect one severe conflict. Your foreign alliances, though they secure your independence, cannot secure your country from desolation, your habitations from plunder, your wives from insult or violation, nor your children from butchery. Foiled in the principle design, you must expect to feel the rage of disappointed ambition. Arise then! to your tents! and gird you for battle. It is time to turn the headlong current of vengeance upon the head of the destroyer. They have filled up the measure of their abominations, and like fruit, must soon drop from the tree. Although much is done, yet much remains to do. Expect not peace while any corner of America is in possession of your foes. You must drive them away from this land of promise, a land flowing indeed with milk and honey. Your brethren at the extremities of the continent, already implore your friendship and protection. It is your duty to grant their request. They hunger and thirst after liberty. Be it yours to dispense to them the heavenly gift. And what is there now to prevent it?” They afterward hold up to their view, the sweets of a free commerce with every part of the earth, soon to reimburse them for all the losses they have sustained; the full tide of wealth to flow in upon their shores, free from the arbitrary impositions of those whose interest and whose declared policy it is to check their growth; and the nourishing and fostering of their interests by government, whose power will be derived from their grant; and that will therefore be obliged, by the influence of cogent necessity, to exert it in their favor. They close with—“It is to obtain these things that we call for your strenuous, unremitted exertions. Yet do not believe that you have been, or can be saved merely by your own strength. No! It is by the assistance of Heaven; and this you must assiduously cultivate by acts which Heaven approves. Thus shall the power and happiness of these sovereign, free and independent states, founded on the virtue of their citizens, increase, extend and endure, until the Almighty shall blot out all the empires of the earth.” That this animated, but in some instances, extravagant address, might have its full operation, and to the utmost extent, they recommended to ministers of the gospel of all denominations, the reading, or causing of it to be read immediately after divine service, to the inhabitants of the United States, in their respective churches and chapels, and other places of religious worship. A week after, they resumed the subject of making an allowance to officers after the war, and then resolved unanimously, “That all military officers commissioned by congress, who now are or hereafter may be in the service of the United States, and shall continue therein during the war, and not hold any office of profit under these states, or any of them, shall, after the conclusion of the war, be entitled to receive annually, for the term of seven years, if they live so long, one half of the present pay of such officers; provided that no general officer of the cavalry, artillery or infantry, shall be entitled to receive more than the one half part of the pay of a colonel of such corps; and provided that this resolution shall not extend to any officer, unless he shall have taken an oath of allegiance to, and shall actually reside within some one of the United States.”

All later proceedings of congress must be deferred till another opportunity.

On April the twenty-fifth, the Massachusetts assembly sent a letter to congress, giving the reasons why they refrained from passing the regulating act, viz. their apprehensions that it could not be carried into execution, and that it would be attended with the most fatal consequences. They have passed an act for prescribing and establishing an oath of fidelity and allegiance. Persons refusing it, are to be sent off by order of council, within forty days after such refusal, to some port in the dominions of the kingdom of Great-Britain.

The declaration of independence made it necessary for the South-Carolinians to new model their temporal form of government. The inhabitants, instead of choosing delegates to meet in convention, for that business, entrusted their representatives with it; and the elections in every part of the state, were conducted on the idea that the members chosen, over and above the ordinary powers of legislators, should have that of framing a new constitution. Thus authorised, in January, 1777, they entered upon the business. They did not proceed to give a final sanction to their deliberations; but the model they had agreed to was printed in the form of a bill, and submitted to the examination of the people at large for the space of a year. Such was the prevailing approbation, that when it came before the legislature, the general assembly and legislative council proceeded in March 1778, to give it a final sanction in the form of a law, and presented it to president Rutledge for his assent. He refused passing it, and gave his reasons in a speech addressed to both houses. He urged the oath he had taken to preside according to the constitution agreed to by the representatives in 1776; that the bill offered to him annihilated one branch of the legislature, and transferred the right of electing another branch from the general assembly of the people, and that nothing appeared clearer to him than that they had not lawful power to do so. He observed that the good of the people being the end of government, that is the best form under which they are happiest; and that they are the fittest judges of what will be most productive of their happiness. He surmised that “The people preferred a compound or mixed government to a simple democracy, or one verging toward it, perhaps because, however unexceptionable democratic power may appear at the first view, its effects have been found arbitrary, severe and destructive.” “Certain it is,” said he, “that systems which, in theory have been much admired, on trial have not succeeded; and that projects and experiments relative to government, are of all schemes the most dangerous and fatal.” He concluded his address with resigning the office of president and commander in chief, into their hands, and requesting them to accept it, and elect some person in his stead. A majority of their suffrages were in favor of the honorable Arthur Middleton, but he had his difficulties as to passing the bill, and declined the office. The honorable Rawlins Lowndes was soon after elected, and on the 19th of March gave his assent to the bill containing the new constitution.[84]

Some weeks before this law was passed the Randolph frigate, of 36 guns and 305 men, comanded by captain Biddle, sailed on a cruise from Charleston. The Yarmouth, of 64 guns, discovered her and five other vessels in the evening of the 7th of March, and came up with her by nine o’clock at night. Captain Vincent hailed her to hoist colours, or he would fire into her, on which she hoisted American, and immediately gave the Yarmouth her broad side, which was returned, and in about a quarter of an hour she blew up. Four men were saved upon a piece of her wreck, and subsisted for five days upon nothing more than rain water, which they sucked from a piece of blanket they had picked up. On the fifth, the Yarmouth being in chace of a ship, happily discovered them waving; the captain humanely suspended the chace, hauled up to the wreck, got a boat out, and brought them on board.[85] Three days before this, the Alfred frigate, of 20 nine pounders, was taken by the Ariadne and Ceres. The Americans have also lost the Virginia frigate.

The crew of an American privateer, in the night of the 27th of January, took the fort of New-Providence, being joined by a number of Americans in the place. They continued two days in possession of it, during which time they made themselves masters of a ship of 16 guns, that was repairing some damage sustained by running on a reef of rocks. I hey likewise possessed themselves of five prizes that had been sent in by a letter of marque. The letter of marque returned, prepared to attack, and got very near the privateer, when she cut her cables and sailed off, having about half an hour before sent away the ship and three of the prizes, and set fire to the other two.

Captain James Willing, in the service of the United States, arrived with a detachment of men from Fort Pitt, at the Natches, a British settlement in West-Florida, on the evening of the 19th of February; and the next morning early sent out sundry parties, who almost at one and the same time made the inhabitants prisoners of war on their parole. The colours of the United States being hoisted, and the country taken possession of in their name, the inhabitants fearing the confiscation of their property, waited on captain Willing, to propose terms of accommodation, to which he readily agreed. They are not to take up arms against the United States, or to assist their enemies; but are to observe a strict neutrality. During such neutrality, their persons, slaves and other property, of what kind soever, are to remain safe and unmolested; but the property of all public officers of the British crown is excepted, as also the property of all British, who are not residents in the district. The agreement was signed by the delegates from the people and their associates, on the one part, and by the captain on the other, the 21st of February.

Since the earliest return of Spring, a succession of detachments from gen. Howe’s army, having ranged the country for many miles round Philadelphia and in the Jerseys, chiefly to open the communication for bringing in supplies, and to collect forage. They have been pretty successful. Col. Hand, in answer to col. Mawhood, charged his troops not only with denying quarters, but butchering the Americans who had surrendered prisoners, and bayonetting, on the 21st of March, in the most cruel manner, in cold blood, men who were taken by surprise, when they neither could nor did attempt to make any resistance, and some of whom were not fighting men. The successful surprise of a party of Americans, consisting of some hundreds, posted about seventeen miles from the city, took place on the 4th of May. On the 7th, the second battalion of British light-infantry, in flat-boats, attended by three gallies and other armed boats, proceeded up the Delaware, in order to destroy all the American ships and vessels lying in the river, between Philadelphia and Trenton. They landed the next morning, advanced toward Bordentown; drove the Americans that opposed them, entered the town, and burnt four store-houses containing provisions, tobacco, some military stores and camp equipage. The country being alarmed and a strong body collected, the battalion crossed to the Pennsylvania shore. The next day they resumed their operations, and at sun-set embarked and returned to Philadelphia. While upon the expedition they burnt two frigates, one of 32 guns, the other of 28—nine large ships—three privateer sloops of 16 guns each—three of 10—twenty-three brigs—with a number of sloops and schooners. Two of the ships were loaded with tobacco, rum and military stores.

Thus ends, most probably, the history of general Howe’s successes in North-America; for Sir Henry Clinton arrived at Philadelphia on the 8th of May, to succeed the former, who will soon return to Great-Britain.

The British officers to express their esteem for Sir William Howe, prepared a magnificent entertainment with which to grace his departure for Great Britain. It consisted of a variety of parts, on land and water; was called the Mischianza; and was given on Monday the 18th of May. It was indeed magnificent, began at four in the afternoon, and concluded at four the next morning. There was a grand and beautiful exhibition of fire works; toward the conclusion of which, a triumphal arch appeared gloriously illuminated, with Fame blowing from her trumpet in letters of light—“Thy laurels shall never fade.”—This prediction would be more likely to receive a fulfilment, had the military atchievements of the general been more answerable to the force he has commanded against the Americans. The American officers planned a different entertainment for him; which had proved fatal to themselves, but for the oversight of one British general.

Marquis de la Fayette, with a select corps of about 2500 men rank and file, crossed the Schuylkill, and proceeded to take post at Barron-hill, about twelve miles in front of the army at Valley-forge. He planned his pickets and videttes, and sent out patroles on all the roads by which it was probable the enemy would approach him. About two miles on his left was White-marsh, where a number of roads form a junction. The marquis intrusted the guard of these roads to some militia, whom he ordered there, but who never went. A quaker inferring from the marquis’ directing him to provide lodgings for the night, that he intended remaining there, sent information of it to the enemy, who by their spies having obtained intelligence of the marquis’ situation, formed an instantaneous design of surprising him. For that purpose, on the night of May the 19th, general Grant marched out of Philadelphia with full 7000 men, and a number of cannon. By taking the Frankfort road, and crossing the country through the old York road and White-marsh the next morning he entered the road on which the marquis was about two miles in his rear, at Plymouth meeting-house. From this place to Matson’s-ford on the Schuylkill is about one-mile and a quarter, the only ford by which the marquis could effect a retreat and about two miles from Barron-hill church. Other troops were advancing to take the marquis in front, and to co-operate with gen. Grant; who instead of hastening to and securing the ford, marched down toward the marquis on the main road, by which means the letter gained intelligence of the other’s being in his rear. The marquis happily by an instant decision retreated by the road leading from Barron-hill church to Matson’s-ford, and had nearly effected his retreat over the Schuylkill before the enemy were sensible of their error. They then doubled their pace to come up with his rear; but his retreat was so handsome and timely, that the troops were all crossed and formed before they could come near the ford in force. His whole loss was no more than nine men. The American army had early information of the marquis’ danger, and were in great anxiety about him. They began firing some of their heaviest artillery, hoping as the wind being fair, the sound would be conveyed to the enemy in such a manner as to excite mistaken apprehension; which they think was the case, as the enemy, after the marquis had crossed, made a precipitate march back to Philadelphia, seemingly under an apprehension that they should be pursued and attacked by the whole army. Had gen. Grant marched down at once to Matson’s-ford and secured it, the marquis with his select-corps, must have surrendered or been cut to pieces. Their loss would have obliged the rest of the American army to have made an hasty flight, in a most distressing situation, the chief of them being without shoes and stockings, and otherwise badly provided. The orderly manner in which the Americans retreated, and which contributed much to their escaping, is to be ascribed to the improvements made in their discipline, owing greatly to the baron de Steuben, the inspector-general.