the Military should disband for want of Pay (while the war continues to rage) a period will very soon be put to the Civil Establishment under our present Constitution-the Civil and Military Men, having a reciprocal dependance upon each other, taxation of the property of one being equal to that of the other, and the wants of both the same, it is worthy of some considerations whether the first is to receive all and the other no part of their pay. These Sentiments, my dear Morris, are between ourselves, and tho' freely communicated to you are concealed from the Officers of this Army, on whom I am constantly inculcating patience and forbearance; adding that their relief must flow from the Taxes, and that it is incumbent upon all and every of them to impress the necessity of Taxation upon their several Connexions and Friends as the only source of redress, for that you are totally unsupported and cannot work miracles. As I never say any thing of a Man that I have the smallest scruple of saying to him, I would not be understood to mean by this being between ourselves that any part of it that effects Mr. Sands should be hid from him. You are perfectly at liberty if you think it necessary to communicate these my Sentiments to him. I hope some good will result from the deputation of Congress to the several States-Inclosed I send you a Copy of my Letter to them of the 4th of May, and should have done it sooner, if I could have trusted the conveyance without putting the Letter in Cypher. I pray you to make a tender of my best respects, in which Mrs. Washington joins me most cordially, to Mrs. Morris & Miss Livingston, and to believe that with every sentiment of esteem and Regard I am, &c. DEAR SIR, TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR. HEAD-QUARTERS, 17 June, 1782. When pressed by necessity to adopt a measure, a choice is scarcely left to us. In answer, therefore, to your letter of the 12th instant, I am obliged to observe, that the tardiness of the States will compel us to that, which in my opinion policy forbids. At this critical moment, inclination would not lead me to consent to disbanding any corps of the army. But if the States cannot, or, what is the same, will not recruit the regiments, which are quotaed nor furnish the supplies which are necessary for their support, we must next consider what kind of troops under the present view of the matter can best be dispensed with ; in doing which, I cannot hesitate to declare, that cavalry, in present circumstances and the probable operations of the campaign, will be least useful, and for that reason ought to be the first to be reduced. But how to effect this purpose appears difficult, the corps being very much dispersed, and the sentiments of the officers quite unknown to me. I confess I am at a loss how to point out any particular mode. To make it a matter of arrangement with the officers to determine among themselves who should go out, and who should remain in service, would be a work of time. To select the best from among the whole, is not only an invidious business, but requires a perfect knowledge of each individual character, a knowledge, which, with a few exceptions, I confess myself unpossessed of. And to retain the corps or officers by seniority may, and I am sure in some instances would, give the most indifferent officers in the whole line of the cavalry. Not being able to hit on any method, which is satisfactory to myself, I submit this point to your decision. If the regiments of artillery, allotted to the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, cannot be completed, an event of which I see but little prospect, however inconsistent it may be with policy, and whatever consequence it may involve, I readily subscribe to the opinion of blending the two into one. Nothing surely can be more inconsistent with every principle of economy, than to keep up whole corps of officers for the sake of a few or a handful of men. There cannot, I think, be a doubt of the propriety of reducing Hazen's regiment. The Canadian part of it may be formed into one or more companies according to their number, and be employed as watermen, or in other services suited to their circumstances; the remainder to be turned over to the States to which they respectively belong. What prospects the States south of the Delaware have of getting their regiments filled, under the several modes adopted by them, I know not; therefore can give no opinion respecting them, but am certain that no regiment of infantry belonging to any State north of the Delaware ought to be reduced. Most of the staff departments of the army have undergone a recent change. Those, I presume, cannot want a revision. The quartermaster's department has been regulated without any participation of mine, and I know too little of its present constitution to form any judgment upon it. The same is the state of my knowledge respecting the clothier's department. I can only observe to you that, upon an application to me from the assistant clothier here for provisions, it appeared to me, that he had more persons employed under him than I thought necessary, and on that principle I refused to give him an order for his full request. Thus, Sir, I have given you my sentiments on your queries. If they shall prove of any use in effecting the salutary purposes you wish, I shall think myself happy in contributing in this way to the general weal. I have the honor to be, &c. SIR, TO JOHN DICKINSON, PRESIDENT OF DELAWARE. I feel myself much obliged by the friendly communication of your sentiments to me on the subject of retaliation, conveyed under your favor of the 30th May, a subject truly disagreeable and distressing to The horrid circumstances of barbarity, which introduced the instance which now gains our particular attention, came to me under the representation me. of so respectable a body of citizens, that they could not but gain my notice and interposition; especially from a consideration, that, if it was not taken up in this line, the people, strongly provoked by their feelings, on the occasion would probably have assumed the matter upon their own decision, and brought it to an issue under their own power, which mode of proceeding, if permitted, would have involved circumstances still more lamentable and calamitous. In taking my resolutions, I also found myself supported by many repeated declarations of Congress on this subject. And, after my resolutions being taken, I had the satisfaction to receive the fullest and most decided approbation of that honorable body in this particular instance. But, under all these circumstances, although I never had a doubt on the general propriety of the measure, yet it was not my intention, could it be avoided, to have taken, as a subject of retaliation, an officer under sanction of capitulation or convention; and my first orders were issued agreeable to that idea; but unfortunately it was reported to me, that no officer of an unconditional description was in our possession, which laid me under a necessity of giving further orders, exceeding my original intentions, in consequence of which the unhappy lot has fallen upon Captain Asgill, a prisoner under the capitulation of Yorktown. I feel myself exceedingly distressed on this occasion; but, my resolutions having been taken upon the most mature deliberation, supported by the approbation of Congress, and grounded on the general concur |