There having been a vague report, that a small embarkation of cavalry and infantry was to take place at New York, to relieve part of the garrison of Charleston, I have made use of this occasion to desire the secretary at war to put Armand's legion immediately in motion to join you, and have requested he will use his endeavors to have the means afforded to facilitate and expedite the movement.

A mail has lately been intercepted by the enemy between Philadelphia and Trenton, in which, I am informed, there were letters from you to me. These by the time of their capture were probably of the same date as your despatches to Congress, wherein the correspondence between General Leslie and yourself was enclosed. I mention these circumstances, that you may forward duplicates in case you should judge it necessary.

You will, I imagine, have heard, before this reaches you, of the arrival of M. Vaudreuil with a fleet of thirteen ships of the line on this coast. I can give you no particulars, as I have no official account of his arrival. The army of the Count de Rochambeau, having, as I advised you in my last, marched towards the northward, at our meeting in Philadelphia, (it was concluded) upon a consideration of all circumstances, that this corps should proceed to join the army on the Hudson. They were at Baltimore by the last intelligence from that quarter.

Since the receipt of the letter from the commissioners, Sir Guy Carleton and Admiral Digby, I have seen a New York paper of the 3d instant, in which

is a speech of General Conway, and some other articles, which appear to be designed to propose independence to America on certain conditions not admissible, namely, that the legislature of America should be totally independent of the Parliament of Great Britain, but that the King of England should have the same kind of supremacy here as in Ireland. I have not information sufficient to determine, whether this is the kind of independence alluded to in the letter of the commissioners, or not. I wish my suspicions, however, may be ill-founded. Wishing you all the success and happiness you can desire, I am, my dear Sir, with the highest sentiments of regard and esteem, &c.1

TO JOHN P. POSEY.

HEAD QUARTERS, Newburgh, 7 August, 1782.

SIR,

With a mixture of surprize, concern, and even horror, have I heard of your treatment of the deceased Mr. Custis; in the abuse in misapplication of the estate which he had committed-with much confidence I am sure, and I believe personal regard-to your management.

1 "As a result of this conference [at Philadelphia], I was sent on the 19th [of July] to York, in Virginia, on a mission then secret but no longer so; this was to embark, as soon as possible, our siege artillery, which we had left at West Point, 8 leagues above York on the same river, and move it up the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore. . . . The army is to leave Baltimore the 15th, to pass here [Philadelphia] and to march to the North River."-Fersen to his Father, 8 August, 1782. The army did not begin to move until the 20th.

If what I have heard, or the half of it be true, you must not only be lost to the feelings of virtue, honor, and common honesty-but you must have suffered an unwarrantable thirst of gain to lead you into errors which are so pregrant with folly and indiscretion, as to render you a mark for every man's arrow to level at. Can you suppose, Sir, that a manager can dissipate his Employer's Estate with impunity? That there are not Laws in every free country by which Justice is to be obtained ?-or that the Heirs of Mr. Custis will not find friends who will pursue you to the end of the Earth in order to come at it? If you do, you are proceeding upon exceedingly mistaken principles-but, for a moment only, let us suppose that you have taken the advantage of an unsuspecting friend for such I am sure Mr. Custis was to you, and that you have acted so covertly, as to elude the Law; do you believe that in the hours of cool reflection-in the moment perhaps, when you shall find that illgotten pelf can no longer avail you; that your conscience will not smite you for such complicated iniquity as arises not only from acts of injustice, but the horrors of ingratitude; in abusing the confidence of a man who supposed you incapable of deceiving him, who was willing, and I believe did, in a great degree, commit his whole property to your care?

But this by the by-I do not mean to put this matter upon the footing of conscience. Conscience might have been kicked out of doors before you could have proceeded to the length of selling another man's negroes for your own emolument, and this too after

having applyed the greatest part, or the whole of the profits of his Estate to your benefit.-Conscience again seldom comes to a man's aid while he is in the zenith of health, and revelling in pomp and luxury upon illgotten spoils. It is generally the last act of his life, and comes too late to be of much service to others here, or to himself hereafter. But, Sir, the footing I expect to see you put this matter upon is, to settle without delay, such acc'ts with the administrator of Mr. Custis's Estate, whose duty it is to have it done, as you can support by authentic vouchers—That you will show by what authority you have sold any of his negroes, and to what purposes the money has been applied—and lastly, what crops you have made, what stocks you have raised, and how they have been disposed of. A settlement of this kind, altho' it should appear by it that you have applied the greatest part, or even the whole of the money arising from the sales of them, to your own purposes, will be the next best thing to never having committed the wrong. How far Mr. Dandridge, as an Administrator, may chuse to push matters, I cannot undertake (never having heard from him on the subject) to say-but this you may rely on, that this affair shall be most critically investigated, and probed to the bottom; let the trouble and cost of doing it be what it may-as a man therefore who wishes for your own sake as well as that of an injured family, to see you act properly, I advise, and warn you of the consequences of a contrary conduct, being, Sir, yr. most h'ble Serv't.

SIR,

TO THE MARQUIS DE VAUDREUIL.

HEAD QUARTERS, 10 August, 1782.

I have the Honor to address you, at the particular Request, in Consequence of a Letter which I have just received from his Excelly. the Count de Rochambeau, inclosing to me the copy of a correspondence between him and you, relative to the Operations of the Fleet under your Command on the Coasts of N. America; wherein you mention to him a Wish, that while your Fleet should remain in the Neighborhood of Boston, you might be enabled to make a stroke at the Enemy's post of Penobscot; and in the Discussion of which point, the Count de Rochambeau has referred you to my Opinion upon that Enterprise.

While I applaud, Sir, the generous Disposition declared in your Intentions for our Assistance, Candor requires me to be very explicit upon the subject—I am obliged therefore to say that it is my decided Opinion that, considering the Hazards that will attend the Enterprise, the Object is by no means equal to the Risque that will attend the attempt.

Among many Reasons which influence my Mind in forming this Opinion, the great and very principal One, appears from your own Letter to Count de Rochambeau, where you mention to him, that you expect immediately to be followed into these Seas, by a superior British fleet. Admitting this Event to take place, and that your fleet should have proceeded to Penobscot (which is near One hundred Leagues from Boston, the only secure Harbor which you will find