try, & connections are the same with yours, I beg leave to mention some of the objections which lie in my mind against the proposed plan. Congress will or they will not be frightened into a compliance with your demands, if Congress complies, as some have suggested they will, and grants you all you ask, can you then disband with safety, what security will you have that those promises shall be fulfilled? Will Congress be more likely to make good those you shall extort from them, than those they have voluntarily made? Will the several States think them more binding, or will they be more likely to grant funds to Congress than now? Is it not possible, that not only the States, but even Congress may then declare, not only our half Pay, and the Debts they owe us, forfeited, but our lives also, for having levied War against the Community. So that should we succeed according to our utmost wishes, should the high tone remonstrance proposed frighten Congress into our measures, and the several States grant such funds as Congress may require? you could with less safety lay down your Arms then, than now, Nay you could not then with any propriety quit the field, for having once made a separation between the Civil and Military power, between Congress & her Army, you have then passed the Rubicon. So that upon the plan proposed, if we would secure to ourselves the fulfillment of those promises we extort, (for none I presume suppose that Congress have the Money to give us), it will be necessary to keep the field till the debts are discharged, when that will be and the prospect there is of prevailing with the Soldier to tarry for such prudential purposes, I leave every one to conjecture. But what if Congress does not comply with our demands, shall we then recede?, if we do, will it not be with disgrace?, Can we with honor give up our Arms after we have told Congress that we will not?, if not let us consider the matter well before we address Congress in the language proposed, for if this is once done, we must be subjected to the disgrace and mortification of receding from the measure, must then submit to be disbanded with a lost reputation, and forfeited honor, or involve our Country in the horrors of a Civil War.- - If we can prevail with the Soldiery to join us, or find other people mad enough to engage in our schemes, which is another matter; We ought to inquire very particularly about before we give in to the measure our anonymous Brother proposes, and must therefore request him to answer the following questions, Sir, is the present Army sufficient to Dragoon the Country into our measures, provided they United to oppose us. — if not, how are you to NEWBURG ADDRESSES. 207 augment your Army?, but if our present numbers are sufficient, how are you to secure them to [engage?] in your service?. will the three years Men who came out upon large bounties and their wages secured by private contract at home, tarry a moment after they are told by Congress they may go, and perhaps a proclamation declaring them traitors to their Country, if they do not instantly quit your Standard & join that of Congress? Have you any assurance that the Men engaged during the War with Great Britain will tarry an hour after Peace takes place, and Congress declares them discharged?. But if you can persuade the present Soldiery to engage in your War, how long will they serve without pay?. Or can you pay them, if not [able] to pay, have you Monies to support them?, if not, how are they to be fed?, have Congress Magazines of provisions, a Military Chest, or Funds of any kind sufficient for the purpose on which you intend to seize?. No, it is presumed we shall obtain supplies on credit, that cannot be for with all the credit and exertions of the United States we have but just escaped starving, how vain then is the idea that the Officers of the Army who have been so many Years telling the World how poor they are, should be able to obtain a sufficient credit to support an Army, designed to subjugate, or overturn the present Constitution of America - Have you then any alternative for subsisting your Army but that of plundering your Country? No, Horrid alternative this! nor will I believe it possible under any circumstances whatever, you can adopt the measure. But should we my friends by the arts of designing Men, be persuaded that the public creditors in general will join us, and the Soldiery will agree to follow our fortunes, and by these, or any other means be surprised into so rash an undertaking and prove unfortunate?- Pray consider what our situation will then be?.- if we would act the prudent part, we must look to the end, as well as the beginning, We have hitherto supposed a possibility of succeeding some how or other, and that you will overturn the present Government, and by force of Arms establish some other form. But if we take into consideration all the circumstances which we ought to do on this occasion, there is a moral certainty we shall fail. Nay, 'tis impossible in the nature of things that we can succeed. For if we have no means of subsisting an Army but by plunder, if we are to have no supplies but what are to be obtained by the point of the Bayonet, I leave you to determine, how long you will persuade this, or any other Army to follow your fortunes. and when the Soldiery forsake you, what will be your situation?, despised and insulted, by an enraged populace, exposed to the revenging hand of justice-You will then flee to Caves & Dens to hide yourselves from the face of day, and of Man-you will then truly be, "the jest of Tories, and the scorn of Whigs," But there will be none to pity you, But are we in such desperate circumstances?, Have we been abused, and insulted by Congress as is pretended? — By the report of the Committe which will be laid before you on Saturday, & the resolutions of Congress of the 25th Jan! last, it appears that M' Morris is directed to give you all the cash in his power. That Congress have also pointed out a mode for the settlement of your Accounts, that you shall have the same securities as other public Creditors, and that Congress will make every effort in their power to obtain from the respective States substantial funds adequate to the object, of Funding the whole debt, and that the other matter contained in your Memorial is refered to a Committe of five. Now what can Congress do more to give you satisfaction?, you will not require of them impossibilities, it's true, they may Commute your half Pay, but they are under no obligation to do it, you have no demand for it at present, nor are Congress under any obligation to change the mode of reward, therefore, if that matter should be decided contrary to our wishes, we shall have no ground of complaint on that account. — Our business then I conceive lies within a very narrow compass-Viz. a warm & affectionate address to our Illustrious Chief— pointing out the disadvantages that will arise to the Army if they should be disbanded before their Accots are settled, or in case the War continues, that justice & policy require there should not be a moments delay - Beseeching his Excell that he would use his influence to have the business set about immediately. 5. EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM ARMSTRONG TO GATES, APRIL 29, 1783.1 Ogden is now here from the army — and, as he conceals nothing, he tells us a great deal. Among other things, it is said, that the army look back with horror and regret upon the mistaken step they have taken, and like contemptible penitents, who have sinned beyond the prospect of salvation, wish to have it to do over again. It is now, however, too late the soldiery are anxious to disperse no ties, no promises, will hold them longer — and with them will every loitering hope of ours break also― Adieu, then, to national character, to arrears and all- and wel 1 Sparks MSS. xxii. 162–164. NEWBURG ADDRESSES. 209 come fraud, rapine, and all the extreme distresses of another civil war. For can it be otherwise? Will the Whigs, who have lent their money and will the men, who have lent their time and blood to America, sit down quietly under their wants- and their wretchedness? No-a dissolution of all debts, of all credits — of every principle of union and society, must and will follow — And, suffer me to ask-where will it stop? God, in his anger, gave them a King — and we want a scourge. All our hopes rest upon the impost; and that was damned, like the last, in the womb of Congress. Well, I believe, upon the whole-we shall bear our burthen of "outrageous fortune," as well as the most serene and great among them - But, I could have been as happy in not giving this instance of my fortitude. One secret, however, Ogden tells me but which shall be no longer so. Mr. Brooks was sent from hence, with orders to break of [f] sentiments like those contained in the anonymous Address to the Officers, and to prepare their minds for some manly, vigorous association with the other public creditors - but the timid wretch discovered it to the only man, from whom he was to have kept it, and concealed it from those, to whom he had expressly engaged to make it known To be more explicit, he betrayed it to the Commander in Chief who, agreeably to the original plan was not [to] have been consulted till some later period. Such a villain! I would have written again—had I not seen the impotency of the army, and the assurance of Congress - They see our weakness and laugh at our resentments. My efforts, therefore, might have not only been unavailing, but injurious -The last got into the paper, God knows how. I knew nothing of it, and could wish it had been prevented; for, as it stands, it now groans under, not only my sins, but those of Mr. Bailey and his devils too - I mean the blunders. P APPENDIX B. LIST OF AUTHORITIES CITED. ADAMS, JOHN. Works; with a Life of the Author. Edited by Charles Francis Adams. 10 vols. Boston, 1856. ADAMS, JOHN and ABIGAIL. with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams. York, 1876. Familiar Letters during the Revolution; AMORY, THOMAS C[OFFIN]. The Military Services and Public Life of Major-General John Sullivan of the American Revolutionary Army. Boston and Albany, 1868. AUSTIN, JAMES T[RECOTHICK]. The Life of Elbridge Gerry; with Contemporary Letters, to the Close of the American Revolution. 2 vols. Boston, 1828-1829. BALCH, THOMAS WILLING. The French in America during the War of Independence of the United States, 1777-1783. A translation . . . of Les Français en Amérique pendant la Guerre de l'Indépendance des États-Unis, par Thomas Balch. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1891-1895. BANCROFT, GEORGE. History of the United States of America, from the Discovery of the Continent. The Author's Last Revision. 6 vols. New York, 1883-1885. BOLTON, CHARLES KNOWLES. The Private Soldier under Washington. New York, 1902. BOUDINOT, J[ANE] J., compiler. The Life, Public Services, Addresses, and Letters of Elias Boudinot, LL.D., President of the Continental Congress. 2 vols. Boston and New York, 1896. BOWDOIN, JAMES, and TEMPLE, JOHN. The Bowdoin and Temple Papers [1756-1782]. Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, 6th series, vol. ix. Boston, 1897. BROOKS, NOAH. Henry Knox, a Soldier of the Revolution, Major-General in the Continental Army, etc. New York and London, 1900. BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN, and GAY, SYDNEY HOWARD. A Popular History of the United States. 4 vols. New York, 1876–1881. CLARK, JOSEPH. Diary, from May, 1778, to November, 1779. New Jersey Historical Society, Proceedings, vii. 93-110. Newark, 1855. |