Two complete copies of Washington's revolutionary correspondence have been preserved at Mount Vernon. The first consists of the original files, which he always kept with him for reference and use in camp and in his campaigns; the second is a literal transcript from these originals, recorded in forty-four large volumes, in which all the letters are classified and arranged according to their subjects and dates. This transcript was executed under his own direction near the close of the war, by secretaries employed for the purpose, who wrote a fair and handsome hand, and on whose fidelity he could rely. Even the dimensions of the volumes, the quality of the paper, and the style of binding, were prescribed by himself. Each parcel in the files is designated by a letter of the alphabet, and each paper in the parcel is numbered. By the aid of corresponding marks in the margin of the letter-books, a sure and speedy reference may be had to any original paper in the whole series. A brief sketch of the plan, as drawn out by Washington, and a few explanatory remarks, will show at the same time the principles of the arrangement, and the varied subjects of his correspondence.

1. Under the first great division were classed letters to the Congress of the United States; to Committees of Congress; to the Board of War and Ordnance; to American Ministers Plenipotentiary at Foreign Courts; to individual Members of Congress in their Public Char

acters.

As he received his appointment, commission, instructions, and all his powers from Congress, it was necessary, that his intercourse with that body should be full, constant, and of the most confidential kind. In the first place, the army was new, undisciplined, unprovided; very few of the members of Congress were military men, or possessed any knowledge of military affairs either prac

practical or theoretical; the burden of organizing and disciplining the army was at once thrown upon the Commander-in-chief. But all the arrangements of this sort, the rules and regulations, and every contemplated change, were to be approved by Congress before they could take effect; and Congress reserved wholly to themselves the appointment of the general officers. Thus it was not only the duty of Washington to obey instructions and execute orders, but he was obliged to suggest what these orders should be, and wait till his suggestions were passed into resolves by the Congress. This was frequently a source of delay and embarrassment; it was a heavy and perpetual tax upon the forethought and reflection of the Commander-in-chief, and made him virtually the head and soul of the whole military system, although a jealousy of their civil rights, and a fear of the tendency of warlike ambition, induced the members of Congress to keep a salutary check in their own hands. The condition of the army and an account of all the principal occurrences were communicated at stated times to Congress, doubtful cases were referred to their decision, and returns forwarded respecting the departments of the commissaries, quartermasters, and other officers engaged in providing for the wants of the army, and regulating its internal economy. The intimate and peculiar relations, thus subsisting between Congress and the army, gave rise to a correspondence, which, although it necessarily ran into details, was nevertheless of great importance. For similar purposes he kept up an intercourse by letter with Committees of Congress, the Board of War, and individual members. By these means his views were always presented to that assembly, and guided them in their deliberations and resolves. 2. Letters to Provincial Congresses, Conventions, and Committees of Safety; to Governors, Presidents,

and other Executives of States; to Civil Magistrates and Citizens of every Denomination.

Although the army was under the general control and pay of the Continental Congress, and the number of men to be furnished by each State was prescribed from time to time by that body, yet the mode of raising the men, and in part the supplying of them with arms and clothing, were left to the States themselves. It was the business of the Commander-in-chief to see, that the men were actually brought into the field at the proper times and places, as well as to call out the militia upon emergencies and to dismiss them when their services were no longer required. This duty opened a wide field of correspondence with the States, and some of Washington's best letters are circulars to the governors, making appeals to the patriotism of the people, and urging powerful motives for exertion and sacrifice in the common cause. Wherever the army was stationed, he was always cautious to keep the military and civil powers distinct, and to refer to the respective States all matters of a local nature, which did not clearly come within the jurisdiction of the army. The delicate and troublesome concerns of the Tories were of this description. The safety of the country required him to use the force he commanded to apprehend suspected persons; but he invariably turned them over to the civil authorities of the State in which they resided, to be dealt with as the proper tribunals should decide. Occasions frequently occurred, likewise, for corresponding with the committees of towns and smaller districts or communities.

3. Letters to Officers of the Line of every Rank; to Officers of the Staff; and to all other Military Characters. The correspondence under this head is much more voluminous, than that under either of the others. It

extends to the whole army of the United States, however divided or wherever stationed; to the commanding officers in the great departments, to major-generals and other officers on separate commands at posts or in detachments, to officers of every rank engaged in any special service, such as partisan enterprises, foraging expeditions, or schemes for attacking the enemy's outposts, or procuring intelligence. It also includes instructions to officers from the highest to the lowest; directions for the arrangements in camp, as well as the movements during a campaign; letters to quartermasters, commissaries, contractors, the clothier-general and his deputies, and all others concerned in providing supplies for the army; to surgeons and superintendents of the hospitals; to militia officers while on Continental service; and to other persons acting in a military capacity within the sphere of his command.

4. Letters to Foreign Ministers; to Subjects of Foreign Nations in the immediate Service of the United States; to Foreign Officers.

When the French army came to America, it was, by a previous stipulation, to be under the command of Washington, while acting in concert with the American army. This arrangement, as well as the mutual plans for coöperation, necessarily caused much correspondence between Washington, Count Rochambeau, Count d'Estaing, and other commanders of the French army and navy. In this the ministers from France to Congress participated, as the French military affairs in the United States were under their general supervision and guid

ance.

5. Letters to Officers of every Rank and Denomination in the Service of the Enemy; to British Subjects of every Description with the Enemy; to Persons applying for Permission to go to the Enemy.

The most important letters under this head are those to the British commanders on various topics, but chiefly relating to the exchange of prisoners, in which there were many difficulties emanating from the peculiar relations of the two contending armies to each other, and the manner in which the British government regarded the nature of the contest at the beginning of the war. 6. Private Letters.

In this division is included a long list of letters; and although they are classed as private, yet they are mostly on subjects appertaining to public concerns. They are not official; but many of them were written to persons in public stations, and intended to promote a purpose by stronger representations and the force of motives more delicate, than it was expedient to exhibit for general inspection. In this view they may be considered as expressing the unreserved sentiments of their author, and as explaining his designs and conduct on occasions, where the caution required in his official despatches must leave much for inference or conjecture. A few are mere letters of friendship; but even in such cases the great work in which he was engaged seems to have absorbed his thoughts, and suggested the principal topics for his pen.

Such is the mode projected and adopted by General Washington himself for classifying his papers, while Commander-in-chief of the American army. Such is the broad outline of the topics to which they extend. The arrangement is, in the first instance, according to subjects; and, in the second, according to the order of time; that is, the mass of letters is formed into six distinct classes, and those in each class are brought together consecutively by their dates. In preparing them for publication, it has been thought preferable to throw them all into the order of time, thus preserving a strict continuity in the