mon in its nature, and unparalleled in many circumstances attending it, so you are now, Sir, no less a witness of the unequal burthen which has fallen upon us from the want of that provision, to which from our assiduous & unremitting services we conceive we are entitled. Having recently expressed our sense of what was due to our distress, having repeated from your Excellency the confidence we had that our accounts would be liquidated, the balances ascertained and adequate funds provided for payment previous to our being dispersed or disbanded-having seen with pleasure the approbation which Congress gave of our reliance: it is with a mixture of astonishment & chagrin that we view the late resolve of Congress, by which the soldiers for the war, and a proportionate number of Officers are to be furloughed without any one of those important objects being accomplished and to compleat the scene of woe are to be compelled to leave the Army without the means of defraying the debts which we have necessarily incurred in the course of service or even of gratifying those Menials in the pittance which is their due, much less to carry with us that support & comfort to our families, of which from our long military services they have been deprived. No less exposed than to the insults of the meanest followers of the Army, than to the arrests of the Sheriff, deprived of the ability to assist our families & without an evidence that anything is due to us for our services and consequently without the least prospect of obtaining credit for even a temporary subsistence until we can get into business. To what quarter can we look? We take the liberty to say, Sir, only to your Excellency, and from the sincerity of our hearts we do it, no less from a persuasion of the efficiency of your farther efforts in our favor, than from the kind assurances you have been pleased to give us of your support.

To your Excellency then we make our appeal & in the most solemn manner, from that abhorrence of oppression & injustice, which first unsheathed our swords, from the remembrance of the common dangers thro' which we have passed, and from the recollection of those astonishing events which have been effected by your united efforts, permit us to solicit your further aid & to entreat that the order of the 2d instant founded on the act of Congress of the 26th May last, may be suspended or varied in its operation so far as that no officer or soldier be obliged to receive a furlough until that honorable Body can be apprized of the wretched situation into which the Army must be plunged by a conformity to it-that your Excellency will endeavor to prevail on Congress, nay that on the principles of common justice, you will insist that neither Officer or soldier be compelled to leave the field until a liquidation of accounts can be effected, till the balances are ascertained, certificates for the sums due given, including the commutation of half pay to the Officers and a gratuity of eighty dollars to the soldiers, and till a supply of money can be furnished sufficient to carry us from the field of glory with honor to ourselves and credit to our Country. We still wish to believe, that that Country to which we have been so long devoted, will never look with indifference on the distresses of those of her sons who have so essentially contributed to the establishment of freedom, the security of property & the rearing of an Empire. In the name and behalf of the Generals and Officers commanding regiments & Corps in the Cantonment of Hudsons river, I have the honor to be &ca.

(signed)

W. Heath, Major Genl. President.

His Excell'y. Genl. Washington.

GENERAL WASHINGTON TO GENERAL HEATH.

Head Quarters, June 6th, 1783. Sir, Before I make a reply to the subject of the address of the Generals and Officers commanding the regiments & Corps of the Army presented by yourself yesterday, I entreat that those Gentlemen will accept my warmest acknowledgements for the confidence they have been pleased to repose in me. They may be assured it shall never be abused; and I beg they will be persuaded that as no man can possibly be better acquainted than I am with the past merits & services of the Army, so no one can possibly be more strongly impressed with their present ineligible situation, feel a keener sensibility at their distresses or more ardently desire to alleviate or remove them. But it would be unnecessary perhaps to enter into a detail of what I have done & what I am still attempting to do in order to assist in the accomplishment of this interesting purpose. Let it be sufficient to observe I do not yet despair of success. For I am perfectly convinced that the states cannot without involving themselves in national bankruptcy & ruin, refuse to comply with the requisitions of Congress, who it must be acknowledged have done every thing in their power to obtain ample and compleat justice for the Army and whose great object in the present measure undoubtedly was by a reduction of expences to enable the Financier to make three months payment to the Army, which on all hands has been agreed to be absolutely & indispensibly necessary. To explain this matter I beg leave to insert an extract of a letter from the Superintendant of Finance dated the 29th Ult:

"It is now above a month since the committee conferred with me on that subject & I then told them no payment could be made to the Army but by means of a paper anticipation and unless our expenditures were immediately and considerably reduced even that could not be done. Our expenditures have nevertheless been continued and our revenues lessen, the States growing daily more and more remiss in their collections. The consequence is that I cannot make payment in the manner

first intended. The notes issued for this purpose would have been payable at two, four & six months from the dates but at present they will be at six months and even that will soon become impracticable unless our expences be immediately curtailed. I shall cause such notes to be issued for three months pay to the Army & I must entreat, Sir, that every influence be used with the States to absorb them together with my other engagements by taxation."

Three days ago a Messenger was dispatched to me to urge the necessity of forwarding these notes with the greatest possible expedition.

Under this state of circumstances I need scarcely add the expence of every day in feeding the whole Army will increase very considerable the inability of the public to discharge the debts already incurred at least for a considerable time to come.

Although the officers of the Army very well know my official situation, that I am only a servant of the public and that it is not for me to dispense with orders which it is my duty to carry into execution; yet as furloughs in all services are considered as a matter of indulgence & not of compulsion, as Congress and I am persuaded entertain the best disposition towards the Army & as I apprehend in a very short time the two principal articles of complaint will be removed-until the further pleasure of Congress can be known, I shall not hesitate to comply with the wishes of the Army under these reservations only that Officers sufficient to conduct the men who chuse to receive furloughs will attend them either on furlough or by detachment. The propriety & necessity of this measure must be obvious to all; it need not, therefore, be enforced. And with regard to the Non Commissioned Officers and privates, such as from a peculiarity of circumstances wish not to receive furloughs at this time, will give in their names by 12 O'Clock to morrow to the Commanding Officers of their Regiments, that on a report to the Adjutant General an equal number of men engaged for three years may be furloughed, which will make the saving of expences exactly the same to the public.

I cannot but hope the notes will soon arrive & that the settlement of accounts may be compleated by the assistance of the Pay Masters in a very few days. In the mean time I shall have the honor of laying the sentiments of the Generals & Officers commanding regiments & Corps before Congress. They are expressed in such a decent, candid & affecting manner that I am certain every mark of attention will be paid to them.

Poughkeepsie, June 9th, 1783. Sir, Inclose You Copy of a Letter, I this day rec'd from the President of Congress, pressing an immediate representation of this State.

It gives me pain to mention that the State has been without a Representation ever since the first of May and that Colo. Hamilton the only Member now attending has signified to me his Intention of leaving Philadelphia, he having served the Time agreed upon for his Attendance there in the first Instance.

It is the Business of the Delegates to make such Arrangements among themselves as to prevent the State being unrepresented, as I can have no agency therein but barely that of informing You of what ought not to have taken place.

I would only observe that the Want of Money cannot be given in Excuse for Non Attendance, as I have, for this month past, stood ready to advance to the Gentlemen who were to relieve the