X.

1777.

CHAPTER Washington's immediate command, and continued to do so; and the correspondence with him on the part of Gates, made necessary by his official relation to the Commander-in-chief, so far from being cordial and friendly, was marked with "an air of design, a want of candor in many instances, and even of politeness." These are the words of Washington, contained in a letter to the President of Congress three years after the army left Cambridge, and they are verified by the correspondence since published.

General
Conway.

Conway, by birth an Irishman, had been in the French service from his youth, and founded his claim to consideration on the circumstance of his being an officer of thirty years' experience. He joined the army at Morristown, having the rank of brigadier, by the appointment of Congress. Of all the men in the world he was the last to conciliate the favor of Washington. Boastful, presumptuous, and intriguing, bent on pushing his fortune, and looking only to personal aggrandizement, he was unprincipled in regard to the means and reckless of consequences. Abundant proofs of these traits of character and of sinister aims were exhibited during the campaign; and, when it was rumored that Conway was to be promoted, Washington wrote to a member of Congress a letter of strong remonstrance against it, assigning his reasons without reserve. The success of the northern army, in the capture of Burgoyne, was the signal for the malecontents to assume a bolder attitude in prosecuting their machinations. Anonymous letters were sent to the President of Congress and the Governor of Virginia, filled with insinuations, complaints, and exaggerated statements, and ascribing all the misfortunes of the campaign to the incapacity, or ill-timed Fabian policy, of the Commander-in-chief. It was affirmed, with as much effrontery as falsehood, that his force had been three or four times as large as that opposed to him; and no pains were spared to make it appear, that all his plans and operations evinced a want of military knowledge, judgment, and decision.

X.

divulges a

part of Con

way's letter

to Gates,

These artifices, though practised in secret for a time, CHAPTER were well known to Washington. His scrutinizing observation easily penetrated the designs of those, who acted 1777. under the cloak of a pretended attachment; and his real Wilkinson friends, moved not less by a sense of duty to their country, than of justice to him, took care to put him on his guard, and to acquaint him with the intrigues of the cabal, as far as they could be ascertained from overt acts, or inferred from less obvious indications. The affair was at length brought to his notice in a definite shape. When Colonel Wilkinson, one of Gates's aids-de-camp, was on his way from Saratoga to Congress, as bearer of despatches announcing the capitulation of Burgoyne, he stopped at the quarters of Lord Stirling, who was then at Reading. In a free conversation while there, Wilkinson repeated part of a letter, which Gates had received from Conway, containing strictures on the management of the army under Washington, accompanied with disparaging reflections. Prompted by patriotism and friendship, Lord Stirling communicated to him an extract from the letter as repeated by Wilkinson. A correspondence on the subject followed between Washington, Gates, and Conway. The genuineness of the extract was denied, but the letter itself was never produced. Two or three persons afterwards saw it in confidence, among whom was Mr. Laurens, President of Congress; and, although the words proved not to be exactly the same, yet the tenor and spirit of the letter were accurately reported. The transaction, and the incidents springing from it, could not long be concealed from the officers of the army. Rumors respecting them went abroad, and the public sentiment was expressed in a tone so unequivocal and decided, as to discourage the instigators; and their schemes were abandoned, before they had produced any of the fatal mischiefs, which must inevitably have followed, if their ambitious hopes had been realized.

Congress

There is no reason to suppose, that any of the officers A party in were directly implicated in the cabal, except Gates, Mif- favor the

cabal.

CHAPTER flin, and Conway. That a considerable party in Congress X. favored the projects of these men is evident from the

1777.

Projected expedition to Canada.

proceedings of that body for several months. After the capitulation at Saratoga, Gates forwarded the official account of the event to Congress, without communicating the intelligence in any shape to the Commander-in-chief, which his duty as an officer and the common rules of courtesy required him to do; and Congress never intimated their dissatisfaction with this breach of decorum, and marked disrespect to the commander of their armies, whose authority they were bound to support. Nearly at the same time Congress instituted a new Board of War, to which were granted large powers, and of which Gates and Mifflin were appointed members, Gates being placed at its head.

ter.

One of the first acts of this board was a projected expedition to Canada, planned by Gates, and approved by Congress, without consulting Washington in the least of its particulars. The first intimation he had of it was in a letter from the Board of War, enclosing another to Lafayette, informing him of his being appointed to the command of the expedition. It was the design of this stroke of policy to bring over Lafayette to the interests of the faction. They had little knowledge of his characHe was not to be deceived nor cajoled. He carried the letter to Washington, told him that he saw through the artifice, and should decline. Washington replied, that he knew not the object of the expedition, nor how it was to be carried into effect, but the appointment was an honorable one, which would place him in a conspicuous station, where he would in any event acquit himself with credit; for, if the enterprise should fail, he was persuaded his conduct would be such as to save him from faults and screen him from censure, and the responsibility would rest with its projectors. Yielding to this advice, he acceded to the proposal, went to Albany, where he had been promised that troops and every thing necessary should be provided, and, after waiting there three months, his

X.

patience being exhausted and all his hopes defeated, as CHAPTER the Board of War did nothing to fulfil their promise or promote the expedition, he returned to the camp at 1777. Valley Forge. *

mous con

fayette.

And it might here be recorded to the honor of La- Magnanifayette, if indeed his whole career in America was not duct of Laa noble monument to his honor, his generosity, and unwavering fidelity to every trust reposed in him, that from the very first he resisted every attempt that was made by the flatteries of Conway, and the artifices of others, to bring him into the league. In the earliest stage of the cabal, before it had been whispered to the public, he wrote to Washington, stating his opinion of Conway, and his fears for the unhappy consequences that might flow from his conduct. "I need not tell you," said he, "how sorry I am at what has happened; it is a necessary result of my tender and respectful friendship for you, which is as true and candid as the other sentiments of my heart, and much stronger than so new an acquaintance might seem to admit. But another reason for my concern is my ardent and perhaps enthusiastic wish for the happi

Before Lafayette commenced his journey to Albany, he rode to Yorktown, for the purpose of making arrangements with the Board of War. As soon as he arrived, he called on General Gates, whom he found surrounded by his friends seated at a dinner-table. They greeted him with much cordiality. He joined them at the table, the wine passed round, and several toasts were given. Determined not to act under disguise, and to take the first opportunity of letting his sentiments be known, he called to them, just as they were about to rise, and observed that one toast had been omitted, which he would propose. The glasses were filled, and he gave as a toast, "The Commander-inchief of the American armies." It is needless to say, that it was coldly received; and it is possible, that this early and bold avowal of his predilections had some influence in damping the ardor, with which the leaders of the faction had planned this abortive Canada expedition. Conway was appointed second in command; but Lafayette insisted that the Baron de Kalb, in whom he had confidence, should be one of the officers, which was granted, but not without evident reluctance. Baron de Kalb, being higher in rank than Conway, was thus the second in command, and Conway the third.

Dec. 30.

X.

1777.

CHAPTER ness and liberty of this country. I see plainly that America can defend herself, if proper measures are taken; but I begin to fear that she may be lost by herself and her own sons." And again in conclusion he added; "My desire of deserving your approbation is strong; and, whenever you shall employ me, you can be certain of my trying every exertion in my power to succeed. I am now bound to your fate, and I shall follow it and sustain it, as well by my sword as by all the means in my power." To this pledge he was ever true. *

Washington takes no pains to counteract

of his ene

mies.

Standing firm in his integrity, Washington took no pains to counteract these machinations of his enemies, the schemes and, whatever may have been his regret and indignation at such evidences of ingratitude and perfidy, he did not allow them to disturb his equanimity, or to turn him in the least degree from his lofty purpose of serving his country in the sphere allotted to him with the disinterestedness, diligence, and ardor, that characterized his public life in every vicissitude of events. In a letter to President Laurens, who had enclosed to him an anonymous communication of a very insidious tendency, which he

*The following extract from a letter written by Lafayette to Baron Steuben, while the faction was at its height, affords an additional proof of his warm and generous friendship for Washington. It was dated at Albany, on the 12th of March, 1778. Baron Steuben had recently arrived in the country.

"Permit me," said Lafayette, "to express my satisfaction at your having seen General Washington. No enemies to that great man can be found, except among the enemies to his country; nor is it possible for any man of a noble spirit to refrain from loving the excellent qualities of his heart. I think I know him as well as any person, and such is the idea which I have formed of him. His honesty, his frankness, his sensibility, his virtue, to the full extent in which this word can be understood, are above all praise. It is not for me to judge of his military talents; but, according to my imperfect knowledge of these matters, his advice in council has always appeared to me the best, although his modesty prevents him sometimes from sustaining it; and his predictions have generally been fulfilled. I am the more happy in giving you this opinion of my friend, with all the sincerity which I feel, because some persons may perhaps attempt to deceive you on this point."