and, if unhappily we sink into this fatal mis- CHAP. XI. take, no part of the blame shall be mine."

The

On the 27th of November, he reached Philadelphia, and a resolution of congress was im: mediately passed granting him an audience on the succeeding day. On his appearance, the president addressed him in a short speech, in which he was informed that a committee was appointed to state the requisitions to be made for the proper establishment of the army; and the expectation was expressed that he would remain in Philadelphia in order to aid the consultations on that important subject. secretary of war, the financier, and the secretary of foreign affairs, assisted at these deliberations. With such unusual celerity was the business conducted, that congress passed the resolutions respecting the military establishment for the succeeding year so early as the 10th of December. But the respectability of the army still depended on the vigour with which the several states would execute the measures recommended to them; and to stimulate them to the utmost exertions of which they were capable, the personal influence of the commander in chief was called in to aid the civil authority. His circular letter, written on this occasion to the state sovereignties urges every argument which the situation of America could suggest for a faithful compliance with the votes of congress.

1782.

CHAP. XI.

Other demands were made by the government of the union on the states, a compliance with which would not be less difficult, than with that respecting their quotas of men. The heavy expenses which a continuance of the war seemed to render inevitable, produced the necessity of adhering to the practice of extorting from individuals the means of supporting it, or of adopting a vigorous course of taxation. The latter system was recommended by considerations which ought never to lose their influence on the human mind; and, on the 30th of October, congress came to a resolution requiring for the service of the ensuing year, eight millions of dollars in specie, to be paid quarter annually. On this subject also, a circular letter was addressed by general Washington to the several states, demonstrating both the policy and the necessity of the measure recommended.

But no exertions on the part of America alone could do more than confine the operations of the British arms to the seacoast, and to occasional incursions into undefended parts of the country. A superiority at sea was indispensable to any successful offensive operations against the posts they still held within the United States, and to obtain this superi ority no means in the power of the American general were left unessayed. In his commu. nications with the French minister and with

the French officers, he never lost sight of this CHAP. XI. important object; and when the marquis de 1782. La Fayette was about to return to France, he seized the occasion to engage the influence of that nobleman in the promotion of his favourite views.

in the British

The first intelligence from Europe was far from being calculated to diminish the anxieties still felt in America, by the enlightened friends of the revolution. In November, the parlia- Proceedings ment of Great Britain reassembled. The speech parliament. from the throne breathed a settled purpose to continue the war; and the addresses from both houses, which were carried by large majorities, echoed the same sentiment.

In the course of the animated debates which these addresses occasioned, an intention was indeed avowed by some members of the administration to change their system. The plan indicated for the future was to direct the whole force of the nation against France and Spain, and until the strength of those powers should be broken, to suspend offensive operations in the interior of the United States. In the meantime, the posts at present occupied by their troops were to be maintained.

This development of the views of administration could only furnish additional motives to the American government, for exerting all the faculties of the nation, to expel the British garrisons from New York and Charleston.

CHAP. XI. The efforts of the commander in chief to pro1782. duce these exertions were earnest and unre

mitting, but not successful. The situation of the people, deprived of the advantages of commerce, was unfavourable to taxation; and they were not disposed to make those individual sacrifices which the public necessities required. In no part of the union were the requisitions of congress complied with. The state legislatures declared the inability of their constituents to pay taxes, and that they had already exerted themselves to the utmost. Instead of filling the continental treasury, some were devising means to draw money out of it; and some of those who passed bills imposing heavy taxes, directed the demands of the state first to be satisfied; after which, the residue was to be paid over to the continental receiver. By the unwearied attention and judicious arrangements of the minister of finance, the expenses of the nation had been greatly reduced. The bank established in Philadelphia, and his own high character had enabled him to support a system of credit, the advantages of which were incalculably great.

He had through the chevalier de La Luzerne obtained permission from his most christian majesty to draw for* half a million of livres monthly until six millions should be received.

* Rather more than 50,000 dollars.

To prevent the diversion of any part of this CHAP. XI. sum from the most essential objects, he had 1782. concealed the negotiation even from congress, and had only communicated it to the commander in chief; but when not more than the first instalment had been received, it was discovered that doctor Franklin had anticipated the residue of the loan, and had already appropriated it to the purposes of the United States. At the commencement of the year 1782, not a dollar remained in the public treasury; and although congress had required the payment of two million on the first of April, not a cent had been received on the 23d of that month. Every reform which the most judicious and rigid economy could devise had been introduced; yet the public expenditure remained too great to be defrayed without large contributions; and on the first of June, only about twenty thousand dollars, not much more than was required for the use of one day, had come into the national treasury. Yet to the financier every eye was turned; to him was stretched forth the empty hand of every public creditor, and against him instead of the state authorities, were the complaints and imprecations of every unsatisfied claimant directed. In July, when the second quarter annual payment of taxes ought to have been received, the minister of finance was informed by some of his agents, that postponements of the collections of reve