To prove that our hardships are exceedingly disproportionate to those of any other citizens of America, let a recurrence be had to the pay-master's accounts, for four years past. If to this it should be objected, that the respective states have made settlements and given securities for the pay due, for part of that time, let the present value of those nominal obligations be ascertained by the monied men, and they will be found to be worth little indeed; and yet, trifling as they are, many have been under the sad necessity of parting with them, to prevent their families from actually starving. We complain that shadows have been offered to us while the substance has been gleaned by others. Our situation compels us to search for the cause of our extreme poverty. The citizens murmur at the greatness of their taxes, and are astonished that no part reaches the army. The numerous demands, which are between the first collectors and the soldiers, swallow up the whole. Our distresses are now brought to a point. We have borne all that men can bear-our property is expended our private resources are at an end, and our friends are wearied out and disgusted with our incessant applications. We, therefore, most seriously and earnestly beg, that a supply of money may be forwarded to the army ar soon as possible. The uneasiness of the soldiers, for want of pay, is great and dangerous; any further experiments on their patience may have fatal effects. The promised subsistence or ration of provisions, consisted of certain articles specified in kind and quantity. This ration, without regard, that we can conceive, to the health of the troops, has been frequently altered, as necessity or conveniency suggested, generally losing by the change some part of its substance. On an average, not more than seven or 8-10ths have been issued; the retained parts were, for a short time, paid for; but the business became troublesome to those who were to execute it. For this, or some other reasons, all regard to the dues as they respected the soldiers, has been discontinued (now and then a trifling gratuity excepted.) As these dues respected the officers, they were compensated during one year and part of another, by an extra ration; as to the retained rations, the account for several years remains unsettled; there is a large balance due upon it, and a considerable sum for that of forage. The clothing was another part of the soldiers hire. The arrearages on that score, for the year 1777, were paid off in continental money, when the dollar was worth about four-pence; the arrearages for the following years are unliquidated, and we apprehend scarcely thought of but by the army. Whenever there has been a real want of means, any defect in system, or neglect in execution, in the departments of the army, we have invariably been the sufferers, by hunger and nakedness, and by languishing in an hospital. We beg leave to urge an immediate adjustment of all dues; that as great a part as possible be paid, and the remainder put on such a footing as will restore cheerfulness to the army, revive confidence in the justice and generosity of its constituents, and contribute to the very desirable effect of re-establishing public credit. We are grieved to find that our brethren, who retired from service on half-pay, under the resolution of Congress in 1780, are not only destitute of any effectual provision, but are become the objects of obloquy. Their condition has a very discouraging aspect on us who must sooner or later retire, and from every consideration of justice, gratitude and policy, demands attention and redress. We regard the act of Congress respecting half-pay, as an honorable and just recompense for several years hard service, in which the health and fortunes of the officers have been worn down and exhausted. We see with chagrin the odious point of view in which the citizens of too many of the states endeavor to place the men entitled to it. We hope, for the honor of buman nature, that there are none so hardened in the sin of ingratitude, as to deny the justice of the reward. We have reason to believe that the objection generally is against the mode only. To prevent therefore, any altercations and distinctions which may tend to injure that harmony which we ardently desire may reign throughout the community, we are willing to commute the half-pay pledged, for full pay for a certain number of years, or for a sum in gross, as shall be agreed to by the committee sent with this address. And in this we pray, that the disabled officers and soldiers, with the widows and orphans of those who have expended or may expend their lives in the service of their country, may be fully comprehended. We also beg, that some mode may be pointed out for the eventual payment of those soldiers who are the subjects of the resolution of Congress of the 15th of May, 1778. To the representation now made, the army have not a doubt that Congress will pay all that attention which the serious' nature of it requires. It would be criminal in the officers to conceal the general dissatisfaction which prevails, and is gaining ground in the army, from the pressure of evils and injuries, which, in the course of seven long years, have made their condition in many instances wretched. They therefore entreat, that Congress, to convince the army and the world that the independence of America shall not be placed on the ruin of any particular class of her citizens, will point out a mode for immediate redress. H. Knox, major-general, John Patterson, brigadier-general, John Crane, colonel, H. Maxwell, lieutenant-colonel, Samuel B. Webb, colonel, Eben. Huntington, lieutenant-colonel, P. Cortlandt, colonel, John N. Cummings, lieutenant-colonel, W. Eustis, hospital-surgeon, on part of the Massachusetts line. on part of the Connecticut line. on part of the New-York line. Cantonments, Hudson's River, December, 1782. PAPER NO. VIII. A letter, of the 12th, and one of the 18th March last, from the commander in chief, with the papers accompanying them, relative to the proceedings of the army in consequence of certain anonymous papers. "SIR,-It is with inexpressible concern I make the following report to your excellency :Two days ago anonymous papers were circulated in the army, requesting a general meeting of the officers on the next day. A copy of one of these papers is enclosed, No. 1. "About the same time another anonymous paper, purporting to be an address to the officers of the army, was handed about in a clandestine manner-A copy of this is marked No. 2. "To prevent any precipitate and dangerous resolutions from being taken at this perilous moment, while the passions were all inflamed; as soon as these things came to my knowledge, the next morning, I issued the enclosed order, No. 3. And in this situation the matter now rests. "Since writing the foregoing, another anonymous paper has been put in circulation, a copy of which is enclosed, No. 4. (No. 1.) A meeting of the general and field officers is requested at the public building, on Tuesday next, at 11 o'clock. A commissioned officer from each company is expected, and a delegate from the medical staff. The object of this convention, is to consider the late letter from our representatives in Philadelphia, and what measures (if any) should be adopted, to obtain that redress of grievances which they seem to have solicited in vain. (No. 2.) To the Officers of the Army. GENTLEMEN, A fellow soldier, whose interest and affections bind him strongly to you, whose past sufferings have been as great, and whose future fortune may be as desperate as yours would beg leave to address you. Age has its claims, and rank is not without its pretensions to advise: but, though unsupported by both, he flatters himself, that the plain language of sincerity and experience will neither be heard nor unregarded. Like many of you, he loved private life, and left it with regret. He left it, determined to retire from the field, with the necessity that called him to it, and not till then-Not till the enemies of his country, the slaves of power, and the hirelings of injustice, were compelled to abandon their schemes, and acknowledge America as terrible in arms as she had been humble in remonstrance. With this object in view, he has longed shared in your toils and mingled in your dangers. He has felt the cold hand of poverty without a murmur, and has seen the insolence of wealth without a sigh. But, too much under the direction of his wishes, and sometimes weak enough to mistake desire for opinion, he has till lately-very lately believed in the justice of his country. He hoped, that as the clouds of adversity scattered, and as the sunshine of peace and better fortune broke in upon us, the coldness and severity of government would relax, and that, more than justice, that gratitude would blaze forth upon those hands, which had upheld her, in the darkest stages of her passage, from impending servitude to acknowledged independence. But faith has its limits as well as temper, and there are points beyond which, neither can be stretched, without sinking into cowardice or plunging into credu lity-This, my friends, I conceive to be your situation.-Hurried to the very verge of both, another step would ruin you forever.-To be tame and unprovoked when injuries press hard upon you, is more than weakness; but to look up for kinder usage, without one manly effort of your own, would fix your character, and shew the world how richly you deserve those chains you broke. To guard against this evil, let us take a review of the ground upon which we now stand, and from thence carry our thoughts forward for a moment, into the unexplored field of expedient. After a pursuit of seven long years, the object for which we set out is at length brought within our reach.-Yes, my friends, that suffering courage of yours was active once-it has conducted the United States of America through a doubtful and a bloody war. It has placed her in the chair of independency, and peace returns again to bless-whom?—A country willing to redress your wrongs, cherish your worth and reward your services, a country courting your return to private life, with tears of gratitude and smiles of admiration, longing to divide with you that independency which your gallantry has given, and those riches which your wounds have preserved? Is this the case? Or is it rather, a country that tramples upon your rights, disdains your cries and insults your distresses? Have you not, more than once, suggested your wishes, and made known your wants to Congress? Wants and wishes which gratitude and policy should have anticipated, rather than evaded. And have you not lately, in the meek language of entreating memorials, begged from their justice, what you would no longer expect from their favour? How have you been answered? Let the letter which you are called to consider to-morrow make reply. If this, then, be your treatment, while the swords you wear are necessary for the defence of America, what have you to expect from peace, when your voice shall sink, and your strength dissipate by division? When those very swords, the instruments and companions of your glory, shall be taken from your sides, and no remaining mark of military distinction left but your wants, infirmities and scars? Can you then consent to be the only sufferers by this revolution, and retiring from the field, grow old in poverty, wretchedness and contempt? Can you consent to wade through the vile mire of dependency, and owe the miserable remnant of that life to charity, which has hitherto been spent in honor?-If you can-Go-and carry with you, the jest of tories and the scorn of whigs-the ridicule, and what is worse, the pity of the world. Go, starve, and be forgotten! But, if your spirit should revolt at this; if you have sense enough to discover, and spirit enough to oppose tyranny under whatever garb it may assume; whether it be the plain coat of republicanism, or the splendid robe of royalty; if you have yet learned to discriminate between a people and a cause, between men and principles-awake; attend to your situation and redress yourselves. If the present moment be lost, every future effort is in vain; and your threats then, will be as empty as your entreaties now. I would advise you, therefore, to come to some final opinion upon what you can bear, and what you will suffer. If your determination be in any proportion to your wrongs, carry your appeal from the justice, to the fears of government. Change the milk-and-water style of your last memorial; assume a bolder tone-decent, but lively, spirited and determined, and suspect the man who would advise to more moderation and longer forbearance. Let two or three men, who can feel as well as write, be appointed to draw up your last remonstrance; for, I would no longer give it the sueing, soft, unsuccessful epithet of memorial. Let it be represented in language that will neither dishonor you by its rudeness, nor betray you by its fears, what has been promised by Congress, and what has been performed-how long and how patiently you have suffered-how little you have asked, and how much of that little has been denied. Tell them that, though you were the first, and would wish to be the last to encounter danger: though despair itself can never drive you into dishonor, it may drive you from the field: that the wound often irritated, and never healed, may at length become incurable; and that the slightest mark of indignity from Congress now, must operate like the grave, and part you forever: that in any political event, the army has its alternative. If peace, that nothing shall separate you from your arms but death: if war, that courting the auspices, and inviting the direction of your illustrious leader, you will retire to some unsettled country, smile in your turn, and "mock when their fear cometh on." But let it represent also, that should they comply with the request of your late memorial, it would make you more happy and them more respectable. That while war should continue, you would follow their standard into the field, and when it came to an end, you would withdraw into the shade of private life, and give the world another subject of wonder and applause; an army victorious over its enemies-victorious over itself. (No. 3.) GENERAL ORDERS. HEAD-QUARTERS, NEWBURGH, Tuesday, March 11, 1783. The commander in chief, having heard that a general meeting of the officers of the army was proposed to be held this day at the new building, in an anonymous paper which was cir culated yesterday by some unknown person, conceives, although he is fully persuaded that the good sense of the officers would induce them to pay very little attention to such an irregular invitation, his duty, as well as the reputation and true interest of the army, requires his disapprobation of such disorderly proceedings. At the same time he requests the general and fieldofficers with one officer from each company, and a proper representation from the staff of the army, will assemble at 12 o'clock on Saturday next, at the new building, to hear the report of the committee of the army to Congress. After mature deliberation, they will devise what further measures ought to be adopted as most rational and best calculated to attain the just and important object in view. The senior officer in rank, present, will be pleased to preside, and report the result of the deliberatiens to the commander in chief. (No. 4.) To the Officers of the Army. GENTLEMEN, The author of a late address, anxious to deserve, though he should fail to engage your esteem; and determined, at every risque, to unfold your duty, and discharge his own, would beg leave to solicit the further indulgence of a few moments attention. Aware of the coyness with which his last letter would be received, he feels himself neither disappointed nor displeased with the caution it has met. Ye well knew that it spoke a language, which till now, had been heard only in whispers, and that it contained some sentiments which confidence itself would have breathed with distrust. But their lives have been short, and their observations imperfect indeed, who have yet to learn that alarms may be false; that the best designs are sometimes obliged to assume the worst aspect; and that, however synonimous surprise and disaster may be in military phrase, in moral and political meaning, they convey ideas as different as they are distinct. Suspicion, detestable as it is in private life, is the loveliest trait of political characters. It prompts you to enquiry, bars the door against design, and opens every avenue to truth. It was the first to oppose a tyrant here, and still stands sentinel over the liberties of America. With this belief, it would illy become me to stifle the voice of this honest guardian; a guardian, who, authorized by circumstances digested into proof, has herself given birth to the address you have read, and now goes forth among you, with a request to all, that it may be treated fairly; that it be considered before it be abused, and condemned before it be tortured; convinced that in a search after error, truth will appear, that apathy itself will grow warm in the pursuit, and though it will be the last to adopt her advice, it will be the first to act upon it. The general orders of yesterday, which the weak may mistake for disapprobation, and the designing dare to represent as such, wears, in my opinion, a very different complexion, and carries with it a very opposite tendency. Till now the commander in chief has regarded the steps you have taken for redress, with good wishes alone. His ostensible silence has authorized your meetings, and his private opinion has sanctified your claims. Had he disliked the object in view, would not the same sense of duty which forbade you from meeting on the third day of the week, have forbidden you from meeting on the seventh? Is not the same subject held up for your discussion? and has it not passed the seal of office, and taken all the solemnity of an order? This will give system to your proceedings, and stability to your resolves. It will ripen speculation into fact, and while it adds to the unanimity, it cannot possibly lessen the independency of your sentiments. It may be necessary to add, upon this subject, that, from the injunction with which the general orders close, every man is at liberty to conclude that the report to be made to head-quarters is intended for Congress. Hence will arise another motive for that energy which has been recommended: for, can you give the lie to the pathetic descriptions of your representations, and the more alarming predictions of our friends? To such as make a want of signature an objection to opinion, I reply, that it matters very little who is the author of sentiments which grow out of your feelings, and apply to your wants; that in this instance, diffidence suggested, what experience enjoins; and that while I continue to move on the high road of argument and advice, which is open to all, I shall continue to be the sole confidant of my own secret. But, should the time come, when it shall be necessary to depart from this general line, and hold up any individual among you as an object of the resentment or contempt of the rest, I thus publicly pledge my honor as a soldier, and veracity as a man, that I will then assume a visible existence, and give my name to the army, with as little reserve as I now give my opinions. HEAD-QUARTERS, NEWBURGH, March 18, 1783. SIR: The result of the proceedings of the grand convention of the officers, which I have the honor of enclosing to your excellency for the inspection of Congress, will, I flatter myself, be considered as the last glorious proof of patriotism which could have been given by men who aspired to the distinction of a patriot army; and will not only confirm their claim to the justice, but will increase their title to the gratitude of their country. Having seen the proceedings on the part of the army terminate with perfect unanimity, and in a manner entirely consonant to my wishes; being impressed with the liveliest sentiments of affection for those who have so long, so patiently, and so cheerfully suffered and fought under my immediate direction; having from motives of justice, duty and gratitude, spontaneously offered myself as an advocate for their rights; and having been requested to write to your excellency, carnestly entreating the most speedy decision of Congress upon the subjects of the late address from the army to that honorable body; it now only remains for me to perform the task I have assumed, and to intercede in their behalf, as I now do, that the sovereign power will be pleased to verify the predictions I have pronounced of, and the confidence the army have reposed in the justice of their country. And here I humbly conceive it is altogether unnecessary (while I am pleading the cause of an army which have done and suffered more than any other army ever did in the defence of the rights and liberties of human nature) to expatiate on their ciaims to the most ample compensation for their meritorious services, because they are perfectly known to the whole world, and because, (although the topics are inexhaustible) enough has already been said on the subject. To prove these assertions, to evince that my sentiments have ever been uniform, and to shew what my ideas of the rewards in question have always been, I appeal to the archives of Congress, and call on those sacred deposits to witness for me. And in order that my observations and arguments in favour of a future adequate provision for the officers of the army may be brought to remembrance again, and considered in a single point of view without giving Congress the trouble of having recourse to their files, I will beg leave to transmit herewith an extract from a representation made by me to a committee of Congress, so long ago as the 29th of January, 1778, and also the transcript of a letter to the president of Congress, dated near Passaick-Falls, October 11, 1780.* * Extract from a representation made by the commander in chief to a committee of Congress at the army, 29th January, 1778. GENTLEMEN, The numerous defects in our present military establishment, rendering many reformations and many new arrangements absolutely necessary, and Congress having been pleased to appoint you a committee, in concert with me, to make and recommend such as shall appear eligible, in pursuance of the various objects expressed in their resolution for that purpose ;—I have in the following sheets briefly delivered my sentiments upon such of them as seemed to me most essential, so far as observation has suggested and leisure permitted. These are submitted to consideration, and I shall be happy if they are found conducive to remedying the evils and inconveniencies we are now subject to, and putting the army upon a more respectable footing. Something must be done; important alterations must be made; necessity requires that our resources should be enlarged and our system improved; for without it, if the dissolution of the army should not be the consequence, at least, its operations must infallibly be feeble, languid and ineffectual As I consider a proper and satisfactory provision for officers, in a manner as the basis of every other regulation and arrangement necessary to be made; since without officers no army can exist, and unless some measures be devised to place those of ours in a more desirable situation, few of them would be able, if willing to continue in it.-1 shall begin with a few reflections tending to prove the .necessity of a half-pay and pensionary establishment. A small knowledge of human nature will convince us that with far the greatest part of mankind, interest is the governing principle, and that almost every man is more or less under its influence. Motives of public virtue may for a time, or in particular instances, actuate men to the observance of a conduct purely disinterested, but they are not of themselves sufficient to produce a persevering conformity to the refined dictates and obligations of social duty; few men are capable of making a continual sacrifice of all views of private interest or advantage, to the common good: it is in vain to exclaim against the depravity of human nature on this account-the fact is so, the experience of every age and nation has proved it, and we must in a great measure change the constitution of man, before we can make it otherwise; no institution not built on the presumptive truths of these maxims, can suc-. ceed. We find them exemplified in the American officers, as well as in all other men. At the commencement of the dispute; in the first effusions of their zeal, and looking upon the service to be only temporary, they entered into it without paying any regard to pecuniary or selfish considerations; but finding its duration to be much longer than they at first suspected, and that instead of deriving any advantage from the hardships and dangers to which they were exposed, they, on the contrary, were loosers by their patriotism, and fell far short even of a competency to supply their wants; they have gradually abated in their ardor; and with many an entire disinclination to the service, under its present circumstances, has taken place. To this, in an eminent degree, must be ascribed the frequent resignations daily happening, and the more frequent importunities for permission to resign, and from some officers of the greatest merit; to this also may be ascribed the apathy, inattention and neglect of duty, which pervade all ranks, and which will necessarily continue and increase, while an officer, instead of gaining any thing is impoverished by his commission, and conceives he is conferring, not receiving a favor in holding it. There can be no sufficient tie upon men possessing such sentiments; nor can any method be adopted to oblige those to a punctual discharge of duty, who are indifferent about their continuance in the service, and are often seeking a pretext to disengage themselves from it. Punishment, in this case, will be unavailing; but when an officer's commission is made valuable to him, and he fears to lose it, you may then exact obedience from him. It is not indeed consistent with reason or justice, to expect that one set of men should make a saerifice of property, domestic ease and happiness, encounter the rigors of the field, the perils and vicissitudes of war, to obtain those blessings which every citizen will enjoy in common with them, without some adequate compensation. It must also be a comfortless reflection to any man, that after he may have contributed to securing the rights of his country, at the risque of his life and the ruin of his fortune, there would be no provision made to prevent himself and family from sinking into indigence and wretchedness. Besides adopting some methods to make the provision for officers equal to their present exigencies, a due regard should be paid to futurity. Nothing, in my opinion, would serve more powerfully to reanimate their languishing zeal, and interest them thoroughly in the service, than a half pay and pensionary establishment. This would not only dispel the apprehension of personal distress at the termination of the war, from having thrown themselves out of professions and employments they might not have it in their power to resume, but would in a great degree relieve the painful anticipation of leaving their widows and orphans a burther on the charity of their country, should it be their lot to fall in its defence. I am earnest in recommending this measure, because I know it is the general wish and expectation, and that many officers, whom, upon every principle we should wish to retain in the service, are only waiting to see whether something of the kind will, or will not take place, to be determined in their |