CHAP. VI. To those who had not yet made use of coer1778. cive means, he stated, that the resort to them

had been made by others with good effect, and he represented to all, the necessity of using those means early enough to enable him to anticipate the enemy in taking the field.

In addition to the other, ills which threatened the destruction of, the army, one yet remains to be mentioned, not of less magnitude, though less calculated to arrest the attention, than those which have been already enumerated. The depreciation of the paper bills had now become so considerable, and the real difficulties under which commerce; laboured had so enhanced the price of all imported articles, that the pay of an officer was not only no compen. sation for devoting his whole time to the service of the public, but could not even furnish him with those absolute necessaries, which might give him a decent appearance, or cover his person from the extremes of heat and cold to which he was exposed. Those who possessed small patrimonial estates, found them melting away; and others were absolutely unable to appear in the character of gentlemen. Such distressing circumstances could not fail to excite a general disgust with the service.

In an army raised as was that of the United States, great inequality of character among the officers was to be expected. The hard and active service in which it had been engaged,

was well calculated to ascertain the real merits CHAP. VI. of each individual, and to exhibit those dis- 1778. criminations which, in the calm of domestic

life, were not so easily discerned. It was
necessary to purge the army of
of persons unfit to
hold commissions; and the number and severity
of the sentences of the courts martial mani-
fested their determination to do so: yet the
regiments were so miserably incomplete, that
a surplus number of officers still remained, for
whom it was difficult to obtain commands.
"It might therefore be supposed, that the gene-
ral disinclination for the service, excited by the
condition to which the officers found themselves
reduced, was not an evil much to be regarded,
while a greater number remained than could be
usefully employed. Than this, no opinion
could be more incorrect. Among those who
offered their commissions to the commander
in chief, were found many, who, possessing
most military pride, and therefore feeling most
sensibly the degradation connected with poverty
and rags, promised to be most the ornaments
of the army, to exhibit courage in battle, and
to assist most in maintaining those principles
of discipline and regularity, so essential to
every military establishment.

Nor could a hope be entertained that the mischief would stop with the mere loss of officers, whose continuance in service might promote the public interests.

CHAP. VI. A general indifference about holding a com1778. mission; a general opinion that an obligation was conferred, and not received by continuing in the army, was extremely unfavourable, not only to that spirit of emulation which stimulates to bolder deeds than are required, but to a complete execution of orders, and a rigid observance of duty.

An officer whose pride was in any degree wounded, whose caprice was not indulged, who apprehended censure for a fault, which probably his carelessness about remaining in the service had seduced him to commit, was ready to throw up a commission, which, instead of being valuable, was a burden almost too heavy to be borne..

The commander in chief watched with extreme anxiety the progress of a temper, which, though just commencing, he feared must increase with the cause that produced it, and which threatened the most fatal effects. was therefore early and earnest in pressing on the attention of congress the consideration of this important subject..

He

The weak and broken condition of the Continental regiments, the various remonstrances of January 10. the general, the numerous complaints received from every quarter, determined congress to depute a committee of their body who should reside in camp during the winter, and, in concert with general Washington, investigate per

Congress send a com mittee of their own body to the army.

fectly the state of the army, and report such CHAP. VL reforms, as the public good might require.

This committee repaired to head quarters in the month of January. Having consulted his officers extensively, the commander in chief prepared and laid before them for consideration, a general statement, in which a very comprehensive view was taken of the condition of the army; and in which, the remedies, necessary for the correction of existing abuses, as well as those regulations which he deemed essential to its future prosperity, were clearly and fully designated.

to This paper exhibits the actual state of the army, and discloses defects of real magnitude in the existing arrangements. In perusing it, the reader is struck with the numerous difficulties, in addition to those resulting from mere inferiority of numbers, with which the commander in chief was under the necessity of contending. The memorial is too long to be inserted; but there are parts which ought not to be entirely overlooked. The neglect of the very serious representations it contained, respecting a future permanent provision for the officers, threatened, at an after period, to be productive of such pernicious effects, that their insertion in this place will not it is presumed be unacceptable.

He recommended as the basis on which was to be erected every salutary reform, a comfort

1778.

CHAP. VI. able: provision for the officers, which should 1778. render their commissions valuable; to effect which, the future, as well as the present, ought to be contemplated.

"A long and continual sacrifice of individual interest for the general good, ought not," he said, "to be expected or required. The na ture of man must be changed, before institutions built on the presumptive truth of such a principle can succeed.

At

"This position," he added, "is supported. by the conduct of the officers in the American army, as well as by that of all other men." the commencement of the dispute, in the first effusions of zeal, when it was believed the service would be temporary, they entered into it without regard to pecuniary considerations. But finding its duration much longer than had been at first expected, and that, instead of deriving advantages from the hardships and dangers to which they were exposed, they were, on the contrary, losers by their patriotism, and fell far short of even a competency for their wants, they have gradually abated in their ardour; and, with many, an entire disinclination to the service, under the 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, from some officers of the greatest merit.