Part 38

Congress began the year with authorising a committee to take every necessary measures for the immediate relief of the sick soldiers, and to report whether alteration in the medical department might be requisite. They soon after recommended it to the clergy of all denominations in the middle destrict, to solicit charitable donations of woolens and linens, made and unmade, for the service of the sick; many of whom were lost for want of these articles. They also ordered doctor Shippen, the director-general of the hospitals, and doctor Rush, physician-general of the middle district, to attend them on the 26th of January. A committee of five upon their arrival was chosen to send for, and to hear them and to report specially. The afternoon of the 27th, and the next morning, were spent in that service. A gentleman who could not but know what passed, wrote on the 28th—“Doctor R—— says in a letter, “that _one half of the soldiers that died last year, perished by the present medical establishment_. A shocking black picture indeed doctor Rush painted—but by all accounts it is a just one. It is a very melancholy reflection, that buildings erected for the relief and comfort of the sick and wounded, should become tombs to them. A bad system and a bad administration have produced great mischiefs in the hospital. Peculation and embezzlement of stores, prevail as much in this department as in others. I do not alledge these things without authority or proof. They are facts too well authenticated.” Another, in his correspondence, expressed himself thus upon matters—“The _wealth of worlds_ could not support the expence of the medical department alone, above two or three years. There is but _one_ right system for a military hospital, and that is the one made use of by the British army. That would save half a million a year to the continent, and, what is more, would produce perfect satisfaction and happiness.” On the 30th Dr. Rush requested leave to resign, which was accepted. Congress on the 6th of February, came to various resolutions upon the report of the first committee, for the better regulating the hospitals of the United States. On the 25th Dr. Rush sent a letter from Princeton, to general Washington, containing a well attested certificate from Bethlehem, setting forth, that the wine allowed the hospital was so adulterated as to have none of the qualities of Madeira—that none of the patients under the care of the signers, eat of venison, poultry and wild fowl (unless purchased by themselves) and that large quantities were purchased by the director-general—that the director entered the hospital but once during six weeks residence in Bethlehem, though the utmost distress and mortality prevailed—that the sick were too much crowded, and wanted blankets, shirts, straw and other necessaries—that there died in the place two hundred soldiers (eight tenths of them by a putrid fever caught in the hospital) within three months. Dr. Rush mentioned that Dr. Shippen, in the height of the mortality, wrote to congress—“No fatal disease prevails in the hospitals, very few die, and the hospitals are in very good order.” He said—“Our director-general was employed in selling large quantities of Madeira wine, brown and loaf sugar, &c. (which had been transported through the country in hospital waggons, and secured as hospital stores) under the name of private property.” This and another letter from the doctor, were read in congress the third of April, when a committee was appointed and directed to enquire into the charges contained in the letters, against Dr. Shippen, and into his conduct as director-general, and to report specially to congress. The diminution of the army by sickness, has been very great; and you will easily conceive whence it was that no more of the sick recovered. The sickness of the soldiers, before going to the hospitals, was brought upon them not altogether through the want of clothes or provision, but of cleanliness in their huts and in the camp. Notwithstanding repeated positive orders enjoining cleanliness, in some places of the camp the stench was intolerable, through the neglect or the want of necessaries.

It has been resolved that count Pulaski shall raise and have the command of an independent corps, to consist of 68 horse and 200 foot; the horse to be armed with lances, and the foot equipped in the manner of light-infantry.

No mention has been yet made of one captain Lee, of the light-dragoons, a bold, enterprising young officer, who, if spared, is like to make a considerable figure; but a resolve of congress leads us to notice him. By the 22d of November, he and his little troop had taken a hundred and two of the enemy prisoners. The whole tenor of his conduct during that campaign, proved him to be brave and prudent. He rendered essential service to his country, and acquired to himself and the corps he commanded, distinguished honor. The congress, to reward his merit, have resolved, “That capt. H. Lee be promoted to the rank of major commandant; that he be empowered to augment his present corps, by enlistments, to two troops of horse, to act as a separate corps. These enlistments are not to be made from among the prisoners. The commander in chief opposes every thing of that kind, and has written—“We have always complained against Howe, and still do, for obliging or permitting the prisoners in his hands to enlist, as an unwarrantable procedure. The practice on our part, would justify it in him. I believe no prisoners have ever been enlisted by us. I am sure none have through compulsion.” But in the Massachusetts, a number of the convention troops, upon offering themselves, were enlisted; which occasioned the general’s writing, “Burgoyne could hardly suggest a more effectual plan for plundering us of so much money, reinforcing Mr. Howe with so many men, and preventing us from recruiting a certain number of regiments.” All the British deserters sent on from this state as recruits for one regiment, went off to the enemy by the end of March; and of a detachment of sixty of them, which marched to join col. Henley, only twelve or thirteen reached the camp. Part of the others made their escape, and the rest formed a plan for the same purpose, mutinied, and were thrown into prison. The conduct of enlisting the convention troops, was sufficiently mortifying; but it was far more provoking to observe the backwardness of the states in furnishing the recruits that were wanted. Instead of the army’s being reinforced with eight or ten thousand troops, it was scarcely joined by so many hundreds by the twelfth of April.

Lut us change the subject, and confine ourselves, for a time, more particularly to the proceedings of congress.

On the 19th of January, they resolved to grant a brevet of lieut. col. to the chevalier de Maduit du Plussis, as a reward for his services. Gen. Washington recommended him in a letter adding, “that the gallant conduct of this young gentleman at Brandywine, Germantown, and at Port Mercer, (on the Delaware) entitles him to the particular notice of congress:” that he made several judicious alteration in the works at Red-bank, and showed great good conduct during the action in which the Hessious were repulsed;” and that “after the evacution was determined on he became the means of saving some valuable artillery and stores, and cheerfully undertook as volunteer the hazardous operation of blowing up the magazine, &c. without apparatus usually provided upon such occasions;” and concluding with—“he possesses a degree of modesty not always found in men who have performed brilliant actions.”

Two days after, congress, on the report from the board of war, respecting the treatment of the American prisoners in New-York and Philadelphia, resolved among other things, “That the allowance of two dollars a week to officers, who are prisoners of war to these United States do cease, unless to those officers who may be, entitled thereto by any contract made on or before their captivity or surrender. That in return for permission given to purchase provisions of the American commissaries for the use of the enemy’s prisoners, gen. Washington be directed to demand of gen. Howe liberty to purchase clothing in such places as may be under his power for the use of the American prisoners: That the commissary-general of prisoners and his respective deputies, be fourthwith directed to call in all the officers and privates belonging to the enemy, and to confine them in such places, and order them to be subsisted and treated in such manner as shall render their situation similar, in all respects, to that of the officers and privates who are prisoners with the enemy; and that they continue this mode of treatment, till such time as a change of conduct on the part of the enemy shall induce congress, or the commander in chief of the armies of these states, to give directions for a different line of conduct on their part.” This threat of retaliation will have little effect upon the British commander; and if no other consideration should prevent, the general humanity of the people would be a bar to its execution. That some different measures ought to be adopted as to the British officers, than what are at present given into, must be admitted upon another account; for they have done much mischief to the American cause. During their captivity, they have formed connections in the country; have confirmed the disaffected; converted many ignorant people; and frightened the lukewarm and timid by their stories of the power of Great-Britain.

On the 27th of Feb. congress resolved, “That whatever inhabitant of these states shall kill, or seize, or take any loyal citizen or citizens thereof, and convey him, her or them, to any place within the power of the enemy, or shall enter into any combination for such purpose, or attempt to carry the same into execution, or hath assisted or shall assist therein; or shall by giving intelligence, acting as a guide, or in any other manner whatever, aid the enemy in the perpetration thereof, he shall suffer death by the judgment of a court-martial, as a traitor, assassin and spy, if the offence be committed within seventy miles of the head-quarters of the grand or other armies of these states, where a general officer commands.” This resolution has been introduced to show you what a stretch of power congress have been guilty of. They have hereby suspended in particular cases the judicial authority of the Massachusetts state, which is not the seat of war; and subjected certain criminals to a trial by a court-martial, instead of leaving them to the laws of the state. At Providence a general officer commands a small army, at the distance of only forty-five miles from Boston. All bodies of fallible men possessed of or claiming power, ought to be narrowly watched, or from good or bad intentions, they will transgress the limits of their constitution, without a real necessity.

Major gen. Greene was appointed on the second of March, quarter-master-general; but allowed to retain his rank in the army. The next day, congress upon the report of a committee, resolved, “that lieut. gen. Burgoyne, on account of his ill state of health, have leave to embark for England by Rhode-Island; or any other expeditious route, with the officers of his family and servants.” He is engaged by parole, in case the embarkation of the convention troops is prolonged beyond the time apprehended, to return to America upon demand and due notice given, and to re-deliver himself into the power of congress unless regularly exchanged.

Congress have not lost sight of the importance of having the North-River and the passes in the Highlands well secured, so as to render any sudden attempt upon Albany by the same impracticable. Had Sir W. Howe, instead of going by sea to Philadelphia, bent his whole force for the mastering of these, as gen. Washington strongly suspected he would do, the independency of the United States must have tottered to the very foundation, if the have been completely subverted. Whether the plan of making the grand diversion sourthward, originated with the ministry, himself, or a Pennsylvania refugee—by his leaving the troops under Burgoyne to shift for themselves, in case the reinforcement from Europe did not arrive in time, the subjugation of the country may be entirely prevented. Gen. Gates was directed, on the 15th of April, to repair forthwith to Fish-kill, and to take the command of all the troops on the North-River and in the whole northern department. He was also to take effectual measures, to secure the communication between the eastern and southern states, by maintaining the possession of the river; and for that purpose was empowered to provide gallies, gun-boats, fire-rafts, chains, cassoons and chevaux-de-Frise, and to erect all necessary fortifications. West-Point has for some time been pitched upon as a proper spot; and the troops have begun, and are going on to fortify it. When the works are completed, it will be a much stronger post than Fort Montgomery, and is higher up the river, and projects into it. The soldiers, whether militia or continentals, will according to custom, be employed upon them till finished without putting the states to any particular charge for labor in erecting them.

Congress were expecting that something would turn up in Europe favorable to America; and were confirmed in their expectation, upon the receipt of draught of a bill for declaring the intention of the British parliament as to the exercise of their right of imposing taxes on the Americans as also the draught of a bill to enable the king to appoint commissioners with powers to treat, consult and agree upon the means of quieting certain disorders with the colonies. These draughts were sent from Philadelphia to gen. Washington who forwarded them to York-Town. [April 22.] congress took them into consideration, and, observing that they had been industriously circulated in a partial and secret manner, ordered that they should be forthwith printed for the public information; but at the same time took care to counteract their influence by the remarks they published respecting them. They declared their belief, that the parliament would confer on them the usual solemnities of their laws and then observed, that upon a supposition the matters contained in them should really go into the British statute book, they would serve to show, in a clear point of view, the weakness and wickedness of the enemy: on these they expatiated. This done they said—“It appears evident that the said bills are intended to operate upon the hopes and fears of the good people of these states, so as to create divisions among them, and a defection from the common cause; and that they are the sequel of that insidious plan, which from the days of the stamp-act down to the present time, hath involved this country in contention and bloodshed.” Congress went on to pronounce, that if any man or body of men presume to make any separate or partial convention or agreement with the British commissioners, they ought to be considered and treated as open and avowed enemies of the United States. They declared, “That these United States cannot with propriety hold any conference or treaty with any commissioners on the part of Great-Britain unless they shall, as a preliminary thereto either withdraw their fleets and armies, or else in positive and express terms acknowledge the independence of the said states.” They then, from an apprehension that it is the design of the enemy to lull them into a fatal security, call upon the states to use the most strenuous exertions to have their respective quotas of continental troops in the field as soon as possible, and to hold all their militia in readiness to act as occasion may require. The congress at this period had no knowledge of a treaty’s having been entered into by France with their commissioners; but they conjectured that there would be a rupture in Europe between the French and British nations; and to avail themselves of the occasion, and detach the tories from the enemy, they the next day recommended to the states the offering of pardon, under the restrictions that might be thought expedient, to such of their inhabitants or subjects who had levied war against them, or had adhered to the enemy, as should surrender themselves to any civil or military officer of any of the states, or return to the state they belonged to before the 10th of next June. The arrival of the conciliatory bills at New-York and Philadelphia, excited equal astonishment and indignation in the royal forces. These thought their personal honor wounded in the recantation now made of all that high language and treatment, which they had been accustomed to hold or to offer to the Americans. The disappointment was the greater, as the bills were the substitute to a reinforcement of twenty thousand men, which they had expected. But the feelings of the numerous body of American refugees is not to be described.

A committee of congress was appointed on the 1st of May, “to inquire into the laws and customs of nations respecting neutrality and to report whether the conduct of the king of Portugal in forbidding the vessels of the United States to enter his ports and ordering those already there to depart at a short day, is not a breach of the laws of neutrality and will not justify acts of hostility against the subjects of the said kingdom.” On the third, during the Sunday’s adjournment, Mr. Simeon Deane, brother to Silas Deane, esq. arrived express from France, with sundry important dispatches, whereupon congress was convened, and the dispatches opened and read, among which, to their inconceivable joy, were a treaty of commerce and a treaty of alliance, concluded between his most Christian majesty the king of France and the United States of America. The treaties were duly weighed and considered separately the next day, and upon each it was unanimosly resolved, “That the same be and is hereby ratified.” There was an act separate and secret in the following terms—“The most Christian king declares, in consequence of the intimate union which subsists between him and the king of Spain, that in concluding with the United States of America this treaty of amity and commerce, and that of eventual and defensive alliance, his majesty hath intended and intends to reserve expressly, and he reserves by this present separate and secret act to his said Catholic majesty, the power of acceding to the said treaties, and to participate in their stipulations at such time as he shall judge proper.—It being well understood nevertheless, that if any of the stipulations of the said treaties are not agreeable to the king of Spain, his Catholic majesty may propose other conditions analagous to the principle aim of the alliance, and conformable to the rules of equality, reciprocity and friendship.” This act being duly weighed, it was resolved unanimously, “That the same be and is hereby ratified.” The next resolution was, “That this congress entertain the highest sense of the magnanimity and wisdom of his most Christian majesty, so strongly exemplified in the treaty of amity and commerce, and the treaty of alliance; and the commisioners representing these states, at the court of France, are directed to present the grateful acknowledgements of this congress to his most Christian majesty, for his truly magnanimous conduct respecting these states, in the said generous and disinterested treaties, and to assure his majesty, on the part of this congress, it is sincerely wished that the friendship so happily commenced between France and these United States may be perpetual.” On the 5th they resolved, “That the commissioners be instructed to inform the court of France, that although congress have readily ratified the treaties and the act separate and secret; yet from a sincere desire of rendering the friendship and alliance so happily begun, permament and perpetual, and being apprehensive that differences may arise from the 11th and 12th articles in the treaty of amity and commerce, congress are desirous that the said articles may be utterly expunged.” Mr. Lee was against admitting these articles, and assigned his reasons to Messrs. Franklin and Deane on the 30th of January; who on the first of February wrote to Mr. Gerard, that they concurred in desiring that the same might be omitted, notwithstanding which they were retained. You will not expect me to delineate the inexpressible satisfaction that the report of these treaties spread through the United States. The people were in raptures. The several brigades of the army, by gen. Washington’s orders, assembled in the morning of the 6th, when their chaplains communicated the intelligence, offered up a thanksgiving, and delivered a discourse suitable to the occasion. They were then formed into two lines, when thirteen cannon were discharged; at the firing of the last, a running fire of infantry began on the right and continued through the whole front line; it was then taken up on the left of the second line, and continued to the right. A signal was given and the whole army huzzaed,—“Long live the king of France.” The artillery fired as before, which was succeeded by a second general discharge of all the musketry in a running fire, and by a “Long live the friendly European powers.” The military ceremony was reitered, and closed with a huzza “for the American states.” The remainder of the day passed away in universal joy and gladness. Every American will soon have, from the publication of the treaties, an opportunity of learning their contents; mean while congress have recommended to all, “to consider the subjects of his most Christian majesty as their brethren and allies, and to behave toward them with the friendship and attention due to the subjects of a great prince, who with the highest magnanimity and wisdom hath treated with these United States on terms of perfect equality and mutual advantage, thereby rendering himself the protector of the rights of mankind.”