day and fortified the camp. The advance sentries of my pickets are posted within shot, and opposite those of the enemy. Neither side has given ground an inch. In this situation your Excellency would not wish me to part with the corps, the army of General Burgoyne is most afraid of." He neglected to inform the Commander in Chief of his subsequent successes over the enemy.

When the intelligence of the surrender of the British army reached head quarters, the Commander in Chief dispatched Colonel Hamilton, one of his aids to General Gates, to state his own critical situation, and make known his earnest wishes, that reinforcements should be forwarded to him with the utmost expedition. Colonel Hamilton found that General Gates had retained four Brigades at Albany with a design to attack Ticonderoga in the course of the next winter. With difficulty and delay he obtained an order to move three Brigades.

Colonel Hamilton was also charged with a similar message to General Putnam in the Highlands, and directed to accelerate the movement of reinforcements from that post. But General Putnam in view of an attempt upon New York discovered a disposition to retain under his command that portion of the northern army, which had been sent to the Highlands. Colonel Hamilton was necessitated to borrow money of General Clinton, Governour of the state of New York, to fit the troops of General Put, nam to begin their march.

These obstructions and delays in the execution of General WASHINGTON'S orders, prevented his

being reinforced in season to attack Lord Cornwallis, while in New Jersey, and probably occasioned the loss of Fort Mifflin and Red Bank.

The different termination of the campaigns of 1777 at the North, and in the Middle states, furnished the ignorant and factious part of the community with an opportunity to clamour against the Commander in Chief. Their murmurs emboldened several members of Congress, and individual gentlemen in different parts of the United States, to adopt measures to supplant General WASHINGTON, and to raise General Gates to the supreme command of the American armies.

In prosecution of this scheme, pieces artfully written were published in Newspapers in different places, tending to lessen the military character of General WASHINGTON, and to prepare the publick for the contemplated change in the head of the military department. Generals Gates and Mifflin, and Brigadier Conway, entered into the intrigue. Conway was an Irishman, who had been in the service of France, and on the recommendation of Mr. Silas Deane was commissioned by Congress. The influence of the party in Congress opposed to General WASHINGTON, appears by a number of the publick transactions of that body. A board of war was instituted and General Gates placed at its head, Conway was raised over every other Brigadier, and appointed inspector of the army.

These machinations to tarnish the character of the Commander in Chief were known to him, but he silently noticed their operation. The good of his

country was with him paramount to all other considerations, and he stifled his just indignation and left his reputation to rest on its own merits, lest the open dissension of the civil and military ministers of the revolution should endanger the publick interest.

At length, the presumption of his enemies, forced him into an expression of his feelings on the subject. The following correspondences give a general view of the progress of their measures. Mr. Law. rens, President of Congress, in a private letter communicated to the General information of an anony. mous complaint laid before him, in his official capacity, containing high charges against General WASHINGTON, to which he replied:

"I cannot sufficiently express the obligation I feel towards you, for your friendship and politeness upon an occasion in which I am so deeply interested. I was not unapprized that a malignant faction had been for some time forming, to my prejudice, which, conscious as I am of having ever done all in my power to answer the important purposes of the trust reposed in me, could not but give me some pain on a personal account; but my chief concern arises from an apprehension of the dangerous consequences, which intestine dissensions may produce to the common cause.

"As I have no other view than to promote the public good, and am unambitious of honours not founded on the approbation of my country, I would not desire in the least degree to suppress a free spirit of inquiry into any part of my conduct, that even faction itself may deem reprehensible. The anony

mous paper handed you, exhibits many serious charges, and it is my wish that it may be submitted to Congress. This I am more inclined to, as the suppression, or concealment, may possibly involve you in embarrassments hereafter, since it is uncertain how many, or who, may be privy to the contents.

"My enemies take an ungenerous advantage of me. They know the delicacy of my situation, and that motives of policy deprive me of the defence I might otherwise make against their insidious attacks. They know I cannot combat their insinuations, however injurious, without disclosing secrets, it is of the utmost moment to conceal. But why should I expect to be exempt from censure, the unfailing lot of an elevated station? Merit and talents, which I cannot pretend to rival, have ever been subject to it. My heart tells me it has been my unremitted aim to do the best, which circumstances would permit; yet I may have been very often mistaken in my judgment of the means, and may, in many instances, deserve the imputation of errour."

To a friend in New England, who expressed by letter his anxiety in consequence of a report that he was about to resign his commission, he wrote:

"I can assure you that no person ever heard me drop an expression that had a tendency to resignation. The same principles that led me to embark in the opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain, operate with additional force at this day; nor is it my desire to withdraw my services while they are considered of importance in the present contest; but to report a design of this kind, is among the arts,

which those who are endeavouring to effect a change, are practising to bring it to pass. I have said, and I still do say, that there is not an officer in the service of the United States, that would return to the sweets of domestick life with more heartfelt joy than I should. But I would have this declaration accompanied by these sentiments, that while the public are satisfied with my endeavours, I mean not to shrink from the cause: But the moment her voice, not that of faction, calls upon me to resign, I shall do it with as much pleasure as ever the wearied traveller retired to rest."

His friend Mr. Patrick Henry, then Governour of Virginia, informed him of the intrigues that were going on in his native state. To which he replied: 'The anonymous letter with which you were pleased to favour me, was written by ******** so far as I can judge from the similitude of hands.

*

My caution to avoid any thing that could injure the service, prevented me from communicating, except to a very few of my friends, the intrigues of a faction which I knew was formed against me, since it might serve to publish our internal dissensions, but their own restless zeal to advance their views has too clearly betrayed them, and made concealment on my part fruitless. I cannot precisely mark the ex-' tent of their views, but it appeared in general, that General Gates was to be exalted on the ruin of my reputation and influence. This I am authorized to say from undeniable facts in my possession, from publications the evident scope of which could not be