Washington continues his Precautions.—Sir Guy Carleton brings Pacific
News.—Discontents of the Army.—Extraordinary Letter from Colonel
Nicola.—Indignant Reply of Washington.—Joint Letter of Sir Guy
Carleton and Admiral Digby.—Junction of the Allied Armies on the
Hudson.—Contemplated Reduction of the Army.
In disposing of the case of Captain Asgill, we have anticipated dates,
and must revert to the time when Washington again established his
head-quarters at Newburg on the Hudson. The solicitude felt by him on
account of the universal relaxation of the sinews of war, was not
allayed by reports of pacific speeches, and motions made in the British
Parliament, which might be delusive. “Even if the nation and
parliament,” said he, “are really in earnest to obtain peace with
America, it will, undoubtedly, be wisdom in us to meet them with great
caution and circumspection, and by all means to keep our arms firm in
our hands; and instead of relaxing one iota in our exertions, rather to
spring forward with redoubled vigor, that we may take the advantage of
every favorable opportunity, until our wishes are fully obtained. No
nation ever yet suffered in treaty by preparing, even in the moment of
negotiation, most vigorously for the field.”
Sir Guy Carleton arrived in New York early in May to take the place of
Sir Henry Clinton, who had solicited his recall. In a letter dated May
7th, Sir Guy informed Washington of his being joined with Admiral Digby
in the commission of peace; he transmitted at the same time printed
copies of the proceedings in the House of Commons on the 4th of March,
respecting an address to the king in favor of peace; and of a bill
reported in consequence thereof, authorizing the king to conclude a
peace or truce with the revolted provinces of North America. As this
bill, however, had not passed into a law when Sir Guy left England, it
presented no basis for a negotiation; and was only cited by him to show
the pacific disposition of the British nation, with which he professed
the most zealous concurrence. Still, though multiplied circumstances
gradually persuaded Washington of a real disposition on the part of
Great Britain to terminate the war, he did not think fit to relax his
preparations for hostilities.
Great discontents prevailed at this time in the army, both among
officers and men. The neglect of the States to furnish their proportions
of the sum voted by Congress for the prosecution of the war, had left
the army almost destitute. There was scarce money sufficient to feed the
troops from day to day; indeed, there were days when they were
absolutely in want of provisions. The pay of the officers, too, was
greatly in arrear; many of them doubted whether they would ever receive
the half pay decreed to them by Congress for a term of years after the
conclusion of the war, and fears began to be expressed that, in the
event of peace, they would all be disbanded with their claims
unliquidated, and themselves cast upon the community penniless, and
unfitted, by long military habitudes, for the gainful pursuits of peace.
At this juncture Washington received an extraordinary letter from
Colonel Lewis Nicola, a veteran officer, once commandant of Fort
Mifflin, who had been in habits of intimacy with him, and had warmly
interceded in behalf of the suffering army. In this letter he attributed
all the ills experienced and anticipated by the army and the public at
large, to the existing form of government. He condemned a republican
form as incompatible with national prosperity, and advised a mixed
government like that of England; which, he had no doubt, on its benefits
being properly pointed out, would be readily adopted. “In that case,” he
adds, “it will, I believe, be uncontroverted, that the same abilities
which have led us through difficulties apparently insurmountable by
human power, to victory and glory; those qualities that have merited and
obtained the universal esteem and veneration of an army, would be most
likely to conduct and direct us in the smoother paths of peace. Some
people have so connected the idea of tyranny and monarchy, as to find it
very difficult to separate them. It may, therefore, be requisite to give
the head of such a constitution as I propose, some title apparently more
moderate; but, if all other things were once adjusted, I believe strong
arguments might be produced for admitting the title of King, which, I
conceive, would be attended with some material advantages.”
Washington saw at once that Nicola was but the organ of a military
faction, disposed to make the army the basis of an energetic government,
and to place him at the head. The suggestion, backed by the opportunity,
might have tempted a man of meaner ambition: from him it drew the
following indignant letter:—
“With a mixture of great surprise and astonishment, I have read with
attention the sentiments you have submitted to my perusal. Be assured,
sir, no occurrence in the course of the war has given me more painful
sensations, than your information of there being such ideas existing in
the army, as you have expressed, and I must view with abhorrence, and
reprehend with severity. For the present, the communication of them will
rest in my own bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter shall
make a disclosure necessary.
“I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could have
given encouragement to an address, which to me seems big with the
greatest mischiefs that can befall my country. If I am not deceived in
the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your
schemes are more disagreeable. At the same time, in justice to my own
feelings, I must add, that no man possesses a more sincere wish to see
ample justice done to the army than I do; and as far as my powers and
influence, in a constitutional way, extend, they shall be employed to
the utmost of my abilities to effect it, should there be any occasion.
Let me conjure you, then, if you have any regard for your country,
concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for me, to banish these
thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from yourself or any
one else, a sentiment of the like nature.”
On the 2d of August, Sir Guy Carleton and Admiral Digby wrote a joint
letter to Washington, informing him that they were acquainted, by
authority, that negotiations for a general peace had already been
commenced at Paris, and that the independence of the United States would
be proposed in the first instance by the British commissioner, instead
of being made a condition of a general treaty.
Even yet, Washington was wary. “From the former infatuation, duplicity,
and perverse system of British policy,” said he, “I confess I am induced
to doubt everything; to suspect everything.”... “Whatever the real
intention of the enemy may be, I think the strictest attention and
exertion, which have ever been exercised on our part, instead of being
diminished, ought to be increased. Jealousy and precaution at least can
do no harm. Too much confidence and supineness may be pernicious in the
extreme.”
What gave force to this policy was, that as yet no offers had been made
on the part of Great Britain, for a general cessation of hostilities,
and, although the British commanders were in a manner tied down by the
resolves of the House of Commons, to a defensive war only, in the United
States, they might be at liberty to transport part of their force to the
West Indies, to act against the French possessions in that quarter. With
these considerations he wrote to the Count de Rochambeau, then at
Baltimore, advising him, for the good of the common cause, to march his
troops to the banks of the Hudson, and form a junction with the American
army.
The junction took place about the middle of September. The French army
crossed the Hudson at King’s Ferry to Verplanck’s Point, where the
American forces were paraded under arms to welcome them. The clothing
and arms recently received from France or captured at Yorktown, enabled
them to make an unusually respectable appearance. Two lines were formed
from the landing-place to head-quarters, between which Count Rochambeau
passed, escorted by a troop of cavalry; after which he took his station
beside General Washington: the music struck up a French march, and the
whole army passed in review before them.
The French army encamped on the left of the American, near Crompond,
about ten miles from Verplanck’s Point. The greatest good-will continued
to prevail between the allied forces, though the Americans had but
little means of showing hospitality to their gay Gallic friends. “Only
conceive the mortification they must suffer, even the general officers,”
says Washington in a letter to the secretary of war, “when they cannot
invite a French officer, a visiting friend, or a travelling
acquaintance, to a better repast than whiskey hot from the still, and
not always that, and a bit of beef without vegetables will afford them.”
Speaking of a contemplated reduction of the army to take place on the
1st of January: “While I premise,” said he, “that no one I have seen or
heard of appears opposed to the principle of reducing the army as
circumstances may require; yet I cannot help fearing the result of the
measure in contemplation, under present circumstances, when I see such a
number of men, goaded by a thousand stings of reflection on the past,
and of anticipation on the future, about to be turned into the world,
soured by penury, and what they call ingratitude of the public, involved
in debts, without one farthing of money to carry them home, after having
spent the flower of their days, and many of them their patrimonies, in
establishing the freedom and independence of their country, and suffered
everything that human nature is capable of enduring on this side of
death,—I repeat it, that when I consider these irritating circumstances,
without one thing to soothe their feelings or dispel the gloomy
prospects, I cannot avoid apprehending that a train of evils will
follow, of a very serious and distressing nature....
“I wish not to heighten the shades of the picture so far as the reality
would justify me in doing it. I could give anecdotes of patriotism and
distress, which have scarcely ever been paralleled, never surpassed in
the history of mankind. But you may rely upon it, the patience and
long-suffering of this army are almost exhausted, and that there was
never so great a spirit of discontent as at this instant. While in the
field, I think it may be kept from breaking out into acts of outrage;
but when we retire into winter-quarters, unless the storm is previously
dissipated, I cannot be at ease respecting the consequences. It is high
time for a peace.”
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