WASHINGTON’S ANTICIPATIONS OF SUCCESS AT QUEBEC—HIS EULOGIUM OF
ARNOLD—SCHUYLER AND MONTGOMERY TALK OF RESIGNING—EXPOSTULATIONS OF
WASHINGTON—THEIR EFFECT—SCHUYLER’S CONDUCT TO A CAPTIVE FOE.
We have endeavored to compress into a succinct account various events of
the invasion of Canada, furnished to Washington by letters from Schuyler
and Arnold. The tidings of the capture of Montreal had given him the
liveliest satisfaction. He now looked forward to equal success in the
expedition against Quebec. In a letter to Schuyler, he passed a high
eulogium on Arnold. “The merit of this gentleman is certainly great,”
writes he, “and I heartily wish that fortune may distinguish him as one
of her favorites. I am convinced that he will do every thing that
prudence and valor shall suggest to add to the success of our arms, and
for reducing Quebec to our possession. Should he not be able to
accomplish so desirable a work with the forces he has, I flatter myself
that it will be effected when General Montgomery joins him, and our
conquest of Canada will be complete.”
Certain passages of Schuyler’s letters, however, gave him deep concern,
wherein that general complained of the embarrassments and annoyances he
had experienced from the insubordination of the army. “Habituated to
order,” said he, “I cannot without pain see that disregard of
discipline, confusion and inattention, which reign so generally in this
quarter, and I am determined to retire. Of this resolution I have
advised Congress.”
He had indeed done so. In communicating to the President of Congress the
complaints of General Montgomery, and his intention to retire, “my
sentiments,” said he, “exactly coincide with his. I shall, with him, do
every thing in my power to put a finishing stroke to the campaign, and
make the best arrangement in my power, in order to insure success to the
next. This done, I must beg leave to retire.”
Congress, however, was too well aware of his value, readily to dispense
with his services. His letter produced a prompt resolution expressive of
their high sense of his attention and perseverance, “which merited the
thanks of the United Colonies.” He had alleged his impaired health,—they
regretted the injuries it had sustained in the service, but begged he
would not insist on a measure “which would deprive America of the
benefits of his zeal and abilities, and rob him of the honor of
completing the work he had so happily begun.”
What, however, produced a greater effect upon Schuyler than any encomium
or entreaty on the part of Congress, were the expostulations of
Washington, inspired by strong friendship and kindred sympathies. “I am
exceedingly sorry,” writes the latter, “to find you so much embarrassed
by the disregard of discipline, confusion, and want of order among the
troops, as to have occasioned you to mention to Congress an inclination
to retire. I know that your complaints are too well founded, but would
willingly hope that nothing will induce you to quit the service. * * * *
I have met with difficulties of the same sort, and such as I never
expected; but they must be borne with. The cause we are engaged in is so
just and righteous, that we must try to rise superior to every obstacle
in its support; and, therefore, I beg that you will not think of
resigning, unless you have carried your application to Congress too far
to recede.”
And in another letter he makes a still stronger appeal to his
patriotism. “I am sorry that you, and General Montgomery, incline to
quit the service. Let me ask you, sir, when is the time for brave men to
exert themselves in the cause of liberty and their country, if this is
not? Should any difficulties that they may have to encounter at this
important crisis deter them? God knows there is not a difficulty that
you both very justly complain of, that I have not in an eminent degree
experienced, that I am not every day experiencing; but we must bear up
against them, and make the best of mankind, as they are, since we cannot
have them as we wish. Let me, therefore, conjure you, and Mr.
Montgomery, to lay aside such thoughts—as thoughts injurious to
yourselves, and extremely so to your country, which calls aloud for
gentlemen of your ability.”
This noble appeal went straight to the heart of Schuyler, and brought
out a magnanimous reply. “I do not hesitate,” writes he, “to answer my
dear general’s question in the affirmative, by declaring that now or
never is the time for every virtuous American to exert himself in the
cause of liberty and his country; and that it is become a duty
cheerfully to sacrifice the sweets of domestic felicity to attain the
honest and glorious end America has in view.”
In the same letter he reveals in confidence the true cause of his wish
to retire from an official station; it was the annoyance he had suffered
throughout the campaign from sectional prejudice and jealousy. “I could
point out particular persons of rank in the army,” writes he, “who have
frequently declared that the general commanding in this quarter, ought
to be of the colony from whence the majority of the troops came. But it
is not from opinions or principles of individuals that I have drawn the
following conclusion: that troops from the colony of Connecticut will
not bear with a general from another colony; it is from the daily and
common conversation of all ranks of people from that colony, both in and
out of the army; and I assure you that I sincerely lament that people of
so much public virtue should be actuated by such an unbecoming jealousy,
founded on such a narrow principle.” Having made this declaration, he
adds, “although I frankly own that I feel a resentment, yet I shall
continue to sacrifice it to a nobler object, the weal of that country in
which I have drawn the breath of life, resolved ever to seek, with
unwearied assiduity, for opportunities to fulfil my duty to it.”
It is with pride we have quoted so frequently the correspondence of
these two champions of our Revolution, as it lays open their hearts, and
shows the lofty patriotism by which they were animated.
A letter from John Adams to General Thomas, alleges as one cause of
Schuyler’s unpopularity with the eastern troops, the “politeness” shown
by him to Canadian and British prisoners; which “enabled them and their
ministerial friends to impose upon him.”[29]
The “politeness” in fact, was that noble courtesy which a high-minded
soldier extends towards a captive foe. If his courtesy was imposed upon,
it only proved that, incapable of doubledealing himself, he suspected it
not in others. All generous natures are liable to imposition; their warm
impulses being too quick for selfish caution. It is the cold, the
calculating and the mean, whose distrustful wariness is never taken in.