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LVII.

1778.

CHAP. delusions, we may no doubt discover, or think that we discover, some foundation of truth. We may be willing to acknowledge that they proceeded from a just attachment to the Reformed faith and established churches of the country. But we must deplore, as a foul stain on our national character, the errors and excesses to which, in the ensuing years, that attachment gave rise.

CHAPTER LVIII.

LVIII.

1778.

WE left Washington at the close of 1777 con- CHAP. tending against difficulties and privations of no ordinary kind. On his urgent and renewed representation, the Congress at length decided that a Committee, consisting in part of Members of their own body, should proceed to his camp at Valley Forge. These gentlemen beheld his distress with their own eyes. Yet still the practical succours of the Government were doled out with a slow and niggard hand. On the 20th of March we find the Commander-in-chief write to one of his Generals as follows:-" By death and deser"tion we have lost a good many men since we "came to this ground, and have encountered

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every species of hardship that cold, wet, and

hunger, and want of clothes were capable of producing. Notwithstanding, and contrary to my expectations, we have been able to keep the "soldiers from mutiny or dispersion. They have "two or three times been days together without provisions; and once six days without any of "the meat kind. Could the poor horses tell their

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LVIII.

CHAP. "tale, it would be in a strain still more lamentable, "as numbers have actually died from pure want. "But as our prospects begin to brighten, my complaints shall cease."

1778.

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Under circumstances of such discouragement, and slighted as Washington's advice as to promotions had now begun to be, it is not surprising that the greatest dissatisfaction should have prevailed among his officers. Four days later he thus reports: -"As it is not improper for Congress to "have some idea of the present temper of the army, it may not be amiss to remark in this

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place that, since the month of August last, be"tween two and three hundred officers have re"signed their commissions, and many others were "with difficulty dissuaded from it."

The military business at the seat of Government was at this period directed by a new Board of War, which had been formed early in the winter, and which had for President, General Gates, flushed with his success at Saratoga, and constant in his enmity to Washington. There was now in progress a secret intrigue to deprive, if possible, the latter of the chief command, and confer it either on Gates himself, or on Charles Lee. For it is remarkable that there was no native American whom Washington's gainsayers could oppose to him with any prospect of success. This intrigue has been called "Conway's Cabal," from the name of one of those most forward in it. Brigadier Thomas Conway was an officer of Wash

LVIII.

1778.

ington's army. In October 1777 Washington heard CHAP. that it was the intention of Congress to promote this person to the rank of Major General. Hereupon Washington addressed a letter to one of the leading Members, Richard Henry Lee, representing that Conway was the youngest Brigadier in the service; that to put him over the heads of all the elder would offend them grievously; that Conway's merits existed in his own imagination more than in reality; and, finally, that Washington himself could not hope to be of any further service if such insuperable difficulties were thrown in his way. Mr. Lee replied in these words: "No "such appointment has been made, nor do I be"lieve it will whilst it is likely to produce the "evil consequences you suggest." Yet, notwithstanding this denial, the appointment was made only a few weeks afterwards.

Thus promoted, Conway became an active instrument of the cabal which has subsequently borne his name. He leagued himself with several other ambitious officers and scheming Members of Congress; several, above all, from the New England States. It is striking to observe the impression produced by these intrigues on the ingenuous mind of La Fayette. Thus he writes to Washington: "When I was in Europe I thought that "here almost every man was a lover of liberty. "You can conceive my astonishment when I saw "that Toryism was as apparently professed as

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Whiggism itself. There are open dissensions in

LVIII.

1778.

CHAP. " "Congress; parties who hate one another as much "as the common enemy; men who, without know"ing any thing about war, undertake to judge 66 you and to make ridiculous comparisons. They are infatuated with Gates, without thinking of "the difference of circumstances, and believe that "attacking is the only thing necessary to con"quer." *

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Of these intrigues the conduct pursued to La Fayette himself was soon to afford another instance. He was appointed the chief of an expedition against Canada, which had been planned and ordered by the Board of War, without any reference whatever to the Commander-in-chief. La Fayette accordingly set out for Albany. There, on consultation with General Schuyler and other good officers, he found that the Board of War, so strenuous on paper, had neglected any real preparation for the field. Neither men nor clothes, nor money nor supplies, were in readiness, nor likely to be so. It therefore became necessary

* Letter, Dec. 30. 1777. See Washington's Writings, vol. v. pp. 99. 488. The whole of Mr. Sparks's note in the Appendix, headed "Conway's Cabal," is well deserving of perusal, though seeking to glide gently over the participation of the New England members. For his proof to the contrary he appeals to the biography of Mr. Elbridge Gerry, which, however, seems to me wholly inconclusive, and to make (for an American book) one most singular blunder. It says that "Mr. Samuel Adams "left Philadelphia" - meaning the seat of Congress — "for "Massachusetts, on November 11. 1777." But Philadelphia was then in possession of the British troops. See Austins's

Life of Gerry, vol. i. p. 236.

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