NUMBER VII. Letter from a Committee of Congress to General Washington. PHILADELPHIA, April 10, 1777. SIR-In obedience to an order of Congress, we inform your excellency of the reasons and principles that have governed Congress in their resolution for forming a camp on the west side of Delaware. The repeated information that hath been received of the enemy's movements, and it being the opinion of your excellency, as well as of many other General Officers, that this city was the object of such movements, rendered it proper that means should be fallen upon to prevent the success of such a design, as well to guard against the bad impression that it would certainly have on the affairs of America in general, as to give security to the valuable stores here collected, and which cannot speedily be removed. It has been considered, that if the real object of the enemy should be this city, the troops are here well fixed, and it will be an encouraging place of resort to the militia of this state, in their present unfixed condition, being between their old plan of association, and their new but yet unexecuted law. On the other hand, should the design of the enemy be upon Hudson river, or more eastward, the troops here may with ease reach that river before their's, now at head quarters, can have all crossed it. But another consideration remains, and that is, should the enemy propose to remain in Jersey to attack your army, or should your excellency mean to make a decisive impression on them when your numbers are sufficient, in either of these suppositions, the troops ought not to be here. In the whole of this business, Congress mean not in any manner, to interfere with the designs, or to counteract the judgment of your excellency, but wish you freely to call up to head quarters, all, or any part of the troops encamped here, as you shall please. It is not supposed that this will occasion any delay, and will certainly prevent the injuries that would be derived to the troops, as well in health as discipline, from their entering and remaining any time in this city. We have the honour to be, &c. NUMBER VIII. BALTIMORE, Dec. 21, 1776. HONOURABLE GENTLEMEN-After expressing our hopes that this will find you all three safely fixed at Paris, we proceed with pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Deane's letter of the first of October. When we reflect on the character and views of the court of London, it ceases to be a wonder that the British ambassador, and every other British agent, should employ every means that tended to prevent European powers, but France more especially, from giving America aid in this war. Prospects of accommodation, it is well known, would effectually prevent foreign interference, and therefore, without one serious design of accommodating on any principle, but the absolute submission of America, the delusive idea hath been industriously suggested on both sides the water, that under cover of this dividing and aid withholding prospect, the vast British force sent to Ameriea, might have the fairest chance of succeeding. And this policy hath in fact done considerable injury to the United States, as we shall presently show by a just detail of this campaign, for it is not yet ended. You know, gentlemen, that at the moment a potent land and marine force was preparing to be sent here, an act was passed for appointing commissioners, whom too many expected were to give peace to America; as therefore the war might be soon concluded, so were our military arrangements accommodated, and the troops taken into service the last spring, consisting of regular corps and bodies of militia, were all engaged for short periods: with these the campaign began in various parts of North America. Dr. Franklin is so well acquainted with the progress of the war in Canada, previous to his departure, that we need only observe the campaign has ended as favourably for us in that quarter as we could reasonably expect. The enemy having been able to pierce no further than Crown Point, after a short stay, and reconnoitering General Gates's army at Ticonderoga, thought proper to recross the lake, and leave us in quiet possession of those passes. General Gates having left a proper force at Ticonderoga, and on the communication, retired with the rest of his troops. New York and its neighbourhood, not being defensible by an army, singly against a strong land and sea force acting in conjunction, was of necessity yielded to the enemy, after some contest; General Washington retiring until the situation of the country above Kings-bridge, no longer enabled the enemy to receive aid from their ships. General Howe being stopped here, and General Carleton at Crown point, effectually disappointed the great object of joining the two armies. The latter, as we have said, returning to Canada, and the former retreating from the White plains towards New York, gave us a favourable prospect of seeing a happy end put to this dangerous campaign. However, many causes have concurred in producing an unlucky reverse of fortune; the nature of the country, the uncommon fineness of weather, even to this day, and above all, the short enlistments, which gave the soldiery an opportunity of going home, tired as they were with the operations of an active summer. When General Howe retreated from the White plains, he halted his whole army on the North river, between Dobbs' ferry and Kingsbridge, where he remained for some time. Having effected so little of the great business that brought him here, and the season allowing time for it, most men were of opinion, that the next attempt would be, to get possession of Philadelphia, by a march through the Jerseys, whilst a fleet should be sent up the Delaware to facilitate the enterprise. To guard against such a manœuvre, General Washington crossed the North river, with all the battalions that had been raised to the westward of it, leaving General Lee with the eastern troops, to guard the pass of the Highlands on Hudson river. In this situation of things, Mr. Howe made a sudden attack on fort Washington, with the greater part of his army, and carried it with a considerable loss; here he made near three thousand of our men prisoners. By this event, it became unnecessary longer to hold fort Lee, (or fort Constitution, as it was formerly called) which is on the west side of North river, and nearly opposite to fort Washington. It had been therefore determined to abandon fort Lee, but before the stores could be all removed, the enemy came suddenly upon it, and the garrison retreated, leaving some of their baggage and stores behind. About this time, General Howe became possessed of a letter, (by the agency of some wicked person, who contrived to get it from the express,) written by General Washington to the board of war, in which he had given an exact account when the time of service of all our battalions would expire, and his apprehensions that the men would not reenlist without first going home, to see their families and friends. Pos sessed of this intelligence, the opportunity was carefully watched, and a vigorous impression actually made, at the very crisis, when our army in the. Jerseys was reduced to three thousand men, by the retiring of numbers, and the sickness of others, and before militia could in this extensive country be brought up to supply their places; the enemy marched rapidly on through the Jerseys, whilst our feeble army was obliged to retreat from post to post, until it crossed the Delaware at Trenton, where about two thousand five hundred militia from Philadelphia, joined the general. Since General Howe's arrival on the borders of the Delaware, various manœuvers and stratagems have been practised to effect a passage over the river, but they have hitherto proved abortive. General Washington's small army is placed along the west side of Delaware, from above Cayell's ferry to within fourteen miles of Philadelphia, whilst the Gondolas, one frigate, and other armed vessels in the river, above the Chivaux de Frize, cover the passage of it. General Lee, who had crossed the North river with as many of the eastern troops as could be spared from the defence of the Highlands, either to join General Washington, or to act on the enemie's rear, as occasions might point out) was the other day unfortunately surprised, and made prisoner by a party of seventy light-horse, who found him in a house a few miles in the rear of his army, with his domestics only. This loss, though great, will in some degree be repaired for the present, by General Gates, who, we understand, has joined the army commanded by General Lee, and who, we have reason to think, has by this time effected a junction of his force with that of General Washington. As the militia are now marching from various quarters to reenforce the general, if the enemy do not quickly accomplish their wishes of possessing Philadelphia, we hope not only to save that city, but to see General Howe obliged to retreat as fast as he advanced through the Jerseys. General Clinton, with a fleet, in which 'tis said he carried eight thousand men, has gone from New York through the Sound, some suppose for Rhode Island, but his destination, or its consequences, we yet have no certainty of. Thus, gentlemen, we have given you a true detail of the progress and present state of our affairs, which, although not in so good a posture as they were two months ago, are by no means in so bad a way as the emissaries of the court of London will undoubtedly represent them to be. If the great land and sea force with which we have been attacked, be compared with the feeble state in which the commencement of this war found us, in respect to military stores of all kinds, soldiers, clothing, money, and regular force, the wonder will `rather be, that our enemies have made so little progress, not that they have made so much. All views of accommodation with Great Britain, but on principles of peace as independent states, and in a manner perfectly consistent with the treaties our commissioners may make with foreign states being totally at an end, since the declaration of independence and the embassy to the court of France, Congress have directed the raising of ninety-four battalions of infantry, with some cavalry, and we hear the levies are going on well in the different states; until they are collected the militia must curb the enemie's progress. The very considerable force that Great Britain has already in North America, the possibility of recruiting it here within their own quarters by force and fraud together, added to the reenforcements that may be sent from Europe, and the difficulty of finding funds in the present depressed state of American commerce, all conspire to prove incontestibly, that if France desires to preclude the possibility of North America being ever re-united with Great Britain, this is the favourable moment for establishing the glory, strength, and commercial greatness of the former kingdom, and the ruin of her ancient rival. A decided part now taken by the court of Versailles, and a vigorous enterprise in the war in union with North America, would with ease sacrifice the fleet and army of Great Britain, at this time chiefly collected about New York, and the inevitable consequence would be, the quick reduction of the British West India islands, already barred of all defence by the removal of their troops to this continent. For the reasons here assigned, gentlemen, you will readily discern, how all-important it is to the security of American independence, to urge France, and with her Spain, into the war as soon as may be; and, if it be possible, speedily to procure from the former the number of line of battle ships, you were desired in your instructions to obtain for us, the speedy arrival of which here, in the present state of things, might decide the contest at one stroke. We shall pay proper attention to what Mr. Deane writes about Doctor Williamson and Mr. Hopkins, and we think the ill treatment this country and Mr. Deane have received from these men, strongly suggest the necessity of invincible reserve with persons coming to France as Americans and friends to America, whom the most irrefragable proofs have not removed all doubt about. The British recall of their Mediterranean passes, is an object of great consequence, and may require much intercession with the court of France, to get settled on the best footing for the security of American commerce; but this subject has been already touched in your instructions on the 6th |