operating force present on this and the other side of the North River amounts only to ten thousand four hundred rank and file, of which about two thousand eight hundred will have completed their term of service by the last of May; while the enemy's regular force at New York and its dependencies must amount, upon a moderate calculation, to about eleven thousand rank and file. Our situation is more critical from the impossibility of concentrating our force, as well for the want of the means of taking the field, as on account of the early period of the season.

Looking, however, as usual, to the good of the whole Union, he determined to leave something at hazard in the Middle States, where the country was internally so strong, and yield further succor to the Southern States, which had not equal military advantages. With the consent of Con- · gress, therefore, he put the Maryland line under marching orders, together with the Delaware regiment, which acted with it, and the first regiment of artillery.

The Baron de Kalb, now at the head of the Maryland division, was instructed to conduct this detachment with all haste to the aid of General Lincoln. He might not arrive in time to prevent the fall of Charleston, but he might assist to arrest the progress of the enemy and save the Carolinas.

Washington had been put upon his guard of late against intrigues, forming by members of the old Conway cabal, who intended to take advantage of every military disaster to destroy confidence in him. His steady mind, however, was not to be shaken by suspicion. "Against intrigues of this kind, incident to every man of a public station," said he, "his best support will be a faithful discharge of his

* Letter to the President, April 2d.

duty, and he must rely on the justice of his country for the event.

His feelings at the present juncture are admirably expressed in a letter to the Baron de Steuben. "The prospect, my dear baron, is gloomy, and the storm threatens, but I hope we shall extricate ourselves, and bring everything to a prosperous issue. I have been so inured to difficulties, in the course of this contest, that I have learned to look upon them with more tranquillity than formerly. Those which now present themselves no doubt require vigorous exertions to overcome them, and I am far from despairing of doing it."*

CHAPTER FOUR

Evils of the Continental Currency-Military Reforms proposed by Washington-Congress Jealous of Military Power-Committee of Three sent to Confer with Washington-Losses by Depreciation of the Currency to be made good to the Troops-Arrival of Lafayette Scheme for a Combined Attack upon New YorkArnold has Debts and Difficulties-His Proposals to the French Minister-Anxious to return to the Army-Mutiny of the Connecticut Troops-Washington writes to Reed for Aid from Pennsylvania-Good Effects of his Letter

The

We have cited the depreciation of the currency as a main cause of the difficulties and distresses of the army. troops were paid in paper money at its nominal value. A memorial of the officers of the Jersey line to the Legislature of their State represented the depreciation to be so great that four months' pay of a private soldier would not procure for

* Washington's Writings, vii. 10.

his family a single bushel of wheat, the pay of a colonel would not purchase oats for his horse, and a common laborer or express rider could earn four times the pay in paper of an American officer.

Congress, too, in its exigencies, being destitute of the power of levying taxes, which vested in the State governments, devolved upon those governments, in their separate capacities, the business of supporting the army. This produced a great inequality in the condition of the troops; according to the means and the degree of liberality of their respective States. Some States furnished their troops amply, not only with clothing, but with many comforts and conveniences; others were more contracted in their supplies; while others left their troops almost destitute. Some of the States, too, undertook to make good to their troops the loss in their pay caused by the depreciation of the currency. As this was not general, it increased the inequality of condition. Those who fared worse than others were incensed not only against their own State, but against the confederacy. They were disgusted with a service that made such injurious distinctions. Some of the officers resigned, finding it impossible, under actual circumstances, to maintain an appearance suitable to their rank. The men had not this resource. They murmured and showed a tendency to seditious combinations.

These, and other defects in the military system, were pressed by Washington upon the attention of Congress in a letter to the president: "It were devoutly to be wished," observed he, "that a plan could be devised by which everything relating to the army could be conducted on a general principle, under the direction of Congress. This alone can give harmony and consistency to our military establishment,