York 20th November 1777
Dear Sir,
I have no doubt of being excused by you for not sooner answering your favor of the 24th last,1 when you are informed that my ill state of health has prevented me from attending as I ought to the important matter it contains. I gave Mr. Jones the letter, that he might inform Congress of such parts as it imported the public they should be acquainted with. As it appeared by the letters of Gen. Mifflin that he objected only to serve in the Quartermasters department, that his health was returning, and that he was willing to continue his aid to the public cause, Congress appointed him one of the Commissioners of the new Board, because he is competent to the right discharge of its duties, because that would best suit his valetudinary state, and as shewing a just sense of his uniform, vigorous, and well founded patriotism. I have strong hopes, that by the skill and industry of this new Board, and from the right execution of business in that important department, you will in future find great relief. Gen. Conway has not lately been mentioned in Congress,2 nor has there been much talk of an Adjutant General, since it is not certainly known whether Colo. Pickering will accept his new appointment. Mr. Flemmings character stands very fair, and so far as I am able to judge, would answer well in this commission. You will see in the inclosed what Mr. Sergeant says of him.3 General Mifflin has proposed a plan for the Quartermaster department that appears judicious, and well fitted to answer the purpose of good service and (Economy at the same time.4 He would divide this department into its military and civil branches, the former to be filled by a person well qualified to discharge its duties, and the latter, again to be divided into Commissaries of Teams, of Forage, of Tents &c &c to be governed in their purchases by estimates from the Quarter Master general who is to touch no money but a moderate tho sufficient salary.
It [is] unfortunately too true, that our enemies pay little regard to good faith, or any obligations of justice and humanity, which renders the convention of Saratoga a matter of great moment, and it is also, as you justly observe, an affair of infinite delicacy. The undoubted advantage they will take, even of the appearance of infraction on our part, and the American Character, which is concerned in preserving its faith inviolate, cover this affair with difficulties, and proves the disadvantage we are under in conducting war against an old, corrupt, and powerful people, who having much credit and influence in the world will venture on things that would totally ruin the reputation of young and rising communities like ours. The English however, were not to blame in the business of Closter Seven.5 That convention was left incomplete by the Commanders who made it. Twas stipulated particularly that the Court of Versailles must ratify, and that within a certain time, which was not done until long after the time was elapsed, and before which ratification the Troops of Hanover had returned to arms. Upon this occasion the good faith of England is not impeached. It is greatly to be regretted that the situation of your Army unfits it for vigorous action, because it is very obvious that the enemies possession of Philadelphia this winter and the ensuing spring may produce consequences extensively injurious. You well know, Sir, how weak and divided the people of this State are from various causes. Those of Delaware are still worse. In this condition, with the infinite arts of our enemies, pushed up almost to the center of the above governments, and aided by the powerful means of supplying the wants fanciful and real of the people with all kinds of European goods and Salt, it will be no great matter of surprize if we were to find a total revolution in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Add to this, the ill condition of our finances which totter upon every seeming success of the enemy. It is not to be supposed that where so much is at stake G. Britain will fail to make most potent efforts to recover her honor and prevent her ruin. Upon this ground we may expect considerable reinforcements, and early as possible in the spring. With an Army much strengthened, Gen. Howe may effect purposes dangerous to America. It happens too, unluckily for us, that in order for us to support the credit of our money, the several States must of necessity impose large and immediate Taxes. This is the most delicate and difficult of all government operations even in old and undisturbed States. Yet it is unavoidable, and Congress have pressingly requested that it may be quickly and extensively entered upon.
It was most evident to discerning men that the change in the Commissariate at the time it was adopted would produce most mischievous consequences, yet such was the rage of reformation that no endeavors to prevent the evil could avail, and now I feel the most anxious solicitude for fear the consequences may disperse our army even in face of the enemy. A Committee is appointed to confer with the Commissary general and to try what can be done to avert the evil.6 I wish they may be fortunate enough to hit upon a remedy. That there should be a want of flour amazes me, and proves great want of attention in the Commissary Gen. because I well know that any quantity might have been got in Virginia at a reasonable price. By our last dispatches from the West Indies, it would seem as if a war between France & England was inevitable, unless the meanness of the latter should restore all her Captures made from the former without the limits prescribed by treaty, and which have been made under authority of an Act of Parliament. But the royal spleen against America is such, that every consideration falls before the wish to subjugate this free country. Yet Mr. Bingham mentions that the ministerial writings are calculated to rouse the national resentment against France. If so, tis evident they want to set Europe on fire that the smoke may cover them from the eyes of their injured country. Mr. Carmichael writes that Dr. Lee was returning to Paris from Berlin, having finished his business successfully at the Prussian Court, & Mr. Bingham says ’tis certain that the King of Prussia has opened his Ports to the United States, and that Portugal has deserted the interest of England, and acceeded to the family compact. This is all good news, and will I hope furnish employment quickly for our unprincipled enemies.
My ill state of health will compel me to return home in a few days where I shall continue ardently to pray for your health and success.
I am dear Sir affectionately yours,
Richard Henry Lee
George Washington PapersLibrary of Congress
Printed in James Curtis Ballagh, The Letters of Richard Henry Lee, Volume 1, 1762 - 1778, pp. 349 - 53. Addressed to Washington, "Commander in Chief of the American Army." A draft copy is in the Lee Papers, University of Virginia Archives.
1 This is a reference to Washington’s 28 October letter to Lee. It can be found in the appendix of Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington, Writings, 37:541 - 45, where it was reprinted from the text published in the March 1911 issue of the Century Magazine.
2 For the context in which Lee had previously discussed Thomas Conway, see Lee to Washington, 20 October 1777.
3 In his 28 October letter Washington had recommended Edward Fleming, former deputy adjutant general for the New York department, as a candidate to succeed Timothy Pickering as adjutant general. Fleming also had the support of Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, who recommended him to Lee in the 12 November letter forwarded to Washington. "Mr. S. Adams desired me to write You on the Subject of an Adjutant General," Sergeant explained, "as Col. Fleming, he tells me, has been mentioned & is very little known. I have seen him, once, on some Business committed to him by the Jersey Assembly, of which he is a Member; but have heard a very advantageous Character of his Abilities, Industry & Skill, particularly in that Line." George Washington Papers, Library of Congress. Nevertheless, Congress elected Col. Alexander Scammell adjutant general on 5 January 1778. See JCC, 10:21; and Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington, 10:8083, 245, 252, 297.
4 Mifflin’s proposed plan for the quartermaster’s department was read in Congress on 19 November and referred to the Board of War, which was ordered to report a plan for reorganizing that department. Mifflin’s plan was included in the board’s recommendations that Congress read on 30 January and approved on 5 February 1778. But on 2 March Congress replaced this arrangement with another plan of reorganization that was based on the recommendations contained in a 25 February letter of the Committee at Camp. See JCC, 9:941, 10:102 - 3, 126 27, 210.
5 In his 28 October letter Washington had stressed the necessity for using great caution in administering the Saratoga convention in order to prevent the British from returning the convention troops to the battlefield by spring. He suggested that such a breach of the convention would be a repetition of their action after the 1757 Convention of Klosterzeven - a convention signed by the defeated Duke of Cumberland that required his German troops to be returned to their respective countries. It was, however, subsequently denounced by George II, and British - paid Hanoverians were encouraged to return to arms under Ferdinand of Brunswick. J. Holland Rose et al., eds., The Old Empire from the Beginnings to 1783, The Cambridge History of the British Empire, vol. I (New York: Macmillan Co., 1929), pp. 476, 478.
6 Lee must have written the last part of this letter on or after 22 November, as that is the date the committee to confer with Commissary General Buchanan was appointed and Congress received the intelligence from William Bingham and William Carmichael discussed below. See JCC, 9:948; and James Lovell to John Adams, 22 November 1777.