 Chapter 11, Part 2 of the Life of Washington, Volume 2 by John Marshall. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 11, Part 2. Attempt to surprise Captain Lee's corps and that gallant resistance made by him, March 28. Happily, the real condition of Washington was not well understood by Sir William Howe and the characteristic attention of that officer to the lives and comfort of his troops saved the American Army. Fortunately, he confined his operations to those small excursions that were calculated to enlarge the comforts of his own soldiers, who notwithstanding the favorable dispositions of the neighboring country were much distressed for fuel and often a great want of forage and fresh provisions. The vigilance of the parties on the lines, especially on the south side of the scoochle, intercepted a large portion of the supplies intended for the Philadelphia market and corporal punishment was frequently inflicted on those who were detected in attempting disinfraction of the laws. As Captain Lee was particularly active, a plan was formed late in January to surprise and capture him in his quarters. An extensive circuit was made by a large body of cavalry who seized four of his patrols without communicating an alarm. About break of day, the British horse appeared upon which Captain Lee placed his troopers that were in the house at the doors and windows who behaved so gallantly as to repulse the assailants without losing a horse or man. Only Lieutenant Lindsey and one private were wounded. The whole number in the house did not exceed 10. That of the assailants was said to amount to 200. They lost a sergeant and three men with several horses killed and an officer and three men wounded. The result of this skirmish gave great pleasure to the commander-in-chief who had formed a high opinion of Lee's talents. As a partisan he mentioned the affair in his orders, the strong marks of approbation and in a private letter to the captain testified the satisfaction he felt for his merit through the preceding campaign. Congress promoted him to the rank of major and gave him an independent partisan corps to consist of three troops of horse. Congress determined upon a second expedition against Canada while the deficiency of the public resources arising from the alarming depreciation of the bills of credit manifested itself in all the military departments. A plan was matured in Congress and in the board of war without consulting the commander-in-chief or a second eruption into Canada. It was proposed to place the Marquis de Lafayette at the head of this expedition and to employ General Conway and Stark as the second and third in command. This young nobleman possessing an excellent heart and all the military enthusiasm of his country had left France early in 1777 in opposition to the will of his sovereign to engage in the service of the United States. His high rank and supposed influence at the court of Versailles secured him the unlimited respect of his countrymen in America and added to his frankness of manners and zeal in their cause recommended him strongly to Congress while the claims of others of the same country to rank were too exorbitant to be gratified. He demanded no station in the Army would consent to receive no compensation and offered to serve as a volunteer. He had stipulated with Mr. Dean for the rank of Major General without a monument. And on his arrival in America that rank was conferred on him but without any immediate command. In that capacity he sought for danger and was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He attached himself with the order of youth to the commander-in-chief who smoothed the way to his receiving a command in the Army equal to his rank. The first intimation to General Washington that the expedition was contemplated was given in a letter from the President of the Board of War of the 24th of January enclosing one of the same date to the Marquis requiring the attendance of that nobleman on Congress to receive his instructions. The commander-in-chief was requested to furnish Colonel Hazen's regiment chiefly composed of Canadians for the expedition and in the same letter his advice and opinion were asked respecting it the northern states were to furnish the necessary troops. Without noticing the manner in which this business had been conducted and the marked want of confidence it betrayed General Washington ordered Hazen's regiment to march towards Albany and the Marquis proceeded immediately to the seat of Congress. At his request he was to be considered as an officer detached from the Army of Washington to remain under his orders and Major General the Baron de Calbe was added to the expedition after which the Marquis prepared in person to Albany to take charge of the troops who were to assemble at that place in order to cross the lakes on the ice and attack Montreal. Before its execution it is abandoned not arriving at Albany. He found no preparations made for the expedition nothing which had been promised being in readiness he abandoned the enterprise as impracticable sometime afterward Congress also determined to relinquish it and General Washington was authorized to recall both the Marquis de Lafayette and the Baron de Calbe. February 27 while the Army lay at Valley Forge the Baron Steuben arrived in camp this gentleman was a Prussian officer who came to the United States with ample recommendations he was said to have served many years in the armies of the great Frederick to have been one of the aids to camp of that consummate commander and to have held the rank of Lieutenant General he was unquestionably versed in the system of field exercise which the King of Prussia had introduced and was well qualified to teach it to raw troops he claimed no rank and offered to render his services as a volunteer after holding a conference with Congress he proceeded to Valley Forge General Conway resigns dual between him and General Cadwalleter although the office of Inspector General had been bestowed on Conway he never entered on its duties and his promotion to the rank of Major General had given much umbrage to the Brigadiers who had been his seniors that circumstance in addition to the knowledge of his being in a faction hostile to the commander-in-chief rendered his situation in the army so uncomfortable that he withdrew to York and Pennsylvania which was then the seat of Congress when the expedition to Canada was abandoned he was not directed with Lafayette and DeKalb to rejoin the army entertaining no hope of being permitted to exercise the functions of his new office he resigned his commission about the last of April and sometime after his return to France the Baron Steuben appointed Inspector General on his resignation the Baron Steuben who had as a volunteer performed the duties of Inspector General much to the satisfaction of the commander-in-chief and of the army was on the recommendation of General Washington appointed to that office with the rank of Major General without exciting the slightest murmur this gentleman was of real service to the American troops he established one uniformed system of field exercise and by a skill in persevering industry affected important improvements through all ranks of the army during his continuous at Ballet Forge 1777 while it was encamped at this place several matters of great interest engaged the attention of Congress among them was the stipulation in the convention of Saratoga for the return of the British Army to England Boston was named as the place of embarkation at the time of the capitulation the difficulty of making that port early in the winter was unknown to General Burgoyne consequently as sometime must elapse before a sufficient number of vessels for the transportation of his army could be collected its embarkation might be delayed until the ensuing spring November 25 on receiving this unwelcome intelligence he applied to General Washington to change the port of embarkation and to substitute Newport in Rhode Island or someplace on the sound of our Boston if any considerations not foreseen should make this proposal objectionable he then solicited this indulgence for himself and his suite this request was communicated to Congress in terms favorable to that part of the application which respected General Burgoyne and his suite but objections to any change in the convention which might expedite the transportation of the army were too ready to be disregarded and the general pressed them earnestly on Congress this precaution was unnecessary the facility with which the convention might be violated by the British and the captured army be united to that under General Howe seems to have suggested itself to the American government as soon as the first rejoicings were over and such was its then existing temper that the faith and honor of British officers were believed to be no securities against their appearing again in the field under this impression a resolution that passed early in November directing General Heath to transmit to the board of war a descriptive list of all persons comprehended in the convention in order that if any officer, soldier, or other person of the said army should hereafter be found in arms against the states in North America during the present contest he might be convicted of the offense and suffer the punishment in such case inflicted by the law of nations no other notice was taken of the application made by General Burgoyne to Congress through the Commander-in-Chief then to pass a resolution that General Washington be directed to inform General Burgoyne that Congress will not receive or consider any proposition for indulgence nor for altering the terms of the convention of Saratoga unless immediately directed to their own body December, contrary to expectation a fleet of transports for the reception of the troops reached Rhode Island on its way to Boston in the month of December but before its arrival the preconceived suspicions of Congress have ripened into conviction several circumstances combined to produce this result General Burgoyne dissatisfied with the accommodations prepared for his officers in Boston had after a fruitless correspondence with General Heath addressed a letter to General Gates in which he complained of the inconvenient quarters assigned to his officers as a breach of the articles of the convention this complaint was considered by Congress as being made for the purpose of letting in the principle that the breach of one article of the treaty discharges the injured party from its obligations this suspicion was strengthened by the indiscreet hesitation of General Burgoyne to permit the resolution requiring a descriptive list of his troops to be executed this subsequent relinquishment of the objection did not remove the impression it had made it was also alleged that the number of transports was not sufficient to convey the troops to Europe nor was it believed possible that Sir William Howe could have laid in so expeditiously a sufficient stock of provisions for the voyage these objections to the embarkation of Burgoyne's troops were strengthened by some trivial infractions of the convention which it was contended gave Congress a strict right to detain them it was stipulated that the arms should be delivered and appeared that several cartouche boxes and other military accoutrements supposed to be comprehended in that technical term arms had been detained this was deemed an infraction of the letter of the compact which on rigid principle justified the measures afterwards adopted by Congress Congress forbid the embarkation of the British troops taken at Sarapoga the whole subject was referred to a committee who reported all the circumstances of the case whereupon Congress came to several resolutions enumerating the facts already mentioned the last of which was in these words resolved therefore that the embarkation of Lieutenant General Burgoyne and the troops under his command be suspended until a distinct and explicit ratification of the convention of Sarapoga shall be properly notified by the Court of Great Britain to Congress these resolutions together with the report on which they were founded were transmitted to the several states and to General Washington two copies of them were sent to General Heath with direction to deliver one of them to General Burgoyne and with further directions to order the vessels which may have arrived or which shall arrive for the transportation of the Army under Lieutenant General Burgoyne to quit without delay the Port of Boston Burgoyne permitted to depart on receiving these resolutions General Burgoyne addressed a letter to Congress containing papers on which he founded a defense of his conduct and insisted on the embarkation of his army as stipulated in the convention but the committee to whom these papers were referred reported their opinion after the most attentive consideration of them to be that nothing therein contained was sufficient to induce Congress to recede from the resolves of the 8th of January last respecting the convention of Sarapoga this application was accompanied by another letter from General Burgoyne to be delivered with the army should still be detained in which in consideration of the state of his health he solicited permission to return to England this request was readily granted the impression made on the British nation by the capitulation of Burgoyne notwithstanding the persevering temper of the king it made its way into the cabinet and produced resolutions in favor of Pacific measures 1778, February after the rejection of repeated motions made by the opposition members tending to the abandonment of the American War Lord North gave notice in the House of Commons that he had digested a plan of reconciliation which he designed shortly to lay before the House plan of reconciliation with America agreed to in Parliament In conformity with this notice he agreed for a leave to bring in first a bill for removing all doubts and apprehensions concerning taxation by the Parliament of Great Britain and any of the colonies and plantations of North America second a bill to enable his majesty to appoint commissioners with sufficient powers to treat, consult and agree upon the means of quieting the disorders now subsisting in certain of the colonies of North America the first contained a declaration at Parliament will impose no tax or duty whatever payable within any of the colonies of North America such duties as may be expedient to impose for the purposes of commerce the net produce of which should always be paid and applied to and for the use of the colonies in which the same shall be respectively levied in like manner as other duties collected under the authority of their respective legislatures are ordinarily paid and applied the second authorize the appointment of commissioners by the Crown with power to treat either with the existing governments or with individuals in America provided that no stipulations which might be entered into should have any effect until approved in Parliament other than is afterward mentioned it is then enacted that the commissioners may have power to proclaim a cessation of hostilities in any of the colonies to suspend the operation of a non intercourse flaw and farther to suspend during the continuance of the act so much of all or any of the acts of Parliament which have passed since the 10th day of February 1763 as relates to the colonies to grant pardon to any number or description of persons and to appoint a governor in any colony in which His Majesty had here to fore-exercise the power of making such appointments these bills passed both houses of Parliament within considerable opposition intelligence of the treaty between the United States and France having been received by the minister about the time of their being introduced copies of them before they had gone through the requisite forms were hurried to America to be laid before Congress and the public in the hope and expectation that they might counteract the effects which was feared the treaty with France would produce April General Washington received early information of their arrival and entertained serious fears of their operation he was apprehensive that the publication of a proposition for the restoration of peace on the terms originally required by America would greatly increase the numbers of the disaffected and immediately forwarded the bills to Congress in a letter suggesting the policy of preventing their pernicious influence on the public mind by all possible means and especially through the medium of the press communicated to and rejected by Congress April 22 this letter was referred to a committee consisting of messieurs Moris, Drayton, and Dana by whom a report was made investigating the bills with great acuteness as well as asparity this report and the resolutions upon it were ordered to be published other resolutions were passed the succeeding day recommending it to the states to pardon under such limitations as they might think proper to make such of their misguided fellow citizens as had levied war against the United States this resolution was accompanied by an order directing it to be printed in English and in German and requesting General Washington to take such measures as he should deem most effectual for circulating the copies among the American recruits in the enemy's army during these transactions the frigate La Sancible arrived with the important intelligence that treaties of alliance and of commerce had been formed between the United States of America and France that treaties themselves were brought by Mr. Simeon Dean the brother of the American minister in Paris that had long been anxiously expected and the delay attending it have been such as to excite serious apprehension that it would never take place France was still extremely sore under the wounds inflicted during the war which terminated in 1763 it was impossible to reflect on a treaty which had rested from a so fair a part of North America without feeling resentments which would seek the first occasion of gratification the growing discontents between Great Britain and our colonies were consequently viewed at a distance with secret satisfaction but rather as a circumstance which might have some tendency to weaken and embarrass a rival and which was to be encouraged for motives of general policy than as one from which any definite advantage was to be derived France appears at that time to have required and wished for repose the great exertions of the preceding disastrous war had so deranged her finances that the wish to preserve peace seems to have dominated in her cabinet the young monarch who had just ascended the throne possessed a pacific and ambitious temper and the councils of the nation were governed by men alike and disposed to disturb the general tranquility the advice they gave the monarch was to aiding encourage the colonies secretly in order to prevent a reconciliation with the mother country and to prepare privately for hostilities by improving his finances and strengthening his marine but to avoid everything which might give occasion for open war the system which for time regulated the cabinet of Versailles conformed the utmost attention was paid to the minister of Britain in every measure to satisfy him was openly taken intimation was privately given to those of the United States that these measures were necessary for the present but they might be assured of the good will of the French government during the public demonstration of dispositions favorable to England means were taken to furnish aids of ammunition and arms and to facilitate the negotiation of loans to the United States and the owners of American privateers though forbidden to use these measures or to procure their condemnation and found means to dispose of them privately meanwhile another party was formed in the cabinet through his political system subsequent events gave the ascendancy it's about object was to seize the present moment to revenge past injuries humble the haughty rival of France and dismember her empire matters remained in a fluctuating state until December 1777 privately encouraged but discounted publicly the prospects of the return to the complexion of American affairs intelligence of that convention of Saratoga reached France early in December 1777 the American deputies took that opportunity to press the treaty which have been under consideration for the preceding 12 months and to urge the importance of this juncture when Britain would most probably make proposals for an accommodation of communicating to Congress precisely what was to be expected from France and Spain they were informed by Monsieur Girard one of the secretaries of the King's Council of State that it was determined to acknowledge the independence of the United States and to make a treaty with them that his most Christian Majesty was resolved not only to acknowledge but to support their independence that in doing this he might probably soon be engaged in a war yet he should not expect any compensation from the United States on that account or was it pretended that he acted wholly for their sakes since besides his real good will to them it was manifestly the interest of France that the power of England should be diminished by the separation of the operation of the colonies the only condition he should require would be that the United States in no peace to be made should give up their independence and return to their obedience to the British government on determining to take this decisive course the cabinet of Versailles had dispatched a courier to his Catholic Majesty with information of the line of conduct about to be pursued by France on his return the negotiation was taken up in earnest on a treaty of friendship and commerce was soon concluded this was accompanied by a treaty of alliance between the two nations in which it was declared that if war should break out between France and England during the existence of that with the United States it should be made a common cause and that neither of the contracting parties should conclude either truce or peace with Great Britain without the formal consent of the other first obtained and they mutually engaged not to lay down their arms until the independence of the United States shall have been formally or tacitly assured by the treaty or treaties that shall terminate the war it was the wish of the ministers of the United States to engage France immediately in the war and to make the alliance not eventual but positive this proposition however it was rejected in a few weeks after the conclusion of these negotiations the Marquis de Noire announced officially to the court of London the treaty of friendship and commerce France had formed with the United States the British government considering this notification as a declaration of war published a memorial for the purpose of justifying to all Europe the hostilities that had determined to commence soon after the commencement the account de Vergen received private intelligence that it was contemplated in the cabinet of London to offer to the United States an acknowledgement of their independence as the condition of a separate peace immediately communicated this intelligence to the American ministers requesting them to lose no time in stating to Congress that the war was not declared in form it had commenced in fact and that he considered the obligations of the treaty of alliance as in full force consequently that neither party was now at liberty to make a separate peace instructions of a similar import were given to the minister of France and the United States information received of treaties of alliance and commerce being entered into between France and the United States the dispatches containing these treaties were received by the president on Saturday the 2nd of May after Congress had adjourned that body was immediately convened the dispatches were opened and their joyful contents communicated in the exaltation of the moment the treaty of alliance was published a circumstance which not without reason gave umbrage to the cabinet of Versailles because that treaty being only eventual ought not to have been communicated to the public but by mutual consent from this event which was the source of universal exaltation to the friends of the revolution the attention must be directed to one which was productive of very different sensations among the various improvements which struggling humanity had gradually engrafted on the belligerent code to finish the calamities of war than those which meeliorate the condition of prisoners no obligations will be more respected by the generous and the brave nor are there any the violation of which could wound the national character more deeply or expose it to more lasting or better merited reproach in wars between nations nearly equal in power and possessing rights acknowledged to be equal a departure from moderate usage in this respect is almost unknown and the voice of the civilized world would be raised against the potentate and could adopt the system calculated to re-establish the rigors and misery of exploded barbarism but in contests between different parts of the same empire those practices which mitigate the horrors of war yield too frequently to the calculations of a blind and early resentment the party which supports the ancient state of things often treats resistance as rebellion and captives as traitors the opposite party supporting also about the sword principles believed to be right will admit of no departure from established usage and may be expected of possessing the power to endeavor by retaliating injuries to compel the observance of a more just and humane system but they participate in the fall imputable to their adversaries by manifesting a disposition to punish those whom they deem traitors with the same severity of which they so loudly unjustly complain when they are themselves its victims General Gage is commander-in-chief of the British Army in the harshness of spirit which had been excited while governor of Massachusetts prisoners into a common jail but rejected every proposition for an exchange of them when the command devolved on Sir William Howe this absurd system was abandoned and an exchange took place to a considerable extent but the Americans had not made a sufficient number of prisoners to relieve all their citizens many of them still remained in confinement representations were continually received from these unfortunate men describing in strong terms the severity of their treatment they complained of suffering almost the extremity of famine that even the supply of provisions of them was unsound and they were crowded into prison ships where they became the victims of disease when charged with conduct so unworthy of his character and station Sir William Howe positively denied the truth it would be unjust to describe this excess of inhumanity to an officer who though perhaps severe in his temper did not mingle cruelties in his general system which would excite universal indignation in other wars it must be admitted that his supplies of provisions were neither good nor abundant and that the American soldiers that were unhealthy but the excessive mortality prevailing among the prisoners can be accounted for on no ordinary principles and the candid who were least inclined to discriminate without cause have ever been persuaded that if his orders did not produce the distress which existed as authority was not interposed with sufficient energy to correct the abuses which prevailed the capture of General Lee furnished an additional ground of controversy on the subject of prisoners as he had been an officer in the British service whose resignation was not perhaps been received when he entered into that of America a disposition was at first manifested to consider him as a deserter and he was closely confined on receiving information of this circumstance Congress Director General Howe to be assured that Lieutenant Colonel Campbell and five Hessian field officers should be detained and should experience precisely the fate of General Lee these officers were taken into close custody and informed that the resolution announced to General Howe should be strictly enforced the sentiments of the Lieutenant Chief on the subject of retaliation seem to have been less severe than those of Congress so great was his abhorrence of the cruelty such a practice must generate that he was unwilling to adopt it in any case not an absolute and apparent necessity not believing that of General Lee to be such a case he remonstrated strongly against these resolutions but Congress remained inflexible and the officers designated as the objects of retaliation were kept in rigorous confinement until General Lee was declared to be a prisoner and the prisoners taken at the cedars were also the source of much embarrassment should grant to the Commander-in-Chief alleging that the capitulation had been violated on the part of the enemy and that the sabbages had been permitted to murder some of the prisoners and to plunder others they withheld their sanction from the agreement entered into by General Arnold with Captain Forster and refused to allow other prisoners to be returned in exchange for those liberated under that agreement until the murderers should be given up in compensation made for the baggage said to have been plundered was not clearly established to William Howe continue to press General Washington on this subject reminding him of the importance of a punctilious observance of faith plighted in engagements like that made by General Arnold he persisted to hold the Commander-in-Chief personally bound for an honorable compliance with military stipulations entered into by an officer under his authority. General Washington feeling the keenness of the reproach pressed Congress to change their resolution on this subject but his remonstrance is worth for a long time unavailing. The offerings of the prisoners in New York have been extreme and great numbers have perished in confinement the survivors were liberated for the purpose of being exchanged but so miserable was the condition that many of them died on their way home for the dead as well as the living General Howe claimed that return of prisoners while General Washington contended that reasonable deduction should be made for those who were actually dead of diseases under which they labored when permitted to leave the British prisons until this claim should be admitted General Howe in determination to repel it and thus all hope of being relieved in the ordinary mode appeared to be taken from those whom the fortune of war had placed in the power of the enemy. Complaints made by General Washington of the treatment of American prisoners in possession of the enemy in the meantime the sufferings of the American prisoners increased with the increasing severity of the season information continued to be received that they suffered almost the extremity of famine repeated remonstrances made on this subject to the British General Howe continued to avert that the same food both in quantity and quality was issued to the prisoners as to British troops when in transports or elsewhere not on actual duty and that every tenderness was extended to them which was compatible with the situation of his army he yielded to the request made by General Washington to permit a commissary to visit the jails and demanded passports for an agent to administer to the wants of British prisoners. When Mr. Booty know the American commissary prisoners who was appointed by General Howe in Philadelphia met Mr. Ferguson the British commissary he was informed that General Howe thought it unnecessary for him to come into the city as he would himself inspect the situation and treatment of the prisoners. There is reason to believe that there are causes of complaint so far as respective provisions did not exist afterwards in the same degree as formerly and that the strong measures subsequently taken by Congress were founded on facts of an earlier date but clothes and blankets were also necessary and the difficulty of furnishing them was considerable to the purchase of those articles in Philadelphia and they were not attainable elsewhere. Proceedings of Congress on this subject to compel them to abandon this distressing restriction and to permit the use of paper money within the British lines Congress resolved that no prisoner should be exchanged until all the expenditures made in paper for the supplies they received from the United States should be repaid in specie at the rate of four shillings and six months for each dollar. They afterwards determined that from the first day of February no British commissary permitted to purchase any provisions for the use of prisoners west of New Jersey but that all supplies for persons of that description should be furnished from British stores. So we am how remonstrated against the last resolution with great strength and justice as a degree which doomed a considerable number of prisoners far removed into the country to a slow and painful death by famine. Since it was impracticable to supply them immediately from Philadelphia the severity of this order was in some degree mitigated by a resolution that each British commissary a prisoner should receive provisions from the American commissary purchases to be paid for in specie according to the resolution of the 19th of December 1777. About the same time an order was hastily given by the board of war which produced no inconsiderable degree of embarrassment and exposed the commander in chief to strictures not less severe than those he had applied to the British general. General Washington had consented that a quarter master with a small escort should come out of Philadelphia with clothes and other comforts for the prisoners who were in possession of the United States. He had expressly stipulated for their security and he given them a passport. January 26th while they were traveling through the country information was given to the board of war that General Howe had refused to permit provisions to be sent in to the American prisoners in Philadelphia by water. This information was not correct. General Howe had only requested that flags should not be sent up or down the river without previous permission obtained from himself. This information however the board ordered Lieutenant Colonel Smith immediately to seize the officers though protected by the passport of General Washington their horses carriages and the provisions destined for the relief of the British prisoners and to secure them until further orders either from the board or from the commander in chief. General Washington unhearing the circumstance dispatch one of his aids with orders for the immediate release of the persons and property which had been confined by the officers refused to proceed on their journey and returned to Philadelphia. This untoward event was much regretted by the commander in chief in a letter received sometime afterwards General Howe after expressing his willingness that the American prisoners should be visited by deputy commissaries who should inspect their situation and supply their wants required as the condition on which this indulgence should be granted but a similar permit should be allowed to persons appointed by him which should be accompanied with the assurance of General Washington that his authority will have sufficient weight of progress and any insult to their persons. This demand was ascribed to the treatment to which officers under the protection of his passport had already been exposed. General Washington lamented the impediment to the exchange of prisoners which had hitherto appeared to be insuperable and made repeated but ineffectual efforts to remove it. General Howe had uniformly refused to proceed with any cartel unless his right to claim for all the diseased and infirm whom he had liberated should be previously admitted. At length after all hope of inducing him to receive ground had been abandoned he suddenly relinquished it of his own accord and acceded completely to the propositions of General Washington for the meeting of commissioners in order to settle equitably the number to which he should be entitled for those he had discharged in the preceding winter. This point being adjusted commissaries were mutually appointed who were to meet on the 10th of March in Germantown to arrange the details of a general cartel. March 4th the commander in chief had entertained no doubt of his authority to enter into this agreement. On the 4th of March he had that modification to perceive in a newspaper a resolution of congress calling on the several states for the amounts of supplies furnished the positioners that they might be adjusted according to the rule of the 10th of December before the exchange should take place. On seeing this embarrassing resolution General Washington addressed a letter to Sir William Howe informing him that particular circumstances had rendered it inconvenient for the American commissioners to attend at the time appointed and requesting that their meeting should be deferred from the 10th to the 21st of March and that it was successfully employed in obtaining a repeal of the resolution. It was seen probable that the dispositions of congress on the subject of an exchange did not correspond with those of General Washington from the fundamental principle of the military establishment of the United States as its commencement an exchange of prisoners would necessarily strengthen the British much more than the American army. The war having been carried out by troops raised for short times aided by militia the American prisoners when exchange returned to their homes as citizens of the enemy again took the field. General Washington who was governed by a policy more just and more permanently beneficial addressed himself seriously to congress urging as well the injury done the public faith and his own personal honor by this infraction of a solemn engagement as the cruelty in policy of a system which must cut off forever all hopes of an exchange and render imprisonment as lasting as the war. He represented in strong terms the effect such a measure must have on the troops on whom they should thereafter be compelled chiefly and its impression on the friends of those already in captivity. These remonstrances produced the desired effect and the resolutions were repealed. The commissioners met according to the second appointment but on examining the powers it appeared that those given by General Washington were expressed to be in virtue of the authority vested in him while those given by Sir William Howe contained no such declaration. This omission produced an objection on the part of the United States but General Howe refused to change the language alleging that he designed the treaty to be of a personal nature founded on the mutual confidence and honor of the contracting generals and had no intention either to bind his government or to extend the cartel beyond the limits in duration of his own command. This explanation being unsatisfactory to the American commissioners and General Howe persisting in his refusal to make the required alteration in his powers, the negotiation was broken off in this fair prospect of terminating the distresses of numerous unfortunate persons passed away without effecting the good it had promised. Sometime after the failure of this negotiation for General Cartel, Sir William Howe proposed that all prisoners actually exchangeable should be sent in to the nearest post and returns made of officer for officer of equal rank and soldier for soldier as far as members would admit and that if a surplus of officers should remain they should be exchanged for an equivalent in privates, a partial exchange agreed to on the representations of General Washington Congress exceeded to this proposition so far as related to the exchange of officer for officer and soldier for soldier who rejected the part which admitted an equivalent in privates for a surplus of officers because the officers captured with Burgoyne were exchangeable within the powers of General Howe under this agreement in exchange replaced to a considerable extent but as the Americans had lost more prisoners on that had taken unless the army of Burgoyne should be brought into computation many of their troops were still detained in captivity. End of Chapter 11 Part 2 End of The Life of Washington Volume 2 by John Marshall