issaries, in every direction, respecting America, and the actual position of affairs.
At this point we leave the consideration of the foreign relations of the United States, and return to a narrative of events at home.[1]
Congress, it will be recollected, had deemed it prudent to retire to Baltimore, on the approach of the British army, and when it was apprehended that Philadelphia would immediately fall into their hands. That body of patriots, however, manifested unshaken firmness in the midst of the difficulties and trials to which they were exposed. Their energy did not forsake them, and there was neither humiliation in their attitude, nor despondency in their language. They resolved upon active measures in behalf of the great cause of liberty, and the step which they decided upon was one which probably no man in the country could have called forth except Washington.
The commander-in-chief was aware that the bitter lessons of experience Lad now sufficiently taught Congress that greater vigor and efficiency must be infused into the military system, or the cause of America must be hopeless. On the 20th of December, he addressed a memorable letter to the president of Congress, in which, with mingled dignity, firmness and pathos, he gives expression to the views which he urged upon their attention: "My feelings as an officer and a man have been such as to force me to say, that no person ever had a greater choice of difficulties to contend with than I have. It is needless to add, that short enlistments, and a mistaken dependence upon militia, have been the origin of all our misfortunes, and the great accumulation of our debt. We find, Sir, that the enemy are daily gathering strength from the disaffected. This strength, like a snowball, by rolling, will increase, unless some means can be devised to check effectually the progress of the enemy's arms. Militia may possibly do it for a little while; but in a little while, also, and the militia of those states which have been frequently called upon, will not turn out at all; or if they do, it will be with so much reluctance and sloth, as to amount to the same thing. Instance New Jersey! Witness Pennsylvania! Could any thing but the river Delaware have saved Philadelphia? Can any thing, (the exigency of the case may indeed justify it,) be more destructive to the recruiting service, than giving ten dollars bounty for six weeks' service of the militia, who come in, you cannot tell how, go, you cannot tell when, and act, you cannot tell where, consume your provisions, exhaust your stores, and leave you at a critical moment? These, Sir, are the men I am to depend upon ten days hence; this is the basis on which your cause will and must forever depend, till you get a large standing army sufficient of itself to oppose the enemy." Pointing out that, in his judgment, the eighty-eight battalions already ordered were not sufficient to carry on the war, Washington urged that the number be increased, concluding his
- ↑ The reader will find this subject more fully treated by Pickin, vol. i., pp. 381–95.
