Washington has been waiting anxiously for Congress to adopt a plan for all the states to complete their respective battalions. Such a plan is urgently needed, for the battalions are now greatly reduced, and will lose more men at the expiration of the term of service of last year's drafts. State bounties, which have been a "source of immense expense and many misfortunes," should be abolished. Congre ss should beware of counting on saving expense because of a feeling that the war will end soon. Washington himself would be cautious of "admitting the supposition that the War will terminate without another desperate effort on the part of the enemy. . . . if the Ministry had serious thoughts of making peace, they would hardly insist so much as they do in the particular point of prosecuting the American War." Washington does not wish to force Congress to premature decisions, but feels that some plan must be adopted to prevent continuance of public loss and private discontent. The clothing department might be conducted "in a more provident and consistent manner." Washington has heard of "large importations of clothing which we never see, of quantities wasting and rotting in different parts of the Country, the knowledge of which reaches me by chance," while his own army has never been "otherwise than half naked." Washington's hand.
Subjects
United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783; Jay, John, 1745-1829