His extreme chagrin at this measure, and at the delays resulting from it, was expressed in anxious letters to Mr.
Fauquier, then governor of Virginia, and to the speaker of the house of burgesses.
{September 2.} In a letter to the speaker, written while at fort Cumberland, he said: "We are still encamped here; very sickly, and dispirited at the prospect before us.

That appearance of glory which we once had in view--that hope--that laudable ambition of serving our country, and meriting its applause, are now no more: all is dwindled into ease, sloth, and fatal inactivity.

In a word, all is lost, if the ways of men in power, like certain ways of Providence, are not inscrutable.
But we who view the actions of great men at a distance can only form conjectures agreeably to a limited perception; and, being ignorant of the comprehensive schemes which may be in contemplation, might mistake egregiously in judging of things from appearances, or by the lump.

Yet every f--l will have his notions--will prattle and talk away; and why may not I?
We seem then, in my opinion, to act under the guidance of an evil genius.

The conduct of our leaders, if not actuated by superior orders, is tempered with something--I do not care to give a name to.