III.

_See Page 233_ _A letter to President Reed of Pennsylvania from which the following extracts are taken, is selected from many others written with the same view._ "Morristown, May 28th, 1780.
"DEAR SIR,--I am much obliged to you for your favour of the 23d.
Nothing could be more necessary than the aid given by your state towards supplying us with provisions.

I assure you, every idea you can form of our distresses, will fall short of the reality.

There is such a combination of circumstances to exhaust the patience of the soldiery, that it begins at length to be worn out, and we see in every line of the army, the most serious features of mutiny and sedition: all our departments, all our operations are at a stand; and unless a system very different from that which has for a long time prevailed, be immediately adopted throughout the states, our affairs must soon become desperate beyond the possibility of recovery.

If you were on the spot, my dear sir, if you could see what difficulties surround us on every side, how unable we are to administer to the most ordinary calls of the service, you would be convinced that these expressions are not too strong: and that we have every thing to dread: Indeed I have almost ceased to hope.