will be expensive; but if any works are to go on, as I think there will, we must have it.

I am building ten sleds, to be employed at the saw-mills in drawing oak timber for the bottoms and garboard streaks of batteaus, or in conveying the cannon from hence to Canada or Hudson’s River, or in drawing fire-wood for the garrisons. The season is so far advanced that I could not wait for the sanction of Congress, and have therefore sent to Canada for twenty horses, which are much cheaper there than with us.

At each of the lower ferries on Hudson’s River, above Albany, there are two boats; the two uppermost have only one, and they are small and worn out, so that the detention of the provisions and baggage causes not only a very considerable expense, but retards the service. This evil might be guarded against by building four good scows, like those on Schuylkill, and have them managed by soldiers picked for that purpose; and I believe the expense will hardly exceed that of the ferriage we now pay. Should Congress approve of building these, they will please to order two shipwrights up, who know the construction, the soonest possible, that the timber may be procured, and the boats, if possible, built in the winter.

I had ordered six carriages, for field-pieces, to be constructed at Albany; but they could not be got ready in time for the service I intended them for. I will cause them to be finished.

Dr. Stringer has wrote me a letter, copy of which I enclose. His observations appear to me just.

Conscious that Congress must have a variety of important matters which claim their attention, I am loth to trouble them with complaints; but Mr. Phelps’s conduct has been so extraordinary that I beg leave to lay before Congress copy of two letters I have written on the occasion to the Committee of Albany, together with copy of one to him. Copies of the various others alluded to, and copies of the accounts, I have not thought it necessary to trouble you with. The money he received from the Deputy Paymaster-General, or so much as remained in his hands, I have ordered him to pay to Mr. Livingston, as I durst no longer confide in him. In perusing these letters you will perceive an overcharge in the account, of seven hundred and ninety-three pounds, seventeen shillings, and eleven pence half-penny; and in another, one of four hundred and five pounds, five shillings, and seven pence, being the difference between one thousand six hundred and thirty-eight pounds, fifteen shillings, and eight pence, and one thousand two hundred and thirty three pounds, ten shillings, and one penny. The perquisites of office, by contract, when the publick is not charged more than what it would have paid to others, I have taken no notice of, because they are fair.

I am, Sir, with the most cordial sentiments of esteem and respect, your most obedient humble servant,

PHILIP SCHUYLER.

To the Honourable John Hancock, Esq., &c.,

[No. 1.]

Fort George. October 25, 1775.

SIR: I acknowledged the receipt of your favour of 20th instant, enclosing the resolve of Congress respecting the General Hospital, in my last, in which I took the liberty to point out a material deficiency of officers who are indispensably necessary in that department, viz: Senior Surgeons and Apothecaries, a Clerk and Steward. I would make a few more observations, and then beg you will please represent the matter to Congress, who certainly will make provision for such officers, and confirm Mr. Wimple, who I employed as a Senior Surgeon, as well as the Clerk and Steward.

The Surgeons, Apothecaries, and respective Mates, as well as myself, would no doubt, if agreeable to Congress, choose to have commissions—the Clerks and Stewards are officers at pleasure.

Two Seniors and four Mates (exclusive of myself) are as small an hospital as the Army under your command should take the field with; and should there be an engagement it would scarcely be sufficient.

In the resolution of Congress I am limited to four Mates only; and suppose the necessity for more ever so great, I cannot employ them; and even those four are to be dismissed as the numbers of sick and wounded decrease, so as not to require the attendance of the whole, founded, probably on a supposition that the hospital was to be confined to Albany, where Males of an inferior class might be more readily procured in an emergency; for no gentleman of merit would, on such conditions, enter into the service. We had supernumerary Males in the King’s Hospital during the late war; but they were for the most part continued, though not on the establishment, whether there was a multiplicity of business or not; the reason of which appears to be this: because that they were capable Mates, and already acquainted with the hospital service, and is not known how soon there might be a want for them. I must further add, that the pay being so small will not be an encouragement for gentlemen qualified; and unless they can support themselves as such, they certainly will not enter into it.

I should be glad to know the pay allotted to the Seniors, Clerks, and Steward, as soon as convenient, as those in employ are in want of subsistence. The Seniors (Surgeons and Apothecaries) were last war on a footing; so were their Mates, and, as occasion required, did duty indifferently in either capacity.

The a foregoing, Sir, with what further explanation you are capable of giving, from your general knowledge of every military branch, and the readiness I am convinced the Congress are possessed of to make ample provision for the sick of their Armies, will, I hope, place the hospital on the footing required.

I am, Sir, with unfeigned sincerity, your most obedientand very humble servant,

SAMUEL STRINGER.

To Major-General Philip Schuyler.

[No. 2.]

Ticonderoga, November 2, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: I did myself the honour to address you on the 26th ultimo; since which, I am informed that the virulent tongue of scandal has been sporting with my reputation, and that my character is attempted to be injured by imputations equally groundless and wicked, or frivolous: that I have refused to pay persons employed in the publick service by the direction of Mr. Phelps and others. As your respectable body is composed of gentlemen from every part of the County of Albany, 1 cannot stale matters to any others with so much propriety as to you, and therefore entreat your attention.

I might have been justified, if I had refused to pay Mr. Phelps for any expenses incurred by him since the appointment of Mr. Livingston, as after that I could not consider Mr. Phelps any longer in the character in which he had acted until then; but as the honest creditors of the publick ought to be paid, although not employed by the proper officer, I scorned the distinction, acting upon principles which I have the conscious happiness to approve, and which, when known, I trust, will entitle me to the good opinion of you, and all honest men; and such only I wish to stand well with.

On Sunday, the 17th September, I met Mr. Trumbull, the Paymaster-General, on Lake Champlain, on his way to St. John’s. In the same boat was Mr. French, the younger, who, as his business lay only with me, stepped into my boat. Mr. French delivered me a letter from Mr. Phelps, copy of which, (No. 1, ) and a copy of an account which enclosed No. 2, I herewith transmit you. On the 18th, in the afternoon, I arrived at this place. On the 19th, Mr. French called on me for an answer. Sick, and deeply engaged in answering letters from Congress, General Washington, and Governour Trumbull, &;c., I begged him to wait a day or two. On the 20th, at night, I completed my despatches, and on the 21st I delivered him a letter to Mr. Phelps, of which No. 3 is a copy, and verbally recommended to Mr. French to draw out the particulars of his brother’s account, as I could not pay it on so general a charge, which you will perceive, in No. 2, is in one round sum, £1, 638 15s. 8d

About the last day of September or first of October, Mr. Trumbull returned here. He remained here indisposed, and crossed Lake George on the 5th October; and on the 6th I sent Mr. Phelps a warrant for ten thousand Dollars,