by the Committee of Albany, previous to my taking the command; and I could not, without the spirit of divination, know what money, or whether any, had been advanced them by that respectable body, as I was not possessed of their accounts.

A considerable number of Mr. Bratt’s party were discharged in my absence; these, therefore, I could not possibly pay. When Mr. Bratt left this, I gave him, unasked, £150; because, as I observe to him, killing time was approaching, and the carpenters might want some money before I could reach Albany. I dare say Mr. Bratt will do me the justice to acknowledge this.

I am also charged with refusing to let some of them return home when they applied for it, and that I kept them contrary to their inclinations. This charge I frankly avow to be well founded; but, gentlemen, if the Army had not been able to proceed, or if, after having proceeded, it had been under the necessity of returning for want of provisions, which could only be carried in boats, would you or any other of my judicious countrymen have allowed it as a sufficient excuse, if I had said the carpenters wanted to go home, and I would not prevent them, lest I should give offence. I have the fullest confidence, gentlemen, that no such excuse would be taken; and, consequently, I shall be justified in this. And indeed, gentlemen, that I have had a hard, a very hard task to procure a sufficiency of craft for both purposes, I can bring a variety of gentlemen to attest.

I am also charged with giving them but barely time to eat their victuals, and setting them to work at sunrise, and obliging them to work till sunset. Here, too, so far as it relates to that period previous to my departure hence with the Army, I also plead guilty. I reached this the 18th July, and, except thirteen or fourteen batteaus that were built at Fort George, not one earthly thing was prepared. I had saw-mills to repair, timber and every other individual thing to procure, gun-carriages to build, vessels of force to construct—the season far advanced, and had orders to penetrate into Canada with an Army. In this situation, under the sanguine expectations of all the Continent, let those that find fault with my conduct in this instance conceive themselves in my situation, and reflect coolly on what would have been their duty in such a case, as I trust that they would justify me without the least hesitation.

I am not so totally ignorant of mankind as not to know that the character of every man sustaining a publick office becomes the subject of general animadversion. In a free Country it ought not to be otherwise. It is, however, a duty every man owes to himself to justify his conduct, that the envious, whose food is venom and detraction, and who are continually spewing out poison, may not mislead the honest, the ignorant, and the unwary. I hope I have succeeded in this.

I have, gentlemen, detained you long, and trespassed much upon your patience, for which I have to entreat your pardon. I hope I have made good my assertion, that the imputations were “equally groundless and wicked, or frivolous.” If you are of the same opinion, you will be so good as to do me the justice to contradict the reports in any manner you may think proper. If your opinion should not coincide with mine, your justice and your candour will induce you to let me know in what particulars; and if I cannot gainsay it, I shall penitentially kiss the rod, being ever willing to abide by the judgments of so respectable a body.

I am, Gentlemen, with sentiments of esteem and respect, your most obedient humble servant,

PHILIP SCHUYLER.

To the Committee of Albany.

P. S. ASI mean to be frank with all men, I write Mr. Phelps by this opportunity. I have taken the liberty to enclose him a copy of this letter.

[No. 3]

Ticonderoga, November 7, 1775.

SIR: Your letter of the 31st October, with the accounts it enclosed, was delivered me on the 5th instant, by Mr. French.

You say you have examined Mr. French’s account, which you now send me, and find nothing in it but what is fair and reasonable. I have also examined it, and believe it to be just; and in the enclosed state you will perceive that, after every charge is made, with the addition of £27 for transporting baggage for the troops under Colonel Ritzema, his whole account, up to the 11th September, inclusive, amounts to no more than £1,233 10s. 1d. Why, then, did you charge in your account Mr. French’s bill for provisions, boating, and wagons, £1, 638 15s. 8d., the particulars of which were then in your possession, as Mr. French has here frankly acknowledged, in the presence of three gentlemen; and, indeed, that you knew the exact quantity of provisions he had forwarded, I had sufficient proof of before, from under your own hand, of which I have convinced Mr. French.

I know that it is difficult to ascertain the loads of baggage that have been rid; it is not even necessary, except in the accounts; but why, out of the money which I have given you, have you not paid such wagoners as produced their certificates? Does my warrant express that it was for any particular payments ? Had I any more than your first general account when I gave that warrant? Did not that warrant reach Albany about the very time, or even before you arrived at this place with the particulars of your account; and did not I tell you here, that the baggage wagons should have twelve shillings per day? You know I did, and in the presence of gentlemen who recollect it.

You say, when you drew up the first stating of your accounts, they were in a manner incorrect and uncertain. It is as evident as that two and two is four, from the very face of the first account, that you had the bills for the articles purchased, as also those for freight, and those for keeping the sick. I have already observed that you had Mr. French’s, and that I can prove it; and I have it from under your own hand, that you knew, at the very time you made that account, the exact number of carriages that had carried provisions to Fort George, as well those charged in Mr. French’s account as part of the £1, 638 15s. 8d., as those charged in your account to the amount of £2, 635 10s.; and the remaining articles were of trifling amount.

You go on, Sir, and say “you made an accurate cast of the wagons and ox teams employed to carry provisions to the lake, which, if you remember right, was about three hundred wagons and fifty ox teams; and, from the best accounts you had, you thought the baggage wagons might amount to as much more, and about twenty ox teams,” for which reason you included them; this is not only a curious, but a very extraordinary assertion. You made an accurate cast. Here you confess that you had it in your power to know exactly what provisions went, and you thought the baggage wagons might amount to about three hundred, and about twenty ox carts. This would be a round sum, nothing less than £1190, if they had not been detained one day. But you knew, Sir, that Mr. French had charged for carrying up Colonel Waterbury’s corps, which consisted of one thousand men, complete, and that it amounted only to £106 2s., including £33 18s. for carrying the provisions Colonel Waterbury had with him. You are then, Sir, a most wretched calculator to suppose that the other troops that were sent up previous to the 11th September, and which you will find, on examination, not to exceed fifteen hundred men, at most, should have amounted to such a sum.

But, Sir, the assertion is not true, that you made a charge of baggage wagons in the first six hundred and five, for these reasons:

First. Because you confess you have no account of them, and these six hundred and five wagons were charged as per receipts.

Secondly. Because I can prove, from under your own hand, by your own returns, that you had forwarded provisions to that amount, including what you delivered to Mr. French; and that you included all that in your account, although you knew that Mr. French had charged it in his.

And lastly. Because you here confessed, in the presence of Mr. Bedford, the Muster-Master General, Captain Bucll, and Captain Varick, that you were convinced there was an overcharge, but did not know how it happened; protesting then that you were innocent of any intentional fraud, which, for your sake, I hope that you will fix on the persons that were.

The other trifling charges which you mention to have