liberty, also, of informing you, that I shall consider your silence as a confirmation of the truth of the report, and further assuring you, that whatever treatment Colonel Allen receives, whatever fate he undergoes, such exactly shall be the treatment and fate of Brigadier Prescott, now in our hands. The law of retaliation is not only justifiable in the eyes of God and man, but absolutely a duty which, in our present circumstances, we owe to our relatives, friends, and fellow-citizens. Permit me to add, sir, that we have all here the highest regard and reverence for your great personal qualities and attainments, and that the Americans in general esteem it not as the least of their misfortunes, that the name of Howe—a name so dear to them, should appear at the head of the catalogue of the instruments employed by a wicked Ministry for their destruction.

With due respect, I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

To General Howe.

P. S. If an exchange of prisoners, taken on each side in this unnatural contest, is agreeable to General Howe, he will please to signify as much to his most obedient servant,

G. W.

GENERAL WASHINGTON TO GENERAL SCHUYLER.

Cambridge, December 18, 1775.

DEAR SIR: Your favours, the first of the 28th ultimo, and the two last of the 9th instant, with their enclosures, I received. I am happy to hear of your being better, and heartily wish that you may soon be perfectly recovered from your indisposition.

I should have been very glad if Mr. Carleton had not made his escape. I trust, ere long, he will be in our hands, as I think we shall get possession of Quebeck, from whence he will not easily get away. I am much concerned for Mr. Allen, and that he should be treated with such severity. I beg that you will have the matter and manner of his treatment strictly inquired into, and transmit me an account of the same; and whether General Prescott was active and instrumental in occasioning it. From your letter, and General Montgomery's to you, I am led to think he was. If so, he is deserving of our particular notice, and should experience some marks of our resentment for his cruelty to these gentlemen, and his violation of the rights of humanity. As some of the prisoners have attempted to escape, I doubt not of your giving necessary orders that they may be prevented. It is a matter that should be attended to.

In a letter from the Rev. Doctor Wheelock, of Dartmouth College, of the second instant, I had the following intelligence:

"That the day before, two soldiers returning from Montreal, informed him that our officers were assured by a Frenchman (a Captain of the artillery whom they had taken captive) that Major Rogers was second in command under General Carleton, and that he had been in an Indian habit through our encampment at St. John's; and had given a plan of them to the Generals, and supposed that he made his escape with the Indians that were at St. John's."

You will be pleased to have this report examined into, and acquaint me as to the authenticity or probability of the truth of it. If any circumstances can be discovered to induce a belief that lie was there, he should be apprehended. He is now in this Government.

The Congress have sent me several accounts against the rifle companies, one of which is against Captain Morgan, which I enclose you, and desire that it may be transmitted to Colonel Arnold, who will have proper steps taken for the payment of it, as Captain Morgan is with him.

I flatter myself that your next favour will give me an account of General Montgomery's joining Colonel Arnold, and that Quebeck is, or soon will be, reduced to our possession. Should our arms be crowned with much success, to me it appears that Administration will be much embarrassed, and stand in a very disagreeable predicament.

I am, &c.,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

To Major-General Schuyler.

GENERAL GREENE TO HENRY WARD.

Prospect-Hill, December 18, 1775.

The army is filling up slowly; I think the prospect is better than it has been. Recruits come in out of the country plentifully, and the soldiers in the army begin to show a better disposition, and to recruit cheerfully.

Your observation is exceedingly just. This is no time for disgusting the soldiery, when their aid is so essential to the preservation of the rights of human nature, and the liberties of America. His Excellency is a great and good man; I feel the highest degree of respect for him. I wish him immortal honour. I think myself happy in an opportunity to serve under so good a General. My happiness will be still greater if fortune gives me an opportunity in some signal instance to contribute to his glory and my country s good.

But his Excellency, as you observe, has not had time to make himself acquainted with the genius of this people; they are naturally as brave and spirited as the peasantry of any other country, but you cannot expect veterans of a raw militia from only a few months' service. The common people are exceedingly avaricious; the genius of the people is Commercial, from their long intercourse with trade. The sentiment of honour, the true characteristick of a soldier, has not yet got the better of interest. His Excellency has been taught to believe the people here a superior race of mortals; and finding them of the same temper and dispositions, passions and prejudices, virtues and vices of the common people of other Governments, they sink in his esteem. The country round here set no bounds to their demand for hay, wood, and teaming. It has given his Excellency a great deal of uneasiness that they should take this opportunity to extort from the necessities of the army such enormous prices. The General has often expressed to me his uneasiness about the expenses; they so far exceed the expectations of Congress. He is afraid they will sink under the weight of such charges. Economy is undoubtedly essential in this dispute; there should be no wanton waste of publick property; but if you starve the cause, you protract the dispute.

If the Congress wish to put the finishing stroke to this war, they must exert their whole force at once—give every measure an air of decision. I pray God we may not lose the critical moment. Human affairs are ever like the tide, constantly on the ebb and flow. Our preparations in in all parts of the United Colonies ought to be so great as to leave no room to doubt our intentions to support the cause and obtain our conditions. This will draw in the weak and wavering, and give such a turn to the minds of people, that small shocks shall not be seriously felt in the general plan of operations. Your proclamation, in answer to that of the King's of August last, is glorious, is noble; was it unanimous, or only the voice of a small majority? The papers announce to you the much greater part of the military operations here.

From the best accounts we can get out of Boston, they are prodigiously distressed. It begins to be very sickly; the scurvy discovers itself; the small-pox prevails; and General Howe is inoculating all the soldiery who have never had it. I think they cannot hold out the winter through, though we were to leave them, unmolested, which God grant we may not.

It is reported that Quebeck is taken. General Montgomery and Colonel Arnold will acquire immortal honour. Oh, that we had plenty of powder; I should then hope to see something done here for the honour of America.

Our barracks are almost completed. Blankets and clothing will be very much wanted, notwithstanding your supply from Congress. The Connecticut troops are gone home; the militia from this Province and New-Hampshire are come in to take their places. Upon this occasion, they have discovered a zeal that does them the highest honour. New-Hampshire behaves nobly.

LAND BOUNTY TO HIGHLAND EMIGRANTS.

Head-Quarters, Boston, December 18, 1775.

The bearer hereof, Duncan McArthur, having voluntarily engaged to serve His Majesty in the Royal Regiment of Highland Emigrants, (raised and established for the just and loyal purpose of opposing, quelling, and suppressing the present most unnatural, unprovoked, and wanton rebellion,) conformable to the orders and directions of his Excellency the Commander-in-chief, and agreeable to His Majesty's most gracious intentions, signified by the Earl of