Son to believe the there will be occasion for troops another year, and, consequently, of another inlistment, they would save money, and have infinitely better troops if they were, even at a bounty of twenty, thirty, or more dollars, to engage the men already inlisted, (till January next,) and such others as may be wanted to complete to the establishment, for and during the war. I will not undertake to say that the men can be had upon these terms, but I am satisfied that it will never do to let the matter alone as it was last year, till the time of service was near expiring. The hazard is too great in the first place; in the next, the trouble and perplexity of disbanding one army, and raising another at the same instant, and in such a critical situation as the last was, is scarcely in the power of words to describe, and such as no man, who has experienced it once, will ever undergo again. If Congress should differ from me in sentiment upon this point, I have only to beg that they will do me the justice to believe, that I have nothing more in view than what to me appears necessary to advance the publick weal, although, in the first instance, it will be attended with a capital expense, and that I have the honour to be, will all due deference and respect, their and your most obedient and faithful, humble servant,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

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

General Return of the Army of the UNITED COLONIES, commanded by His Excellency GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq., General and Commander-in-chief, Head-Quarters at CAMBRIDGE, FEBRUARY 4, 1776.

HORATIO GATES, Adjutant-General.

Return of the Regiment of Artillery in the service of the UNITED COLONIES, commanded by HENRY KNOX, Esq., FEBRUARY 4, 1776.

HORATIO GATES, Adjutant-General.

GENERAL ORDERS

Head Quarters, Cambridge, February 1, 1776.

Head Quarters, Cambridge, February 2, 1776.

Head Quarters, Cambridge, February 3, 1776.

Lieutenant Dustin, of Captain Farrington's Company, in the Sixteenth Regiment of Foot, tried at a General Court-Martial, whereof colonel Patterson was President, for cowardice, on the 7th January last, when on command with a detachment sent towards Bunker's Hill is unanimously approves of the proceedings, and orders Lieutenant Dustin to be released from his arrest.

The General Court-Martial, whereof Colonel Patterson was President, is dissolved.

All arms purchased by the Officers sent upon the duty are to be first delivered to Mr. Commissary Cheever, for inspection, who is to report their number and goodness to the General, before they are delivered out of his store.

Head Quarters, Cambridge, February 4, 1776.

The Colonel of each Regiment to make a return on Tuesday, at Orderly time, of the number of arms wanting to complete the men now in his Regiment, and to signify the method which appears to him most likely to procure them.

General Putnam, General Sullivan, and General Greene, with the Colonels of their Brigades, to attend at Head-Quarters to-morrow, in the forenoon, to receive commissions for their Officers.

Head-Quarters, Cambridge, February 5, 1776.

The Colonels upon the old establishment will, this day and to-morrow, receive the warrants for their pay abstracts,