to succeed you, it is a matter entirely with General Ward. His Excellency desires and empowers him to make appointments of such as he thought would answer the publick good.

To Major John G. Frazer, Assistant Deputy Quartermaster-General.

TO BRIGADIER-GENERAL SULLIVAN.

We, the subscribers, Colonels of the Regiments in your Honour’s Brigade, beg liberty to show, that the love of freedom, founded upon rational principles, and an abhorrence of the measures of Administration in Great Britain tending to involve these Colonies in the worst of slavery, were our principal motives for engaging in the present service. We wish to answer the end for which we were appointed.

We are fully persuaded that nothing can be more pleasing to his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, or more conducive to a successful campaign, than due subordination, and an exact discipline in the Army; but these cannot exist where rank is unequally supported. We humbly conceive that the provision made for the support of Field-Officers is very inadequate to that of any other. The rations are nominally generous; and was the allowance in money equal to the real prices we are obliged to pay for the articles of living, we could not complain on that head; but, in truth, the whole amount of ration-money will not defray the expenses of horse-keeping. The wages added to the rations, will not support us with decency; yet we have families at home, whom humanity and the sacred mandates of Heaven excite us to regard, and whom we cannot involve in ruin and misery. It is true we can march with packs, in common with private soldiers; we can lodge upon the ground in our blankets, and furnish a table, spread under the open canopy, with meat, bread, and water; in short, we must divest ourselves of the character of gentlemen, and dishonour the rank we sustain. Frugality, founded upon a prudent economy, is eligible in all Governments; but frugality, the basis whereof is parsimony, will ever defeat the very designs of Government.

We are willing, in common with our countrymen, to share the burdens of war; but we cannot investigate the reason why we should be greater sufferers than others, unless it is because we are continually exposed to hardships, fatigue, and danger.

We labour under several disadvantages; which are, our being obliged to the Quartermaster-General for articles of clothing, when the risk of deaths, desertions, &c., may involve us in debts, (without receiving any consideration but the trouble of business that does not belong to our Department,) which will render us bankrupts to the Continent, unless we can receive some kind of indemnity. Upon the whole, we are not desirous of reaping any particular advantages from the distressed situation of our injured country; we expect to feel a part in all its calamities; but are anxious to be considered as officers, supporting the character of gentlemen.

Should our complaints appear real, we doubt not but your Honour’s wisdom, prudence, and justice, will excite you to make such representations to the Commander-in-Chief as will obtain redress.

We are, sir, in due respect, your most obedient, humble servants,

New-York, April 25, 1776.

TO BRIGADIER-GENERAL SPENCER.

We, the subscribers, Colonels of the Regiments in your Honour’s Brigade, beg liberty to show, that the love of freedom, founded upon rational principles, and an abhorrence of the measures of Administration in Great Britain tending to involve these Colonies in the worst of slavery, were our principal motives for engaging in the present service. We wish to answer the end for which we were appointed.

We are fully persuaded that nothing can be more pleasing to his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, or more conducive to a successful campaign, than due subordination and an exact discipline in the Army; but these cannot exist where rank is unequally supported. We humbly conceive that the provision made for the support of Field-Officers is very inadequate to that of any other. The rations are nominally generous; and was the allowance in money equal to the real prices we are obliged to pay for the articles of living, we could not complain on that head; but, in truth, the whole amount of ration-money will not defray the expenses of horse-keeping. The wages added to the rations, will not support us with decency; yet we have families at home, whom humanity and the sacred mandates of Heaven excite us to regard, and whom we cannot involve in ruin and misery. It is true, we can march with packs, in common with private soldiers; we can lodge upon the ground in our blankets, and furnish a table spread under the open canopy, with meat, bread, and water; in short, we must divest ourselves of the character of gentlemen, and dishonour the rank we sustain. Frugality, founded upon a prudent economy, is eligible in all Governments; but frugality, the basis whereof is parsimony, will ever defeat the very designs of Government.

We are willing, in common with our countrymen, to share the burdens of war; but we cannot investigate the reason why we should be greater sufferers than others, unless it is because we are continually exposed to fatigue, hardships, and danger.

We labour under several disadvantages; which are, our being obliged to the Quartermaster-General for articles of clothing, when the risk of deaths, desertions, &c., may involve us in debts, and being obliged to become Paymasters to our Regiments, (without receiving any consideration but the trouble of business that does not belong to our Department,) which will render us bankrupts to the Continent, unless we can receive some kind of indemnity. Upon the whole, we are not desirous of reaping any particular advantages from the distressed situation of our injured country; we expect to feel a part in all its calamities; but are anxious to be considered as officers, supporting the character of gentlemen.

Should our complaints appear real, we doubt not but your Honour’s wisdom, prudence, and justice, will excite you to make such representations to the Commander-in-Chief as will obtain redress.

We are, sir, in due respect, your most obedient, humble servants,

New-York, April 25, 1776.

NEW-YORK COMMITTEE OF SAFETY TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

SIR: The polite sensibility with which you have been pleased to treat our attention to your requisition of the 17th instant, affords us singular pleasure.

Convinced with you that there can be little doubt that things will go well under a harmonious co-operation of the civil and military powers, permit us once more, sir, to assure you of our most vigorous exertions in seconding your efforts in the common cause.

We wish it were in our power immediately to inform you in what time a body of two thousand or two thousand five hundred Militia might be collected from this Colony, for actual service on a sudden emergency. Although we do not at present foresee that emergency, it may, nevertheless, happen. It is, therefore, our indispensable duty to be provided with a plan for calling them in with the utmost despatch, well equipped, and without disorder; and this we are fully convinced cannot be effected without a preconcerted plan. To this end, we would request an explanation, whether you would wish the proposed aid should exclude or include the Militia of this city? As soon, sir, as we are favoured with an explanation on this head, we shall lose no time in forming an arrangement for so important a service. We flatter ourselves, however, that in either case the required number will, upon such steps as we shall take, be ready at a very short warning; and lest necessity should require the aid in any small interval of adjournment of this Committee, we shall