of recollecting what had been said, and which he acknowledges contains the substance of what passed between us.

By your Excellency’s instructions to General Gates, he is empowered to appoint a Quartermaster-General in Canada. I observed this morning that I believed it was founded on a supposition that Colonel Campbell was then about quitting Canada, for that I could not imagine that an officer being “ordered to Congress to settle his accounts,” deprived him of his employments; that Colonel Campbell was originally appointed to this department; and Canada now being made a separate one, and the command of it given to General Gates, he could, under the powers he had, appoint whom he pleased to act there; but that, unfortunately for us, the evacuation of that country by our troops had taken place, and that I must and should consider Colonel Campbell as the Deputy Quartermaster-General on this side of Canada.

If Congress intended that General Gates should command the Northern Army wherever it might be, as he assures me they did, it ought to have been signified to me, and I should then have immediately resigned the command to him; but until such intention is properly conveyed to me I never can. I must, therefore, entreat your Excellency to lay this letter before Congress, that they may clearly and explicitly signify their intentions, to avert the dangers and evils that may arise from a disputed command; for after what General Gates has said, the line must be clearly drawn, as I shall, until then, stand upon punctilios with General Gates, that I would otherwise with pleasure waive. But that the service may not be retarded nor suffer the least from the difference in opinion between General Gates and me, I have determined to remain here, although I had, before this affair came to light, mentioned to him my intentions of going up with him. As both General Gates and myself mean to be candid, and wish to have the matter settled without any of that chicane which would disgrace us as officers and men, we have agreed to speak plain and show each other what we have written to you upon the occasion; and he has accordingly read the whole of what I have above said.

Since writing the above, General Gates has shown me the resolutions of Congress of the 17th instant, which confirm me in the opinion I have entertained, that he was only to command the Army in Canada, and that I had no control upon him when there.

Your Excellency may be assured of my best exertions to prevent the enemy from penetrating into the Colonies. General Gates is in sentiment with me on the mode, that of increasing our naval strength, and fortifying some advantageous spot on the east side of Lake Champlain, either opposite to Ticonderoga or between that and Crown Point. Part of the Militia from the Colony is marched up; none of the others are yet moved; their tardiness will greatly distress us, as we have much, very much, to do with it.

The cannon sent up by Colonel Knox arrived yesterday; and although the Indians have deferred the treaty to the middle of this month, yet I have thought it advisable to take post at Fort Stanwix; and all the stores arc moving from here to-day, and will, I hope, leave Schenectady on Wednesday morning. The Commissioners of Indian Affairs have prepared a message to the Six Nations, giving the reasons why we take post at Fort Stanwix; this will, however, not be sent until everything is so far advanced that there may be no danger in communicating to them my intentions.

Should the enemy advance and we be under the necessity of calling forth the Militia nearest us, we shall be at a Joss for ball and buckshot; I wish, therefore, to have twenty-five rounds apiece for ten thousand men, sent up the soonest possible if it can anywhere be procured, with a proportionate quantity of cartridge-paper, and two tons of oakum. If any cutlasses, stink-pots, and hand-grenades, can be got, I beg they may also be sent for the use of our armed vessels.

One hundred thousand of the dollars brought up by General Gates are ordered to the Army; better than half of the other are already expended; nor will any be left in two or three days. Mr. Duane informed me, and gave me leave to make use of his name, that the five hundred thousand voted by Congress the 22d of May for this department were actually charged, and he fears they may have met with some accident on the way up. I have ordered the silver to be kept in chest, except about three thousand pounds which we borrowed here, and must now be repaid.

Four o’clock P. M.—I am this moment favoured with your Excellency’s letter of the 27th ultimo, enclosing copy of a resolution of Congress of the 24th. I have immediately an opportunity of forwarding copies thereof to Governour Trumbull and Mr. Edwards. The latter has already received one month’s advance wages for the Stockbridge company, and which suppose is by this time paid to them, as he informed me that they were to be here on Wednesday or Thursday next. I am afraid it will give great umbrage if they are immediately discharged; but as the order is positive, I dare not presume to defer complying with it. I shall, however, request Mr. Edwards to do it in a manner that will give the least offence. I wish Colonel Francis and Colonel Walcott were immediately ordered up to attend the conference at the German Flats, on the 15th instant, as I propose going to Crown Point to-morrow, having, upon further consultation with General Gates and General Arnold, since writing the foregoing, determined upon it; and this journey may detain me so long as to prevent my attendance, in which case there will be only two Commissioners present.

I am, dear General, most respectfully, your obedient and humble servant,

PHILIP SCHUYLER.

To General Washington.

Albany, June 30, 1776.

In a conversation with General Gates, in the presence of Walter Livingston, Esq., General Gates observed that Mr. Lewis had intimated to him, as what he had from Colonel Trumbull, that he might as well return to New-York, as General Gates could not provide for him agreeable to expectation, because the Army having quitted Canada, it was now under the command of General Schuyler. General Gates declared that Colonel Campbell being ordered to Congress to settle his accounts, he should appoint Mr. Lewis as Deputy Quartermaster-General. General Schuyler answered, that if Colonel Campbell quitted the department, he should willingly appoint any person General Gates thought proper; but that the Army being now out of Canada, he conceived that it was under his command, and he could suffer no appointment to be made by General Gates. General Gates conceived the contrary; upon which General Schuyler observed that he meant to be clear and explicit on a point of such importance, and declared that he conceived the Army to be altogether under his command when on this side of Canada, subject, however, to the control of General Washington; that in his absence, General Gates commanded the Army in the same manner as General Sullivan did now, and only as eldest officer, who acknowledged that General Schuyler’s commands were binding on him, which he instanced in General Sullivan’s last letter; and pointedly observed, that if he was with the Army, (which he always would be when his health or other indispensable publick business did not call him from it,) and ordered it to remove from one place to another, that he expected to be obeyed; that upon any sudden emergency, the officer with, and commanding the Army, had a right to exercise his judgment and take measures accordingly, for which, however, he was obnoxious to the censure or praise of the commander of the department; that if Congress meant that General Gates should command the Army in this department, and would resolve so, that he. should most readily acquiesce, but that they could not after that imagine he would remain in it; that they had certainly a right to make what arrangements they thought proper; that he was a creature of theirs, and they had a right to move him wherever they pleased; but they could not put him under the command of a younger officer, nor oblige him to be a suicide and stab his own honour; that he frankly confessed General Gates’s superior military qualifications; that he would always advise with him and his other brother Generals; and that if he was superseded, it would give him great pleasure to be superseded by a gentleman of General Gates’s character and reputation.

Both General Gates and General Schuyler declared they would lay the matter before Congress, to prevent any evil consequence from a disputed command in a critical moment; that for the present they would co-operate, that no evil might result to the service; and that each should write to Congress to determine the matter.