In the commissary department the same distress was experienced.
General Washington was driven to the necessity of emptying the
magazines at West Point, and of foraging on a people whose means of
subsisting themselves were already nearly exhausted by the armies on
both sides. The inadequate supplies drawn from these sources afforded
but a short relief; and, once more, at a time when the public
imagination was contemplating brilliant plans, the execution of which
required steady courage with persevering labour, and consequently
ample magazines, the army was frequently reduced to the last extremity
by the want of food.

So great were the embarrassments produced by the difficulty of
procuring subsistence that, although the second division of the fleet
from Brest was daily expected, General Washington found it necessary
to countermand the orders under which the militia were marching to
camp.

Such was the state of preparation for the campaign, when intelligence
was brought by the Alliance frigate that the port of Brest was
blockaded. In the hope, however, that the combined fleets of France
and Spain would be able to raise the blockade, General Washington
adhered steadily to his purpose respecting New York, and continued his
exertions to provide the means for its execution. The details of the
plan of co-operation continued to be the subject of a correspondence
with the Count de Rochambeau, and the Chevalier de Tunay; and, at
length, a personal interview was agreed upon, to take place on the
21st of September, at Hartford, in Connecticut.

[Sidenote: Enterprise against New York relinquished.]

In this interview, ulterior eventual measures, as well as an explicit
and detailed arrangement for acting against New York, were the
subjects of consideration. No one of the plans, however, then
concerted for the present campaign, was carried into execution. All,
except an invasion of Canada, depended on a superiority at sea, which
was soon rendered almost hopeless by certain information that the
Count de Guichen had sailed for Europe.

[Sidenote: Naval superiority of the British.]

Not long after receiving this information, Admiral Rodney arrived at
New York with eleven ships of the line and four frigates. This
reinforcement not only disconcerted all the plans of the allies, but
put it in the power of the British to prosecute in security their
designs in the south.

[Sidenote: Plans for the campaign abandoned.]

It may well