in one from New Jersey, to insult
the General," and a little later the Congress passed a "resolve which,"
according to James Lovell, "was meant to rap a Demi G--over the knuckles."
Nor was it by commission, but as well by omission, that they showed their
ill feeling. John Laurens told his father that

"there is a conduct observed towards" the General "by certain great men,
which as it is humiliating, must abate his happiness.... The Commander in
Chief of this army is not sufficiently informed of all that is known by
Congress of European affairs. Is it not a galling circumstance, for him to
collect the most important intelligence piecemeal, and as they choose to
give it, from gentlemen who come from York? Apart from the chagrin which
he must necessarily feel at such an appearance of slight, it should be
considered that in order to settle his plan of operations for the ensuing
campaign, he should take into view the present state of European affairs,
and Congress should not leave him in the dark."

Furthermore, as already noted, Washington was criticised for his Fabian
policy, and in his indignation he wrote to Congress, "I am informed that
it is a matter of amazement, and that reflections have been thrown out
against this army, for not being more active and enterprising than, in the
opinion of some, they ought to have been. If the charge is just, the best
way to account for it will be to refer you to the returns of our strength,
and those which I can produce of the enemy, and to the enclosed abstract
of the clothing now actually wanting for the army." "I can assure those
gentlemen," he said, in reply to political criticism, "that it is a much
easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable
room by a good fireside, than to occupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep
under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets."

The ill feeling did not end with insults. With the defeats of the years
1776 and 1777 it gathered force, and towards the end of the latter year it
crystallized in what has been known in history as the Conway Cabal. The
story of this conspiracy is so involved in shadow that little is known
concerning its adherents or its endeavors. But in a general way it has
been discovered that the New England delegates again sought the aid of the
Lee faction in Virginia, and that this coalition, with the aid of such
votes as they could obtain, schemed several methods which should lessen
the influence