king of trying 'to bring on the
inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages.'
Four days after this public accusation the Congress gave
orders for raising Indians along 'the Penobscot, the St
John, and in Nova Scotia'; and an entry to that effect
was made in its Secret Journal. Yet, before the month
was out, the same Congress publicly appealed to 'The
People of Ireland' in the following words: 'The wild and
barbarous savages of the wilderness have been solicited
by gifts to take up the hatchet against us, and instigated
to deluge our settlements with the blood of defenceless
women and children.'

The American defeats at Quebec and at the Cedars completely
changed the position of the two remaining commissioners.
They had expected to control a victorious advance. They
found themselves the highest authority present with a
disastrous retreat. Thereupon they made blunder after
blunder. Public interest and parliamentary control are
the very life of armies and navies in every country which
enjoys the blessings of self-government. But civilian
interference is death. Yet Chase and Carroll practically
abolished rank in the disintegrating army by becoming an
open court of appeal to every junior with a grievance or
a plan. There never was an occasion on which military
rule was more essential in military matters. Yet, though
they candidly admitted that they had 'neither abilities
nor inclination' to command, these wretched misrulers
tried to do their duty both to the Congress and the army
by turning the camp into a sort of town meeting where
the best orders had no chance whatever against the loudest
'sentiments.' They had themselves found the root of all
evil in the retreat from Quebec. Their army, like every
impartial critic, found it in 'the Commissioners and the
smallpox'--with the commissioners easily first. The
smallpox had been bad enough at Quebec. It became far
worse at Sorel. There were few doctors, fewer medicines,
and not a single hospital. The reinforcements melted away
with the army they were meant to strengthen. Famine
threatened both, even in May. Finally the commissioners
left for home at the end of the month. But even their
departure could no longer make the army's burden light
enough to bear.

Thomas, the ex-apothecary, who did his best to stem the
adverse tide of trouble, caught the smallpox, became
blind, and died at the beginning of June. Sullivan, the
fourth commander in less than half a