up your _last remonstrance_;
for I would no longer give it the sueing, soft, unsuccessful epithet
of memorial. Let it be represented in language that will neither
dishonour you by its rudeness, nor betray you by its fears, what has
been promised by congress, and what has been performed;--how long and
how patiently you have suffered;--how little you have asked, and how
much of that little has been denied. Tell them that, though you were
the first, and would wish to be the last to encounter danger; though
despair itself can never drive you into dishonour, it may drive you
from the field;--that the wound often irritated and never healed, may
at length become incurable; and that the slightest mark of indignity
from congress now must operate like the grave, and part you forever;
that in any political event, the army has its alternative. If peace,
that nothing shall separate you from your arms but death; if war, that
courting the auspices, and inviting the directions of your illustrious
leader, you will retire to some unsettled country, smile in your turn,
and 'mock when their fear cometh on.' But let it represent also that,
should they comply with the request of your late memorial, it would
make you more happy and them more respectable. That while war should
continue you would follow their standard into the field; and when it
came to an end, you would withdraw into the shade of private life, and
give the world another subject of wonder and applause;--an army
victorious over its enemies, victorious over itself."

Persuaded as the officers in general were of the indisposition of
government to remunerate their services, this eloquent and impassioned
address, dictated by genius and by feeling, found in almost every
bosom a kindred though latent sentiment prepared to receive its
impression. Quick as the train to which a torch is applied, the
passions caught its flame, and nothing seemed to be required but the
assemblage proposed for the succeeding day, to communicate the
conflagration to the combustible mass, and to produce an explosion
ruinous to the army and to the nation.

Fortunately, the Commander-in-chief was in camp. His characteristic
firmness and decision did not forsake him in this crisis. The occasion
required that his measures should be firm, but prudent and
conciliatory,--evincive of his fixed determination to oppose any rash
proceedings, but calculated to assuage the irritation which was
excited, and to restore c