on published in Paris, and signed by the American
commissioners, announcing the exchange of ratifications of the
preliminary articles between Great Britain and France, was received;
and on the 19th of that month, the cessation[15] of hostilities was
proclaimed.

[Footnote 15: See note, No. I. at the end of the volume.]

[Sidenote: Measures for disbanding the army.]

The attention of congress might now be safely turned to the reduction
of the army. This, in the empty state of the treasury, was a critical
operation. In addition to the anxieties which the officers would
naturally feel respecting their provision for the future, which of
necessity remained unsecured, large arrears of pay were due to them,
the immediate receipt of part of which was required by the most urgent
wants. To disband an army to which the government was greatly
indebted, without furnishing the individuals who composed it with the
means of conveyance to their respective homes, was a perilous measure;
and congress was unable to advance the pay of a single month.

Although eight millions had been required for the year 1782, the
payments into the public treasury had amounted to only four hundred
and twenty thousand and thirty-one dollars, and twenty-nine
ninetieths; and the foreign loans had not been sufficient to defray
expenses it was impossible to avoid, at the close of that year, the
expenditures of the superintendent of the finances had exceeded his
receipts four hundred and four thousand seven hundred and thirteen
dollars and nine ninetieths; and the excess continued to increase
rapidly.

Congress urged the states to comply so far with the requisitions as to
enable the superintendent of the finances to advance a part of the
arrears due to the soldiers; but, as the foreign danger diminished,
they became still less attentive to these demands; and the financier
was under the necessity of making farther anticipations of the
revenue. Measures were taken to advance three months pay in his notes;
but, before they could be prepared, orders were issued for complying
with a resolution of Congress for granting unlimited furloughs to the
non-commissioned officers and privates who were engaged to serve
during the war. These orders produced a serious alarm. The generals,
and officers commanding regiments and corps cantoned on the Hudson,
assembled, and presented an address to the Commander-in-chief, in
which the most ardent affection to his person, an