so intolerable a degree that I was obliged to stop, and may not
get away for a day or two." Again, on the eighteenth: "I am better, and
partly free from the excruciating pain I suffered; but still so weak
that I can scarce bear motion." He lay helpless at Shippensburg till
September was well advanced. On the second he says: "I really cannot
describe how I have suffered both in body and mind of late, and the
relapses have been worse as the disappointment was greater;" and on the
fourth, still writing to Bouquet, who in the camp at Raystown was
struggling with many tribulations: "I am sorry you have met with so many
cross accidents to vex you, and have such a parcel of scoundrels as the
provincials to work with; _mais le vin est tire_, and you must drop a
little of the gentleman and treat them as they deserve. Seal and send
off the enclosed despatch to Sir John by some sure hand. He is a very
odd man, and I am sorry it has been my fate to have any concern with
him. I am afraid our army will not admit of division, lest one half meet
with a check; therefore I would consult Colonel Washington, though
perhaps not follow his advice, as his behavior about the roads was
noways like a soldier. I thank my good cousin for his letter, and have
only to say that I have all my life been subject to err; but I now
reform, as I go to bed at eight at night, if able to sit up so late."

Nobody can read the letters of Washington at this time without feeling
that the imputations of Forbes were unjust, and that here, as elsewhere,
his ruling motive was the public good.[649] Forbes himself, seeing the
rugged and difficult nature of the country, began to doubt whether after
all he had not better have chosen the old road of Braddock. He soon had
an interview with its chief advocates, the two Virginia colonels,
Washington and Burd, and reported the result to Bouquet, adding: "I told
them that, whatever they thought, I had acted on the best information to
be had, and could safely say for myself, and believed I might answer for
you, that the good of the service was all we had at heart, not valuing
provincial interest, jealousies, or suspicions on single twopence." It
must be owned that, considering the slow and sure mode of advance which
he had wisely adopted, the old soldier was probably right in his choice;
since before the army could reach Fort Duquesne, the autumnal floods
would have made the Youghiogany and the Monongahela impassable.

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