Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO LUND WASHINGTON. [EXTRACT.] - The Writings of George Washington, vol. X (1782-1785)

Return to Title Page for The Writings of George Washington, vol. X (1782-1785)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: War and Peace
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO LUND WASHINGTON. [EXTRACT.] - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. X (1782-1785) [1891]

Edition used:

The Writings of George Washington, collected and edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890). Vol. X (1782-1785).

Part of: The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO LUND WASHINGTON.

[EXTRACT.]

The principal reasons for my proposing that the Pay and Subsistence of the Officers should remain the same as they now are (except in the instances specified) were, because, that compensation had generally been deemed adequate and not too high;—and because we had found by experience after many changes and alterations, the present allowance to be better proportioned to the different grades, more satisfactory to the Officers and less inconvenient to the Public than any System which had been attempted. Nor can I agree with the Committee that the Establishment reported by them is more œconomical than either of the Plans which have been proposed, since the number of Men in their Establishment actually to be raised, exceeds that suggested in my Memorial by upwards of four hundred. And the encrease of Pay in consequence of an additional number of Superior Officers in the Corps of Engineers will more than Counterbalance the saving which will be made by the proposed diminution of the Pay of the regimental Staff, & Subalterns. And yet I know not whether this encrease of Expence may not be expedient and necessary—At least I should not make any objection to the augmentation of the number of Men in the Infantry Comp’ys as the various and dispersed services, to which they will be destined, may probably require more than I had taken into my calculation. And the blending the Engineers and Artillerists of the Army in one Corps may make it requisite to add the number of Officers proposed by the Committee; which will under those circumstances justify a departure from the present Artillery Establishment on which my Estimate was founded. And here I will take the liberty to suggest the expediency of restraining all officers stationed in the Indian Country from carrying on, directly or indirectly any Commerce or Traffic whatever with the Nations,—it would be better to make a pecuniary compensation for any extra trouble of the Commanding Officer, in giving passes, and regulating these things than to suffer so pernicious a custom to take place.

11 June, 1783.

Perhaps it is rather unimportant in what manner some little alterations shall be decided, as for instance, whether the third Officer of a Company shall be called a Lieutenant or an Ensign, provided the duties and emoluments are perfectly defined; but I highly approve the Scheme of having Supernumeraries appointed to fill the Staff-Officers, without depriving the Companys of their full proportion of Officers.

I do not blame you for the wages which you gave Evans; I have no doubt of your having engaged him upon as good terms as you could, and as it was my wish to have the work forwarded, this was all I had a right to expect.

The same reason which makes it proper to have two Sergeant-Majors, &c. in each Regiment of Infantry, will also make it equally necessary to have two Surgeon’s mates.

In one of your letters (speaking of the difficulty of getting workmen) you recommend it to me to engage some of the enemy who were prisoners with us—many of whom, you say, are good workmen. Why, let me ask, when they hired themselves by the authority of Congress, and comparatively speaking were in your neighborhood, would you not do this for me? None of them were within 300 miles of me, and most of them within 55 to 80 miles of you. But you seem to have had an unconquerable aversion to going from home; one consequence of which is, I expect I shall lose all my rents; for in a letter I have lately received from my brother John, in Berkeley, are these words: “I fear you are suffering greatly in your rents, as I am informed many of the tenants are going into the Western country, and understand there are many years’ arrears of rent due to you.” In divers letters, at divers times in the course of the three or four last years, have I mentioned this fact to you, and the necessity of visiting them; but cannot find by any of your letters, that you have ever been amongst them more than once, and then I believe only partially. I expect also that all the money I have expended on the mill at Yohoghaney, and all the property which has been put into the hands of Gilbert Simpson, will be sunk for want of proper endeavors to bring him to account. But if your own wages, since the charge of them in the account rendered at Valley Forge, has not been received by you in the specific articles of the crop, which does not appear by the accounts you have lately rendered to me, I shall be more hurt than at any thing else, to think that an estate, which I have drawn nothing from for eight years, and which always enabled me to make any purchase I had in view, should not have been able for the last five years, to pay the manager: and that, worse than going home to enjoy coffers, and expensive living, I shall be encumbered with debt. It is disagreeable to me, because I dare say it will be so to you, to make these observations; but as my public business is now drawing to a close, I cannot avoid looking towards my private concerns, which do not wear the most smiling countenance.

It appears to me in case the Pay of the Privates shall be established at two Dollars per Month, that a considerable Bounty will be required to inlist them; or that the States after having their quotas apportioned to them must be obliged to keep their Complement constantly in Service. I am also of opinion that to the annual allowance of Clothing per Man One Blanket, two pair Woolen Hose, and one or two Shirts should be added; also 8 or 10 match Coats, per Company.

I am sorry that Barry’s land has at last slipped through my fingers. If the purchaser made it with a view to rent it to me, he shall be disappointed; nor shall any tenant, or himself, if he proposes to live on it, reap the smallest benefit from my fencing and other improvements, without which the place is of no value to any but me. This the purchaser must have known, and as his aim must have been to take advantage of my wishes to add this small piece of land (surrounded as it is) to my tract, let him abide the consequence of his interference, especially as it was well known, I wanted to take no advantage of Barry, having offered to leave the price to three disinterested men, of his own choosing, to fix.

The rule of promotion proposed seems unexceptionable; but the perpetual confusion which must ensue from promotions being made in a Corps composed of Officers and Men of different States, by the Authority of each of those different States, will totally destroy all regularity in our Military System—it would indeed be much to be preferred that the States could be induced to transfer this right to Congress. And possibly, upon condition of confining the appointment and proportion of Officers in equal proportions to the particular States whose Troops form a Regiment the right might be yielded. For example, if New Hampshire gives two Companys and Masstts. Six, the Officers then to be appointed and kept in service from those two States to be in as nearly the Ratio of 2 to 6 as possible; the same, if another Regiment should be formed by the States of R. Island, Connect., New York, and New Jersey, &c., &c.