ginia Regiment; and think they have cause to accuse the officers of all inordinate vices; but more especially of drunkenness and profanity! How far any one individual may have subjected himself to such reflections, I will not pretend to determine, but this I am certain of; and can with the highest safety call my conscience, my God! and (what I suppose will still be a more demonstrable proof, at least in the eye of the World) the Orders and Instructions which I have given, to evince the purity of my own intentions and to shew on the one hand, that my incessant endeavours have been directed to discountenance Gaming, drinking, swearing, and other vices, with which all camps too much abound: while on the other, I have used every expedient to inspire a laudable emulation in the officers, and an unerring exercise of Duty in the Soldiers. How far I may have mistaken the means to attain so salutary an end behooves not me to determine: But this I presume to say, that a man's intentions should be allowed in some respects to plead for his actions. I have been more explicit Sir, on this head than I otherwise shou'd, because I find that my own character must of necessity be involved in the general censure, for which reason I can not help observing, that if the country think they have cause to condemn my conduct, and have a person in view that will act; that he may do. But who will endeavour to act more for her Interests than I have done? It will give me the greatest pleasure to resign a command which I solemnly declare I accepted against my will.

I know, Sir, that my inexperience may have led me into innumerable errors. For which reason, I shou'd think myself an unworthy member of the community and greatly deficient in the love I owe my country which has been the first principle of my actions, were I to require more than a distant hint of its dissatisfaction to resign a com

mission which I confess to you I am no ways fond of keeping.

However, I am far from attempting to vindicate the characters of all the officers: For that I am sensible would be a task too arduous. There are some who have the seeds of Idleness too strongly instilled into their constitution, either to be serviceable to themselves, or beneficial to the Country. Yet even those have not missed my best advice: nor have my unwearied endeavours ever been wanting to serve my country with the highest integrity. For which reasons I shou'd ever be content in retirement, and reflect with no little pleasure, that no sordid views have influenced my conduct, nor have the hopes of unlawful gains swerved me in any measure from the strictest dictates of Honor! I have diligently sought the public welfare; and have endeavoured to inculcate the same principles on all that are under me. These reflections will be a cordial to my mind as long as I am able to distinguish between Good & Evil.

An Account of His Situation

To Richard Washington, Merchant, London

FORT LOUDOUN, 15 April, 1757.

Dear Sir: After so long silence it may be expected, I should introduce this letter with an apology for my seeming neglect. It is necessary to urge something in my defence, I own, Sir, that I may satisfy you it proceeds from a very different cause than the want of inclination, and what can be so proper as the truth?

I have been posted, then, for twenty months past upon our cold and barren frontiers, to perform, I think I may say, impossibilities; that is, to protect from the cruel in

cursions of a crafty, savage enemy a line of inhabitants, of more than three hundred and fifty miles in extent, with a force inadequate to the task. By this means I am become in a manner an exile, and seldom informed of those opportunities, which I might otherwise embrace, of corresponding with my friends.

Experience has convinced every thinking man in this colony, that we must bid adieu to peace and safety whilst the French are allowed to possess the Ohio, and to practise their hellish arts among the numerous tribes of Indian nations that inhabit those regions. They are also convinced that it must be attended with an expense infinitely greater to defend our possessions, (as they ought to be defended) against the skulking enemy, than to remove the cause of our groundless fears, in the reduction of the place Fort Duquesne I mean. Yet, from what strange causes I know not, no attempt this season will be made, I fear, to destroy this hold of barbarians, for they deserve no better name, who have become a terror to three populous colonies. Virginia may justly say, that she was always willing to furnish her full proportion of men and money for this desirable end; and, I think I can venture to affirm, that there never was, and verily I believe never will be, a more favorable time than the present for an enterprise of this kind, while the enemy's troops are doubtless drawn off to the northward, to defend themselves at home against the more formidable attacks of Lord Loudoun.

I have now to add, that I am so little acquainted with the business relative to my private affairs, that I can scarce give you any information concerning it. I know that I ought to have some tobacco, and that it ought to be shipped. I have begged the favor of Colo. Carlyle on Potomack, and Fielding Lewis Esqr., on Rappahannock, to do this for me, and I desired them to write you in my behalf,

and draw for sundry things which I am in want of; but whether any part or all of this is done, I know not. I shall, therefore, desire these two things of you; first, that you may put yourself to no real inconvenience in providing goods to a greater amount than my remittances will fetch, because I by no means intended to be troublesome, when I solicited your correspondence; and, secondly, that whatever goods you may send me, where the prices are not absolutely limited, you will let them be fashionable, neat, and good in their several kinds. Enclosed is a list of sundries, which I should be glad to receive agreeably to those directions.

A Defence of His Conduct

To Governor Dinwiddie

FORT LOUDOUN, 27 August, 1757.

Sir: I must beg leave to observe in justification of my own conduct, that it is with pleasure I receive reproof, when reproof is due, because no person can be readier to accuse me, than I am to acknowledge an error, when I am guilty of one; nor more desirous of atoning for a crime, when I am sensible of having committed it. But, on the other hand, it is with concern I remark, that my best endeavors lose their reward, and that my conduct, although I have uniformly studied to make it as unexceptional as I could, does not appear to you in a favorable point of light. Otherwise your Honor would not have accused me of loose behaviour and remissness of duty, in matters where, I believe, I have rather exceeded than fallen short of it. This, I think, is evidently the case in speaking of Indian Affairs at all after being instructed in very

express terms, not to have any concern with or “management of Indian affairs." This has caused me to forbear mentioning of Indians in any of my letters to your Honor of late, and to leave the misunderstanding, which you speak of, between Mr. Atkin and the Indians, to the former to relate, knowing that he maintained a correspondence with your Honor on matters relative to his office. But, with regard to the accompts, when he would have nothing to do with them, and when I was hourly importuned for the payment, and knew I had not means to do it, what could I do less than promise the people, that I would recommend their cases to your Honor, in hopes that you would appoint a person, in whom you could confide, to take in and pay off their accompts, as I always looked upon it as a duty distinct from mine, and therefore was unwilling to intermeddle in the affair?

Thanks for Aid in Election

To Colonel James Wood

[July, 1758.]

My Dear Colonel: If thanks flowing from a heart replete with joy and Gratitude can in any Measure compensate for the fatigue, anxiety and Pain you had at my Election, be assured you have them; 'tis a poor, but I am convinced, welcome tribute to a generous Mind. Such, I believe yours to be.

How I shall thank Mrs. Wood for her favorable Wishes, and how acknowledge my sense of obligations to the People in general for their choice of me, I am at a loss to resolve on. But why? Can I do it more effectually than by making their Interest (as it really is) my own, and doing