way to Philadelphia, has put us in good spirits from the supply of money and everything else requisite, arrived in Boston from our good and generous ally, in consequence of which I hope we shall soon be in high Blast."

But desperate as was the condition of the medical department, that of its officers was not less afflictive. It could not be otherwise, that when the sources of general prosperity vanished, individuals should be oppressed with the utmost penury. We have seen the soldier begging for bread; we shall see the officer in quest of clothing. The ordinary uses of life were circumscribed by the blight of indigence. It extended to all stations, and affected all classes. Calamity impended over families, and want intensified the rigor of war with menaced starvation. The outline of the picture startles, but its lineaments revolt. In the letter previously quoted, to Abram Clark, President of Congress, February 28, 1781, Dr. Cochran said: "I hope some pay is ordered to be advanced to the officers of the department, without which it cannot much longer exist. Many of us have not received a shilling in near two years, nor can we procure public clothing."

From New Windsor he wrote, March 26, 1781, to Dr. Craik: “We are so squeezed for paper, that I can only afford you a half sheet for cover and all." From New Windsor, March 25, 1781, he wrote to Dr. Peter Turner, Hospital physician and surgeon, Norwich, Connecticut: "Several of the Hospital physicians and surgeons have resigned since the new arrangement took place, owing, I believe, principally to their not being able to subsist themselves in the service, for it is upwards of two years since many of us have received a shilling from the continent, and there is as little prospect now of pay as there was two years ago." Again, under date of April 2, 1781, he wrote: "Neither myself nor any of the gentlemen who have served with me have received a shilling from the public in twenty-three months, which has, as you reasonably may suppose, reduced us to some difficulties. Paper is so scarce that I am obliged to take a leaf out of an Orderly Book."

*

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To Abram Clark, President of Congress, he wrote from New Windsor, April 30, 1781: "I have sent the originals (Hospital returns), not having paper enough to transcribe them into form. Several of the Hospital phy. sicians and surgeons complain that they have not paper sufficient to make out the necessary Hospital returns; therefore, are obliged to omit them." To Robert Morris, from the camp near Dobb's Ferry, July 26, 1781, he wrote: "For God's sake, help us as soon as you can. Most of our officers have not received one shilling of pay for upwards of two years." To Mr. Nitchie, formerly hospital commissary, Headquarters Peekskill, he wrote

Augsut 25, 1781: "I am sorry you have not been able to keep your family from starving, but on credit. Your situation is like many others in our service, for I have not received one shilling as pay in twenty-eight months, and there are few among us who have been in better circumstances." In the following passage from a letter to Dr. Treat, from New Windsor, March 25, 1781, we are admitted to a pathetic scene relieved by a gleam of illusive fortune, as quickly quenched in disappointment: "Dr. Young showed me your letter enclosing a resolve of Congress, respecting the depreciation, &c., which made him happy; and, poor fellow, he wanted comfort as much as any man I ever saw. His situation is truly pitiable, and I hope something will turn up which will give him relief."

It is true that Congress at length issued warrants for the pay of the army. But the warrants were as worthless as the credit of Congress, and utterly incapable of relief. He wrote to Dr. Thos. Bond, camp near Dobb's Ferry: "Am very sorry that there is no probability of our receiving money on the warrants obtained for the use of our department, the want of which you may reasonably suppose has a bad effect, both with respect to the officers and the poor suffering soldiers, who deserve a better fate."

As may be supposed, the destitution of the army, both of officers and men, occupied attention largely with efforts to mitigate it. The evil obviously was incident to the occasion, and inherently the chief obstacle to the successful conduct of the war. As we have seen, the distress fell heavily upon the medical department. Its necessities were, in truth, but the total of those of the army, concentrated in effect upon its health, and expressed in representations of the deplorable want of every appliance essential to the preservation of life. The complaints of the sufferers were importunate and ceaseless. As the head of the department, Dr. Cochran, while the recipient of numberless petitions, rarely caused disappointment to the expectations of the petitioners. In his letter (without date) to Dr. Thomas Bond, after stating that "Dr. Wilson urges his coming to Philadelphia to assist in adjusting some matters relative to the department," he said, "I only wait for the arrival of Dr. Craik to set out, but I wish my presence could be dispensed with, for I am most heartily tired of shuling my way so often to that place without one shilling in my pocket; and in the following paragraph of his communication, while in Philadelphia, May 24, 1781, to "Samuel Huntington, Esq., President of Congress," he alludes to the personal expense and the official inconvenience he incurred, in redressing complaints, by importuning Congress for their relief: "Should Congress wish any further or more particular informa

tion on the subject, I shall be ready to furnish it, and would be obliged to your Excellency to have the matter taken up as soon as possible, that the distresses of the Hospital may be relieved, and that I may be enabled to return to the army, as neither my finances nor my duty will permit me to remain longer in this city."

But "the pay" of the officers and men was a theme of more serious anxiety. The magnitude and extent of its arrears were grave causes of apprehension. While it buoyed the hopes of the enemy, it occupied unremittingly the deliberations of Congress. Its amount was not in dispute. The default was in the depreciation of the currency in which it was paid. At length Congress determined to draw its warrant, for the depreciation, on the credit of the State where the officer served. It seems, however, that a frivolous and impertinent distinction was made by the Legislature of New York against the officers of the medical line. The ire of the department was aflame, and not in the most courtly phrase discharged in the following terms, used at New Windsor, July 5, 1781, to Dr. Bond, one of the sufferers: "The State of New York has refused the warrant in your favour drawn by Congress, and have refused to comply with the requisition of Congress for making up the depreciation to the officers of the Medical line. They are most certainly an execrable set of -. A new Assembly is called, which may probably think better of the matter, and do justice."

In a letter to Dr. Treat, from Camp near Dobb's Ferry, July 18, 1781, occurs this passage: "I have been uneasy about the Marquis's situation." Doubtless this was the occasion referred to by the Marquis in his letter to him from St. Jean d'Angely, June 10, 1799, in which he says: "My health, dear doctor-that very health you have almost brought back from the other world, has been since as strong and hearty as possible * * * * As during my fit of illness the watch I then had was of great service to you for feeling the pulse, I thought such a one might be convenient, which I have intrusted to the Chevalier de la (name illegible), and I beg leave to present you with. I did fancy that adorning it with my heroic friend's picture would make it acceptable."

An incident cursorily stated in his letter to Dr. Craik, of March 26, 1781, from New Windsor, while affording an inkling of the difficulties of land carriage, admits us to a view of the affluent hospitality of the landed gentry of New York a century ago, and yet more agreeably surprises us with an intimation that in all "the time that tried men's souls," the ruggedness of war was smoothed and its asperities refined by the amenities attendant upon the presence of wives and daughters in camp. "I am just returned," he says, "from an eighteen day's tour up the North River to

attend Mrs. Washington. We had an agreeable jaunt, excepting the badness of the roads. But we met with so much hospitality wherever we went, that compensation was made for the difficulty of travelling."

Probably, the "agreeable jaunt" was to the manor of Livingston, and terminated at the hospitable manor-house of its proprietor, Walter Livingston, the husband of Mrs. Cochran's daughter Cornelia, by her first husband. After the destruction of their domicile at Brunswick by the British, Mrs. Cochran spent much of her time, during the presence of her husband at the headquarters of the army, with her daughter; and it may have been that the hospitable entertainment of Mrs. Washington on this occasion was not disconnected with the invitation of the General, over a year before, to Mrs. Cochran and Mrs. Livingston to partake of the dinner which, in his letter to the Doctor, he thus humorously imagines and describes:

"West Point, August 16, 1799. Dear Doctor: I have asked Mrs. Cochran and Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow; but ought I not to apprise you of their fare? As I hate deception, even when imagination is concerned, I will.

"It is needless to promise that my table is large enough to hold the ladies of this they had ocular demonstration yesterday. To say how it is usually covered, is rather more essential, and this shall be the purport of my letter.

"Since my arrival at this happy spot, we have had a ham, sometimes a shoulder of bacon, to grace the head of the table. A piece of roast beef adorns the foot, and a small dish of green beans-almost imperceptibledecorates the centre. When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, and this I presume he will attempt to-morrow, we have two beefsteak pies, or dishes of crabs in addition, one on each side of the centre dish, dividing the space, and reducing the distance between dish and dish to about six feet, which, without them, would be nearly twelve apart. Of late he has had the surprising luck to discover that apples will make pies; and it is a question, if amidst the violence of his efforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both of beef.

"If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and submit to partake of it on plates once tin, but now iron, not become so by the labours of hard scouring, I shall be happy to see them.

"Dear Sir, Yours George Washington."

Quaintly is revealed the peculiar prejudice of the revolutionary period against the parasites of royalty and its scions. The conflict of our ances

tors with British oppression extended to the persons of those who represented it. It is not singular, therefore, that the appearance in America of William Henry (subsequently William IV.) one of the sons of George III. and then a midshipman under Admiral Digby, should have provoked a flood of popular derision. It is curious to observe the spirit in which the apparition was discussed by those whose lives had been dedicated to the service of their country. Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that the opinions of the camp were reflected by the sense of the people. From camp, near Peekskill, October 10, 1781, Dr. Cochran writes to Dr. Craik:

"Digby is arrived at New York with 3 ships of the line and some frigates. With him came one of the Royal Whelps from Great Britain. The address from the Governor and Council with his answer you will see in the public papers. A young lad who came out of New York some days ago, being examined before General Heath, was asked if he saw the young Prince. He answered yes-he saw many get a look at him and he thought he might as well see him as the rest. He was asked what he was like, and what he thought of him. He said he expected to have seen something more in him than other people, but was disappointed, excepting his being the ugliest person he ever saw, with a very large nose. His eyes resembled those of a wall-eyed horse, and his legs, being all of a thickness, from his knees to his ankles; but that he had a fine gold coat. A pretty representative the fellow will make to cause a rebellion to sink at his approach. I think from the description given of him, he is much better calculated to cause an abortion in the fair sex than to quell a rebellion:"

But when domestic treason incurred the popular displeasure, the indignation of the army was intense. The crime of Arnold not only was the theme of denunciation; his very name was proscribed. "Ledyard," wrote Dr. Cochran, October 1, 1781, to Thomas Bond Purv'r, "has gone to New London, where he has sustained the loss of an uncle and brother killed, and another brother taken by that infamous scoundrel Arnold."

In an application to Samuel Huntington, President of Congress, while in Philadelphia, May 24, 1781, Dr. Cochran thus expressed himself;

"I have also to request that the Hospital Officers should be entitled to receive their letters free from the expense of postage, as well as the officers of the line. The propriety of this will be evident when I mention that returns are to be sent from every part of the continent to me as Director, and the expense of Postage would nearly swallow the whole of my pay.'

The result of the application is thus recorded: New Windsor, June 30, 1781, Doctor Townshend, Albany. "All letters to and from me are postfree. This I accomplished when in Philadelphia, though I had not interest