REVOLT IN WASHINGTON’S CAMP.
The earliest events of this year were unfavourable to the American cause. For some months all discipline had been relaxed in Washington’s camp; the officers and men alike being dissatisfied with the treatment which they received from congress. They were on the point of starvation; and though they had long endured their hardships, on the night of the 1st of January, the Pennsylvania line, which was hutted at Morris Town in the Jerseys, turned out to the number of 1300 men, and declared that they would march to the seat of congress, and either obtain redress or return to their homes. After committing some excesses on those officers who opposed their movement, the men marched to Princeton. They were followed on the next day by General Wayne and his staff, with many officers who were supposed to possess their confidence, in the hope that they would be able either to bring them back to their duty, or to sow dissensions among them. Wayne came up with them near Middle Brook; but the demands of the revolted troops were such as he could not grant; and he therefore referred them to congress. The men continued their march to Princeton for that purpose; and while there, emissaries arrived from Sir Henry Clinton, with tempting offers to them, and with the suggestion that they should take up a position behind the South River, when he would soon cover them with detachments from the royal army in New York. The mutineers, however, showed themselves true to the cause of liberty, for they not only rejected Clinton’s tempting offers, but communicated them to General Wayne, with assurances that, though they had left the American camp, they would never go over to the British. At the same time they seized Clinton’s emissaries, and kept them in their own hands; they refused to leave Princeton; resolved that none of their former officers should enter their camp; and ordered Lafayette and others, who had presented themselves as mediators, to return immediately. Soon after, a committee of congress, the governor of Pennsylvania, and a part of his council came into the neighbourhood of Princeton to negociate with the revolters. A conference took place between the sergeants of the revolted troops and the committee; when the latter offered these propositions:—That congress would discharge all those who had enlisted for three years; and that they would give immediate certificates for the depreciation on their pay, settle their arrears as soon as they were able, and furnish the men with such clothing as they required forthwith, The sergeants agreed to distribute these propositions among the troops for consideration; and after due deliberation the mutineers agreed to march to Trenton, to meet their officers and commanders. At Trenton, the terms offered by congress were accepted; and then the mutineers gave up Sir Henry Clinton’s emissaries, who were all hanged as spies. But mutiny did not end here. Encouraged by the success of the Pennsylvania line, a part of the Jersey brigade, stationed at Pompton, flew to arms, and marched to Chatham to join another part of the same brigade; and these all demanded the same terms which had been granted to the Pennsylvanian mutineers. In the former instance, Washington, probably wishing that congress should be made to feel that the grievances of the troops must be redressed, and that the army must be treated with greater respect, had not taken any measures for bringing back the mutineers to their duty. On this occasion, however, foreseeing that continued revolts would tend to the disorganization of his army, he sent General How to Chatham with a considerable force, and with orders to make no terms with the revolted brigade while in a state of resistance. He even instructed How, after the brigade should surrender, to seize a few of the ringleaders and put them to death on the spot. How’s task was not a very arduous one, for the mutineers at Chatham scarcely amounted to more than two hundred men; and he surrounded them in their quarters, seized a few of the ringleaders, and executed them according to Washington’s orders, and reduced the rest to submission. These revolts alarmed congress; and they contrived to raise three months’ pay in specie, and to obtain a quantity of clothes, which they forwarded to the camp, in order to prevent further defection. But this was only a temporary remedy for the evil; and as the inhabitants were distressed in order to satisfy the soldiers, congress resolved to seek a loan from France. Lieutenant-colonel Laurens, son of the prisoner in the Tower, was sent on this commission to the court of Versailles; and at the same time, Mr. Jay, the young lawyer, who was now installed as minister plenipotentiary to the court of Madrid, was instructed to press the court of Spain for co-operation and direct assistance. It is evident, indeed, that congress and the general officers of the army, all thought that the affairs of the Americans were in a desperate condition; and that if they did not speedily obtain assistance in money and troops from the Bourbons, the sun of liberty would be set for ever. Lafayette exerted his influence with M. de Vergennes, the French minister on this occasion. He furnished Laurens with a letter to him, in which he stated, that with a naval inferiority it was impossible to continue the war; that the resources of the country, great as they were, would be ineffectual unless money were sent; that the last campaign had been conducted without a single dollar; and that all that credit, persuasion, and force could do in the way of obtaining supplies had been done. In conclusion, he demanded clothes, arms, and ammunition, and represented that a great fleet, and a new division of 10,000 troops ought to be sent from France to New York, in order to destroy the power of the British on the continent.