TO JOSEPH TRUMBULL.1
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]
PHILADE Augt 3 17762
MY DEAR SIR
Our Friend Coll W brought & deliverd to me your Letter of the—- July directed to Mr J. A. and myself. The Inclosures clearly show the deplorable State of our Affairs in the Northern Department and it is easy to see the Source of them. I am fully of opinion that ONE MAN must be removd to some other Department, to put an End to our Misfortunes there but this has hitherto been impracticable, though it has been attempted and urgd. A little Time may perhaps unravel Mysteries and convince Gentlemen that they have been under certain Prejudices to which the wisest Men are lyable. It appears to me very extraordinary that Mr L. should insist upon acting after being apprizd of the Resolve of Congress, and it is still more extraordinary that he meets with the Support of . . . . in such Conduct. I am very sure that our Affairs must greatly suffer if he is allowd to persist in so doing, and your Reputation as well as the Good of the Service may be at Stake. I think it would not be amiss for you to State the Matter to the General by which means it might be laid before Congress. You are the best judge of the part proper for you to act on this occasion in your own Department but I shall certainly do all in my Power to have the Evils you mention corrected. I have communicated your Letter to several Gentlemen who will joyn with me in every practicable Method for this purpose. Congress have this day passd several Resolutions which I hope tend to this good Effect. Paymasters & Deputy Paymasters are to make weekly Returns to Congress of the State of the Military Chests under their Direction. Jonn Trumble Esqr Pay Master in the Northern Department is to transmit as soon as possible an Acct of all the Monies which have passed through his Hands. Commissaries & Depy Comssys Genl in the several Departments are to transmit to Congress weekly Accots of Monies they receive of Pay Masters or their Deputies—Quarter Masters & Deputy Qr Masters to do the same—and the Commanding Officers in Each Departmt are to make monthly returns to Congress of the Drafts they make on the respective Paymasters. Comry General, Qr Masters Genl & their Deputies to make monthly Returns at least of Stores in their Possession & the Distribution of them. These Resolutions perhaps may not please EVERY BODY, but if they are duly executed, they may detect Mistakes or Frauds if any should happen. As to what has happend in Canada & near it, some person is in my opinion most egregiously to blame, and, to use a homely Proverb, the Saddle has been laid, or attempted to be laid on the wrong horse. I hope that by strict Scrutiny the Causes will be found out and the guilty Man made to suffer. My Regards to Genl Mifflin & all Friends.
I am respectfully,
Yours,
Since writing the foregoing I have turnd to the printed Journals of Congress and find that on the 17th of July 1775 Walter Livingston Esq was appointed "Commissary of Stores & provisions for the New York Departmt during the PRESENT Campaign. "Upon what Grounds then does he speak of himself as vested by Congress with full powers to act TILL REVOK'D? The last Campaign wch limitted his power to act, is finishd. Under what pretence can he be supported by his Patron, especially since by the Resolution of Congress of the 8th of July last, you have "full Power to supply both Armies, that upon the Lakes as well as that at N Y, & also to appoint & employ such persons under you & to remove any Deputy Commissary as you shall think proper & expedient,"3 and for this express Reason "it being absolutely necessary that the Supply of BOTH Armies shd be under ONE Direction." Has not Genl S——- seen this Resolution? or if he has seen it, Does he judge that the Supply of the two Armies shd be under different Directions, & undertake to order accordingly? If the Persons whom you send to act under you in the Northern Army are confined & limitted by ANY other Person after they arrive there, unless by order of Congress, & without giving you Notice in case such order shd be made, we must expect a Repetition of the most mortifying Disappointments. Upon my Word I think it your Duty to remonstrate this, either to the Commander in Chief or to the Congress. The former I should suppose you would prefer.
Adieu,
_________________________________________________________________ 1Addressed to him at New York; commissary-general of the continental army. 2At this point reference should be made to the pamphlet entitled "An Oration delivered at the State House in Philadelphia . . . on Thursday, the 1st of August, 1776, by Samuel Adams." This was "reprinted" at London, and the text is given in W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, vol. iii., pp. 405-422. Wells, at vol. ii., p. 440, states briefly the reasons why he does not credit the production to Adams. See also, against its authenticity, Proceedings of Massachusetts Historical Society, 1st ser., vol. xiii., p. 451. The text has been published, with no allusion to its doubtful origin, as recently as 1900, in The World's Orators, edited by Guy C. Lee, vol. viii., pp. 239-265. John Eliot of Boston apparently had the matter in mind when he wrote to Jeremy Belknap, June 17, 1777: "Mr S. Adams is a gentleman who hath sacrificed an immense fortune in the service of his country. He is an orator likewise, & there is a famous oration upon the independance of America, which, it is said, he delivered at Philadelphia, January, 1776, but which was never seen in America before." Collections of Massachusetts Historical Society, 6th ser., vol. iv., pp. 124, 125. Cf., Sabin, Bibliotheca Americana, No. 344. 3Journals of the Continental Congress (Library of Congress edition), vol. v., p. 527.