“Before I left Williamsburg I was informed by the Deputy Quarter Master general, who was then at this Fort, that 2500 Horses and 200 Wagons might be depended upon from Virginia and Maryland, but as I had the utmost reason to fear a Disappointment from my daily Experience of the Falsehood of every person with whom I was concern’d, I therefore before I left Frederick, desired Mr. Franklin, postmaster of Pennsylvania, and a Man of great Influence in that Province, to contract for 150 Waggons and a Number of Horses, which he has executed with great punctuality and Integrity, and is almost the only Instance of Ability and Honesty I have known in these provinces; His Waggons and Horses have all joined me, and are indeed my whole Dependence, the great promises of Virginia and Maryland having produc’d only about twenty Waggons and two hundred Horses: With the Number I now have I shall be enabled with the utmost difficulty to move from this place, marching with one half of the provision I entended and having been oblig’d to advance a large Detachment in order to make a Deposite of provisions upon the Alliganey Mountains about five days March from me.

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[From original in British Museum]

“It would be endless, Sir, to particularize the numberless Instances of the Want of public and private Faith, and of the most absolute Disregard of all Truth, which I have met with in carrying on of His Majesty’s Service on this continent. I cannot avoid adding one or two Instances to what I have already given.

“A Contract made by the Governor of Virginia for 1100 Beeves was laid before me to be delivered in July and August for the subsistence of the Troops, which Contract he had entered into upon the Credit of twenty thousand pounds Currency voted by the Assembly for the Service of the Expedition. Depending upon this I regulated my Convoys accordingly, and a few days since the Contractors inform’d me that the Assembly had refus’d to fulfill the Governors Engagements, and the Contract was consequently void: as it was an Affair of the greatest Importance, I immediately offer’d to advance the Money requir’d by the Terms of the Contract, but this the Contractor rejected, unless I would pay him one third more; and postpone the Delivery of the Beeves two Months, at which time they would have been of no use to me.

“Another Instance is the Agent employ’d in the Province of Maryland for furnishing their Troops with provision, who delivered it in such Condition that it is all condemn’d upon a Survey, and I have been obliged to replace it by sending to the Distance of an hundred Miles.

“This Behavior in the people does not only produce infinite Difficulty in carrying on His Majesty’s Service but also greatly increases the Expense of it, the Charge thereby occasion’d in the Transportation of provision and Stores through an unsettled Country (with which even the Inhabitants of the lower parts are entirely unacquainted) and over a continued succession of Mountains, is many times more than double the original Cost of them; for this reason I am obliged to leave a Quantity of provision at Alexandria, which would be of great Service to use at this place. The Behaviour of the Governments appears to me to be without excuse, but it may be some Extenuation of the Guilt of the lower Class of people, that upon former occasions their assistance in publick has been ill rewarded, and their payments neglected; the bad Effects of which proceeding we daily experience.

“As I have His Majesty’s Orders to establish as much as possible a good understanding with the Indians, I have gathered some from the Frontier of Pennsylvania chiefly of the Six Nations, with whom I have had two or three Conferences, and have given them proper Presents; the Number already with me is about fifty, and I have some hopes of more: Upon my first Arrivall in America, I received strong assurances of the assistance of a great Number of Southern Indians, which I have entirely lost through the Misconduct of the Government of Virginia: And indeed the whole Indian Affairs have been so imprudently and dishonestly conducted, that it was with the greatest difficulty I could gain a proper Confidence with those I have engag’d, and even that could not be attain’d, nor can be preserv’d without a great Expense.