The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

308 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. [1778.
oners, they were to be exchanged for an equlivalent
number of privates of the convention troops.
This principle was objected to by Sir Henry Clinton
on two grounds; first, it separated the officers from
the corps to which they were attached; and, secondly,
it gave an advantage to the Americans, inasmuch as
their officers could go immediately into active service,
whereas the British officers must remain idle till the
privates constituting the corps to which they belonged
should be released. Congress did not choose to relax
from their resolves, and the business of exchange was
a perpetual source of vexation. In short, the interests
of the two parties were so much at variance, that it
was not easy to reconcile them. The difficulty of procuring soldiers in Europe, and the great expense of
bringing them over and maintaining them, rendered
every man of vastly more importance to the British
army, than in the American ranks, which could be filled
up with militia when the occasion required. Hence
the British general was always extremely solicitous to
procure the exchange of his private soldiers, and Congress equally averse to gratifying him in this point.
There was another reason, which operated with considerable weight on both sides. The British prisoners
were mostly German troops, who had no affection for
the cause in which they were engaged, and who, while
in the country under a loose system of military discipline, had many facilities and temptations to desert.
There was another cause of anxiety in the breast of
Washington, which began now to be felt more seriously
than at any former period of the war. The men of
talents and influence, who had taken the lead and
combined their strength in raising the standard of independence, had gradually withdrawn from Congress,
till that body was left small in number, and compara