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.

286 WASHING TON'S WRITINGS. [AET. 50.
from him the small sums he has been able otherwise
to establish, and that he is at this time barely able to
feed the army, and that from hand to mouth; I cannot
forbear to express my apprehensions from that quarter, and to urge, with the warmth of zeal and earnestness, the most pointed and effectual attention of your
State to the actual raising and collecting of its proportion of the requisition. Upon the present plan of noncompliance with requisitions for men and supplies, let
me seriously ask your Excellency, How is it possible for
us to continue the war? How is it possible to support
an army in money or recruits? To what a wretched
state must we soon be reduced? How dangerous is it
to suffer our affairs to run at hazard, and to depend
upon contingencies? To what do the present measures
tend, but to the utter ruin of that cause, which we
have hitherto so long and nobly supported, and to
crush all the fair hopes, which the present moment
places before us, were we only to exert the power and
abilities with which Providence has bountifully blessed
this country? But if the States will not impose, or do
not collect and apply, taxes for support of the war, the
sooner we make terms the better; the longer we continue a feeble and ineffectual war, the greater will be
our distress at the hour of submission. For my own
part, I am fully convinced, that, without the means of
execution, no officer, whoever he may be, who is
placed at the head of the military department, can be
answerable for the success of any plans he may propose or agree to.
Upon this subject I will only add, that, from past
experience and from present prospects, I am persuaded,
that, if the States would furnish the supplies agreeably
to the late requisition, and would suffer the pay, clothing, and subsistence of the army to go through one