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.

390 WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. [ET. 51.
gating in the army, should be extensive; the source of
which may be easily traced, as the old leaven it is said,
for I have no proof of it, is again beginning to work
under a mask of the most perfect dissimulation and apparent cordiality.
Be these things as they may, I shall pursue the same
steady line of conduct, which has governed me hitherto; fully convinced,'that the sensible and discerning
part of the army cannot be unacquainted, although I
never took pains to inform them, with the services I
have rendered it on more occasions than one. This,
and pursuing the suggestions in your letter, which I am
happy to find coincide with my practice for several
months past (which has turned the business of the army into the channel where it now is), leave me under no great apprehension of its exceeding the bounds
of reason and moderation, notwithstanding the prevailing sentiment is, that the prospect of compensation for
past services will terminate with the war.
The just claims of the army ought, and it is to be
hoped will have their weight with every sensible legislature in the United States, if Congress point to their demands, and show, if the case is so, the reasonableness of
them, and the impracticability of complying with them
without their aid. In any other point of view, it would
in my opinion be impolitic to introduce the army on
the tapis, lest it should excite jealousy and bring on its
concomitants. The States cannot surely be so devoid
of common sense, common honesty, and common policy, as to refuse their aid on a full, clear, and candid
representation of facts from Congress; more especially
if these should be enforced by members of their own
body, who might demonstrate what the inevitable consequences of failure will lead to.
In my opinion it is a matter worthy of considera