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.

204 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. [1776.
obedience of orders, shameful desertions, running away
from the enemy, plundering, and every kind of irregularity in the camp, had been the fatal consequences.
"To bring men to a proper degree of subordination,"
said he, "is not the work of a day, a month, or even
a year; and, unhappily for us and the cause we are
engaged in, the little discipline I have been laboring to
establish in the army under my immediate command is
in a manner done away, by having such a mixture of
troops, as have been called together within these few
months. Relaxed and unfit as our rules and regulations
of war are for the government of an army, the militia
(those properly so called, for of these we have two sorts,
the six-months' men, and those sent in as a temporary
aid,) do not think themselves subject to them, and
therefore take liberties, which the soldier is punished
for. This creates jealousy; jealousy begets dissatisfaction; and this by degrees ripens into mutiny, keeping
the whole army in a confused and disordered state,
rendering the time of those, who wish to see regularity
and good order prevail, more unhappy than words can
describe. Besides this, such repeated changes take
place, that all arrangement is set' at nought, and the
constant fluctuation of things deranges every plan as
fast as it is adopted."
At the close of the long and able letter to Congress,
from which this extract is taken, his feelings under the
trials he suffered, and in contemplating the future, are
impressively described.
"There is no situation upon earth less enviable,
or more distressing, than that person's, who is at the
head of troops regardless of order and discipline, and
unprovided with almost every necessary. In a word,
the difficulties, which have for ever surrounded me since
I have been in the service, and kept my mind constantly