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 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. [1783.
tions to procure for them complete justice, as far as it
could be done consistently with the great duty he owed
to his country, and to the authority which every citizen
was bound to respect.
After speaking these sentiments, and others of a
similar tendency, suited to soothe their feelings and
inspire confidence, he retired from the assembly. The
ieliberation of the officers was short, and their decision
prompt and unanimous. They passed resolutions, thanking the Commander-in-chief for the course he had
pursued, and expressive of their unabated attachment;
and also declaring their unshaken reliance on the good
faith of Congress and their country, and a determination
to bear with patience their grievances till in due time
they should be redressed. A full account of the transactions was transmitted to Congress and published in
their journals.
The incidents are clearly and briefly related by General Washington in a letter to Governor Harrison of
Virginia, written immediately after their occurrence.
"You have not been unacquainted, I dare say, with
the fears, the hopes, the apprehensions, and the expectations of the army, relative to the provision which
is to be made for them hereafter. Although a firm reliance on the integrity of Congress, and a belief that
the public would finally do justice to all its servants
and give an indisputable security for the payment of
the half-pay of the officers, had kept them amidst a
variety of sufferings tolerably quiet and contented for
two or three years past; yet the total want of pay, the
little prospect of receiving any from the unpromising
state of the public finances, and the absolute aversion
of the States to establish any Continental funds for the
payment of the debt due to the army, did at the close
of the last campaign excite greater discontents, and