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.

PART II.] THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 301
communicate, as from yourself or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant.*
TO BRIGADIER-GENERAL HAZEN.
Head-Quarters, 4 June, 1782.
SIR,
I have received your favor of the 27th of May, and
am much concerned to find, that Captain Asgill has
* The above remarkable letter is a transcript from the first draft in
Washington's handwriting. The following certificate is appended to it,
and is also in the same handwriting, except the signatures, which are
autographs of the signers.
"The foregoing is an exact copy of a letter, which we sealed and sent
off to Colonel Nicola, at the request of the writer of it.
"D. HUMPHREYS, A. D. C.
" JONATHAN TRUMBULL, JUN., Secretary."
The discontents among the officers and soldiers in the army, respecting
the arrearages of their pay and their future prospects, had already increased to an alarming degree. Colonel Nicola, being a man of respectable character, somewhat advanced in life, and also on terms of intimacy
with the Commander-in-chief, seems to have been much consulted by the
other officers, and made a medium for communicating verbally their
complaints, grievances, and apprehensions. To these Washington had
listened with his usual complaisance, with an unfeigned expression of
feeling for the distresses of the troops, and an unqualified declaration,
that no efforts on his part should be wanting to procure for them the
justice and remuneration, which their long services and sacrifices had
merited.
In this stage of affairs, either of his own motion, or from the instigation of others, Colonel Nicola addressed to the Commander-in-chief a
paper of an extraordinary tenor, which drew from him the above reply.
After some general remarks on the deplorable condition of the army, and
the little hope they could have of being properly rewarded by Congress,
the Colonel proceeds to a political disquisition on the different forms of
government, and comes to the conclusion, that republics are of all others
the least susceptible of stability, and the least capable of securing the
rights, freedom, and property of individuals. His inference is, that
America can never prosper, or become a nation, under such a form. The
English government he considers the most successful experiment, that
has yet been tried. Then reverting somewhat in detail to the financial
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