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ter Stewart) of our regiment, had recently reapt this field, I was only a gleaner: In the whole of my tour, therefore, I picked up but three or four men and could most sincerely have said,

That the recruiting trade, with all its train,
Of endless care, fatigue, and endless pain,

I could most gladly have renounced, even without the very preferable alternative of captain Plume. My number of privates might now have amounted to about forty, but these were soon augmented by the noble addition of one and twenty stout native Americans, brought by lieutenants Edwards and Forrest from Egg Harbour.

Towards spring, our battalion was complete; and already, from the unremitted attention that had been paid to it by the officers of every grade, it had made, for so short a time, a very laudable progress in discipline. Besides partial drillings it was exercised every morning and evening; and what was of still more importance, habits of obedience and subordination were strictly inculcated and maintained. We were comparatively, well armed, uniformed and equipped; and it is but justice to say, that in point of all the exteriors, by which military corps are tested, ours was on a footing with the most promising on the continent. We were quartered in the barracks, together with the other battalions that were raising; and by way of counteracting the general gloom, not diminished by the practice of fast days and sermons, borrowed from New-England, we promoted balls and other amusements. Had the contest been a religious one, and our people been inflamed by a zeal on points of faith like the Crusaders or the army of Cromwell, this might have been the proper method ef exciting them to acts of heroism; but they were to be taken as they were, and as this was not the case, it was certainly not the mode to make soldiers in Pennsylvania. The puritanical spirit was

unknown among us; and the endeavor to promote it, did but conflict with other propensities on which a military ardour might be engrafted.

It might, however, have been wholly different in New-Eng land: but whether so or not, general Lee, with his usual profaneness, treated their solemnities with ridicule, telling them, in the spirit of the ancient fable of Hercules and the waggoner, that Heaven was ever found favorable to strong battalions.

About the close of the month of May, I was appointed to carry a sum of money in specie to general Schuyler at lake George, for the purpose of promoting the operations in Canada; and I owed my nomination to this service to the friendly intentions of president Hancock, who had particularly designatEnsign Stout was the officer assigned by

ed me.

colonel Shee to accompany me. We accordingly set out in a chair, that being thought the most convenient mode of carrying the money, which was enclosed in two or three sealed bags. One soldier mounted and armed in addition, constituted the escort; and we were furnished with credentials for obtaining fresh horses as often as they might be necessary. To see the country between New-York and the lake, which was entirely new both to my companion and myself, was highly agreeable; but we did not so well like the responsibility of our charge. It is obvious that it might have been wrested from us, without great difficulty, even though each one of the triumvirate had possessed the bravery of Cæsar. Hence, policy dictated the concealment of the treasure, so far as might consist with the requisite vigilance. At Princeton, where we dined on the second day of our journey, we thought proper to have our bags brought into our room. The inn

keeper, like the generality of his profession, was loquacious and inquisitive; and being an extremely good whig into the bargain, took the liberty of sounding us respecting the contents of our bags, of which he had formed a very shrewd guess. We did

not think it necessary to deny that they contained money, or to conceal from him the object of our mission, which he was equally desirous of knowing. Upon learning that the destination was Canada, he entered into a dissertation upon our affairs in that quarter, telling us among other things, that the Prussian general the Baron Woedkie, had been a few days before at his house, on his way to that country. But he reprobated the baron in very hard terms, repeatedly exclaiming with a most significant emphasis, that he was no general; and in the sequel, favoring us with his reasons for this opinion, gave us to understand, that he (the baron) had made his ser vant grease with a feather a certain part, to which he gave its very coarsest appellation, that had suffered from the friction of riding. Whether our host had become acquainted with this circumstance by looking through a key-hole, or by what other means, we were not informed, but its unlucky effect upon him, convinced me of the justness of the observation, that no man is a hero to his valet de chambre. This same baron it was, who finding liberty, one day, the impassioned theme of some members of congress and others, exclaimed-Ah, liberdy is a fine ding; I likes liberdy; der koenig von Prusse is a great man for liberdy! and so no doubt he was, for his own liberty or importance as a member of the Germanic body; and it might puzzle many a flaming demagogue to shew a better title to the charac

ter.

But notwithstanding this requisite for our service, evinced by the baron's love of liberty, I believe he did not very well suit us; and that although The Prussian general made a great noise upon his first appearance, the public mind in respect to him, whether correct or not, pretty well accorded with that of our host, who at parting with us, expressed much anxiety for our safety and that of our charge, recommending to us in future, not to take our bags out of the chair, where we breakfasted and dined. The

propriety of this advice we were aware of, and ob served it where practicable; that is, where the treasure was sufficiently under our eyes without removal.

At New York, we spent about an hour in a slight survey of the barricades, which general Lee had caused to be thrown across some of the streets; and on our way out of town, fell in with a New-England regiment at exercise. Its commander was extremely busy, in instructing his troops in street firing, at that day, our most favorite manœuvre ; as we simply supposed that all our great battles were to be fought in our cities. We surveyed these men with all the respect that was due to the great military reputation of their country; but, we were obliged to confess, that they did not entirely come up to the ideas we had formed of the heroes of Lexington and Bunker's hill. This, we took to be a militia corps, from the circumstance of its not being a whit superior, in any visible respect, to the worst of ours. However, thought we, these men may nevertheless have some knack at fighting, which only discloses itself in the moment of action.

After leaving New-York, we passed through a' number of villages between that city and Albany; but these, of which the almanacs will give a much more accurate account than I can, I shall neither undertake to name, or locate. Poughkeepsie, however, must be excepted; as here we quartered for a night, under the hospitable roof of old doctor Baird, so called to distinguish him from his son of the same profession. The doctor was a relation of Mr. Stout's, and on my being made known to him, I had the satisfaction to find that he had formerly been acquainted with both my father and mother, of whom he spoke in the warmest and most friendly terms. My mother, he was pleased to say, he remembered the finest girl in Philadelphia; and that she had the manners of a lady bred at a court. The old gentleman was one of those who went under the denomination of tories; but if it was justly applied, M

he possessed too much liberality to permit his politics, in any degree, to interfere with the duties of hospitality. He considered us probably as young men, deluded but not seditious; as accessary to, but not responsible for, the calamities which were about to befal the country; and in addition to a good supper, entertained us with the military exploits of the duke of Marlborough, who appeared to be his favorite hero.

In the morning betimes we pursued our journey, and in the course of it, reached Albany about noon. Here we dined with a gentleman in regimentals bearing the title of major; though I do not either recollect his name, or the corps to which he belonged, if indeed he belonged to any, for majors and captains had by this time, become very good travelling appellations. He had just returned from Canada, and drew a most lamentable picture of our affairs in that country, descanting upon men and things with equal freedom and satire. He delivered himself with unusual flippancy; and wound up a very animated philippic upon our military operations in that quarter, with an, "in short, gentlemen, we have commissaries there without provisions; quarter"masters without stores; generals without troops; "and troops without discipline, by G-d.”

Leaving Albany, we passed by Stillwater, Saratoga, and other places, which have since acquired interest from the defeat and surrender of general Burgoyne and his army. Near to Fort Edward we met doctor Franklin, Mr. Carroll, and (I think) Mr. Chase, returning from Canada, to which, they had been deputed commissioners from congress. We delivered them a letter from that body, as we had been enjoined to do in case of meeting them, as also to take their orders in respect to our ulterior proceedings As they made no change in our destination, we went on. Immediately beyond Fort Edward, the country assumed a dreary, cheerless aspect. Between this and lake George, a distance of about

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