tions to or have the least dependence on the intervention of a foreign war. Our wishes on this head. have been disappointed hitherto, and perhaps it may long be the case. However, be this as it may, our reliance should be wholly on our own strength and exertions. If in addition to these, there should be aid derived from a war between the enemy and any of the European powers, our situation will be so much the better. If not, our efforts and exertions will have been the more necessary and indispensable. For my own part, I should be happy if the idea of a foreign rupture should be thrown entirely out of our scale of politicks, and that it may not have the least weight in our public measures.. No bad effects, could flow from it, but on the contrary many of a salutary nature. At the same time I do not mean, that such an idea ought to be discouraged among the people at large, because the event is probable. There is one thing more to which I would take the liberty of soliciting your most serious and constant attention, to wit. the cloathing of your troops, and procuring of every possible supply in your power from time to time, for that end. If the sev eral states exert themselves in future in this instance, and I trust they will, I hope that the supplies they will be able to furnish in aid of those, which Congress may immediately import themselves, will be equal and competent to every demand. If they do not, I fear-I am satisfied the troops will never be in a situation to answer the public expectation, and perform the duties required of them. No pains-no efforts on the part of the States can be too great for this purpose. It is not easy to give you a just and accurate idea of the sufferings of the army at large-of the loss of men on this account. Were they to be minutely detailed, your feelings would be wounded, and the relation would probably be not received without a degree of doubt and discredit. We had in camp, on the 23d inst. by a field return then taken, not less than 2898 men unfit for duty, by reason of their being barefoot and otherwise naked. Besides this number, sufficiently distressing of itself, there are many others detained in hospitals and crowded in farmers' houses for the same causes. In a most particular manner, I flatter myself the care and attention of the states will be directed to the supply of shoes, stockings, and blankets, as their expenditure, from the common operations and accidents of war, is far greater than of any other articles. In a word, the united and respective exertions of the states, cannot be too great-too vigorous in this interesting work, and we shall never have a fair and just prospect for success, till our troops (officers and men) are better appointed and provided than they are or have been. We have taken post here for the winter, as a place best calculated to cover the country from the ravages of the enemy, and are now busily employed in erecting huts for the troops. This circumstance renders it the more material, that the supplies should be greater and more immediate, than if the men were in comfortable quar ters. Before I conclude, I would also add, that it will be essential to inoculate the recruits or levies, as fast as they are raised, that their earliest services may be had. Should this be postponed, the work will be to do most probably, at an interesting and critical period, and when their aid may be very materially wanted. I have the honor to be with great respect, your most obedient servant, G. WASHINGTON, Committee of New-Hampshire. Head Quarters, Morristown, Feb. 24th, 1780. SIR,-You will have received I make no doubt a copy of an act of Congress of the 9th instant, ascertaining the quotas of the non-commissioned offieers and privates to be furnished by the respective states for the ensuing campaign, and directing the men in the additional corps-the guards, artillery, and the horse, and the regimented artificers in the departments of the quarter-master-general and commissary general of military stores, as well as those of the battallions in the state levies, whose services do not expire before the last of September next, to be counted as part of the quotas of the states to which they respectively belong. The quota of the state of New-Hampshire is fixed at 12.5 and I have now the honor to inclose you a special return of the non-commissioned officers and privates in her three battallions, and of those belonging to her in Jackson's and Hazen's regiments, and Lamb's regiment of artillery, designating in a particular manner, the proportion engaged for the war and the periods when and in what proportion the services of the rest will expire. You will be pleased to observe that by the act, men whose engagements expire before the last of September next, as I have already taken the liberty to mention, are not to be computed as part of the 1215; and therefore according to the return inclosed, the the deficiency of men to be raised is 695. There are one or two corps besides those I have mentioned, of which I have not yet obtained returns; in which possibly there may be a few men belonging to the state. When I procure these, if this should be the case, I shall take the earliest occasion to communicate it and their number. I would observe before I conclude, that this return bears the fullest number of men under every description the state can have in her three battallions and the other corps which it comprehends, and they would most probably be found, if an actual inspection could take place, to fall a good deal short of the complement, as there is always a material difference between an army on paper and its real strength. A comparative view between the total of an army, as borne upon every general return and the column of present fit for duty, and the absentees that can be accounted for as certainly existing, demonstrates this beyond question. I have the honour to be, with great respect and esteem, Sir, your most obedient servant, G. WASHINGTON.. The Hon. the President of the Council of the State of New-Hampshire. Ramapough, June 30, 1780. SIR,-I send Brigadier General Stark to your state, to collect and forward the drafts for your battallions, and the levies for three months to the appointed place of rendezvous. The zeal, which the State of New Hampshire has always manifested gives me the fullest confidence, that they have complied with the requisitions of the committee of Congress in all their extent; though we have not yet heard from thence what measures have been taken. This is the time for America, by one great exertion, to put an end to the war; but for this purpose the necessary means must be furnished. The basis of every thing else, is the completion of the continental battallions to their full establishment. If this is. not done, I think it my duty to forewarn every state, that nothing decisive can be attempted, and that this campaign, like all the former, must be chiefly defensive. I am sorry to observe, that some of the states have taken up the business on a less extensive scale. The consequences have been represented with candour and plainness, and I hope for the honor and safety of America, the representation may have the weight it deserves. The drafts cannot be forwarded with too much expedition; but as to the militia, under present appearances, I think it advisable to suspend the time fixed for their rendezvousing to the 25th of the next month, at which period, I shall be glad they may be without fail at the place appointed; and it would be my wish, that they should come out under the command of General Stark. I entreat your excellency to employ all your influence to give activity and vigor to the measures of your state. Every thing depends on the proper improvement of the present conjuncture; we have every thing to hope on one side, and every thing to fear on the other. With perfect respect, I have the honor to be, Your Excellency's most obedient and humble servant, G. WASHINGTON. His Excellency Meshech Weare, Esq. President of the State of New-Hampshire. P. S. The suspension of the period for assembling the militia, is founded on the French fleet not being arrived; if this event should have taken place before this reaches your excellency, the suspension is not to have effect. The militia cannot be too soon at the place of rendezvous, after the fleet arrives. Head Quarters, 26th July, 1780. SIR, I have been honored with your favor of the 15th. The particular and spirited exertions of the state of New-Hampshire, to fulfil the objects which |