power of the enemy and are then compelled to furnish horses, procure provisions, serve as guides and to perform other offices in aid of their operations while others of unfriendly disposition become spies and intelligencers and if taken in the very fact are not subject to that speedy justice which alone can effectually deter. He supposes that the Lives of our Soldiers and citizens entrusted to his care might be rendered much more secure by some legal provision against the unrestricted right of passing to & fro in the neighborhood of the encampments and by subjecting the inhabitants within some certain distance to such immediate trial & punishment for leading attempts against the safety of our army or in aid of that of our enemies as the rights of the citizen on the one hand & necessaties of war on the other may safely admit. TO MAJOR-GENERAL MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE. V. S. A. CHARLOTTESVILLE May 31st 1781 SIR, I had the honor last night of receiving your favor of the 28th from Goldmine Creek and this morning that of the 29th. I shall be very happy indeed if against such a superiority of Cavalry you shall be able to keep out of the way of the enemy till you are fully inforced. I imagine Genl Weedon's observation as to his want of power to call forth the Militia respects the Counties round about Fredericksburg; but all those on the South side of the Rappahannock have been called on by the Executive, and to those on the North Side, they may be called on under our Invasion Law, which directs that the Commanding Officer of the Militia of any County hearing of the approach of an enemy shall call on so many circumjacent Counties as he shall think necessary, which Counties by their officers are obliged to obey his call. I have the pleasure to inform you that Mr Ross's Agent in Philadelphia on the 9th instant forwarded 275 Stand of Arms and a ton of Powder to Fredericksburg; on the 11th he forwarded another stand of Arms; on the 18th he forwarded 600 stand of Arms, and by this time expected the remainder of 2000 engaged from Congress by the board of War. I must pray you to take such measures through Genl Weedon or otherwise as may secure these Stores from falling into the hands of the enemy and moving them to where they may be useful to you. Your knowledge of the movements of the enemy will enable you to do this with safety whereas at the distance I am from them my orders however proper when given might by a change of their route lead the Arms. into their way. Besides the preceding Arms Genl Washington has sent on 1000 Stand, and the board of War were sending on 2000 more from Springfield. As to the eleven hundred and odd stand which lately came on from Rhode Island the property of this State, I desired Colo Davies after delivering to Baron Steuben as many as he has new Recruits to return. the rest for the Militia of your camp. Will you be so good as to advise him by what route you will have them sent to Your camp or to what other place. Two hundred of them being yet in your neighborhood I have ordered them for present safety to Rockfish Gap from which place they will be moved according to any order you may give. With respect both to those Arms and the new levies, I am desired to communicate to you the en closed Resolution of General Assembly. The representation there directed of the present State, quantity and condition of the public Arms would be unnecessary to you who know already more than I do, nor can anybody be more sensible than yourself of the reasons which urge the detention of the new Levies till other effectual force can be assembled. I shall therefore in compliance with resolution only add my desire that you will be pleased to retain all those Arms within the State for its particular defence. Two days before the Receipt of your letter of the 28th I had dispatched one to you inclosing eight Impress Warrants, to provide horses from the Counties contiguous to the enemy's line of march. The Assembly used this undefined Expression in order to give you a latitude to Impress, knowing that a precise circumscription might defeat their intention altogether. This therefore anticipated your desire expressed in that letter of extending your power 50 miles around. It also takes in your second request in the Letter of the 20th to authorize Colo White to impress on the South side of James River. The Counties through which the Enemy marched or bordered on them are within the extent of the Impress warrants sent you, one of which being given to Colo White will authorize him to impress in Amelia, Powhatan, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Prince Edward, Brunswic and the other Counties there abounding in good horses. I will immediately direct the County Superintendants to collect all accoutrements for horses belonging to the Public in their Counties and to send them to such place as Col White shall appoint & in the mean time to Your camp. The prisoners of war in the State are most of them in the hands of Colo Holmes, Continental Commissary of prisoners at Winchester. There are a few at Staunton. Your orders to either place will be effectual. TO MAJOR-GENERAL MARQUIS LA FAYETTE.' J. MSS. SIR,—I am much obliged by the trouble you took in forwarding to me the Ire of his Excy the pr of Congr. It found me in Bedford 100 miles Southwd of this where I was confined till within these few days by an unfortunate fall from my horse. This has occasioned the delay of the answer which I now take the liberty of enclosing to you as the confidential channel of conveyance pointed out by the President. I thank you also for your kind sentiments & friendly offers on the occasion, which that I cannot avail myself of has given me more mortification than almost any occurrence of my life. I lose an opportuity the only one I ever had, and perhaps ever shall have of combining public service with private gratification; Of seeing countries whose improvements in science, in arts, & in civilization it has been my fortune to admire at a distance but never to see and at the same time of lending further aid to a cause which has been handed on from it's first organization to its present stage by every effort of which my poor faculties were 'Jefferson resigned his office of Governor June 1, 1781. On June 15th he was appointed by the Continental Congress one of four commissioners to negotiate a peace in Europe, but he declined the appointment. capable. These however have not been such as to give satisfaction to some of my countrymen & it has become necessary for me to remain in the state till a later period in the present year, than is consistent with an acceptance of what has been offered me. Declining higher objects therefore my only one must be to show that suggestion and fact are different things & that public misfortunes may be produced as well by public poverty and private disobedience to the laws as by the misconduct of public servants. The independance of private life under the protection of republican laws will I hope yield me that happiness from which no slave is so remote as the minister of a commonwealth. From motives of private esteem as well as public gratitude I shall pray it to be your lot in every line of life as no one can with more truth subscribe himself with the highest regard & respect Sir your mo obedient & mo hble servt. TO EDMUND RANDOLPH. MONTICELLO Sep 16, 1781. DEAR SIR, I have recd your letter of the 7th inst. That mentioned to have been sent by the preceding post has not come to hand nor two others which Mrs. Randolph informs me you wrote before you left Virginia nor indeed any other should you have been so kind as to have written any other. When I received the first letter from the President of Congress inclosing their resolution, & mentioning the necessity of an expeditious departure, my determination to attend at the next session of assembly VOL. III.-4 |