had been paid in dollars when worth four pence only; and that their subsequent arrearages had not been liquidated. They therefore requested an adjustment, and payment or security for the balances due. And as the half pay resolves had given uneasiness, by establishing a precedent of pensions, they requested a sum in gross in lieu of half pay for life.

531. Proceedings of Congress on this Memorial. In compliance with the wishes of the army, congress on the 25th of January, resolved that the superintendent of finance, should pay such part of the arrears due to the army, as the finances would permit; that the states should be called on to complete a settlement with their respective troops, to the first of August 1780; that the troops had an undoubted right, with all public creditors, to expect security for the payment of arrears, and that congress would make every effort in their power, to obtain from the states substantial funds for the whole debt. The proposition for commuting half pay during life, for a specific sum, was referred to a committee to examine the value of annuities, and on their report a resolution was proposed granting five years full pay in lieu of half pay for life, but it did not pass. On the 8th of February the committee made a report of these proceedings to the army.

532. Reception of this Report by the Army. As congress had little money and no means of raising it, except the old expedient of issuing bills, the army had little hope of any immediate relief adequate to their wants; and conscious of their fidelity and meritorious services, they could not patiently brook the delays attending the settlement of their accounts. On the 10th of March a notification was circulated, without a name, requesting a meeting of the general and field officers, with one from each company, to consider the communications from corgress, and what measures it would be proper to take. With this notice was circulated an anonymous address, couched

in a style of great energy, and calculated to awaken in the army the keenest sensations of indignity_for the wrongs done to the officers and soldiers. The impression on the army was correspondent to the spirit of the address, and threatened a violent commotion. 533. Conduct of General Washington in that Crisis. The commander in chief, with that coolness which never forsook him, and with a moderation adapted to allay the irritations of the moment, issued the next day, a notice reproving with mildness, the proposal for an irregular, unauthorized meeting, and requesting the officers to meet on a different day. On which a second address from the same unknown pen appeared, in which the author indirectly intimated that the design of his first address was not to excite to violence, but to arouse the army to assume a more bold and manly tone, in their solicitations for justice. The addresses were communicated to congress, and no doubt produced in a degree, the effect intended; for on the 22d of March, a resolution passed for a grant of five years pay, in lieu of half pay for life. At the meeting of the officers in pursuance of the general's request, the commander in chief addressed them in a masterly manner, reprobating the anonymous address, recommending peaceable measures, and pledging himself to exert his utmost ability to procure full justice to be done to the army. The officers voted him an address of thanks, and resolved that they continued to have unshaken confidence in the justice of congress and their country. Thus was dissipated one of the most menacing storms that ever hung over America.

534. Dismission of the Army. At the moment this storm had subsided, news was received that the preliminaries of peace were signed, and on the 26th of May 1783, congress resolved that the commander in chief be instructed to grant furlows to the noncommissioned officers and soldiers, who were engaged in service during the war, who should be discharg

ed as soon as the definitive treaty should be concluded, with a due proportion of commissioned officers. Upon the publication of that resolve, the officers presented a spirited address to the commander in chief, expressing their sufferings and wants, and their severe disappointment, as well as astonishment, at being disbanded without a settlement of their accounts, and a provision for payment of the balances. They entreated him to use his influence with congress to obtain a suspension of their order, and that no officer or soldier should be obliged to receive a furlow, until congress could be made acquainted with the wretched condition into which they should be plunged, if compelled to retire from the army, without a settlement of their accounts, a payment of the balances, or any evidence of what was due to them. The request could not be granted, but the general in his reply, stated that a partial payment was soon to be made, and that every thing practicable should be done, to bring their accounts to a final adjustment.

535. Mutiny in Pennsylvania. As it was not possible for congress to make full payment to the army, nor to liquidate their accounts in a short time, and as it was important to reduce the current expenditures, the officers and soldiers enlisted for the war, were dismissed with three months pay, in notes given by the financier, payable in six months. This measure excited great discontents, and in Pennsylvania occasioned a mutiny. In June 1783, about eighty soldiers, belonging to a body then stationed at Lancaster, deserted their officers, and under the conduct of their sergeants, marched to Philadelphia, where they were joined by two or three hundred soldiers from the barracks in that city. On the 21st of the month, they proceeded in a body, and surrounding the state-house. where congress and the executive council of Pennsylvania were sitting. placed guards at the doors, sent a message to the council complaining of the nonsettlement of their accounts, and the want of pay, and behaved in a menacing and disorderly manner.

536. Proceedings of Congress on this occasion:Congress,not choosing to deliberate when surrounded by armed men, adjourned and retired. After the mutineers had withdrawn, congress appointed a committee to wait on the executive council of Pennsylvania, requesting their efficacious aid in securing the safety of their persons, and preventing such indignities to the authority of the United States. The committee reported, that they had not received satisfactory assurances of the prompt and adequate exertions of that state, for supporting the dignity of the federal government. Congress therefore adjourned their sittings to Trenton, where they continued for some time; and to put a stop to such outrages, general Washington was requested to send a body of troops to Philadelphia. Accordingly a detachment of fifteen hundred men was sent from head-quarters; which, with other measures, quelled the mutiny. The accounts of the army had been put in a train for settlement, persons were appointed to adjust and ascertain the demands on the United States, whether for services or supplies; and certificates, which acquired the name of final settlements, were given as evidences of the balances due from the public. In these was included five years pay to the officers, in lieu of half pay for life, and eighty dollars allowance to the soldiers beyond their wages.

537. Popular Discontents on account of the grant to the Officers. Scarcely was the army dismssed, when attempts were made in some parts of the country, to excite uneasiness among the people, on account of the five years extra pay to the officers, called commutation. The uneasiness was first manifested and most violent in the New England states, and especially in Connecticut, where the symptoms of it became public in July 1783. Town meetings were held and resolutions passed, expressive of the people's disapprobation of the act of congress. It was said that the half pay, and the five years pay in lieu of it, werę

in the nature of pensions, which are always odious among a free people; that the officers of the army had taken advantage of the necessities of the country, to extort the promise of this gratuity from Congress; that the army had not suffered more than the people; that many of the officers had raised large estates; and all of them been amply rewarded by extra grants and bounties.

538. Progress of these discontents. The publication of the town meeting resolves served to augment and spread with rapidity the popular discontents; and in autumn the crisis became alarming. A proposal for a convention of deputies from the several towns in Connecticut, to be held at Middletown, was circulated with great success, and on the 3d day of September delegates from twenty-eight towns, assembled at that place. For want of a full representation of the state, which was ascribed to the short notice given, they adjourned to the thirtieth of the same month. On that day the convention met and about fifty towns were represented. This body, having agreed on an address to the legislature, adjourned to the 10th of December; when few members attending, they adjourned to the third Tuesday in March 1784. On that day a few delegates attended and originated an inflammatory address to the people, complaining of the officers of the army, and pronouncing the grant of five years extra pay, an unconstitutional act.

539. Result of the Popular Proceedings. During the democratic effervescence in Connecticut, congress were accused as usurpers and tyrants; the proposal of a general impost to supply the public treasury was reprobated as dangerous to the sovreignty of the several states; the society of the Cincinnati was represented as an aristocracy, aiming to establish orders of nobility; and a thousand bugbears were held up to view, to terrify weak and discontented minds. An attempt was made to circulate a ticket containing the names of new men for the upper house, and the old,