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GENTLEMEN: The sense which the Officers of the Second
Battalion express, in this obliging Address, of my attention
to, and zeal in, the service of my bleeding country, in that
particular line of duty marked out by their free unanimous
voice, is not only very honourable, but also highly pleasing,
as it is a fresh proof of the regard of a corps with whom I
have had uninterrupted happiness ever since our first connection, and whose esteem I would ever studiously cultivate. At the same time that I accept with thanks, as a
further mark of regard, your congratulations on my late
honourable appointment at Lancaster, permit me to say
that neither that appointment nor your congratulations can
prevent the pain of an ingenuous mind under the conscious
sense of a want of talents for so important a station. However, the cause in which we are engaged is the cause of
God, who loveth justice and hateth oppression. He can
give efficacy to the feeblest efforts. The concurrence of
officers and privates, in a general assurance of their zeal and
readiness in the service of their country under my command,
presages a happy, and, I trust, a successful campaign, for
which they have my hearty thanks. I expect no less from
every friend to America, engaged in the service, as I can
have no private or sinister view, and it is evident union
alone can serve our suffering country, whereas divisions
would destroy it. DANIEL ROBERDEAU.
Philadelphia, July 10, 1776.
General Roberdeau' s reply to the Address
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