Proceedings of the Assembly of Massachusetts on the Letter of General Washington

v3:1712

The Committee of both Houses, appointed to take into consideration his Excellency General Washington' s Letter , dated November 29, 1775, to the General Court, report, as their opinion, that a Committee be immediately appointed to wait on him, and, with the General Officers, to devise some method whereby the deficiency in the Army, which may be caused by the Connecticut forces leaving the service, and the furloughs granted to part of the forces enlisted for the next year, can be supplied, and make report.

And whereas his Excellency, in the last paragraph of the same letter, mentions that he cannot help observing, as his opinion, that our paying our men by the lunar, and not by the calendar month, will throw the rest of the Army into disorder: We also report, that a Committee be appointed to draught a letter to his Excellency, in answer to the said paragraph of his letter, showing the reasons of our conduct in thus paying our men — that it is not an innovation; and that we hear it with concern, that while we are doing justice to our men, by complying with our contract with them, that it should produce disorder in the Army — and report.

B˙ LINCOLN, per order.