Every  man  who  had  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  subject  easily  perceived  the
defective  nature  and  dangerous  tendency  of  this  arrangement.  It  was  an
attempt  to  carry  on  the  war  rather  by  separate  provincial  efforts  than  by  a  com-
bination of  national  strength  ;  and  if  the  army  received  from  any  state  where  it
was  acting  the  appointed  quantity  of  necessaries,  it  had  no  right,  though  starving,
to  purchase  what  it  stood  in  need  of.  Besides,  the  carriage  of  provisions  from
distant  parts  was  troublesome,  expensive,  and  sometimes  impracticable.
The  troops  were  ill  clot  \ed,  their  pay  was  in  arrear,  and  that  of  the  officers,
owing  to  the  great  depreciation  of  the  paper  currency,  was  wholly  unequal  to
their  decent  maintenance.  These  multiplied  privations  and  sufferings  soured
the  temper  of  the  men  ;  and  it  required  all  the  influence  of  their  revered  com-
mander to  prevent  many  of  the  officers  from  resigning  their  -commissions.  The
long  continuance  of  want  and  hardship  produced  relaxation  of  discipline,  which
at  length  manifested  itself  in  open  mutiny.  On  the  25th  of  May,  two  regiments
belonging  to  Connecticut  paraded  under  arms,  with  the  avowed  intention  of
returning  home,  or  of  obtaining  subsistence  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  The
rest  of  the  soldiers,  though  they  did  not  join  in  the  mutiny,  showed  little  dispo-
sition to  suppress  it.  At  length  the  two  regiments  were  brought  back  to  their
duty  ;  but  much  murmuring  and  many  complaints  were  heard.  While  the  army
was  in  such  want,  the  inhabitants  of  Jersey,  where  most  of  the  troops  were  sta-
tioned, were  unavoidably  harassed  by  frequent  requisitions,  which  excited  con-
siderable discontent.
