letters, he received a resolution
of congress, directing him to take every measure in his power to
prevent the publication of the protest entered into by the officers of
Sullivan's army. In his letter communicating this resolution, he said,
"the disagreement between the army under your command and the fleet,
has given me very singular uneasiness. The continent at large is
concerned in our cordiality, and it should be kept up by all possible
means, consistent with our honour and policy. First impressions, you
know, are generally longest retained, and will serve to fix, in a
great degree, our national character with the French. In our conduct
towards them, we should remember that they are a people old in war,
very strict in military etiquette, and apt to take fire when others
scarcely seem warm. Permit me to recommend in the most particular
manner, the cultivation of harmony and good agreement, and your
endeavours to destroy that ill humour which may have found its way
among the officers. It is of the utmost importance too, that the
soldiers and the people should know nothing of this misunderstanding,
or, if it has reached them, that means may be used to stop its
progress, and prevent its effects." In a letter to General Greene,
after expressing his fears that the seeds of dissension and distrust
might be sown between the troops of the two nations, he added, "I
depend much on your temper and influence, to conciliate that animosity
which, I plainly perceive by a letter from the Marquis, subsists
between the American and French officers in our service. This, you may
be assured, will extend itself to the Count, and to the officers and
men of his whole fleet, should they return to Rhode Island, unless a
reconciliation shall have taken place. The Marquis speaks kindly of a
letter from you to him on this subject. He will therefore take any
advice from you in a friendly way; and, if he can be pacified, the
other French gentlemen will, of course, be satisfied; since they look
up to him as their head. The Marquis grounds his complaint on a
general order of the 24th of August, and upon the universal clamour
that prevailed against the French nation.

"I beg you will take every measure to keep the protest entered into by
the general officers from being made public. Congress, sensible of the
ill consequences that will flow from our differences being known to
the world, have passed a resolve to that purpose. Upon the whole, my
dear si