hey then traversed the country to the
head of the eastern branch of the Susquehanna, and viewed Lake Otsego
and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk River. Washington
returned to head-quarters at Newburg on the 5th of August, after a
tour of at least seven hundred and fifty miles, performed in nineteen
days, and for the most part on horseback.

By a proclamation of Congress, dated 18th of October, all officers and
soldiers absent on furlough were discharged from further service; and
all others who had engaged to serve during the war, were to be
discharged from and after the 3d of November. A small force only,
composed of those who had enlisted for a definite time, were to be
retained in service until the peace establishment should be organized.
In general orders of November 2d, Washington, after adverting to this
proclamation, adds: "It only remains for the commander-in-chief to
address himself once more, and that for the last time, to the armies
of the United States, however widely dispersed the individuals who
compose them may be, and to bid them an affectionate and a long
farewell."

He then goes on to make them one of those paternal addresses which so
eminently characterize his relationship with his army, so different
from that of any other commander. He takes a brief view of the
glorious struggle from which they had just emerged; the unpromising
circumstances under which they had undertaken it, and the signal
interposition of Providence in behalf of their feeble condition; the
unparalleled perseverance of the American armies for eight long years,
through almost every possible suffering and discouragement; a
perseverance which he justly pronounces to be little short of _a
standing miracle_. Adverting then to the enlarged prospects of
happiness opened by the confirmation of national independence and
sovereignty, and the ample and profitable employments held out in a
Republic so happily circumstanced, he exhorts them to maintain the
strongest attachment to THE UNION, and to carry with them into civil
society the most conciliatory dispositions; proving themselves not
less virtuous and useful as citizens, than they had been victorious as
soldiers.

Notwithstanding every exertion had been made for the evacuation of New
York, such was the number of persons and the quantity of effects of
all kinds to be conveyed away, that the month of November was far
advanced before it could be completed. Sir Guy Carleton had