from each other. The enemy is secure from attack by the
nature of their situation; and we by our numbers, our success, and the
apprehensions of Sir Henry. We turn our faces therefore to the south,
and expect from the enterprize of General Greene an activity, which
the season will not admit of here.

I had a letter from him of 13th of December, which contains the latest
advices. His camp is at Round O. He writes in high spirits, and
assures me he is preparing for the siege of Charleston, which he is
not without hopes of carrying even before any foreign assistance can
arrive. I must confess for my own part, notwithstanding the natural
coolness of General Greene, that I believe he is much too sanguine on
this occasion; for I have no conception that his means are adequate to
so important an object, more especially as troops have since the date
of his letter sailed from New York, as I suppose for Charleston.

The governments of Georgia and Carolina are again established, and
their legislatures are now sitting. The detestation of the people for
the British can hardly be conceived. General Greene's letter expresses
it in the following words; "The tyrants of Syracuse were never more
detested than the British army in this country; even the slaves
rejoice, and find a kind of temporary freedom from oppression on the
return of their masters."

I congratulate you upon the capture of St Eustatia and St Martin's.
The enterprise does the highest honor to the abilities and spirit of
the Marquis de Bouille; and his disinterested generosity is finely
contrasted with the sordid avarice of the British commanders.

Order and economy have taken place in our finances. The troops are
regularly clothed and fed at West Point, and most of the other posts,
at the moderate rate of ninepence a ration when issued, so that the
innumerable band of purchasing and issuing commissaries is discharged.
The hospitals are well supplied in the same way, and small advances of
pay are made to the officers and men. Upon the whole, they were never
in so comfortable a situation as they are at present. Our civil list
formed upon plans of the strictest economy, after having been many
years in arrear, is now regularly paid off; and the departments, in
consequence of it, filled with men of integrity and abilities.
Embargoes and other restrictions being removed, our commerce begins to
revive, and with it the spirit of industry and enterprise; and what
will astonish