He landed at Alexandria, in Virginia,
and thence march'd to Frederictown, in Maryland, where he halted
for carriages. Our Assembly apprehending, from some information,
that he had conceived violent prejudices against them, as averse
to the service, wish'd me to wait upon him, not as from them,
but as postmaster-general, under the guise of proposing to settle
with him the mode of conducting with most celerity and certainty
the despatches between him and the governors of the several provinces,
with whom he must necessarily have continual correspondence, and of
which they propos'd to pay the expense. My son accompanied me on
this journey.
We found the general at Frederictown, waiting impatiently for
the return of those he had sent thro' the back parts of Maryland
and Virginia to collect waggons. I stayed with him several days,
din'd with him daily, and had full opportunity of removing
all his prejudices, by the information of what the Assembly had
before his arrival actually done, and were still willing to do,
to facilitate his operations. When I was about to depart, the returns
of waggons to be obtained were brought in, by which it appear'd
that they amounted only to twenty-five, and not all of those were
in serviceable condition. The general and all the officers were
surpris'd, declar'd the expedition was then at an end, being impossible,
and exclaim'd against the ministers for ignorantly landing them in a
country destitute of the means of conveying their stores, baggage,
etc.
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