In our Letter by Col Fitzgerald on the Expedition against Philada. we slightly touch'd upon the State of this Army in Point of Provisions.(1) But it is a Matter of so much Importance, & the Prospects are so truly alarming that we think it our indispensible Duty to be more particular & submit our Sentiments thereupon to the Consideration of Congress. We have conferred with every Officer in the Provision Department from whom we could expect to receive Information, the Result of which is, that we find this Army has been fed by daily Supplies drawn from the Country at large-seldom or ever having more than four Days Advance; that in some few Instances there has been a total Failure & on one Occasion Necessity compelled the Soldiery to disperse in the Neighbourhood & take indiscriminately the Provisions laid in by the Inhabitants for the Winters Support of themselves & Families. The pernicious Consequences of which we need not enumerate. Of the several Species of which a Ration is composed, we find the Commissary has never been able to furnish any

   From the very large Issues we had presumed that there must have been some Mistake or Fraud, a Detection of which would have enabled us to make a considerable saving, but upon a Scrutiny & Comparison of the Provision, & Brigade Returns, we do not find any considerable Difference, the large Issues being satisfactorily accounted for, in the Number of continental Troops to be fed (tho' many of them are unfit for Duty thro Sickness & Want of Cloathing) in the Militia, & long Train of Waggon Masters, Drivers, Artificers, Clerks, & other Retainers of the Army.

   The Prisoners of War at Boston & in the several Eastn. States, Burgoynes Army, the Guards & Garrison there, & the Forces stationed for the Protection of Rhode Island will we apprehend amount to 12, or 14000 Men. The Troops destined for Canada, & stationed at Albany along the Mohawk & Hudsons Rivers, with those at Fish Kill, Artificers, Retainers &c may be Computed at least at 6000, making in the whole 20,000 Men to be fed with Meat from the East Side of Hudsons River. New Jersey, Pennsylvania & the Delaware State are exhausted. From this collective View of the Subject, & taking it for granted that the Army under General Howe is the first great Object of Attention, we are induced in the first Place to recommend a Perseverance in the Exertion of every Person to procure supplies in every State, not excepting those at a Distance firmly persuaded that after all we have done, or can do, there will be little or no Surplus. And in the second Place, to adopt every Expedient of Economy in the Application of them. Among which we beg Leave to suggest the immediate Dispersion of General Burgoyne, & all the other Prisoners, in such a Manner as to require few or no Guards, & to be easily fed from the neighbouring Country. Other Considerations will concur to demonstrate the Propriety of this Measure. We find the Generals Mind impressed strongly with Apprehensions of Danger from keeping such a Body of Officers & Men collected after they suppose the Obligations of personal & national Honour are dissolved.(2)

   We think every Nerve should be strained to collect such a Supply of Meat as will feed an Army of 30,000 Men early the next Spring, & are compelled by the inevitable Force of Evidence to say, that the very Existence of this Army depends for its Resources in a great Degree upon the Eastern Country, which failing it must disband, live upon free Quarter in the Country-or perish The Operations of the next Campaign so immediately depend upon some Measures of this Kind, & upon the Wisdom of Congress in forming & executing them that we beg Leave to urge it in the strongest Manner. Should we neglect any prudent Precaution in providing, or divide the Supplies & Resources of our Country into a Number of separate Channels, we very much fear our Efforts will be lanquid & ineffectual in every Quarter, while General Howe with his collected Force will ravage the middle States with Impunity.