Cutting, John Browne (fl. 1782-1797) to Henry Knox

[draft]
My Dear Sir
Andover 22d March 1782
When so unexceptionable a conveyance offers by Major Shaw, one cannot resist the pleasure of addressing a line to you were it only to enquire after the health of Mrs Knox and her little family of desirables. To whom please to present my respectful and affectionate regards, & together with them, accept my best felicitations on the enlargement of your domestic happiness. Pray what kind of features has the late additional young gentleman? Do they indicate peace or war? Has his brow the military scowl of defiance, or do smiles of pacification expand in rosy dimples? If an Ancient cou'd predict the events of war & peace from the unmeaning inside of a lifeless animal, why may not a modern from the expressive outside of a living Intelligence, late from celestial head quarters? Be this as it may, I might unreproach'd with vanity, affirm I shou'd have as rational data, to go upon respecting future political and military movements, from surveying the face of an Infant, as most of our wiseacres appear to have, from inspecting the present face of affairs in the great world of contention. Yet if Genl Washington and you Artillery Gentlemen will be taking Earls and Armies at a Stroke, where is the wonder that we Sons of obscurity, in those frigid regions, remote from the rationalia of deduction shou'd suddenly be thaw'd into torrents of such extravagance as to imagine that America is the whole world and the whole world - America. - The utmost elation on the success of any important event is perhaps a trait of human nature - that it is the characteristic of an american [2] can not be deny'd; tho' the reverse under a change of circumstances does not so certainly mark our conduct. The people of this State have been [struck: so] totally absorb'd with the idea of compleat conquest, from the brilliant termination of the last Campaign [strikeout] [inserted: and] the political, like a personal inebriation, seems to have been succeeded by a profound slumber of the Commonwealth; from which intoxication the people are but beginning to arouse, awaken'd by the Giant Taxation, & the animated thunders for supplies, which have roll'd from the Financier at Philadelphia. That such as been the real situation of our Citizens what clearer demonstration can be requir'd than the Squibs and Squabbles of our most distinguishd Leaders; equally injurious to their own high characters, and disreputable to the State. Our newspapers have teem'd during the winter, with their uninteresting party altercations; which have been manag'd with all the puerility of abuse and the malevolent keenness of animosity. These intemperances still continue and indeed the Principals are so equally match'd ~ on the one hand spend our personal address hospitality & the charms of office ~ on the other machiavelian subtlety, undeviating perseverance & profound sagacity - that time and chance must decide the contest for [strikeout] domination (the Secret Spring of action on either side) or at least blunt the edge of their opposition. It is a remark not unworthy of a philosopher, that most rational quarrels enable the Individuals of either party, while personal ones as frequently disgrace each antagonist. The present age is fill'd with confirmations of this saying. However perhaps such contentions are the invariable concomitants of a republican Government. [inserted: And] this good effect may derive from the one above recited: the two great men may be stimulants [inserted: on each other] to a more active exertion of their official powers, and at the same time check reciprocal aberrations from the line of legal propriety. - Our Legislature have pass'd many judicious laws in their late session and as usual some ridiculous ones ~ let us draw a veil over the latter while among the former the one for raising [strikeout] [inserted: for illegible] fifteen hundred men, & for giving the Financiers bills compleat & substantial support, are mention'd with particular approbation. [3] The people without paying them, murmur most heavily at the weight of their taxes; what then will be their feelings when the solid coin is [strikeout] [inserted: retracted] from their clench'd fistes? For sure if even the Demon of Avarice was worship'd or the Mammon of Unrighteousness adorn'd by mankind, those Fools live in the bosoms of this People bound to their hearts with chains adamantine. Yet notwithstanding this vice they possess many political virtues. Their industry sobriety temperance frugality and hardihood almost rival spartan antiquity. I wish I cou'd say as much for their liberality of Sentiment, which in truth they have not much pretension to; at least in the interior parts of the Country. And indeed where cou'd they have obtain'd it? When it was the interest, the policy, the religion of their ancestors, to prevent all intercourse between their sons and any other denomination sect or persuasion, on the face of the Globe. Yet to take them collectively their knowledge of moral & political obligations and privileges is prodigious: and in my opinion plainly proves, that information and a liberal mode of thinking do not always progress to[text loss] in hand. ~ But after all, their local attachments or prejudices, are [strikeout] benefit[inserted: icial] to the community, and while their present sen[text loss] of manners [inserted: shall] prevail must render it respectable in peace & form[text loss] in war! And if I mistake not the palladium of this simplicity in Agriculture. This being granted do, my dear Sir, put an end to the present contest, as far as in you lies, the ensuing Campaign if the thing is practicable. And in this part of the Country we think the affair very feasable I assure you Indeed if General Washington & yourself knew as much about military matters as some of us ~ God only knows what miracles you might have wrought before now. Doubtless that of the five loaves & two fishes wou'd have been quadrupled to the utter astonishment of filthy Contracters & Commissaries ~ & probably one more Jericho wou'd have tumbled into Hudson's River at the first sound of your Cohorns. / Happily for your patience the limits of this paper only allow me to [struck: offer] [inserted: add] my best wishes that the augmentation of your Life & Laurels may overtop the Summit of your ambition. Adieu my dear Sir and believe me with Sentiments of respect & affection
Yours unalterably JB Cutting

[address]
Brigadier Genl Knox
Major Shaw Head Quarters

[docket]
from Doctor Cutting 2 March
1782