"SIR: With a mixture of great surprise and astonishment, I have read with attention the sentiments you have submitted to my perusal. Be assured, Sir, no occurrence in the course of the war has given me more painful sensations, than your information of there being such ideas existing in the army, as you have expressed, and I must view with abhorrence and reprehend with severity. For the present the Communication of this will rest in my own bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter shall make a disclosure necessary. "I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to an address, which to me seems big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my country. If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable. At the same time, in justice to my own feelings, I must add that no man possesses a more sincere wish to see ample justice done to the Army than I do, and so far as my power and influence, in a constitutional way, extend, they shall be employed to the utmost of my abilities to effect it, should there be any occasion. Let me conjure you then, if you have any regard for your country, concern for yourself or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from yourself or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature. "With esteem I am, sir, Your most obedient servant, "GEORGE WASHINGTON." That Washington desired to be a simple resident on his own estate at Mount Vernon instead of king of the new country, was emphasized by a letter written on June 15 to Archibald Cary: "I can truly say, that the first wish of my soul is to return speedily into the bosom of that country which gave me birth, and, in the sweet enjoyment of domestic happiness and the company of a few friends, to end my days in quiet, when I shall be called from this stage." There was joy in the village on the banks of the Hudson when, late in 1782, a letter came from Sir Guy Carleton announcing that negotiations for a general peace had already begun in Paris, and that the king had decided to propose the independence of the thirteen Provinces "in the first instance, instead of granting it as a condition of a general treaty." In the long interval before the receipt of decisive word concerning peace, the sagacity of Washington was once more tested severely. There was still disaffection among the officers and the men because they had not been paid, and because Congress seemed to pay no attention to their protests. Washington learned that a call had been issued for a meeting of officers to be held in New Windsor to consider taking matters into their own hands and forcing Congress to act.