The fleet of the Marquis de Vaudreuil has also sustained a loss in the sinking of the Magnifique, in the harbor of Boston. Congress have endeavored to repair this, by presenting the America to his Majesty. The troops from Virginia have joined those on the Hudson. Our army is in noble order at present; you will be charmed to see our countrymen well dressed, since you used to admire them even in their rags. I send you the papers for a month back; they contain all our public news, and some particulars worthy your attention. I am, my Dear Sir, &c. ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. * * * * * ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO M. DE LAFAYETTE. Philadelphia, November 2d, 1782. Dear Sir, The confusion occasioned by the misfortune of the Eagle, and the delay that the gentlemen who saved their baggage experienced in getting here, prevented my receiving your favor of the 25th and 29th of July till the last of September, although I had acknowledged the receipt of the letters, by the same conveyance, much earlier. Your letter contained so much important matter, that it was laid before Congress, for knowing it would be advantageous to you and place your assiduity and attention to their interests in its strongest point of light. I choose to consider most of yours as public letters; this last was particularly acceptable, as neither Dr Franklin nor Mr Jay had been so explicit, as we had reason to expect. Our system of politics has been so much the same for a long time, tending only to one point, a determination to support the war till we can make peace in conjunction with our allies, that the whole history of our Cabinet amounts to nothing more than a reiteration of the same sentiments in different language; and so plain is our political path, so steadily do we walk in it, that I can add nothing to what I have already written you on that subject. The events of the campaign are as uninteresting; the inactivity and caution of the enemy have given us leisure to form the finest army this country ever saw, while they conspire to render that army useless for the present. The troops are gone into winter quarters; ours at Fishkill, West Point, and its vicinity; the French as far east as Hartford. This day we are informed from New York, that fourteen sail of the line, one of forty guns, and seven frigates, sailed from thence on the 26th. We cannot learn that they had troops on board or under convoy.