This answer satisfied the officers. The utmost good temper was manifested; and the arrangements for retiring on furlough were made without a murmur. In the course of the summer, a considerable proportion of the troops enlisted for three years were also permitted to return to their homes; and, in October, a proclamation was issued by congress, declaring all those who had engaged for the war to be discharged on the third of December. [Illustration: The Long Room in Fraunces' Tavern, New York City _It was here that Washington took formal leave of his officers, preparatory to resigning his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. Controlling his emotion with difficulty, the General arose, at the conclusion of a light repast, and proposed the following health: "With a heart full of love and gratitude I must now take my leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable." The toast was drunk in silence, and Washington added: "I cannot come to each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged to you if each will come and take me by the hand."_] [Sidenote: Mutiny of a part of the Pennsylvania line.] While these excellent dispositions were manifested by the veterans serving under the immediate eye of their patriot chief, the government was exposed to insult and outrage from the mutinous spirit of a small party of new levies. About eighty men of this description belonging to Pennsylvania, were stationed at Lancaster. Revolting against the authority of their officers, they marched in a body to Philadelphia, with the avowed purpose of obtaining redress of their grievances from the executive council of the state. The march of these insolent mutineers was not obstructed; and, after arriving in Philadelphia, their numbers were augmented by the junction of some troops quartered in the barracks. They then marched in military parade, with fixed bayonets, to the state-house, in which congress and the executive council of the state were sitting; and, after placing sentinels at the doors, sent in a written message, threatening the executive of the state with the vengeance of an enraged soldiery, if their demands were not gratified in twenty minutes. Although these threats were not directed particularly against congress, the government of the union was grossly insulted, and those who administered it were blockaded for several hours by licentious soldiers. After remaining in this situation about three hours, the members separated, having agreed to reassemble at Princeton. On receiving information of this outrage, the Commander-in-chief detached fifteen hundred men under the command of Major General Howe, to suppress the mutiny. His indignation at this insult to the civil authority, and his mortification at this misconduct of any portion of the American troops, were strongly marked in his letter to the president of congress.