I duly receivd your obliging Letter of the 11th of July. I thank you for the favor, and beg you to continue to write to me as often as your Leisure will admit of it. The Rumour you mention'd has since appeard to be a serious Fact. We have lost Ti[c]onderoga, and as far as I can yet judge, shamefully: I was going to add, vilainously; for indeed I cannot account for it, but upon the worst of Principles. The whole appears to me to carry the evident Marks of Design. But I hope & believe it will undergo the strictest Scrutiny. The People at large ought not, they will not be satisfied, until a thorough Inquiry is made into the Causes of an Event in which their Honor and Safety is so deeply interested. The only Letter receivd by Congress from St Clair, you have seen publishd under their Sanction. Schuyler has written a Series of weak & contemptible THINGS in a Stile of Despondence which alone, I think, is sufficient for the Removal of him from that Command; for if his Pen expresses the true Feelings of his Heart, it cannot be expected that the bravest Veterans would fight under such a General, admitting they had no Suspicion of Treachery. In a Letter dated the 4th Instant at Still Water, he writes in a Tone of perfect Despair. He seems to have no Confidence in his Troops, nor the States from whence Reinforcements are to be drawn. A third Part of his Continental Troops, he tells us, consists "of Boys Negroes & aged Men not fit for the Field or any other Service." "A very great Part of the Army naked--without Blanketts--ill armed and very deficient in Accoutrements: without a Prospect of Reliefe." "Many, too Many of the Officers wod be a Disgrace to the most contemptible Troops that ever was collected." The Exertions of others of them of a different Character "counteracted by the worthless." "Genl Burgoyne is bending his Course this Way. He will probably be here in Eight Days, and unless we are well reinforced" (which he does not expect) "as much farther as he pleases to go."---Was ever any poor general more mortified! But he has by this Time receivd his Quietus. Gates takes the Command there, agreeably to what you tell me is the Wish of the People; and I trust our Affairs in that Quarter will soon wear a more promising Aspect. The Enemies Ships, upwards Of 200 sail, after having been out of Sight six Days, were discoverd on Thursday last, off Sinapuxint 15 Leagues from the Capes of Delaware Steering towards Chesapeake Bay. Your Friends here are well, except Colo Williams, who has been confined a few days, but is growing better. I have a thousand things to say to you, but must defer it to other Opportunities, & conclude in Haste, with friendly Regards to your Family, very affectionately yours, TO JAMES WARREN. [MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.] PHILADA Augt 12 1777 MY DEAR SIR