Could  the  affairs  of  the  department  be  conducted  like  the
plain  business  of  a  common  storekeeper,  their  orders  might
be  reduced  to  practice  ;  but  a  business  so  various  and  ex-
tended, subject  to  so  many  accidents,  obliged  to  be  executed
in  the  midst  of  hurry  and  confusion,  and  the  proper
agents  properly  instructed  in  all  the  forms  of  business  diffi-
cult to  be  got,  nay,  impossible  to  be  found ;  the  orders  of
the  Board  can  never  be  reduced  to  practice,  nor  would  the
Board  think  of  such  a  measure  had  they  an  opportunity  to
see  the  business  in  its  true  point  of  light.
"  It  is  vain  to  impose  conditions  that  cannot  be  complied
with ;  the  business  must  stop  or  the  orders  be  disregarded.
The  first  is  ruinous  to  the  pubhc,  the  last  may  be  to  the
agents.  I  wish  to  do  everything  in  my  power  to  give  the
Board  and  the  public  every  satisfaction  that  the  nature  of
the  business  will  admit;  but  it  is  not  in  my  power  to
change  the  great  governing  principles  of  it,  and  to  attempt
it  will  only  bring  ruin  on  myself  and  distress  upon  my
country.
"  The  duties  of  this  office  are  very  complex,  extensive,
and  extremely  disagreeable  in  the  best  state  of  things,  from
the  great  variety  of  tempers,  characters,  and  apphcations
attending  it ;  but  when  these  are  multiplied  by  improper
restriction,  accompanied  with  orders  from  different  boards,
which  in  the  nature  of  things  cannot  be  conformed  to,  the
business  becomes  intolerable,  nor  do  I  choose  to  contend
with  such  a  complication  of  difficulties.
"I   hold  the   office  of   Quartermaster-general   not    of


292  LIFE   OP   NATHANAEL   GREENE.  [1780.
