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ward to one man to be hangman for another, threatening his life on refusal, and taking from his prisoners the little property their opportunities enabled them to acquire.

It appears, that the prisoner Lamothe, was a captain of the volunteer scalping parties of Indians and whites, who went, from time to time, under general orders to spare neither men, women, nor children. From this detail of circumstances, which arose in a few cases only, coming accidentally to the knowledge of the board, they think themselves authorized by fair deduction, to presume what would be the horrid history of the sufferings of the many, who have expired under their miseries (which, therefore, will remain for ever untold), or who have escaped from them, and are yet too remote and too much dispersed, to bring together their well founded accusations against the prisoners.

They have seen that the conduct of the British officers, civil and military, has in the whole course of this war, been savage, and unprecedented among civilized nations; that our officers taken by them, have been confined in crowded jails, loathsome dungeons, and prison-ships, loaded with irons, supplied often with no food, generally with too little for the sustenance of nature, and that little sometimes unsound and unwholsome, whereby such numbers have perished, that captivity and death have with them been almost synonymous; that they have been transported beyond seas, where their fate is out of the reach of our inquiry, have been compelled to take arms against their country, and, by a refinement in cruelty, to become murderers of their own brethren.

Their prisoners with us have, on the other hand, been treated with humanity and moderation; they have been fed, on all occasions, with wholesome and plentiful food, suffered to go at large within extensive tracts of country, treated with liberal hospitality, permitted to live in the families of our citizens, to labor for themselves, to acquire and enjoy profits, and finally to participate of the principal benefits of society, privileged from all burdens.

Reviewing this contrast, which cannot be denied by our enemies themselves, in a single point, and which has now been kept up during four years of unremitting war, a term long enough to produce well-founded despair that our moderation may ever lead them to the practice of humanity; called on by that justice we owe to those who are fighting the battles of our country, to deal out, at length, miseries to their enemies, measure for measure, and to distress the feelings of mankind by exhibiting to them spectacles of severe retaliation, where we had long and vainly endeavored to introduce an emulation in kindness; happily possessed, by the fortune of war, of some of those very individuals who, having distinguished

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themselves personally in this line of cruel conduct, are fit subjects to begin on, with the work of retaliation; this board has resolved to advise the Governor, that the said Henry Hamilton, Philip Dejean and William Lamothe, prisoners of war, be put into irons, confined in the dungeon of the public jail, debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper, and excluded all converse, except with their keeper. And the Governor orders accordingly.

ARCH. BLAIR, C. C.

[NOTE B]

In Council, September 29, 1779. The board having been, at no time, unmindful of the circumstances attending the confinement of Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Captain Lamothe, and Philip Dejean, which the personal cruelties of those men, as well as the general conduct of the enemy, had constrained them to advise wishing, and willing to expect, that their sufferings may lead them to the practice of humanity, should any future turn of fortune, in their favor, submit to their discretion the fate of their fellow creatures; that it may prove an admonition to others, meditating like cruelties, not to rely for impunity in any circumstances of distance or present security; and that it may induce the enemy to reflect, what must be the painful consequences, should a continuation of the same conduct on their part impel us again to severities, while such multiplied subjects of retaliation are within our power: sensible that no impression can be made on the event of the war, by wreaking vengeance on miserable captives; that the great cause which has animated the two nations against each other, is not to be decided by unmanly cruelties on wretches, who have bowed their necks to the power of the victor, but by the exercise of honorable valor in the field: earnestly hoping that the enemy, viewing the subject in the same light, will be content to abide the event of that mode of decision, and spare us the pain of a second departure from kindness to our captives: confident that commiseration to our prisoners is the only possible motive, to which can be candidly ascribed, in the present actual circumstances of the war, the advice we are now about to give; the board does advise the Governor to send Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Captain Lamothe, and Philip Dejean, to Hanover court house, there to remain at large, within certain reasonable limits, taking their parole in the usual manner. The Governor orders accordingly.

ARCH. BLAIR, C. C.

Ordered, that Major John Hay be sent, also, under parole, to

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The Governor is advised to take proper and effectual measures for knowing, from time to time, the situation and treatment of our prisoners by the enemy, and to extend to theirs, with us, a like treatment, in every circumstance; and, also, to order to a proper station, the prison-ship fitted up on recommendation from Congress from the reception and confinement of such prisoners of war, as shall be sent to it.

ARCH. BLAIR, C. C.

[NOTE D.]

[After letter XVII. in the MS. is inserted the following memorandum.]

Female Contributions, in aid of the War, probably in 1780.

Mrs. Sarah Cary, of Scotchtown, a watch-chain, cost £7 sterling. Mrs. Ambler, five gold rings.

Mrs. Rebecca Ambler, three gold rings.

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Mrs. Griffin, of Dover, ten half joes.
Mrs. Gilmer, five guineas.

Mrs. Anne Ramsay (for Fairfax), one half joe, three guineas, three pistereens, one bit.

Do. for do. paper money, bundle No. 1, twenty thousand dollars, No. 2, twenty-seven thousand dollars, No. 3, fifteen thousand dollars, No. 4, thirteen thousand five hundred and eighteen dollars and one third.

Mrs. Lewis (for Albemarle), £1559 8s. paper money,

Mrs. Weldon, £39 18s. new, instead of £1600, old paper money, Mrs. Blackburn (for Prince William), seven thousand five hundred and six dollars, paper money.

Mrs. Randolph, the younger, of Chatsworth, eight hundred dollars. Mrs. Fitzhugh and others, £558.

460

APPENDIX TO THE CORRESPONDENCE.

[NOTE E.]

Lord Cornwallis's Letter to Lieutenant Colonel Nisbet Balfour, Commander at Ninety Six.

have the happiness to inform you, that on Wednesday the 16th instant, I totally defeated General Gates's army. One thousand were killed and wounded, about eight hundred taken prisoners. We are in possession of eight pieces of brass cannon, all they had in the field, all their ammunition wagons, a great number of arms, and one hundred and thirty baggage wagons: in short, there never was a more complete victory. I have written to Lieutenant Colonel Turnbull, whom I sent to join Major Johnson on Little river, to push on after General Sumpter to the Waxhaws, whose detachment is the only collected force of rebels in all this country. Colonel Tarleton is in pursuit of Sumpter. Our loss is about three hundred killed and wounded, chiefly of the thirty-third regiment and volunteers, of Ireland. I have given orders that all the inhabitants of this province, who have subscribed and taken part in this revolt, should be punished with the greatest rigor; also, that those who will not turn out, may be imprisoned, and their whole property taken from them, and destroyed. I have also ordered that satisfaction should be made for their estates, to those who have been injured and oppressed by them. I have ordered, in the most positive manner, that every militia man who has borne arms with us and afterwards joined the enemy, shall be immediately hanged. I desire you will take the most rigorous measure to punish the rebels in the district in which you command, and that you will obey, in the strictest manner, the directions I have given in this letter, relative to the inhabitants of this country. CORNWALLIS. August, 1780.

MY LORD,

[NOTE F.]

TO LORD CORNWALLIS.

Portsmouth, Virginia, November 4, 1780.

I have been here near a week, establishing a post. I wrote to you to Charleston, and by another messenger, by land. I cannot hear, for a certainty, where you are: I wait your orders. The bearer is to be handsomely rewarded, if he brings me any note or mark from your Lordship.

A. L.

INDEX.

A.

Adams, John, letter to, 231, 243, 245, 259, 263, 267, 270, 203,
315, 319, 320, 361, 366, 371, 372, 376, 439.

Asquith, Lister, letters to, 314, 324, 366, 397; case of, 356.

B.

Banister, J. junior, letter to, 345.

Barclay, Thomas, heads of instructions to, 305; heads of inquiry
for, 307.

Bellini, Mr., letter to, 326.

Briet, Monsieur, letter to, 255.

Buchanan and Hay, Messrs. letters to, 272, 437.

C.

Carmichael, William, letters to, 241, 284, 347, 350.

Carr, Peter, letter to 285.

Cary, A., letter to, 395.

Castries, M. de, letter to, 265.

Chastellux, General, letter to, 228.

Clarke, G. R. letter of, to the Governor of Virginia, 451.

Coinage, Notes on a, for the United States, see Unit of Money.
Congress, letters to the President of, 203, 205, 212, 213, 214,
215, 216, 217, 251; extract from report to, 378.

Contributions, female, 459.

Cornwallis, Lord, letter from, to Colonel Balfour, 460.
Council of Virginia, resolutions of the, see Virginia.

Crimes and punishments, a bill for proportioning of, 120.

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