XIX. 1777. 10. CHAP. treated as a deserter, and offering six Hessian fieldofficers for his exchange, escaped from danger by a way of his own. Imprisoned as a deserter, with a halter in view, he did what two years before those who knew him best had foretold:1 he deserted back again. Assuring his captors that independence was declared against his advice, he volunteered to negotiate the return of the colonies to their old allegiance. With the sanction of the Howes, on Feb. the tenth of February he addressed to congress a written request that two or three gentlemen might be sent to him immediately to receive his communication; and in private letters he conjured his friends Rush, Robert Morris, and Richard Henry Lee, "to urge the compliance with his request, as of the last importance to himself and to the public." In congress it was argued, that a deputation for the manifest purpose of negotiation would spread through the country and Europe the idea that they were preparing to return to their old connection with England; and therefore, on the twentyfirst, they, with warm expressions of sympathy, and with the greatest unanimity, resolved that "it was altogether improper to send any of their body to communicate with him." There were not wanting men in the army who "not only censured him bitterly, but even insinuated that he was treacherous." "2 The British commissioners, having failed in their attempt on congress, looked next to Washington. The unhappy American captives had been locked 1 F. Moore's Loyalist Poetry of 2 Shaw to Eliot, 4 March, 1777. the Revolution, 128. XIX. 1777. 11. up in close and crowded hulks and prisons, breath- CHAP. ing a pestilential air, wretchedly clothed, ill supplied with fuel or left without it, and receiving a scanty allowance of provisions, and those of a bad quality; so that when they came out they were weak and feverish, unfit for service, and in many cases sinking under fatal maladies. Men in that condition Washington was willing to accept on parole; but he refused to exchange for them able-bodied soldiers, who had been well fed and cared for during their captivity. The subject was referred on the part of Howe to Lieutenant-Colonel Walcott, on the part of Washington to Lieutenant-Colonel Harrison. On the eleventh of March, during a fruitless inter- March view of nine hours, Walcott, speaking under instructions from Howe, took occasion to say to Harrison: "What should hinder you and me, or rather what should prevent General Washington, who seems to have the power in his hands, from making peace between the two countries?" Harrison replied: "The commissioners have no other powers than what they derive under the act of parliament by which they are appointed." Oh," said Walcott, "neither you nor I know their powers. Suppose General Washington wrote to know them? The minister has said in the house of commons, he is willing to place the Americans as they were in 1763; suppose Washington should propose this, renouncing the absurd idea of independence, which would be your ruin?" "Why do you refuse to treat with congress?" said Harrison. "Because," answered Walcott, "it is unknown as a legal assembly to both countries. But it would be worth 66 CHAP. Washington's while to try to restore peace." WithXIX. out a moment's hesitation, Harrison put aside the 1777. overture.1 March 19. Eight days after this rebuff, Lee once more conjured congress to send two or three gentlemen to converse with him on subjects "of great importance, not only to himself, but to the community he so sincerely loved." The letter was received 28. in Philadelphia on the twenty-eighth. Men asked: "What has Lee been after of late, suffering himself to be made a paw by the Howes?" John Adams was indignant. On the twenty-ninth, congress coldly resolved, "that they still judged it improper to send any of their members to confer with General Lee." This vote of congress fell upon the day on which Lee signalized his perfidy by presenting to Lord and General Howe an elaborate plan for reducing the Americans.2 These are some of his words: "I think myself bound in conscience to furnish all the lights I can to Lord and General Howe. I shall most sincerely and zealously contribute all in my power to an accommodation. To bring matters to a conclusion, it is necessary to unhinge or dissolve the whole system or machine of resistance, or, in other terms, congress government. I assert with the penalty of my life, if the plan is fully adopted, in less than two months from the date of the proclamation of pardon not a spark 1 Walcott's report to Howe. MS. 2 I have seen the paper: it is in the handwriting of Lee the indorsement is in the handwriting of Henry Strachey, of whose letters I have had many in my hands. The merit of discovering the plan belongs to George H. Moore, the author of The Treason of Charles Lee. XIX. 1777. March. of this desolating war remains unextinguished in CHAP. any part of the continent." At the same time he wrote to Washington in forms of affection, and asked commiseration as one whom congress had wronged. The plan of Lee, who advised to retain New Jersey and advance to Philadelphia by land, was treated with neglect by the British commanders; it has no historical importance, except as it irrefragably convicts its author of shameless hypocrisy and the most treasonable intention. Notwithstanding an order from the minister to ship Lee to Great Britain, he remained in America; the government was assured by Sir Joseph Yorke, who understood him well, that his capture was to be regretted; "that it was impossible but he must puzzle everything he meddled in; that he was the worst present the Americans could receive; that the only stroke like officers which they had struck, happened after his being made prisoner." As a consequence, after some delay, Lee was deemed a prisoner of war, and leave was given by the king for his exchange. Meantime, he was treated by Howe "with kindness, generosity, and tenderness," and his treachery was encouraged; before he was exchanged he received from British officers, according to his own account, eleven hundred guineas, in return, as he he pretended, for his drafts on England. Just at the moment when the Howes, acting upon the policy of Lord North, were aiming at reconciliation by an amnesty, they received Germain's letter of the fourteenth of January, in which their former 1 Sir Joseph Yorke to the Foreign Office, 7 March, 1777. MS. 9. CHAP. offers of pardon were approved with a coldness which XIX. rebuked their clemency, and the instruction was 1777 given: "At the expiration of the period limited in 9. your proclamation, it will be incumbent upon you March 25. to use the powers with which you are intrusted in such a manner that those persons who shall have shown themselves undeserving of the royal mercy may not escape that punishment which is due to their crimes, and which it will be expedient to inflict for the sake of example to futurity." General Howe was not sanguinary, though, from his neglect, merciless cruelties were inflicted by his subordinates; Lord Howe had accepted office from real good-will to America and England, not as the agent of Germain's vengeful passions; and on the twentyfifth of March, the brothers answered: "Are we required to withhold his majesty's general pardon, even though the withholding of such general pardon should prevent a speedy termination of the war?" Howe had requested a reënforcement of fifteen thousand men, in order to move simultaneously against New England, up the Hudson river, and against Pennsylvania, and thus "finish the war in one year." To that requisition the reply, written in January, 1777, accompanied the letter to the commissioners. For the conquest of a continent the demand was certainly moderate; but Germain, forming his judgment on the letters of spies and talebearers, or, as he called them, "of persons well informed on the spot," professed to think “that such a requisition ought not to be complied with," and he wrote that half that number could not by any chance be supplied. Promising but four thou |