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Interesting Particulars relative to Col. George Hanger when in America; being a Continuation of his Life and Adventures.

[p351] IN about three months after I was appointed a captain in the Hessian Yager corps; and in the middle of the ensuing month of March, I sailed from Portsmouth for America. -- Reader, be not alarmed! I am not going to fight over again the American war; it is as much forgotten as the Trojan war, and the recital of the one would be full as interesting to the public as the other. It is, however, my intention to relate some incidents relative to myself, which, in the history of my life, are necessary to be mentioned.

[p352] I had not been arrived above two months in America, when I received a letter from my mother, (the best and kindest of parents,) informing me that Mr. Wyatt, soon after my departure, and before he could parcel out my estate, had been seized with a paralytic stroke, which, she was fearful, would shortly prove fatal to him. She informed me at the same time, that the mortgagee was endeavouring to foreclose the mortgage on my estate, and to sell it. She also sent me a fresh power of attorney for me to execute, to empower her, and some friend jointly with her, to transact my affairs, as she was fearful my worthy friend Mr. Wyatt would never be well enough to act for me. This fresh power of attorney I forwarded by the first packet to England, to my mother. In the mean time, my worthy friend Wyatt, recovering a little [p353] from the effects of the paralytic stroke, neglected not, the moment he was able to go down to my estate, to arrange every thing for sale; but a second visitation of his disease put an end to his valuable life.

During the interval between his death and the arrival of the fresh powers of attorney from America, for my mother and her friend to act for me, which, in passing and repassing, took up some months, the mortgagee foreclosed the mortgage; and all that my mother could do was in vain, for my estate was sold before a Master of Chancery, at public auction, for little more than half its real value.

The reader will be pleased to remark, that the very circumstance which rendered me happy and satisfied on my leaving [p354] England, by having placed my affairs in so worthy and able a friend's hands, proved my ruin, for my want of caution in not putting the name of some other person jointly in the power of attorney I gave to Mr. Wyatt: had I so done, as I have been informed, from the best authority, it would not have been practicable to have foreclosed the mortgage; but I never dreamed of Mr. Wyatt being struck with a fit of apoplexy; for he was a hale, hearty man, and by no means advanced in years, though he was of a corpulent habit. Some months afterwards, the common process of law having taken its course, my estate was sold, as I have already mentioned.

It is also necessary to relate, that, in the intermediate time, and previous to the sale, war with France and Spain was declared, [p355] in addition to that wherein we were engaged with America, which was the occasion of land falling above one-third in value. In short, my estate was sold for sixteen thousand and some few hundred pounds; though, if I could have kept it till the peace, it would have fetched between twenty and thirty thousand.

In addition to this piece of good news, my kind mother informed me, that some outstanding debts, amounting to several hundred pounds, remained unpaid, notwithstanding the security Mr. Wyatt had given for me; and that the executions had been introduced into my house, after his death, from the great deficiency of the sale of the estate. Thus I at once found myself several hundreds worse than nothing, instead of not owing a shilling, and having [p356] eight or ten thousand pounds in hand, as Mr. Wyatt assured me, and which he certainly would have accomplished, had not the French war broke out, or a legal compulsion forced me to sell my estate during that period.

I now, indeed, and in truth, became a soldier of fortune, for I was stripped and plundered of every thing, and, which was worse, left encumbered with debts.

After serving the first campaign in the Hessian Yagers, my old and worthy friend, Sir Henry Clinton, requested the Commander in Chief of the Hessian troops to give me, in addition to my Yager company, the command of two hundred men selected from the Hessian regiments, which he was so kind as to comply with; and, in addition to that request, [p357] he permitted a certain number of men from every Hessian regiment to turn out volunteers. As soldiers, who have been confined to the regular duty of a battalion in the line, are ever desirous of serving with light troops at the out-post, it may be easily imagined that these men were the eliti of the Hessian infantry. This favour was much approved of by my commanding officer, Colonel De Wurmbe, as it not only increased his command, but strengthened it by the addition of a body of men with bayonets, who might by night be employed to greater effect than the Yagers, who had no bayonets, and were armed only with rifle-guns. A further and most singular favour was granted me on this occasion. If any man behaved ill, or of whose conduct I disapproved, I was permitted to send him back to the regiment to which [p358] he belonged, and to have another sent to replace him. This was productive of such good order, that, during three campaigns, I never was under the disagreeable necessity of punishing any one of them, further than by a few days' confinement. -- With the additional command of my Yager company I continued to serve until the great expedition to the southward was undertaken by Sir Henry Clinton, to accomplish the reduction of North and South Carolina, of which I shall make mention in proper time; but, prior to that, I must advert to incidents in which I was personally and most materially concerned.

Shortly after the arrival of Lord Carlisle, Mr. Eden, and Governor Johnson, at New York, they published a proclamation, in the name of the King, addressed [p359] to his Majesty's revolted subjects, and the different United States. It was judged proper, for form's sake, that the Commander in Chief should forward this proclamation by land, from the out-posts of the army, to Congress; and that the Admiral should dispatch a vessel with the same to Philadelphia. This proclamation was sent to the out-post of the Yager corps, to my commanding officer, Col. De Wurmbe, with orders to him to forward them by a flag of truce to the most contiguous advanced post of the American army.

I was the only Englishman in that corps: my friend Col. De Wurmbe, therefore, requested me as a favour (it not being my turn for duty) to go out with these proclamations, and assigned as his reason for desiring me to undertake [p360] this business, that, as the other officers did not understand the English language, some mistake might take place from their not being able to explain matters, and converse with the American officers. Col. De Wurmbe certainly could have commanded me on this service; but to comply with a request, or even a hint from him, was but a small tribute of gratitude for me to pay to so good and amiable a man, as well as so kind a friend. It was, therefore, with the greater pleasure that I undertook this duty; but not without foreseeing the disagreeable consequences attendant on it, by which I might have lost my life, and in the most unpleasant manner for a soldier and a gentleman.

I was perfectly aware of the temper of the Americans at that period, elated as [p361] they were by the succours which their great and good ally had already sent, and promised still to send them.¹ A French fleet being off the coast, some French troops having been already landed and marching to join General Washington's army, and others coming from the West Indies, it was most natural to imagine that they would reject all proposals from the British Government, not only with scorn, but contempt. I, therefore, told Colonel De Wurmbe, on my taking leave, that I would endeavour to stay as short a time at the American out-post as possible, merely to demand a receipt, and push back with all expedition; for I was confident, if I remained a sufficient time for them to deliberate, that I should be [p362] stopped and made a prisoner. The event proved the truth of my conjectures.

I must here observe, that the trumpeter and mounted Yager that went with me, carried several hundred printed copies of this proclamation for me to distribute, as I went along, at the country-men's houses, and in the towns through which I passed. In Ferry-town, situated fourteen miles from our out-posts, I distributed some hundreds. About three or four miles farther, beyond Ferry-town, I fell in with a patrole of light dragoons, who carried me to their officer at a house close by, who commanded about fifty men. I gave him thirteen packets, one addressed to every State, and one to General Washington. On reading a printed copy, he told me he did not know whether it was proper for him to receive such [p363] papers, and that it was necessary for him to send to know the commands of General Scott on that subject, who lay at the distance of about four miles. I told him I was commanded to leave them at the first American out-post that I should fall in with: and, with an air of non-chalance, I added, that, if he did not choose to receive them, I should leave them with the landlord of the house: but that it was but common politeness from one officer to another, to give me an acknowledgment under his hand that I had left them at the house, merely to shew my commanding officer that I had done my duty, as I might otherwise be very severely reprimanded on my return to the British army, and perhaps put under arrest. In short, after a good deal of persuasion, and telling him that the proclamation, whatever it contained, was [p364] nothing to him or to me, as it came from the British Commissioners, and that certainly I should, in a similar case, not hesitate one moment in giving him a receipt; I procured a receipt from him, and, taking a polite leave of him, rode off for our army with no small degree of speed and pleasure. A few minutes later, he dispatched an officer with the proclamations to General Scott, but not before I had given every soldier who came round me one of them.

On my return through Ferry-town, there were above two hundred persons collected together, and I was under some apprehensions that they would have stopped me, as a few armed militia amongst them said they knew not what business I had to deliver printed papers inviting the citizens of America to desert the Congress. [p365] I told them that I was under the sanction of a flag of truce, and had done nothing but what the inhabitants requested. The populace were nearly all in favour of me, and requested me to continue my distribution of the papers, which I did; and absolutely sent so far, at their request, as to read one to the people as I sat on my horse; and nailed one up against the public house before I departed. I knew very well, from the distance General Scott was, that I could not be easily overtaken, and that I had near an hour to spare. I then made the best of my way home, and met with a strong patrole of our corps within two miles of the town, when I returned, without further interruption, to the camp.

This very day the Admiral sent Lieutenant [p366] Heele in a cutter to Philadelphia with counterparts of the same packets which I had carried out. The moment he cast anchor in the river Delaware, the lieutenant and his whole crew were made prisoners; and Lieutenant Heele remained above a year in Philadelphia jail; and I should have been sent there also, and have kept him company, had I waited to receive General Scott's commands; who, in a very few days afterwards, as I learned from the communication we held at the out-posts, had sent orders to detain me; but fortunately the bird was flown.

I should never have thought of mentioning the following circumstance, had not my character, both as an officer and a gentleman, been most grossly aspersed by the infamous Philadelphia and Connecticut [p367] Journals on that subject. The following is a correct statement of the whole business -- So help me God!

The Commander in Chief, after having given orders to General Prescot to evacuate Rhode-Island, destroy the works, and repair with the troops to New York, was induced, a few days after he had sent those instructions, from certain events that took place, to countermand those orders, and sent me to Rhode-Island for that purpose, giving me instructions to examine two particular works; and, if I found them not destroyed, or capable, by a few days' labour, of being put in their former state, General Prescot was by no means to evacuate the island. I sailed in the Delaware frigate, Captain Mason; and although it is not above an hundred and eighty miles from Sandy Hook, I was [p368] seven days on my passage, being forced to work up close under Long-Island, in the very teeth of the wind, as it blew very fresh throughout the whole course of it.

On the seventh day, in the evening, just at dusk, the frigate cast anchor about one mile and a half from the island, off the mouth of the harbour. On our approach, there were two small armed sloops working out of the harbour; but, on seeing the frigate, they immediately put back. This gave us strong suspicions that they were enemies, and that the island was evacuated; but, as there were small rivers and creeks on the opposite shore of Connecticut, it was possible that they might come from thence, and not from Rhode Island. I consulted with my friend, Captain Mason, on the [p369] occasion, who was clearly of opinion, that, from the length of our passage, we were arrived too late, for that the island was evacuated. I was of the same sentiment; yet, as there was a chance that it might not be so, as, when frigates arrive, they always send their boat in, and the General might not think it necessary to send a boat off from shore till the next morning; I suggested to Captain Mason how very absurd I should appear were I to return to New York, and there find that the troops had not left the island at the time I had arrived; stating to him, at the same time, the magnitude of the business in which I was employed, and that I should never dare to shew my face before Sir Henry Clinton, if I did not do every thing that depended on myself: I was, therefore, anxious to risk any danger in order to investigate the object of [p370] my commission. I accordingly requested him to give me an armed boat, being determined to land in the dark, and gain intelligence.

Captain Mason, in compliance with my earnest solicitation, gave me his ten-oared barge, two marines, a cockswain, and one of his lieutenants; so that we consisted of fifteen persons. I timed it so as to enter the harbour just at the latter end of the flood-tide, so that we might have the tide with us on returning. On my departure from the ship, he told the lieutenant strictly to obey my orders, and do every thing I commanded. At the same time, being sensible of the danger which I encountered, he requested me to act with the utmost prudence and circumspection, for that he would not, for ten thousand guineas, have that boat's crew [p371] lost or taken prisoner, as they had attended on his person, as barge-men, during the whole war. The boat was well armed; every man had a musket and bayonet, with cutlass, pistols, &c. &c. and plenty of ammunition. With oars muffled, I approached the harbour in silence, keeping close under the shade thrown on the water by the high craggy rocks on the right; by which, and the darkness of the night, we were so impervious to the view, that a sloop working out of the harbour, absolutely, when she tacked about, was not above one hundred and fifty yards from the boat, and could not perceive us. We lay on our oars till she had completely tacked and stood half way over to the other side, when we proceeded, and brought the boat to shore directly under the High Bluff of Brinton's Point, and not far from the battery. A [p372] boat might have passed us within thirty yards, and not have perceived us. I then landed with the two marines only, who had sailors' blue jackets over their red ones to conceal the red and white uniform, and who were ordered to follow me closely, to proceed when I proceeded, and to lie down flat on the ground when I fell down. We then crawled up the precipice, so as to be able to look just above the summit, and remained some time in that position, to observe and determine how I was to proceed. I heard the sentinels challenge every now and then, and cry "All is well;" for they were quite on the alert, having observed a man-of-war anchor off the harbour, as I was afterwards informed. At last a patrole from the nearest picked, which, from the fire, I judged was not above three hundred yards from me, passed me so near that I could distinctly [p373] hear them speak; and I heard two sentinels challenge the patrole, one on my right, the other on my left. I knew, when the patrole was passed, that I had little to fear, and that I could easily, from the darkness of the night, pass between them. I accordingly ran across the road they went down, and, when over in the next field, which was very rough and busy, I laid the marines down and sat up myself, in order to set the position of our boat by the seven stars in the north, the pointers of which point to the north polar star, which is immoveable. This every officer, especially of light troops, should be well acquainted with: if I had not known it, I might have been easily taken prisoner in wandering along the cliff in search of the boat on my return.

I then looked about for a house from [p374] which I might take some person to gain intelligence, and fixed my eye on two, about a mile distant, as well as I could judge by the lights in them, and quite at a distance from any others. There were several nearer me, but they were too contiguous to the pickets and patroles along the shore, to suit my purpose. With great caution, and always laying down when I heard any thing, I approached them; they were about two hundred yards apart: in the one I saw two lights, in the other only one; I, therefore, made up to the latter, and laying the two marines down among the cabbages in the garden, I stood about ten yards from the door, at the garden gate, and halloed out-- "Holla! house!" when an old woman came to the door, and asked what I wanted, and who I was? I replied, "I am an officer come from town, and am ordered [p375] over to Connecticut² by the General, on business. I have lost my way in the dark, and want to be put into the path³ to Brinton's Point: pray send some one to the end of the garden to put me into it." She replied, "One of our family is gone to town, and the other is gone to bed; but if he is not undressed, I will send him to shew you." I had previously determined with my two faithful marines, if I could not entice any one person out of the house, to enter it and take some one away by force; but I dreaded the consequences, knowing that if resistance was made, we should be obliged to shed blood in our own defence. My stratagem succeeded completely: out came a [p376] fine young fellow, as straight and as tall as a poplar tree. The moment I saw him on the steps, I said, "Come along, my good man, just put me into the path to Brinton's Point, and I will give you a dollar."

I retired a few yards from the garden gate, which he passed; and when at a sufficient distance from the house, I took him fast by the coat, and, putting my pistol to his head, told him to look behind him at the two marines, who had their bayonets pointed within two feet of his body. I then charged him not to speak, pledged my honour to him that I would not hurt him; but if he uttered a word, should he hear any soldiers passing, he would be killed, and we must endeavour through the darkness of the night to make our escape. I took him [p377] into a rough place close by, and made him sit down by us. I then told him I was a British officer, not an American, and was landed from the frigate, that lay off the harbour, to gain intelligence. I now gave him a half johannes, and repeated my assurances that I would treat him well; but that he must come along with me. His fears at length subsided, and he told me that the day before I arrived the British had evacuated the island, and that an American force of three thousand men now occupied it.

The marines judging with me that the tide of ebb had made, and that the moon would rise in about an hour, we proceeded to the boat, walking alongside of this man, with my hand fast in his right hand jacket pocket: for I knew too well to trust to a New Englandman's promises; [p378] had he got a yard start of us, he would have alarmed the whole country.

When I had proceeded within about four hundred yards of the rock from whence I landed, I had the same road to cross again on which I had seen the patrole pass. As we lay down on one side of it, waiting for the passing of a patrole, that I might hear where the sentinels were, my guide endeavoured to betray me, telling me there was no danger if I went up the path: I knew better, and now no longer trusted him; but put it out of his power to do any mischief, by taking my pocket handkerchief and stuffing the greatest part of it into his mouth, that he should not vociferate. At the same time I made one of the marines hold him fast by the left hand, whilst I held him as fast by the right. [p379] When the patrole had passed, we crossed the path, and, on arriving at the brink of the precipice, I had, by keeping my eyes constantly on the north stars, set the boat with such precision that when I holla'd, "Mason, a-hoy!" I was answered directly beneath where I stood, "Hanger, a-hoy!" which was the signal words fixed on before our departure. I got my gentleman into the boat, and rowed out of the harbour; and the moon did not rise before we were quite clear of it. Every thing turned out well; the tide and rising of the moon was well timed, and with no inconsiderable degree of pleasure I arrived on board the Delaware frigate, to the great joy of my friend Captain Mason. Unfortunately it was not possible to land this man on the opposite shore, or to send him back to Rhode Island. Captain Mason therefore [p380] proposed putting him the next day on shore on Block Island, a few leagues from Rhode Island; but the fog proved so thick, that we could not make it with safety. We therefore stood out to sea, and I was compelled to take him with me to New York. On our arrival there, I provided him with quarters, drew provisions for him, and supplied him with necessaries. It was intended that he should be sent by the first flag of truce to Rhode Island, or by the first boat to New London, or some town contiguous to his home in New England; but he had not been six days in New York, when he sickened of the smallpox, and died of that distemper.

The sudden disappearance of this man certainly wore an aspect of suspicion, which gave room to many unpleasant [p381] conjectures. The fact, however, being known, that he had been taken away by force off the island, and his never appearing there again, was productive of many reports, all infamously false, and detrimental to my character. In various shapes and forms was this transaction related, both in the Connecticut and Philadelphia newspapers, whose principle was to render odious, in the eyes of the country, any officer who possessed the smallest degree of enterprize or resolution. It was stated first, that this man was murdered on the island; and afterwards, that he was thrown overboard at sea. But, after some time, it being publicly known at New York that I had necessarily brought him there, and treated him with kindness, a more just account was published; but still it was added, that this man had been thrown into prison, where he died of the [p382] jail fever. I have pledged myself solemnly to the fact, and should not have troubled the reader with the minute particulars, was it not absolutely necessary to state them, to justify my character was a soldier and a gentleman.

From my having been absent from New York so many days, indeed above double the time usually required to make that passage, (for the wind was foul nearly the whole way back, as well as going there,) I was given over for lost. Some imagined that the frigate had sailed at night into the harbour and was taken, though such croakers little knew the abilities and judgment of Captain Mason; while others supposed that I had landed and was made prisoner. I arrived, however, to set aside all conjecture, just as Sir Henry Clinton was at dinner with [p383] fourteen or fifteen officers at table, none of whom, that I recollect, are living, except my old friend, Sir Thomas Wallace, who was one of the company, and is well acquainted with this circumstance.

After relating the whole affair, at table, to Sir Henry Clinton, and receiving his thanks in the kindest manner, I never shall forget, to the last day of my life, a very singular remark of his, nearly in the following words: "I commend your prowess much; but at the same time, I am sorry you risked so much, as it was not in my wish you should venture so far: for, upon my word, my dear Hanger, I believe if they had taken you on the island, they would have hanged you directly." I replied, "My dear General, that never entered into my head, it being a thing totally impossible for the Americans to commit such an outrage on an [p384] officer sent by you, in character of an aid-de-camp, with orders to our commanding officer at Rhode Island. I could be subjected to no other danger but of being imprisoned; they could not surely be guilty of such an act." "You may," replied the General, "think so, Hanger; but I give you my word I do not, for I know not what they would not do: and I am happy to see you returned safe." At this time my worthy and intimate friend, Major André, aid-de-camp to Sir Henry, was sitting at table; the same who suffered some time afterwards, and of whom I shall have cause to speak hereafter.

Nothing of consequence, or of peculiar notoriety in the history of my life, took place, worthy to be related, until the great expedition sailed from New York for the reduction of the Southern Provinces, except various military incidents [p385] and occurrences, in which I acted an inferior part, on the great theatre of the war, by no means interesting to the reader, who long ago must have been heartily tired of every thing relative to that subject, and it is very distant from my intention to trouble him with it. A repetition of the Trojan war, in my humble opinion, would be equally as amusing.

Before I pass to the southward, and relate my adventures in Georgia, South and North Carolina, I must mention a singular reverse of fortune which I now suffered. The Devil and Mammon had already conspired to ruin me, and had ransacked and plundered my property in my absence, by compelling the sale of my estate at auction, from the fatality of my agent's death, at a time [p386] when lands were one-third less in value than they were before the war or after. Fortune, that fickle goddess, not satisfied with having already turned her wheel from me and my interests, again destined me to be the object of her caprice and neglect. I received a letter from my sister, Mrs. Vansittart, whose tender love and regard for me is deeply imprinted in my breast, informing me that the Duchess of St. Alban's (my godmother) was dead. She had made a will in my favour, that was witnessed by my mother, in which she made me heir to her whole property, to a very considerable amount. Within the last twelve months of her death, a Mr. Roberts came over from Ireland. She had never seen him before, or ever heard of him. He, however, proved, to her Grace's satisfaction, that he was related to her; so [p387] that she reversed her intentions, made a new will, and left every thing to him. Her second will only bore date six months prior to her death; had she died seven months sooner, I should have inherited a considerable property, and a great addition after the Duke's death, who was then living. The Duchess of St. Albans was a Miss Roberts, a rich heiress: her parents and her near relations dying when she was very young, my father received her into his family, educated and protected her: out of his family she married the Duke of St. Albans; she stood god-mother to me, and lived in the strictest intimacy and friendship with our family. It was but natural to believe that she would have left some part of her property to our family; but thus she in gratitude repaid her father and mother for their tender care and attention to her [p388] for many years, by leaving her whole property to a gentleman with whom she never had any acquaintance till about a year before her death. With what great expectation some people look forward to dead men's and dead women's shoes: but these who do may go bare-footed all their lives. I never expected a guinea from her, therefore suffered no disappointment; for my mother, although she was one of the witnesses to the Duchess's will, which was made before I sailed for America, never, even in the most distant manner, intimated it to me. As I never had buoyed myself up with any hopes of advantage from her, I suffered no mortification on the occasion, though I could not but reflect on the bitterness of my fortune, that, within six months, my interest should have suffered so materially, having been fixed on by her Grace to be [p389] her heir, and had never given her cause to withdraw her former good opinion. But fate had decreed this, together with many other mortifications, miseries and distresses, which I was destined to suffer. Doomed as I was to a life chequered with misfortunes, by a Supreme Power, that same Power gave to me a vigorous constitution, and a bold and undaunted mind, to stem the current of adversity, and bear up against a sea of troubles.

When the expedition from New York took place for the reduction of the Southern Provinces, my worthy friend Sir Henry Clinton fulfilled the promise he had made me, of giving me a command: It consisted of the two hundred picked men from the Hessian army, Col. Emerick's company of riflemen commanded by Captain Abthouse, and about sixty German [p390] Jagers. On their arrival at Savannah in Georgia, some companies of Provincial light infantry were to be added to the above men; and, at my own request, I was to join my corps to that of my most intimate, affectionate, and deceased friend Col. Ferguson, an officer whose distinguished merit and gallantry is well known to the British army. The above-mentioned men were put on board the ship Anne. In the violent gale of wind, which arose about five days after we quitted the harbour of New York, (Sandy-Hook,) this ship ran foul of another in the night, and carried away both her main and mizen masts; of course, having but the foremast remaining, she was compelled to put before the wind, and make every wind a fair one. She found herself unable to make either the American coast, or bear down upon the West Indies; [p391] therefore, putting the troops and crew to a shorter allowance, bore away right before the wind, it then blowing hard at north-west, and the first port she made was St. Ives in Cornwall. The oldest navigator must acknowledge this as a most singular event -- a ship dismasted, bound for Georgia, and driven to England.

The kindest inquiries after my health were made (as I have since been informed) by some of those philanthropic gentlemen who had shared in plundering me of my estate, on their hearing that a corps of soldiers, commanded by Major Hanger, were arrived from America at St. Ives in Cornwall. However, the mutual happiness which both parties would have reciprocally enjoyed at meeting, was for that time prevented, by my having sailed on [p392] board the ship John, at the particular request of my worthy friend Sir Henry Clinton, to see that proper attention was paid to three favourite horses of his during the voyage, which were placed under my particular directions. Thus did I escape being driven to England, by which I should have been obliged to have taken a passage once more over that small herring-pool to America to join the army, beside the good fortune, perhaps, of falling in with some one of those tender-hearted gentlemen who were so kindly interested in my health, and experiencing from them the pleasure of the familiar tap on the shoulder.

This was a fortunate event for the soldiers in the ship Anne, who escaped, by this singular event, the miseries of ill [p393] health, to which all those are doomed who are fated to serve in those intensely hot and sickly climates, whose baneful influence is known only to those who have experienced it. To me it was a misfortune, as it deprived me, for some length of time, of the command of a corps of light troops, so desirable an object to all officers.

My worthy friend Sir Henry Clinton, until an opportunity presented itself of employing me more actively, honoured me, during the siege of Charlestown, by continuing me in his family as one of his aides-de-camps. Before I quit New York altogether, I must relate a circumstance that had nearly cost me my life. The Commander in Chief had fallen down to Sandy Hook, preparatory to his sailing with the army, and had desired me to remain [p394] in New York till the next day, to bring some papers of consequence to him from his secretary, which were not then finished; and, having received them, I thought of the best means of proceeding to the Hook myself. The transports had all dropped down for some days; and I could not, even in all the river, find a sloop or schooner for my purpose; I, therefore, pressed a strong row-boat, with two men, from the Flymarket-stairs, and proceeded on my way to the Hook. The frost had set in intensely severe for two or three days, so that vast sheets of ice floated up and down the channel with the tide. Before I had got half-way to Staten-Island, the eddy-tide, from round the back point of it, drove several large sheets of ice into the channel, in which my boat got completely entangled; and [p395] we could find no way out, the ice approaching nearer to us every moment. At this instant, Mr. Hamilton, a gentleman in the quarter-master and transport service, was fortunately going down from the dock-yard, in a very strong large sloop. Mr. Hamilton, seeing a boat in distress, surrounded by the ice, and endeavouring to find her way out, knowing the danger we were exposed to, very humanely bore down upon us, breaking, by the force of his vessel, through the flakes of ice. I was on a very intimate footing with Mr. Hamilton, but knew not who my deliverer was until I came within fifty or sixty yards of him. He was astonished how I could have been so imprudent as to attempt passing down the river amongst the ice in a row-boat. I told him I had been warned of the danger, and knew it at my [p396] departure, but I could get no sloop or schooner; and, as the papers were of consequence to the Commander in Chief, it was necessary he should have them, as the fleet was to sail that night; besides, I thought, as the tide of ebb ran very strong down to the Hook, I should not meet any ice in my way sufficient to block me up, as it would go the same way with me, and therefore would not greatly endanger me. Indeed I never dreamed of the shoals of ice that are hurried round the point of Staten-Island, by the eddy-tide meeting the other bodies of ice going down to the island with the ebb-tide, which completely hemmed me in between them.

Myself and one of the watermen had no stepped on board the sloop above two or three minutes, when, as the other [p397] waterman and my servant were handing a favourite spaniel and my portmanteau out of the boat, a sheet of ice stove her nearly in two. My servant jumped on board; but the waterman slipped down, and would have been crushed between the vessel and the ice, if we had not thrown a rope to his assistance, and hauled him up. Thus I providentially escaped from a most miserable death, as I was above three miles from any shore, and must evidently have foreseen my death approaching, without any chance whatever of escaping. I arrived, however, safe at the Hook, delivered the papers to the Commander in Chief, and sailed at daybreak the next morning. This happened on Christmas-eve.

Had this expedition been delayed forty-eight hours longer, the whole fleet of [p398] transports would have been frozen fast in the river, as the frost that winter was more intense than the oldest American had ever known. Incredible as it may appear, it is an absolute fact, that in a few days it froze so intensely, that a regiment of cavalry, cannon, and waggons, passed from Long-Island to Staten-Island on the ice, over a channel so deep as to admit the largest ships in the British navy to sail up to New York.

The rendezvous of our fleet was at Savannah in Georgia, where I arrived after a tedious passage, owing to contrary winds and the most violent storms, which dispersed a great part of the fleet: there we were obliged to remain until several ships, which had been obliged to put into the Bahama-Islands, joined us. The army then proceeded to besiege [p399] Charlestown in South Carolina. The greatest part, under the Commander in Chief, proceeded by sea; the other, under the command of General Patterson, by land; and both joined their forces before that town. During the time I remained at Savannah, I had an opportunity of seeing about six hundred Indians, of the Cherokee and Creek nations, preparing and training themselves for war. This sight was very pleasing to me, having never seen any large body of Indians together before.

The Indians abstain from women, take physic, and prepare their bodies for war, by frequently running, and using other manly exercises. In one, not unlike the game we call goff, they shew great skill and activity. They were a very fine race of men. One of their Chiefs came [p400] to pay his respect to the Commanding Officer at Savannah. Reader, I think his triumphant entry and dress will at least make you smile. He was mounted on a small, mean Chickesaw horse, about twelve hands and a half high: his dress consisted of a linen shirt, a pair of blue cloth trowsers, with yellow and scarlet flaps sewed down the outward seams; over this he had on an old full-dress uniform of the English foot-guards, the lace very much tarnished; a very large tyewig on his head; an old gold-laced uniform hat, Cumberland-cocked; a large gorget round his neck; a sword, in a belt, hung over his shoulder; a tomohawk and scalping-knife in his girdle; rings in his nose and ears; his face, and breast, which was quite open, painted various colours; and a musket on his shoulder. He was one of the most distinguished [p401] Chiefs amongst the whole Indian nations, and was called the mad dog. I took him for a madman; and never laughed more heartily in my life than when I first saw him.

The beautiful red birds of that country, which are known in England by the name of Virginia nightingales, are as plentiful in Georgia as sparrows in this country. A negro man had caught a dozen of them in a trap, and offered to sell them to me for a York shilling. I might have had them, I dare say, for sixpence; and the cock-birds are sold in London by the bird-fanciers for three guineas a-piece.

When the siege of Charlestown was finished, and the town taken, Sir Henry Clinton gave me a warrant in conjunction with my old friend Colonel Ferguson, [p402] either jointly or separately, throughout the provinces of South and North Carolina, to regulate, inspect, muster, &c. all volunteer corps, loyal militia, and others; and to inspect the quantity of corn, cattle, &c. belonging to the inhabitants; and to report thereon to Lord Cornwallis, who commanded in the Southern Provinces. Lord Cornwallis most kindly told me, that, although I was separated from my old friend and protector Sir Henry Clinton, if it was in his power to make my situation pleasant, I had but to command him. To serve under the command of so good-tempered and brave a soldier could not but be pleasing to me, and to every other officer who is acquainted with his goodness of heart. I should be wanting in common justice, if I did not testify his kindness and protection towards me, [p403] which, from that day to this moment, he has never with-held from me.

The power and command invested in me by this warrant was very extensive: it extended even so far as to empower me to join the race of Carolinians together in holy matrimony. This, however, requires explanation -- By the laws and customs of Carolina, all justices of the peace, field officers, and colonels of the militia, had a power to marry, and did marry, the inhabitants who lived at a remote distance from a great town. In the back parts of Carolina you may search after an angel with as much chance of finding one as a parson: there is no such thing -- I mean, when I was there. What they now are, I know not: it is not impossible but they may have become more religious, moral, and virtuous, since the great affection [p404] they have imbibed for the French. In my time, you might travel sixty or seventy miles and not see a church, or even a schism-shop.⁴ I have often called at a dog-house in the woods, inhabited by eight or ten persons, merely from curiosity. I have asked the master of the house, "Pray, my friend, of what religion are you?" -- "Of what religion, Sir?" -- "Yes, my friend, of what religion are you, or to what sect do you belong?" -- "Oh! now I understand you; why, for the matter of that, religion does not trouble us much in these parts."

This distinguished race of men are more savage than the Indians, and possess every one of their vices, but not one of their virtues. I have known [p405] one of these fellows travel two hundred miles through the woods, never keeping any road or path, guided by the sun by day, and the stars by night, to kill a particular person belonging to the opposite party: he would shoot him before his own door, and ride away to boast of what he had done on his return. I speak only of the back-woodsmen, not of the inhabitants in general, of South Carolina; for, in all America, there are not better educated or better bred men than the planters. Indeed, Charlestown is celebrated for the splendour, luxury, and education of its inhabitants: I speak only of that heathen race known by the name of Crackers.

Had I continued to remain in this capacity with my friend Col. Ferguson, I might have suffered the same fate as he [p406] did at King's Mountain, where he was killed, and his corps defeated. The Americans had such an inveteracy against Ferguson, that they buried all the other bodies, but stripped Ferguson's of its clothes, and left it naked on the field of battle, to be devoured by the turkey-buzards, a species of vulture in that country. I state this merely to shew the inveteracy of the enemy; for it is of little consequence, in my opinion, whether a man's body be devoured by vultures, or embalmed as the ægyptian mummies are, or buried in Westminster Abbey. If, indeed, as Mahomet is said to have done, I could take my flight to Paradise on a jackass, that would be a pleasant ride. But Fate destined me for other things: my friend Col. Tarleton applied for me to be appointed major to the British Legion; [p407] and the Commander in Chief, Sir Henry Clinton, appointed me before he sailed for New York.

The reader will give me credit, I trust, for having passed through my campaign to the north so peaceably as I have done, having not dealt in the exploits of war further than was absolutely necessary to keep up the chain of my Adventures. I trust also he will applaud my humanity in not shocking his feelings: for, as yet, I have not drawn one drop of blood of the enemy; nor is it my intent. I have also studiously avoided relating all those calamities and horrors that in war are impossible to be prevented in the best-disciplined armies, some of which, were I to relate them, I assure the reader, would make his wig stand on end on his head: but a truce to murder, plunder, and desolation. [p408] Let the reader be assured, if his wig is not incommoded by other circumstances, my writings shall never disturb it.

In the progress the army under Lord Cornwallis made to the upper parts of North Carolina, I caught the yellow fever at Charlottebourg. Tarleton was just recovering from it as I sickened. When the army marched from that town, myself and five officers, who had the same disorder, were put into waggons and carried with the army. They all died in the first week of our march, and were buried in the woods as the army moved on.

My sickness happened in the autumn, at which time the rainy season sets in, when small rivulets, which, generally, the soldier may walk through and not wet [p409] him above the ancles, swell, in a few hours, to such an height as to take a man up to the neck, and oftentimes for some hours impede the march of an army. In passing several of these small brooks, the straw on which I lay in the waggon was often wetted. Kind Nature had endowed me with a constitution much stronger than the generality of mankind, or the damps I encountered must have killed me. The fatigue of travelling along brought the other five officers, in a very short time, to their graves. I took the advantage of the escort of a regiment, which was ordered to leave the army and march down out of North Carolina to Camden in South Carolina, where I arrived safe, and all but dead. There Lord Rawdon (now Earl Moira) commanded. I had travelled over a great extent of country, in a waggon; so that from the roughness [p410] of the roads, and the general debility of my whole frame, I was reduced to something very like a skeleton. I was, indeed, so weak that I could not turn myself, but was forced to be moved by my attendants when I wanted for ease to change my posture. In this miserable situation I lay so long, first on one side, then on the other, and then on my back, that the bones of my back and each hip came fairly, or rather freely, through the skin. I then had no other posture to lay in but on my stomach, with pillows to support me.

The reader may think that I exaggerate the miseries I suffered, for surely no man ever endured more; but, I pledge my honour, that all I relate is strictly true: but I will give additional testimony to my own; for, having the honour to dine at Lord Moira's house in St. James's [p411] Place, about two years after my arrival in England, where his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Sir Henry Clinton, General Vaughan, General Crosbie, and many other officers who had served in America, were present, his Lordship could not refrain from observing how surprising it was that a man should be sitting in that company, whose bones he had absolutely seen at Camden come through his skin. -- The disorder at last fell down into my legs, which, I am of opinion, saved my life; as that moment I began to recover. Till that circumstance I had taken nothing to support me but opium and port-wine for three weeks, as nothing else would stay on my stomach. I now began to have an appetite, and by degrees I recovered; but for a long time could not walk without the assistance of one crutch. If I do not actually owe my [p412] life to Earl Moira, I certainly am indebted to him for the more speedy recovery of my health, from the many comfortable and nourishing things he sent me every day from his own table, which my servants could not make, and were not to be purchased; and the butcher's meat killed at that time of the year, is absolutely little better than carrion at Camden.

I was witness to the arduous task to which this nobleman, young in years, but a veteran in abilities and military science, was appointed, and from which he extricated himself with so much honour to his talents and advantage to his country. -- Lord Cornwallis's army was marched into Virginia, and Lord Rawdon left to protect South Carolina, with a feeble force, against the whole power which [p413] General Green could assemble in both the provinces; and he unquestionably (without any disparagements to the military character of General Washington) was the best and most active officer in the whole American army. From Camden I went down to Charlestown, where I found my old friend Doctor Hayes, (Now Sir John Macnamara Hayes,) physician-general to our army, who assured me, that, notwithstanding the great debility I laboured under, my stamina was sound and unimpaired; and that if I would either go to sea for two or three months, and take my passage to the northward, so as to quit, for a short time, that baneful climate, I should be as good a man as I ever was, in respect to Health. Captain George Montague, an intimate friend of mine, who commanded the Pearl frigate, was ordered [p414] by the Admiral, with the Iris frigate, Captain Dawson, to cruize off the Bermuda Islands; and he kindly took me on board. I remained at sea above three months; and so beneficial was the sea-voyage, and bathing every morning in salt water, that, before three weeks were passed, I had laid aside my crutch.

During our voyage, I had the pleasure of landing at Bermudas, a beautiful spot, and the most healthy climate on the face of the whole earth. Sick persons from the West Indies and the Carolinas resort to this island for the recovery of their health. Being situated a great distance from any land, it feels not the heat of summer, from the perpetual refreshing breezes of the ocean. There are here two species of fish, uncommonly fine, and of a very luscious quality, called Grooper and [p415] Porgey, the one equal to a john-dorie; the other superior in flavour to a carp. This island swarms with poultry, and yields the finest onions, both which are sent to the West Indies. Cedar wood is in great plenty on this island; so much so, that all the schooners and sloops are built with it: they are very light and buoyant, and sail faster than any vessels. The time for our cruise being expired, Captain George Montague bore away for the Chesapeak-bay. We made the Capes about two o'clock P.M. and were standing in to the bay. It was my intent to land at the first British port, and proceed to join my regiment, the British Legion, commanded by Col. Tarleton. A privateer, however, fortunately bore down to us, and informed us that the Count De Grasse, with a French fleet, lay at anchor up the bay. [p416] If it had not been for this intelligence, we should have anchored at night, in the middle of the French fleet, as we imagined we should find the British fleet there.

Thus, by my being at sea for four months, did I escape being captured with Lord Cornwallis's army, as well as the being made prisoner at sea by Count De Grasse. We stood out a great distance to sea that night, in order to avoid the track of another French fleet coming from Rhode-Island to join Count de Grasse, and then made the best of our way to New York, where we heard all the particulars relative to the situation of Lord Cornwallis's army, which, in about six or seven weeks afterwards, surrendered to the joint forces of the French and Americans.

[p417] It is necessary for me to observe, that I sailed from New York with that fleet of men of war (in my friend Montague's frigate) which took on board ten thousand chosen troops, the prime of the British and Hessian forces, under the command of Sir Henry Clinton, with the intent to relieve Lord Cornwallis's army. This force, unfortunately, arrived three or four days after Lord Cornwallis's army had capitulated.

The fleet, with the troops on board from New York, finding this misfortune had befallen the army in Virginia prior to their arrival, returned to New York. -- This misfortune drew the war to a conclusion.

The next year Sir Henry Clinton went home. I lost my kind protector and [p418] friend, and the army the best of men and a most gallant soldier. -- Sir Guy Carleton, now Lord Dorchester, assumed the command of the army in America. The manner in which this gallant and distinguished veteran received me, after all those officers, under whose auspices I had served the whole war, were departed for England, was highly gratifying to my feelings; and the assurances he made me, on his arrival in New York, of employing me in a very active line, (provided the war had continued,) deserves my warmest thanks.

I cannot refrain from relating a ludicrous conversation which took place between Sir Guy Carleton and myself, one day when I had the honour of dining at head-quarters, immediately after his arrival, which strongly evinced his good [p419] humour and affability. The great skill which, from years of practice, (even from a lady when educated in Germany,) I had acquired in the knowledge of a rifle-gun, and the precision and perfection to which I had brought the art of shooting with a rifle, was well known to the army, and Sir Guy Carleton had been informed of it. At dinner, he said to me, sitting opposite to him, "Major Hanger, I have been told that you are a most skilful marksman with a rifle-gun. I have heard of astonishing feats that you have performed in shooting!" -- Thanking him for the compliment, I told his Excellency, that I was vain enough to say, with truth, that many officers in the army had witnessed my adroitness. I then began to inform Sir Guy how my old deceased friend, Col. Ferguson, and myself, had practised together, who, for skill and knowledge of that [p420] weapon, had been so celebrated, and that Ferguson had ever acknowledged the superiority of my skill to his, after one particular day's practice, when I had shot three balls running into one hole. -- Sir Guy replied to this, "I know you are very expert in this art." -- Now, had I been quiet and satisfied with the compliment the Commander in Chief paid me, and not pushed this affair farther, it had been well for me; but I replied, "Yes, Sir Guy, I really have reduced the art of shooting with a rifle to such a nicety, that, at a moderate distance, I can kill a flea with a single ball." At this Sir Guy began to stare not a little, and seemed to indicate, from the smile on his countenance, that he thought I had rather outstepped my usual outdoings of the art. Observing this, I respectfully replied, "I see, by your Excellency's countenance, [p421] that you seem doubtful of the singularity and perfection of my art; but, if I may presume so much as to dare offer a wager to my Commander in Chief, I will bet your Excellency five guineas that I kill a flea with a single ball once in eight shots, at eight yards;" -- (and, reader, I will bet you fifty guineas I do; and, what is more, the person who wagers with me shall decide the bet, to shew that there is no bubble in it.) Sir Guy replied, "My dear Major, I am not given to lay wagers; but for once I will bet you five guineas, provided you will let the flea hop." -- A loud laugh ensued at the table; and, after laughing heartily myself, I placed my knuckle under the table, and striking the table, said, "Sir Guy, I knock under, and will never speak of my skill in shooting with a rifle-gun again before you."

[p422] Peace took place shortly after, when I obtained a passport, both from the Congress and the French Ambassador at Philadelphia, to repair to that city to visit my old acquaintance the Duke de Lauzun, afterwards Duke de Biron, and afterwards guillotined. I must confess, although I had a passport from the French minister and from the Congress, I was rather doubtful and diffident how I should journey across the Ferries to Philadelphia in the character of Major to the British Legion; a corps not much esteemed by the Americans. But my friend, Mr. Church, who resided many years, after the war, in England, together with Col. Wadsworth, who had acted with him as Joint-Commissaries to the French, kindly took me under their protection to Philadelphia. These two gentlemen, in great good humour, but not without some [p423] degree of fear and displeasure on my part, when they arrived at Princetown, invited the celebrated, pious, and well-known character, Doctor Witherspoon. To this pious man they exhibited me in such characters, that, although the Peace was concluded, I truly believe the Doctor thought his head in danger that night; and certain I am, if he had heard that I had been within ten miles of his pious and sanctified domain, he would have buried the last silver tea-spoon he was possessed of ten feet under ground. Thus did my friend Church and Wadsworth amuse themselves at my expence: and, what is more, all they told the Doctor in good humour and in fun, playing me off before him, the pious Divine took for gospel.

I was treated with the greatest civility, [p424] not only by the French ambassador and officers, but also with the most perfect respect, attention, and politeness by the leading families in Philadelphia, particularly by Mr. Morris the financier; also by Governor Morris, a gentleman who, I think, at that time filled the office of Secretary of State for the war department; and though he had by some misfortune lost one leg, that accident had not in the least impaired his understanding; for he was one of the most sensible, the best-informed, and most agreeable of men I ever knew: But, above all others, I here with pleasure pay that tribute of gratitude to General Dickenson,⁵ a distinguished officer [p425] in the American service, for the uncommon civility and attention he shewed to me: his house, replete with the truest hospitality, was open to me by night and by day: his mind was too noble, too enlightened, too expanded, to think ill of, or harbour any rancour against me or any other officer, who, by any active services, might have made themselves obnoxious to the generality of Americans. I am convinced, from my heart, that, had I been of ten times more detriment to the Americans, his respect would in proportion have increased; for he had, from an early period of the war, served his country with distinction and alacrity, and honoured those British officers who had endeavoured, to the utmost of their abilities, to serve their king and country.

I shall here relate a conversation that [p426] took place one day at his table, before a large company; and an opinion which I gave relative to the future destiny of the government of that country; and I am of opinion, that the state of affairs there is rapidly hastening a dissolution of the United States. At that time, when peace had been concluded but a few weeks, I was of that opinion; and remember well, when General Dickenson asked me my opinion of the government and of its stability, I communicated my thoughts nearly in the following words: "Sir, as long as George Washington, and the other principal military characters and leading men in Congress, who have brought about this revolution, are alive, the government will remain as it is, united; but, when all of you are in your graves, there will be wars and rumours of wars in this country: there are too [p427] many different interests in it for them to be united under one government. Just as this war commenced, you were going to fight amongst yourselves, and would have fought, had the British not interfered: you then, one and all, united against us as your common enemy; but, one of these days, the Northern and Southern powers will fight as vigorously against each other, as they both have united to do against the British. This country, when its population shall be completed, is large enough for three great empires. Look, gentlemen, at the map of it: view how irregular the provinces are laid out, running into each other: look particularly at the State of New York; it extends one hundred and fifty miles in length, due north; and in no place, in breadth, above fifteen or twenty miles. No country can be said [p428] to have a boundary or frontier, unless its exterior limits are marked by an unfordable river, or a chain of mountains not be passed but in particular places. The great finger of Nature has distinctly pointed out three extensive boundaries in your country: the North River, the first; the Great Potamack, which runs three hundred miles from Alexandria to the sea, unfordable, the second; and the Mississippi, the third and last. When the country of Kentucky is completely settled, and the back country farther on to the Banks of the Mississippi shall become popular and powerful, do you think they will ever be subjected to the government seated in Philadelphia or New York, at the distance of so many hundred miles? But such a defection will not happen for a very long period of time, until the inhabitants of that country become numerous [p429] and powerful:⁶ the Northern and Southern powers will first divide, and contend in arms."

I remember perfectly well General Dickenson's reply to my opinion: "God forbid that I should ever live to see that day, or that such a dire calamity should ever befall my country after my death! Yet I am afraid that there may be some just grounds of suspicion for the foundation of your opinions." I could not refrain from making some further observations relative to the future situation of America, for this liberal-minded man insisted on my giving my opinions without the least restraint; and I continued my discourse as follows: -- "The Americans, [p430] Sir, are grateful, and ought to be grateful, to the French nation, for having assisted them to gain their independence; but I think a day will come when the Americans will have reason to curse the house that they ever admitted a Frenchman into their country. Look, Sir, to Europe: throughout all that great continent you will find, that wherever France has gained a footing, she has ever, by the intrigues of her emissaries, embroiled those European powers in disputes and wars, and used them to her interest. She will endeavour to act the same by your nation, and make you subservient to her interests, as she has done by other nations."

I am bound in justice and truth to add the opinion of the company; and the whole of them seemed much to undervalue [p431] the sentiments which I entertained of the policy of the French nation: and General Dickenson replied, "Major Hanger, in this point, relative to the French, you, in the opinion of the company, and also in my opinion, are totally mistaken; for the counsels or influence of the French will never prevail amongst us: they can never have any influence or power with us." -- Thus the conversation ended.

The Americans, at that time, acted on the truest principles of liberty and honesty. Little did they suspect that, so young as they now are as an independent nation, (For their independency has existed only about twenty odd years,) venality and corruption should have established its ascendancy with such rapid and gigantic strides, of which we have at this day such convincing proofs: for, although the [p432] States of America are not thirty years old, infants, they may be called, as a power, yet veterans are they in corruption and state-intrigue. I claim no greater merit for my opinions, relative to America, than is due to Mother Shipton, who prophesied that London would go to Hampstead; and we all know that it is already arrived within a few hundred yards of it.

I will risk a further opinion relative to America: should I live to a good old age, I am confident that I shall hear of the Northern and Southern powers in America waging war with each other; when one party will solicit assistance from France; the other, from Great Britain. It will then depend on the judgment of those men who, at that period, may be at the head of the French [p433] and British Councils, whether or not they will interfere in American disputes. In my humble opinion, it would be better for both countries to let them settle the matter amongst themselves. -- I will be so bold as to offer another opinion. We should give up Canada and Nova Scotia to the Americas, provided we could make this sacrifice the foundation of an alliance offensive and defensive with the United States: then we never should be obliged to send the prime of the British army to die like rotten sheep in the West-India islands. In America we could recruit forces for the West Indies with men inured to an hot climate, who would not suffer by death and sickness in any degree equal to the new levies sent from England; with the additional advantage of keeping our army entire in full vigour at home. I anxiously hope [p434] and trust I shall live to see the day when an alliance offensive and defensive will be formed between the two countries; as Great Britain and America may defy the united powers of all Europe. Surely such an alliance between the two countries would be more advantageous and natural for both, than one with France.

One further observation, I recollect, I made at General Dickenson's table: -- "In process of time, when your Western territories are perfectly settled from the Ohio to the Mississippi, which in time cannot fail to be perfected; and when your Western and Southern Colonies become in population as numerous as the sands of the sea -- then will the riches of Potosi attract the attention of the Americans to the conquest of Mexico and Peru. This is an object which, from the [p435] magnitude of its wealth, is certain in time to take place; but, as that cannot happen for at least fifty or an hundred years, I think, Gentlemen, we should not postpone taking a part of the wealth of that country immediately; therefore I freely offer my services to the Congress on such an expedition; and, on my honour, I will serve them as faithfully as I have my king and country! for I am a soldier of fortune." So, taking the bottle, I filled a glass, and drank to an expedition against the Golden Spaniard. My toast was productive of much laughter, mirth, and good-humour, together with many observations on the situation and wealth of the Spanish Colonies so contiguous to them; and I am inclined to believe, that, at that time, even the company did not think that the possession of the wealth of Mexico was quite [p436] so difficult, or required so many years' application and study as to arrive at the knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone.

Before I quit Philadelphia, I cannot refrain from mentioning the toasts which were always given after dinner at the tables of the most distinguished characters. I was invited by the President of the Congress to dinner, when he gave the following in rotation: -- The Congress -- Our great and good ally the King of France -- The King of England -- General Washington -- Sir Guy Carleton. These were the standing toasts; after which many convivial and polite ones were given. At the time that these gentlemen were toasting the King of France as their great and good ally, poor Lewis never dreamed that they were drinking a separation [p437] to his head from his body; but it is well known now, that the revolution which he favoured in America brought on his destruction and the revolution in France.

After my return from Philadelphia to New York, Sir Guy Carleton gave me leave to go to Nova Scotia, in order to petition the Governor of that province to allot lands for those soldiers of our regiment, the British Legion, who chose to remain and settle in America. I landed at Halifax, and from thence sailed to Port Roseway and the River Jordan; as well as to many other places. This country may be described in a few words. In this province there is seven months' intense hard winter; during the other five, the inhabitants live, without any intermission, in a thick fog. One happiness [p438] the poor settlers enjoy, and I know of no other: In one day they can catch enough cod-fish to salt, without going above four or five miles from the shore, to supply two or three families for a twelvemonth; with a small patch of potatoes, therefore, they can never starve.

I saw nothing here worthy of observation, excepting a perpetual continuation of rocks and stoney mountains, and an iron-bound coast, frightful and dangerous to the mariner. I was very near being cast away on making Port-Roseway harbour: if the fog had not cleared up a little, in half an hour more we should have been driven by the current on the breakers; for then we were lying-to, having had a faint view of the land through the fog early that morning. From Halifax I returned to New York, [p439] on board a frigate commanded by my old friend Captain Hawkins, now Admiral Witshead, where I remained until Sir Guy Carleton, with the troops, evacuated that country. With that fleet I took my passage for England, and arrived in the Downs after near seven years' absence.

Some months before I quitted America, when my worthy and true friend, Colonel M'Mahon took his departure for England, at his kind request I gave him a power of attorney, jointly with my friend Tarleton, to endeavour at an arrangement of my affairs prior to my arrival; as it was agreed that, on my arrival in Europe, I should go to Calais, and there remain until I knew how the land lay in England. M'Mahon, that I [p440] should not be in want, generously gave me a credit on his banker in London for five hundred pounds. To this friend I certainly owe all the happiness and misfortunes I have undergone; for, had it not been for his exertions, I never should have come to England, but gone to Germany, where I am certain the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel would have requited my services in a far more satisfactory manner than this country has done. Would to God I had never, to this hour, placed my foot on British ground! I had then my half-pay as Major in the British service, which I could have received aboard; and, besides this, I had about two hundred and forty pounds per annum left me by my kind mother, which sum was then totally unimpaired. With my employment and pay as a Hessian officer in his Serene Highness's [p441] service, I could have lived most magnificently, and never have known distress, or have been subjected to a prison, in a land of liberty. However, Fate had decreed it otherwise.

I am at length arrived at a period in the History of my Life when I am able to testify my gratitude to a very old and intimate friend, Mr. Richard Tattersall, for his unbounded friendship towards me; a liberality and generosity of conduct that stands unrivalled. When he heard that Colonel M'Mahon was deputed by me to endeavour to arrange my shattered and plundered circumstances, so as to enable me to live in my native country, my dear and worthy friend, old Richard, waited on Colonel M'Mahon, and joined his exertions: in fact, he took the whole burthen of my distresses on his own shoulders, [p442] and employed his own lawyer to examine and investigate my affairs.

I will not trouble the reader with minute particulars, which could not be very amusing to him: but, after about two months' correspondence with me at Calais, my friend Col. Tarleton was so kind as to come over to Calais to visit me, by Tattersall's desire, as he could, in a few hours, make me more fully master of my affairs than by writing fifty letters by the post. Tarleton staid four or five days with me; nor shall I forget the letter he brought me from Mr. Tattersall, to the last hour of my life. It was as follows, and ought to be written in letters of gold:

"My dear Major,

"I do insist on it that you will come home directly to England, to my house, where you shall be made happy. You [p443] have been robbed and plundered. I will bail you from every body who may arrest you; and, if you cannot pay, I will.

I am, dear Major, &c.            
"RICHARD TATTERSALL."

This letter, though very short, the reader must allow to be sweet. It is necessary I should state, that, for some years before I quitted England, I had lived, when in affluence, in the strictest terms of intimacy and friendship with this worthy old man, and had constantly kept up a correspondence with him during the whole of the American war. He proved himself one of those few men in this world who do not desert an old friend in distress.

It was agreed between Tarleton and me, before he returned to England from [p444] his friendly visit to me at Calais, that I should not return to London until I had heard from him and Mr. Tattersall after his arrival there. In about ten days I received letters, and took my passage in the next packet for Dover, and arrived at my old friend Tattersall's house, Hyde-Park Corner, where I was received with the truest friendship, and remained under his hospitable roof for near a twelvemonth afterwards. I here held a consultation with my lawyers, when they were of opinion, from the securities I had given, before my departure from England, for every farthing I owed, that I could not be cast in any action by which I might be arrested: however, to make things more secure, my lawyers were prepared to plead the Statute of Limitations. I knew not then what that statute meant; but I do [p445] now most thoroughly; and I hold it disgraceful for any man to plead that statute to evade the payment of just debts; but not in my case, plundered and stripped as I had been, and brought in debt by those who were the cause of my ruin, by compelling a sale of my estate, the particulars of which I have already related, from the unfortunate death of my agent Mr. Wyatt, who, had he lived, would have prevented all my misfortunes. While he lived, they could not have foreclosed the mortgage on my estate; and I should have been worth ten thousand pounds, instead of being beggared and ruined. It is not for me to comment on the propriety or impropriety of my own conduct: I relate the facts; and let the world judge me. From Tattersall's house I sallied into the world, and in a short time was arrested for between [p446] seven and eight hundred pounds. This was all that was against me. Old Mr. Richard, and his son Edmund, (now my friend, the present Mr. Tattersall,) was my constant bail.

I brought the actions into court; and, the first cause I tried, the jury never left the box, nor even consulted together for more than a couple of minutes, and gave a verdict for me: after which, all the rest withdrew their actions, of which, I believe, there were nine or ten.

My lawyers being prepared with the Statute of Limitations, as the great salvo of all, was of no material benefit to me; for the whole world knows that a jury (especially of tradesmen) will never permit any statute to be pleaded to bias their judgment, when they perceive a direct [p447] intent of the person to defraud a just creditor; but mine was a very different case. After I had been ruined and robbed of my estate, and plundered of my whole property, these creditors of mine were not satisfied, without endeavouring to confine my body in a jail. Thus, by compelling a sale of my estate before a Master in Chancery, from the unfortunate decease of my friend Mr. Wyatt, at a time when land was fallen full one-third in value, I was undone; and, instead of being worth ten thousand pounds, was made about eight hundred pounds worse than nothing. I had now to begin the world again, after having served my country faithfully seven years. Had I not gone to America, I should have kept my estate to this moment; for, while I remained in England, my creditors could not have forced a sale.

[p448] The summer after I came to England, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales did me the honour to take me down with him to Brighton. I never shall forget the two or three first seasons I had the honour of being with him there. In all my days before and since, I never passed my time more agreeably or with greater happiness; -- they were indeed the pleasantest days of my life. I had good health, good spirits; was not in debt; and had no earthly care whatever to distract my mind. But, of late years, how has Fortune frowned upon me!

If I were not to acknowledge the obligations I owe to the Prince of Wales, I should be worse than ungrateful; I should be the basest of men. In affluence, in poverty, at liberty, and when [p449] in prison, his kindness to me has never varied: but, for one action beyond all others, I am truly indebted to him: when a prisoner, and deprived of the power of vindicating myself in public circles; where the ever-busy tongue of calumny tried to strip me of the only wealth I possessed, my character as an officer and a gentleman; he nobly came forward, pledged himself to the falsehood of the assertion, and stemmed the tide of public calumny, until justice and the law of the land proved the baseness of the aspersion, and covered my enemies with shame. For above sixteen years I have had the honour of his protection and acquaintance: it is hard, indeed, if I do not know him in so long a period of time, when I have viewed him in every stage, in health, on the bed of sickness, in convivial and in serious hours. This Prince is but little known to the world [p450] at large, who judge of him from report only. What is common report, but a common prostitute? To make her the standard of truth, is as erroneous as to make the cameleon the standard of colour. A day shall come, vipers, when ye shall be compelled to swallow the poison you here spit forth. By my honour, and the sacred love and reverence I bear to truth, I am not induced to speak of him from his dignified station in life: I speak not of him as being Prince of Wales. Were he an ensign on half-pay, with no other support than that scanty pittance; or a clergyman serving three churches for forty pounds a-year -- two situations most deplorable, and the least to be envied in life -- I would select him, above all mankind, for a companion and friend; and by his judgment I would be guided in the most weighty and intricate concerns. His enemies [p451] even acknowledge that he is the most accomplished and best-bred gentleman of the age; a master of languages, and an elegant classical scholar -- three distinguished qualities rarely to be met with in one man.

The year I came to England, the contested election for Westminster (Fox, Hood, and Wray, candidates) took place. The walking travellers, Spillard and Stewart, the Abyssinian Bruce, who has feasted on steaks cut from the rump of a living ox; and various others, who, in their extensive travels, have encountered wild beasts, serpents, and crocodiles, breakfasted and toasted muffins at the mouth of a volcano -- whom hunger have, with joy, compelled to banquet on the leavings of a lion or a tiger, or the carcase of a dead alligator -- who can [p452] boast of smoking the pipe of peace with the Little Carpenter and the Mad Dog -- and lived on terms of the strictest intimacy with the Cherokees, the Chickesaws, and Chuctaws, and with all the aws and ees of that immense continent -- who, from the more temperate shore of the Mississippi, have extended their course to the burning soil of India and to the banks of the Ganges -- from the frozen north European seas to the banks of the temperate and more genial Po -- may boast their worldly experience and knowledge of human life -- but no one, in my humble opinion, has seen real life, or can know it, unless he has taken an active part in a contested election for Westminster. In no school can a man be taught a better lesson of human life than at a contested Westminster election: there can he view human nature in her [p453] basest attire; riot, murder, and drunkenness are the other of the day, and bribery and perjury walk hand in hand; for men, who had no pretensions to vote, were as plenty to be found in the Garden as turnips, who, at a very moderate rate, were induced to poll. A gentleman, to make himself of any considerable use to either party, must possess a number of engaging, familiar, and condescending qualities: he must help a porter up with his load, shake hands with a fishwoman, pull his hat off to an oyster-wench, kiss a ballad-singer, and be familiar with a beggar. If, in addition to these amiable good qualities, he is a tolerable good boxer, can play a good stick, and in the evening drink a pail-full of all sorts of liquors in going the rounds to solicit voters at their various clubs, then, indeed, he is a most highly finished and [p454] useful agent. -- In all the above accomplishments and sciences, except drinking, which I never was fond of, I have the vanity to believe that I arrived nerer to perfection than any of my rivals.

I should be ungrateful, indeed, if I did not testify my thanks to those gallant troops of high rank and distinguished fame, the knights of the strap, and the black-diamond knights,⁷ who displayed so much bravery and attachment to our cause. By my soul, they are higher in my estimation than all the knights in Christendom together, not excepting even the Knights of Malta, the Quixote Paul at their head. At that time I formed a great intimacy with them, which has continued to this day between us, for I [p455] never forget my old acquaintances whenever I meet them, nor look upon my old friends with a new face, which is too much, in general, the custom of the world. We have shaken hands and drank together frequently since the time of our active services; and I trust I shall live to taste many a good pot more of brown stout with them: I will ever acknowledge their gallantry and honest attachment.

I was eye-witness to a very singular circumstance, which if I did not relate, I should be a very unfaithful historian: -- When the numbers for Lord John Townshend began to increase rapidly on the poll, the adverse party, to delay our polling so many in the day, substituted a device to delay our exertions, and to lessen the numbers on the [p456] poll-book, and insisted that every man who came to vote should take the test-oath. The celebrated Edmund Burke, of pensioned memory, came before the hustings to give his vote, accompanied with Peter Delmé, Esquire; when the poll-clerk for the opposite party informed Mr. Burke, that he had positive orders not to permit any person's name whatever to be entered on the books unless they had taken the test-oath. Mr. Burke began to expatiate with him on the subject, presuming, that, as he was a member of parliament, he would not insist on his taking the test-oath. But the clerk was positive, and Mr. Delmé made no objection, though he also was in Parliament, took the test-oath, and accordingly gave his vote. But when the clerk offered Mr. Burke the Testament, Mr. Burke, with an indignant [p457] look, and a rage not to be described, snatched the book out of the clerk's hands, and threw it at his head: then walked indignantly away, muttering his resentment, but without giving his vote. I do not mean, by this narrative of simple facts, in the smallest degree to imply any thing more than that Edmund Burke was very shy of the Testament on that occasion.

I beg it may be well understood, before I proceed with remarks on the Westminster elections, that it is very far from my intent to sing a recantation of my own actions; but, after years of cool reflection, I reflect with horror, that the capital should have been so convulsed for four or five weeks by the faction of two parties contending for power. I trust I shall live to see the time that all elections will [p458] finish in one day, and the votes taken parochially, which would effectually prevent riot and perjury, and many other inferior crimes which at present are committed at all elections. Fine speeches every day were delivered from the hustings, endeavouring to impress the minds of the people with the freedom of elections, and how disinterestedly both parties acted for the public good, for the liberty of the people, and freedom of the nation.

I am bound in honour to render justice to each party for the STRIKING PROOFS they gave of the sincerity of their professions; as it must be admitted that they manifested it to an eminent degree by the freedom they displayed in breaking each other's heads. Of that species of liberty each were abundantly lavish.

[p459] At present I must conclude the subject of Westminster elections; but, in my third volume, it is my intent to treat more at large on that and on all other elections.

The reader, I hope, will pardon me now for taking a very long hop, step, and jump, over a period of above twelve years of my life, more replete with anecdotes, and fully as fluctuating in circumstances, as those years I have already described. For a narrative of those twelve interesting years I must entreat their patience for a few months longer, until a third volume of my Life, Adventures, and Opinions appear before the Public: for I find these pages swelling to such a great extent that I am compelled hastily to conclude the volume, and approach that period when I surrendered as a prisoner [p460] to the marshal of the King's Bench prison. I am peculiarly anxious to relate my conduct when there, and the consequences which led me to suffer confinement. As I am neither ashamed or afraid of making known any thing I have done, the public shall be minutely informed of the particulars.

Prior to that circumstance taking place, it will be necessary briefly to narrate by what means I was reduced to ruin, after having got over all former difficulties; and had been blessed, not only with a comfortable, but an affluent annual income, which was much more than I had reason to expect I should have attained, after the various changes of fortune and poverty I had experienced.

For several years the East-India Company [p461] had done me the honour to employ me on the recruiting service, in this country, for their army in India. There was no salary attached to the employment: the more active my services were in behalf of the Honourable Company, the greater were my profits. I had brought this business to such perfection, that I never, any year after the first, made less than six hundred pounds profit. During the first year I intrinsically lost five hundred pounds, which was expended to set this great machine going. After having once wound up this recruiting-dial, it wanted but little regulating, which my subsequent successes and regularity proved. I had extended my communications so wide and general, that there was not a town in England, of consequence, in which I had not established a regular rendezvous. To my worthy and kind [p462] friends, Sir Stephen Lushington and Mr. Devaynes, I am indebted for this employment. At the death of Major Weldon, who had a warrant to recruit for the East-India Company, they recommended me to succeed him. With truth I may say, that, for several years, I occupied this employment to the satisfaction of the Honourable Company and with credit to myself.

An unfortunate dispute between the Board of Controul, and the Directors of the Honourable East-India Company, took place, relative to the building of a barrack in this country to receive the East-India recruits prior to their being embarked for India. This system the India Directors opposed to a man, excepting the Chairman and Deputy Chairman. A long debate took place on this [p463] subject (at which I was present) in the public court-room, and a very great majority, by vote, threw out the plan for erecting barracks. The Board of Controul, after that question was carried by a very great majority of Proprietors against them, thought fit to change the whole system of recruiting for the Honourable Company's army in India, and gave them recruits from Chatham barracks. This put it out of the power of the Honourable Company to employ me any longer. Thus I lost a very comfortable maintenance. It was not the loss of six hundred pounds per annum (and I solemnly declare I never made less) that I had alone to lament; but, having the honour of being employed by the India Company, I was perfectly satisfied with my occupation, and judged it as a certain employment for life; and [p464] as such it was universally considered. The Honourable Company would never have discharged me from their service but in case of malpractices, which I trust they know I am incapable of committing. This certainty, as I looked on it, made me forego many other advantages. One, particularly beneficial, was proposed to me. A reputable army-agent, who, it is very well known, made near thirty thousand pounds in the business, proposed to me (he having a capital sufficient) to join with him in recruiting men for the new regiments which were going to be raised just at the breaking out of the war, and to be concerned together in a general agency-line. I could also have been appointed Lieutenant-Colonel to a regiment of cavalry then raising on the Continent, which, since that period, has been established, [p465] and is now in full pay. These two objects did I relinquish: the first, from principles of honour; that, when employed by the Honourable the East-India Company, I could not engage to assist in recruiting for the line: as for the second, it was not worthy my attention to take an employment so inferior in point of emolument to the one I already possessed. I did not only suffer from losing an employment which brought me in annually above six hundred pounds; but I lost at least six years of exertion, expended to no permanent solid purpose hereafter; and, during such a space of time, an active mind, which, thanks to my God, I am endowed with! would, if this employment had not presented itself, have struck out some other equally as advantageous, and more to be relied on for its continuance; for, in so large a capital [p466] as London is, if a gentleman be not too proud to follow various occupations, he may very readily, and with not much trouble, find some employment which will prevent him from falling into the miseries of want; although the business he undertakes may not be of sufficient emolument to render his situation affluent.

One misfortune seldom comes alone. Indeed I am convinced of it: and, my dear reader, have you not generally found it so? -- I have also, for near four years, enjoyed a salary of three hundred pounds per annum, as Equerry to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; which salary the arrangements made by Parliament, relative to his Royal Highness's affairs, deprived me of, by the reduction of his household. Both these losses I sustained, [p467] and heavy ones they were; nay, they were the most distressing, because the one took place shortly after the other. Thus, reader, did I lose, suddenly and unexpectedly, an income of above nine hundred pounds per annum -- all at once, as it may be said. The two above employments were surely most pleasant, and much to be envied; as the profits derived from the first sprang from an honest exertion in the service of the East-India Company; the emoluments derived from the second employment, were given me by the personage, whom it was not only an honour, but a pleasure to serve. I have reason to complain bitterly of my misfortunes at this period of my life; for I am of opinion there is no other instance of any person losing an income of nine hundred pounds a-year without having been guilty [p468] of some misconduct or malpractices; but it was my misfortune that my pecuniary resources should be subjected to events which could not be foreseen or avoided.

Once again I had risen to a state of case and happiness, after the various misfortunes I had suffered, when I was again most suddenly reduced to the greatest distress. I had fondly brought my mind to think that I had weathered all the storms in life, and brought my vessel into a quiet snug harbour: but how was I deceived! for the hurricane of misfortune, without giving me notice, drove me from my comfortable moorings into the troubled ocean, once more to seek the necessaries of life. I now began gradually to measure my steps towards the King's Bench; and, on the 2d of June [p469] 1798, I surrendered to that prison, where I remained until the 6th of April 1799, on which day I was discharged.

Prior to my surrendering to the King's Bench, I was engaged in a family lawsuit, which was decided by arbitration before a Master of the Court of King's Bench; by this I gained a considerable sum of money, when I compounded for my debts, and was discharged. My affairs on this occasion were settled in the following manner: -- My creditors were paid seven shillings and sixpence on the pound, in cash; and I signed a bond to them to pay them the remainder in future from every property I might have to receive by will, reversion, or entail. After allotting to them the various sums assigned them, there were forty odd pounds remaining, which I took for my own use; and that was all [p470] I reserved to myself. I therefore started again to run the course of life, with forty pounds capital stock.

And now I shall beg forgiveness if I once more introduce myself into the Rules of the King's Bench, in order to mention a circumstance which I trust the reader will believe; but if he has not faith enough in my word, I can shew him written documents, as I have preserved all the bills as brought in every Monday morning by my servant when they were paid: those bills will prove, that, on the average, I never spent above three shillings any one day during my residence in those blessed regions of rural retirement. I had two reasons for living so cheap: first, being of opinion a prisoner for debt should not be squandering money; nor should he live sumptuously, yet he [p471] should not deny himself the necessaries of life: secondly I was determined to ascertain how cheap a gentleman could live, and want for nothing necessary to his maintenance, namely, a hearty breakfast and dinner every day. Bread and beer were cheaper at that period than at this moment; but meat was much the same. The reader must be informed that I drank nothing but porter.

Before I surrendered to the King's Bench; nay, from the very commencement of this war, I endeavoured, by every means, and by repeated applications, to be employed on active service: I even proposed to form a corps from the convicts; shewing how, after the war, they might be provided for, and not be turned adrift in the world again: And two [p472] years before the act for that purpose took place, I suggested the permission for the militia to enlist in the regiments of the line. I also proposed to be allowed to take one thousand volunteers, at a small bounty, from the militia, and train them to the use of the rifle-gun -- a science which I have made my study ever since I was sixteen years old.

Finding every channel shut up to my solicitations for employment, I then resolved to apply myself to trade, and, in May 1800, commenced coal-merchant. It has been circulated and reported, in order to injure me in my new profession, that I receive a certain sum per chaldron commission. On my honour, the report is absolutely false! I am allowed an annual salary, which, with prudence, will keep me from want, by a generous [p473] friend, who has undertaken this business to serve me, and to set the trade a-going.

By the distinguished favours I have already been honoured with, by a further protection from the Public in favouring me with their commands to supply their families with coals, and by the orders which are weekly increasing, I shall, I trust, be able to relieve my friend from his anxious exertions, and to establish the trade myself, in a few months, on a solid and permanent commercial basis. Sunt mihi deliciæ, sint mihi divitiæ, Carbones, is my motto. May the black-diamond trade flourish with me! which, if it receives, as I trust it will, a generous support from the Public, cannot fail of success.

To a man whose affairs have been so [p474] deranged for a long period of years, it is no small degree of satisfaction that his pecuniary obligations are confined to a very few persons. Mine are concentrated in three noble Earls -- the largest sum two hundred pounds, the smallest one hundred. At the same time that I acknowledge my gratitude, it is doubly pleasing, on reflection, that their characters are so eminently respected by the world at large, as well as by me.

One singular mark of generous friendship I experienced from an old acquaintance, who had been for years acquainted with poverty, (that worst of crimes,) and who came suddenly, by the death of a near relation, to a command of money. He offered me two thousand pounds, requesting me not to think of paying him until I should be a rich man. I refused [p475] it, on this principle -- I knew I never should be able to repay him, and held it dishonest to borrow a sum so large that I never should be able to refund. I took one hundred pounds from him: he pressed the whole on me, almost to an injuction.

Twice have I began the world anew. I trust the present century will be more favourable to me than the past. -- Valete et plaudite!

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THE END.
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PRINTED BY WILSON & CO.
ORIENTAL PRESS,
Wild Court, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.

Notes:

¹ Count D'Estaign had blocked up New York harbour for some time, and was then gone for Rhode Island. [ back ]

² The name of the opposite shore from Rhode-Island. [ back ]

³ This is the cant term the New England people have for all roads: whether little or great, they call them all paths. [ back ]

⁴ A meeting-house. [ back ]

⁵ He was brother to the famous Dickenson, who was called the Pennsylvania farmer, from having written Letters under that name at the beginning of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and her Colonies, which instigated the people to take up arms. [ back ]

⁶ The new country of Kentucky at that time was but in its infancy, and this day there are above eighty thousand men able to bear arms. [ back ]

⁷ The Irish chairmen and coal-heavers. [ back ]