have miscarried; that loss would never have been gained; supplies of ammunition and provisions would never have been thus neglected; the operations of war would have been carried on with much more despatch; the enemies in that department would have been wholly crushed; in one word, all Canada would have been in our possession, the natives conciliated, and the other inhabitants awed into absolute submission.” Thus talk the illiterate crowd at the distance of two or three hundred miles from the seat of the war. And thus they blast the purposes and views of a man who at present bears an unblemished character; who has never failed in any the least article of duty; who won the affection of every worthy officer and uncorrupted friend to his country; and who, in all his letters to our ever-to-be-remembered Governour, breathes in the greatest variety of undisguised expressions a soul as sincere as it is flaming in the cause of America. This is the man we kill by our groundless fears and surmises; one who has sat up late, rose early, eat the bread of carefulness, and almost exhausted his life for our good. Is this a reward for his labours? Will this attach him the more firmly to our system of politicks, and encourage his heart to persevere, and close his days in the field of battle? Will this nerve his arm with strength, inspire his soul with courage, and enliven his addresses with an irresistible pathos? Will he speak and act with that dignity and firmness which an assurance that he lives in the love and esteem of thousands enables one ever to do? These things will never be imagined. In addition to the falsehoods which have been mentioned, our enemies have ranked him among a number of men that are an eternal disgrace to the land that gave them birth; and, as if they could not render him vile enough, he is charged with being the author of a plan to desolate his own country with fire and sword. We rejoice that his conduct is uniform and unexceptionable—that no instance of it affords any evidence of his villany. The heart lies open to omniscience. We must be let into the depth of it by his actions. His connexions, indisposition, and our fruitless attempts to subdue the northern part, opened a door for the remote suspicion, or at least there was room for a corrupt heart to improve them to his disadvantage. The motive in the last instance was obvious. Aware of how much importance it was to plead the authority and assistance of so respectable a person, how beneficial to their design and fatal to his reputation, they had the impudence to enroll him among them. And some, weak as they are bad, have drunk in the report, and talked of it with a pretty deal of freedom. If futurity convicts him, the past time has not, I am certain. I might add to these he who fell upon the Heights of Abraham, and sacrificed numberless blessings for our deliverance. The dead, we should have expected, might sleep undisturbed in their tombs. When “they hear not the voice of their oppressor, ” forbid it that the tongue of the slanderer should not cease.

I shall close this paper with two observations, which may no trials we may yet pass through obliterate. The first is, never believe and spread reports to the prejudice and ruin of men in any publick office before we have sufficient proof of their unworthy behaviour. It is even dangerous to talk much upon such a subject in private, or to bring it often into the view of the mind. By thinking and speaking frequently upon defamatory stories, we begin, by degrees, to slide into the belief of them. More dangerous is it fully to give in to them and spread them wherever we go. I look upon the man that acts such a part as a worse enemy to society than he that communicates the most infectious disease. A character is good until it legally and rationally appears otherwise. When such evidence is afforded as the nature of the case demands, as our own judgment assures us is convincing, and all nations have deemed satisfactory, then we may with safety prosecute and punish the offenders. The other observation I would make is, that it becomes us to treat the characters of distinguished persons with candour; throw a mantle over trifling foibles; bury in the grave a little mistake; put the most favourable construction upon those instances of conduct which are not in themselves highly barefaced; drop all prejudice while we attend to such delicate points; silence the invidious and malicious; reward liberally the meritorious; and let us act throughout so that we may gain the approbation of conscience, the present age, and posterity.

Connecticut, June 24, 1776.

Newport, June 24, 1776.

Captain Campbell, lately from Antigua, via St. Eustatia, informs that, a little before he left Antigua, a vessel from Georgia, belonging to Mr. Samuel Brenton, of this place, was seized there by a man-of-war, with all her cargo, consisting of lumber, indigo, &c. Mr. Brenton, then present, urged his being a friend to Government as a reason for his being favoured; but the Admiral told him the act of Parliament by which he was seized, made no provision for friends to Government! He then pleaded the same to the Marshal for being indulged in buying the indigo at a moderate price; but the Marshal said it was difficult to determine who were friends to Government, or to that purport, and that he should buy the indigo himself to ship to England. Just so would all American Tories fare, should this country be conquered agreeable to their wishes; but be assured, the sun, moon and stars shall fall, the ocean cease to roll, and all nature change its course, before a few English, Scotch and German slaves shall conquer this vast Continent.

E. W. STANHOPE TO MASSACHUSETTS COUNCIL.

Northarnpton Jail, June 24, 1776.

SIR: Mr. Tracy, of Newburyport, having wrote to the gentlemen prisoners here, requesting them to write to the Admiral, in hopes that it will have some weight in procuring an exchange of prisoners, (which no doubt it will,) I have therefore written to you, enclosing my letter to the Admiral in one to Mr. Tracy, which I will beg the favour of you to forward to Newbury.

Mr. Tracy likewise says that it was their intent to sail as soon as possible, which makes me anxious for the despatch of my letter, lest I should lose the conveyance, which I esteem a matter of consequence, as well for the weight of procuring an exchange, as for getting myself included in the cartel; and, indeed, I know nothing so conducive to obtaining it as one of us going in the flag of truce; and if that should meet with your concurrence, I believe my rank, particularly in private life as well as publick, would tend greatly to facilitate it; and could I meet with your permission, I would be bound under any bond or security you may be pleased to lay me under on that head, and I shall esteem myself your much obliged and obedient humble servant,

E. W. STANHOPE.

To the Hon. the President of the Council, Watertown.

TO THE PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

The whole strength of Britain and her allies is now employed in the destruction of America. Fleets and armies, and every engine of fraud and violence that the sophistry of hell can invent, are prepared to execute the horrid plan. The work is already begun, and a few days will unfold the infernal design to the weakest sight. The King of England delights in blood, yea, thirsteth for the blood of America. Hessians, Hanoverians, Brunsivickers, Canadians, Indians, Negroes, Regulars, and Tories, are invited to the carnage. This is no fiction, but an awful reality; not the production of a delirium, but substantial matter of fact. The tyrant of Britain hath sold himself to work wickedness, and the blood of Naboth must be shed, that the vineyard may be peaceably possessed. The plan is ripe for execution, and begins to operate. Lift up your eyes, my countrymen, and see destruction, like a flood, pouring in upon you from every quarter, even from the north and the south, and from the east and the west. The decree has gone forth, and, as sure as you now exist, death is the portion of all that the power of Britain can overcome. Rouse up, therefore, and arm yourselves for the encounter; gird on the harness, and let him that hath no sword sell his garment and buy one. Remember that the salvation of your country depends on your present exertion; and that this summer will decide the fate of America. Don’t boggle at the expense, when your all is at stake. If we conquer, the vacant lands and confiscations will abundantly repay the expense of the war; and if we are overcome, our all is gone, and it matters not how much we expend in the contest. Let us, therefore, give every encouragement to those who go forth to battle and jeopard their lives in the high places of the field, being assured that if the ardour of the soldiery is suppressed, the cause will inevitably sink, and that he who, at this season, cavils at

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