CHAP. VII. civilized nations engaged in war, none have 1778. contributed more to diminish its calamities, than those which meliorate the condition of prisoners. No obligations will be more respected by the generous and the brave; nor are there any, the violation of which could wound more deeply the national character, or expose it to more lasting, or better merited reproach.

In wars between nations nearly equal in power, and possessing rights acknowledged to be equal, a departure from modern usage in this respect, is almost unheard of; and the voice of the civilized world would be raised against the potentate, which could adopt a system calculated to re-establish the rigours and misery of exploded barbarism. But in contests between different parts of the same empire, those practices which mitigate the horrors of war, and diminish the sufferings of the wretched, not unfrequently yield to the blind miscalculations of erring resentment.

Those who war in support of the ancient and established state of things, often treat resis ́tance as rebellion; and rather think their captives, traitors, whose lives are forfeited to the offended laws of their country, than prisoners, whom fortune has thrown into their power. Those on the contrary who support by the sword, principles they believe to be right, will admit of no departure from established usage to their prejudice, and may be expected, if they

possess the power, to endeavour, by retaliating CHAP. VII, the injuries inflicted on them, to compel the 1778 observance of a more just and humane system. But they deduct from the fault imputable to their adversaries, by manifesting a disposition to punish those they deem traitors to themselves, with the same severity which they so loudly and justly complain of, when they are themselves its victims.

In the war between Great Britain and America, although neither lord, nor sir William Howe appear, from their general conduct or sentiments, to have possessed that ferocity of temper, or that furious and bigoted zeal which could induce them to increase wantonly the miseries of the wretched, or to dispense, in the case of American prisoners, with an observance of the acknowledged rights of humanity, yet there were facts which seem authentic, and certainly the belief of them was universal in the United States, which justified the opinion that, at least some of the subordinate depositories of authority, could bury all the milder feelings which belong to man, and delight to increase the sufferings of those who were wretched, and were in their power. On the other hand, some disposition was certainly discovered in several of the states, to discriminate the American loyalist who was deemed a traitor to his country, from the British soldier when taken in

CHAP. VII.

The sufferings occasioned by these disposi1778. tions were unfortunately protracted to an unusual length, by circumstances, in which it is possible, that each party might suppose the whole blame to rest with his adversary.

It has been already stated, that the execution of the agreement very early made between the two generals, for a fair and equal exchange of prisoners, was suspended by a difference of opinion between them, concerning the rights accruing to the British general, from the liberation, in the winter of 1776...77, of very many Americans taken before that time, a large proportion of whom were, when liberated, in the grasp of death. Sir William Howe insisted that every man of them should be accounted for, while general Washington contended that reasonable deductions should be made for those actually dead of diseases, under which they laboured, when permitted to leave the British prisons.

This claim, sir William Howe persisted to make, and until it should be acceded to, he rejected absolutely any partial exchange whatever. General Washington was, on his part, immoveable in his determination to repel it; and thus, all hope of being relieved in the ordinary mode, appeared to be taken away from those whom the fortune of war had placed in the power of the enemy.

To a letter offering to exchange major general Prescott for major general Lee, sir William

Howe answered, that when the soldiers of his CHAP. VII. army, who were still prisoners, should be 1778. returned for those already sent in by him, he would consent to the proposition.*

made by

In the mean-time, the sufferings of the American prisoners increased with the increasing severity of the season. By their country they had not been sufficiently furnished with clothes and blankets, and they were by no means properly supplied with fuel. These were not their only wants. Information appearing to Complaints be authentic was continually received, that general they suffered almost the extremity of famine. of the treatRepeated remonstrances made on this to the British general, were answered by a denial of the fact.† He continued to aver that the same food, both in quantity and quality, was issued to the prisoners, as to British troops

Washington

•ment of

American

subject prisoners in

* On being again applied to by general Washington, either to exchange the prisoners then in possession of each, without regard to the former difference of opinion between them; or, if that should not be acceded to, to permit the officers on both sides to return on parol to their friends, a proposition he was induced to make, because the latter part of the alternative was understood to have been desired by general Howe, he still persisted in his refusal to make any exchange, until general Washington should, as a preliminary, restore soldiers to the entire amount of those who had been liberated by him under the circumstances already noticed. But he consented to a mutual discharge of the officers on parol.

† See Note, No. IX. at the end of the volume.

possession of the enemy.

t

CHAP. VII. When in transports, or elsewhere not on actual 1778. duty, and that every tenderness was experi

enced by them, which was compatible with the situation of his army. He yielded to the request made by general Washington to permit a commissary to visit the jails, and demanded passports for a similar character to administer to the wants of British prisoners.

Mr. Boudinot, the American commissary of prisoners, was appointed by general Washington to visit the jails in Philadelphia, in which they were confined; but, on meeting mr. Ferguson, the British commissary, he was informed that general Howe thought it unnecessary for him to come into the city, as he would himself inspect the situation and treatment of the prisoners. There is reason to believe that the causes of complaint, so far as respected provisions, did not afterwards exist in the same degree, as formerly; and that the strong subsequent measures taken by congress, were founded on facts of an earlier date.

But clothes and blankets were also necessary during the winter, and the difficulty of furnishing them was very considerable. General Howe would not permit them to be purchased in Philadelphia, and they were not attainable in the country.

To compel him to abandon this distressing restriction, and to permit the use of paper money within the British lines, congress at first