The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1780-10-18 00:00:00, page 1

For the New-Jersey Gazette.
To Sir HENRY CLINTON.
WHEN I had the honor to address you
on a former occasion, I did not lup
pofe it would have fallen to my part,
to have experienced a second time, so
Angular a diftindion. You were then defeendmg
from the small degree of eminence you had id diffi
cultly acquired, to mingle your fame with that of
your forgotten predecessors. Even your friends be
held you like one of thole comets whole taint ap
pearance neither produces fear nor aftoniihment, and
whofc course, after a few hours idle curiolity, is only
to be seen in the records of the allronomer. Ihe
hopes of your flatterers, and the expectations of
your enemies, were equally averse from a revival of
your reputation. Indolence at one time, parade at
another, and a senseless variety of fecming enter
prises, half-formed, or terminating without effect,
had justly fixed your character, and marked it with
that bewildered expression, which it was thought no
experience could better. But you have lived to enjoy
a triumph over public opinion, and to crcCt a new
tame on the talents of another. With a fubmifiion
that shews you at lealt pofiefied of a certain portion
of prudence, you committed the management of
your councils to a man of superior abilities. From
this moment Mr. Andre became the fiift minister to
his commander, and your affairs felt the influence
of such a director. But, Sir Harry, thy sagacity
foresaw no evil in his attempts, nor could his pene
tration provide against his own ihipwreck. flattered
with the baubles of favoritifm, he gave trelh lite to
your hopes, and drew you from the closet, where
you were fadiy anticipating the horrors of finking
authority. What others viewed as impoffibk, ap
peared to him as only difficult, and he embraced
your interest from the fame paiiion that made Cselar
a king, and perhaps Bi utus an assassin. Such arc the
errors of ambition, or the madnets of elevated minds.
The reduction of Charleftown produced the firft
change in your character. I will rather fuppofethat
you ailumed the command of this expedition from
a principle peculiar to men of your spirit, than that
the measure was the result of advice. You were
fenfibie that you had not lets to fear from the iucce^
of another, than from your own mismanagements.
To you all victories but your own, brought with
them the force of a puniihment. And as youfcom
miflion inverted,you with liberty to ad where you
pleased in America, you thought this experiment the
only one that remained. Ministry feared this, but
without limiting your power, they could not guard
against your interference. Cornwallis felt the injury,
and commenced your enemy, submitted to be a
secondary ador, where he should have been the piin-°
cipal, and you succeeded with a force that made it
impossible to fail. But the execution of the enter
prise, clogged with the charaderiftics of your cha
racter, brought with it confequencts you little ap
prehended. , You fat down before a place which you
should have carried by assault. With an army of ten
thousand men, and a competent naval superiority,
you inverted a town of a large extent, fortified only
by sandy entrenchments, railed in two months, with
out covered way, destitute of out-works, open in
several places on the water fide, exposed every where
to an open attack, and defended by a garrison in
fufficient by one half. To remain forty-two days
before such a place, with open trenches, and display
all the apparel of a regular liege, transfers the whole
glory to the garrison. In all this, perhaps, you may
have been governed by the rules of prudence, if not
of enterprise. But when we contrast your conduct
with that of the American troops, in supporting an
incessant fire, fubjeCtall the while to the danger of a
surprise, and to open attacks, the success of which
was almost certain, had you taken proper mcalures ;
your very Friends, Sir Harry, lose fight of your tri
umph, in contemplating their firmnefs and fortitude.
This is the result of your expedition, when rtript
of the pomp of a long laboured letter, which was
to give you a new exigence at St. James's, and your
ministry a frefh motive for carrying on the war. Any
other people but one devoted to punishment from
the course of their crimes, knowing the circumstances
of your success, would have employed the court to
have conditioned for peace. But your nation in pur
suing the meteor they had raised, though some new
ground wag palled over, found themselves no nearer
their object. Still they were as children fooled by
rtheamufiv^figures of a magic lanthorn,and continued
vain dupes to the dexterity of their jugglers.
In all courts but that ofCrcdt-Britam, the cap-
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. lII.]
WEDNESDAY, October 18, 1780.
thre of CliarleftoWn will have eeafed to operate in
your favor. The firft moment of its impression was
yours. The succeeding one a panegyric on America.
It was told and talked of by your court and its run
ners, as if the hidden fubdudion of at leaf tthe
Southern States was a natural conference. In this
paroxism of success an elated Ministry, hurried out
to the world a gazette extraordinary, to publilh your
letter, where you speak of Lord Cornwallis's expetted
presence on the frontier of North-Carolina, and a
small expedition into Cape-Fear river, to favor the
revolution you looked for higher up the country.*
To have made these baitings efficient, they Should
have been followed by a second account of cities
taken, and provinces subdued. But instead of this,
they mutt read of North-Carolina palling a vote of
thanks to Brigadier-General Smallwood, and of Con
gress promoting him to the rank of Major-General
for his behaviour in the battle near Cambden, in the
state of South-Carolina. How will your employers
color your assertions and their own folly, w hen after
such an elapse of time, Cornwallis is so remote from
the frontier of North-Carolina. It will not be c
nough to tell the world, that he gained an advantage
where, it was led to believe, he had 110 enemies to
oppose. Cornwallis will even lose the honor of a
victory, when it is known, that although the American
troops were inferior in numbers, they were superior
in courage, and that they recovered by the latter
what they had loft by the former: Nor after the de
fection of the militia, did they submit to a ictrcat,
till their enemy were disgraced by their retiftance.
But leaving these matters we find you in New-York,
returned from your fioien expedition i& all the pomp
of an Eastern conqueror, swelled with the praises of
your parasites, and flattered with the prolpeCt of trelh
marks of royal diftinCUon. With such an army as
you commanded, you looked forward to an a&ive
campaign in this quarter. But prevented from this
by the exertions of the States, and confined to your
gartifon after the engagement at Springfield, you fat
down gloomy and disappointed.—You law the cam
paign Spending itfelf in abortive parade, when the
powers of corruption were called on to close it in
eclat. Weft-Point was to be the objed, and General
Arnold its betrayer. From what medium of intelli
gence you gained a knowledge of his principles,
whether you argued from your own heart to his, or
received it from himfelf, we ihall leave to the better
explanation of time. Nor Shali we enquire why one
so high in military reputation as Arnold, acquired too
under such a splendor of circumstances, as justly en
titled him to that rank which he held in Europe,
should thus dispose of his fame, and his moral cha
racter. For the fake of human nature, it were to be
wished that a veil could be thrown overfuch examples
of depravity.—But from time to time, society is dis
turbed with their appearance.—ln Arnold's situation
Cromwell would have a&ed as Arnold. And could
Clive have changed places with Arnold, Clive would
have fold America, and Arnold would have exhausted
the Eart-Indies of its wealth, and bribed the British
parliament to fuffer him to spend a few years in
wretchedness and infamy. In these we fee the com
position of certain spirits, which as conjunctures
point, are considered as the ornament or the disgrace,
the pride or the pertilence of mankind.
By>he defection of Arnold America has one enemy
less, and you are not sure of one new friend. He
that submits to one sale, may be tempted to another.
If your nation can be pleased with this purchase, it
must lately have experienced a conversion in favor of
traitors. And should your army submit to his com
pany, it io no longer at enmity with dishonor, perli
dioufnefs is become sacred, and you must fear for
your own fafety. Such is the man you have bought,
audit were wrong did America envy you his possession.
But the exultation you enjoyed on this occasion was
not that of a moment. It was desultory and fugitive
as the faint hopes of a dying finner, whiht the capture
of Major Andre, your Adjutant-General, under the
circumstances of a spy, and the failure of your
scheme, burst upon your head like the discovery of
a plot on that of a traitor's.—lt was a dagger ready
to be plunged into the heart of your enemy, planted
in your own.—Were the succeeding hours of your
Excellency's life to be burnished with the finilcs of
your Sovereign, they could not repay the diffractions
that followed.—But they were detractions for your
felf, in which Andre had no Share. But for this, and
had you felt but one pang for his fate, there might
have been those who would have even pitied your
horrors.
It is not easy, Sir Harry, to estimate the loss you
* Sir Harry Clinton's letter, dated Charleftown, 4th
June, 1780.
THE
Had you aught of sentiment, Sir Harry, there
would be no end to your afflictions. Had you a
magnanimity like Andre's, you would at least have fa
crificed to your commission, could that have preserved
his life.—lf to be great is to be unfeeling, i alk not
for greatness. If to fee one's best friend fuffer with
out a tear is charaCteriftic of dignity, give me low
liness. If high Rations teach men to believe that the
abilities of others were only formed to forward their
designs, and that friends fliould be no longer protect
ed than they are thought to be ufeiul, place me in a
cottage and obfeurity, and let me forever be ftcluded
from such men.—But, alas ! it is the nature of power
to attract and deceive, and, perhaps, there is no
country without its Clinton.
But I leave you, Sir Harry, to fallen reflection.
Your fame is finifned, and I with not to renew my
address. Z.
October 4th, 1780.
JUST PU BLISHE D, '
And to be SOLD, wholesale and retail, by
ISAAC COLLINS,
At the Printing-Office, in Trenton,
A neat EDITION of
THE NEW TESTAMENT,
Printed nn a good type, and good paper.
General Poft-Oflice, Philadelphia, Sept. 14, 1780.
^rHE fubfenbef has in his possession a variety of
I Valuable Papers, including Custom-House
and other Certificates, Bills of Exchange, Protested
Bills with the Protests, Ships Papers, Letters of At
torney, Bills of Lading, Bills of Sale, Notes of Hand,
&c. &c. which were enclosed in letters not called for
at the several Pod-Offices in the United States. The
owners may recover them, by applying to
EBENEZER HAZARD,
Inspector of dead letters to the General Poft-Okice.
Mr. Andre's rank and talents, made his case pecu
liar. Your army I am told loved him. General
Washington's admired him. The latter Shed tears
at his death, while you, Sir Harry, Scarce conde
scended to shew the cold formalities of an affeCted
condolence. There remained but this to complete
your character, the torpor in which you heard the
circumstances of-his capture, and your unanimated
efforts to save him. His faithful Services Surely claim
ed your utmost interposition ; your own fame requir
ed it, and your fuppoied friendship demanded it from,
you as a right. —But a vain feif-importance filled
your heart, and you remained during the lufpenfion
of his fate, in all the imagined majerty of your na
tive sullenness. If you were with-held by a punc
tilio from being more-forward, 1 would not have
possessed your place for a kingdom. But policy,
(for who will serve you in future) what you owed
to Major Andre, (for his abilities supported your
character) and the general expectation of your army,
dictated every possible expedient in his favor. The
very army of your enemy wondered at your total
privation of sensibility, and while they complied with
the laws and usages of nations, did justice to his
magnanimity.— Be m, witnfps, said he to them, while
I acknowledge the propriety as my fenience, I die like
a brave man.
have fuffcred in Major Andre; Your enemies were
not insensible to his worth. Men of genius sympa
thised with him, and lamented that misguided zeal
in the fervict of his prince, which led to h.s punish
ment. —Those who have toiled heretofore to betray
the liberties of America, could lye—but he could
deceive. Others might display cunning—but he dis
covered wisdom. The utmost of your efforts was a
bribe—but he possessed a powerthat was superior, that
of fedudion. His talents were beyond most mens
virtue, and he had no enemy but in the heid^fa&ion.
But great abilities have their fluctuations and limits,
nor are they at all times of the fame c rptr, his
failed him at that point which would have completed
his fortune, and created you a fame to which you
had no title. It is curious by what little incidents
and unforefeen combinations great events are decided.
But for three armed pcafants of the state of New-
York, Weft-Point and its dependencies would have
been at this hour in your possession. For it is not
probable with an enemy within, and your army with
out, that it could have been saved. —Let this instance
of honesty rescue human nature from infamy, and
serve as a lesson to mankind. And let the names of
Pauling, Van Yert and Williams, who rejected an
immenie bribe with a grandeur of foul infinitely lu
perior to the baseness with which Arnold received
one, be remembered when the trophies of pride and
the monuments of falfe giory are trampled on or neg
lected.
[Numb. 147.]