The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1777-12-31 00:00:00, page 1

Sir,
/FRENCH Gentleman has lately favoured me
I with a fight of a collection of historical and poli
tical Letters to his friends in France. I have obtained
his consent to translate and publijh a few of them. If
the following translation of one of them, which is of a
modern date, fbould prove acceptable to your readers, I
Jball fend you some more. The author of them has been
near two, ears in America, and has been introduced to
the firft characters on the Continent. His real name
mufl be afecret —The name by which he has chosen to be
known to the public, will be seen in the conclusion of the
enclosed letter. From yours,
H. P.
Not only the genius and Character of this illufcrious
officer, but the abilities of several of his general of
ficers, and the spirit of his troops, all concurred to
afford a favourable presage of a fuccefsful campaign.
Lincoln and Arnold were his two Major-Generals,
and Glover commanded a brigade in his army. The
firft served with reputation last year at the head of
a body of Maffachufefts militia: Genius and indus
try supplied, in some measure, the want of a mili
tary education ; he was cool, determined, and en
terprizing. Arnold's character is already known in
Europe. He is said to possess what we call, in our
country, the “ rage militaire." His countrymen ac
cuse him of too much imp^tuofity. This may be the
case in the cabinet; but I do not think he is too im
petuous in the field. Glover served two campaigns
under General Lee, and was a great favourite of
that unfortunate officer. He is brave, and has the
character of an excellent disciplinarian.
The spirit of General Gates's army cannot be too
much commended. It was composed chiefly of the
farmers and farmers sons, of the four Eastern States.
Every man among them felt an enthusiastic attach
"Jr N my last letter I informed you that General
@ Gates was ordered, by the Congress, to return
■ to take the command of the Northward Army.
This appointment was the more honourable,
as twelve out of thirteen of the States con
curred in it. The clamours of the people,
who govern their rulers in this country, could not be
refilled, and private prejudices were made to yield to
the general fafety and honour of America.
The joy of the Northern Army, upon General
Gates's arrival among them, cannot be described.
He had gained their confidence by his services among
them the two preceding campaigns. He was, like
themselves, a zealous republican; and his only ob
jects in taking part with them in the present war,
were liberty and independance. He had endeared
himfelf to them further, by the ftri&nefs of difcipJine
Which he had introduced among them the year before :
For soldiers are always best fatisfied with officers who
keep them steadily to their duty, provided they par
take with them of all the toils and dangers of the
military life.
The success of General Stark, in defeating a large
body of General Burgoyne's army, at Bennington,
had prepared the way for General Gates's future
success, and proved the feed of all the laurels that he
reaped during the campaign. You will fee the par
ticulars of this affair in the news-papers, which ac^
company this letter.
The firft object with General Gates was to put his
army in order. 'This was done in a few weeks ; for
he infufed at once his own spirit into every corps
among them. His general orders were fhoit, but
they were implicitly obeyed. He saw every thing
with his own eyes, and heard every thing with his
own ears. He slept but little, and was seldom ab
sent from the morning and evening' parade of his
troops. He understood every part of the duty of an
officer and soldier as well as of a general, for he had
served the King of Great-Britain, during the greatest
part of the two last wars with France, under some of
the ablest Generals that Great-Britain ever sent \nto
the field. His temper was naturally hasty, which
sometimes led him to make use of passionate expres
sions in reproving his officers, but he was notwith
standing equally beloved and feared by them. I have
been told, that he never had a single personal enemy
und^r his command.
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
To the Printer of the New-Jersey Gazette.
Fish-Kill, in the State of New-York, Nov. 20, 1777.
My dear Count,
[Vol. I.]
WEDNESDAY, December 31, 1777.
ment to liberty, and the lowest centinel fought alike
with his General for all that was dear to him. The
inhabitants of New-England are trained up, from
their infancy, to civil, ecclesiastical, and domestic
subordination. The transition from these, therefore,
to military subordination, is ihort and natural. I
have seen recruits that had been enlisted only for
three weeks, handle their arms, and perform all the
evolutions which are necessary in the kind of war
that is carried on in this country, with as much
dexterity as the King's guards at Versailles. They
are a hardy race of men, and when kept in action,
are not fubjedtto camp diseases. They are in ge
neral sober and moral —drunkenness is unknown a
mong them. And firice the beginning of the war,
there has been but one instance of a New-England
man's deserting to the British army. He was caught
and condemned to die, but vas afterwards pardon
ed, upon difeovering proofs of his being a lunatic.
The public papers will give you a particular ac
count of two battles, fought on the 19th of Septem
ber and the 7th of October, between the army un
der the command of General Gates, and the royal
army under the command of General Burgoyne.
The last was a complete viHory on the fide of the
Americans. Every circurnftance attended it that
could flatter the Military knowledge and condud of
General Gates. General Frazer, who added to the
glory of the day by his fall, was esteemed one of the
best officers in the British army. In this action Ge
neral Arnold gained immortal honour —his horse re
ceived three wounds with bayonets in forcing the
British lines ; notwithstanding this, and the wound
he received in his leg, which fractured the bone, he
was the firft that got withinfide of the enemy's
breast-work.
But the glory of this victory was soon loft, in an
event that has cast a shade upon all the victories that
have been gained by both armies, since the com
mencement of the war. About a week after this
battle, General Burgoyne surrendered himfelf and
the remains of his whole army, with all their arms,
camp equipage, &c. into the hands of General Gates.
Can any thing be conceived of, more humiliating to
the pride and power of Great-Britain ?—An army of
ten thousand ' men —confiding of veterans who had
Shared in all the glory of the late war in Germany
and America-—commanded by officers who had serv
ed under Wolfe and Ferdinand, and who had pluck
ed laurels from the heights of Abraham and Minden,
and headed by a General, rich in royal favour, and
famous tor having, by a single manoeuvre, turned the
fate of the last war between Spain and Portugal, —
were defeated, surrounded, and at last reduced to
the necessity of submitting to an army confining at
no time of mere than twelve thousand men ; one
half of whom were militia, and the rest recruits of
only five months Banding. These disasters received
a peculiar poignancy from the gafconade with which
General Burgoyne began his march from Ticonde
roga. I sent you his proclamation in a former pack
et. His letters to General Gates, you will perceive,
are written in the fame pompous style. But he had
other adts of presumption and folly to recollect upon
this occasion—He had promised, when he took leave
of the House of Commons in the year 1775, to
" temper his punirfiments of t! e Americans, for re
" bellion, with humanity" —He had boasted to his
friends, that he " would dance the ladies, and coax
" the gentlemen into fubmiffion"—He had declared,
upon entering the port of Boston, during the block
ade of that town, that he would have “ elbow
" room," —-and as if he was resolved to shine here
after, without a rival, in the history of the reduction
of America, he had with great difficulty obtained his
present separate command, by making two voyages
to Great-Britain. Notwithstanding these things, he
was received and treated with great politencfs by
General Gates, and the officers of his army—not a
single insult was offered to him or his army, by the
common soldiers. This behaviour is charadteriftic
of the natural magnanimity of these people. It gave
me pain to hear that when General Burgoyne entered
the town of Albany, a mob cried out, " elbow
" room !" but they were soon silenced by an officer.
It is the only instance I have heard, since my arrival
in this country, of an ad of rudeness, even in the
lowed of the people, to a British prisoner.
General Burgoyne speaks with great refpe& of the
behaviour of the American troops, and all his officers
T HE
are astonished at the order and djfcipline of General
Gates's army. The General is a sensible-bred man,
and has cancelled his former animosity to the Ame
ricans, by conceffioßs that Ihow real dignity of foul.
What eulogiums can equal the merit of General
Gates ?—His successes are almost without a prece
dent in history. His glory is as yet unrivalled in the
annals of America. But his mind has been accus
tomed to feed upon more substantial food than the
acclamations of the multitude# He has destroyed
one half the power of Britain in America. He has
humbled the pride of the haughtiest nation in the
world. He has given the people of America a con
fidence in their courage and resources, which can
never be shaken by any future misfortune. He has
taught the Americans that Britons art ^ longer ir
resistible in the field. He has Ihowed the folly and
danger of standing armies in the time of peace, by
conquering a body of veterans with the militia of the
country. He has shaken the counsels, and baffled
the negociations of Grea^-Britain, in all the courts of
Europe. France and Spain must now throw off the
mask. The Congress are not insensible of the im
portant services of their General—They have voted
him their thanks, and a gold medal. But no reward
can equal his merit —The gratitude of posterity alone
will be able to do juftiee to him.
I had like to have emitted one circumfiance in the
history of the convention between General Burgofne
and General Gates. Burgoyne expected every hour
to be relieved by General Clinton, with a large
body of troops from New-York. They had taken
Fort Montgomery, and were within a few days
march of Albany, where all Gates's stores and pro
visions were lodged. Fortunately the convention was
signed before the news of Clinton's march reached
General Burgoyne. Had it not been for this body of
troops in General Gates's rear, he would have given
Mr. Burgoyne less favourable terms of submission.—
Clinton fled back to New-York, as soon as he heard
of the surrender of Burgoyne.'
, The royal army, as you will fee by the papers, is
now in the vicinity of Boston. The legislature of
Massachusetts-Bay have wifely cut off all unnecessary
intercourse between them and the inhabitants ; fear
ing left the minds of the ignorant should be poisoned
by them. In several of the American States there
have been instances, where people well affected to
the liberties of this country, have had their allegiance
to the States shaken, by the falfhoods that have been
propagated by British prisoners quartered among them.
Adieu my dear Count, and be assured of the per
fect esteem with which I have the honour to be,
I A M afraid that while we are employed in furnifh
ing our battalions with eloathing, we forget the
county of Bergen, which alone is fufficient amply to
provide them with winter waistcoats and breeches,
from the redundance and fuperfluity of certain wool
len habits, which are at present applied to no kind of
use whatsoever. It is well known that the rural la
dies in that part of our State pride themselves in an
incredible number of petticoats; which, like houfe
furniture, are displayed by way of ostentation, for
many years before they are decreed to invest the fair
bodies of the proprietors. Till that period they are.
never worn, but neatly piled up on each fide of an
immense efcrutoire, the top of which is decorated
with a most capacious brass-clasped bible, feldoni
read. What I would, therefore, humbly propose to
our superiors, is to make prize of Ihofe future female
habiliments, and, after proper transformation, im
mediately apply them to screen from the inclemencies
of the weather those gallant males, who are now
fighting for the liberties of their country. And to
clear this measure from every imputation ofinjuftice,
I have only to observe, +hat the generality of the wo
men in that county, having for above a century, worn
the breeches; it is highly reasonable that the men
fbould now, and especially upon so important an oc
casion, make booty of the petticoats.
HORTENTIW S,
Your most affectionate friend and
Obedient feyvant,
De LISL E.
P. S. Embrace your brother for me. Ifhall write to
him in a few days, by a vessel that fails from Boston.
To the Printer of the New-Jersey Gazette.
SIR,
[Numb, gj