The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1779-11-23 00:00:00, page 1

To SIR HENRY CLINTON.,
ALTHOUGH your military tra&
in America, is marked with a vari
ety of misfortunes,yet, it is no less worthy
of panegyric, than that of your predeces
sors : Like them, you have adventured
your character, in the execution of delti
fory objects ; but like them, you may not
return to reap the reward of your labours.
I will presume that your cabinet after
Four years projection, had conceived the
idea of reducing the States by the capture
of Weft Point; or if this could not be
accomplished, had directed the eftabliih
ment of a post in its vicinity. Could these
sages have given you force and wisdom, to
have captured, with Weft. Point, the A
tnerican army, it would perhaps have been
doing something effectual towards their
project. But the reduction and occupan
cy of this post on any other condition #as
Mmere found ; a rattle, like all their o
ther rattles, only calculated to please for
the moment.
Had you Arrived at Weft-Point, before
General Wafhingto'n could have reached
ft from Middlebrook, (which you might
have done without a possibility of inter
rtptian, 'vmycur commanding the v/uter)
and carried the post by storm $ it must
have been at the expence of all further 6-
^erations, and at the certain risque of be
ing btfitged by the American army. Had
you inverted the place. General Waftiing--
ton would alone; with his forces, have bee?
Efficient to have railed the flege, and you
might have loft your heavy cannon and
stores, if not the greatest pirt es your ar
my § or had you carried it without any ma
terial lots, still the obfed of the miniftrf
would have been defeated. A new fort
would have instantly appeared on the Hud
son, capable of insulting Weft-Point, and
of rendering its f',ppofed advantages nu
gatory and ridiculous.
Youg orders arrived, and you received
them withall the complacency of accustom-
Id submission : The caution, however,
with' which you moved towards an object,
fonfideted as th! most capital in America,
at Raft, does credit to your purpose. —
You approached within nine milts of Weft-
Point, and halted before a small work at
King's-Ferry, that could neither diftuib
the passage of your whipping; nor give ob
ftru&ion to the progrtfs of your army.
Its design was merely to give a ihew of
•ever to the ferry wav, and prevent the pi
racies of your picaroons.
Sir William Howe could not have in
vested this infignificant place with more
unmeaning formality. No display of os
tentatious arrangement was overlooked on
this occasion : and Mr. /inare, your aide,
as if in compliance with the taste of hi^
General, signed a capitulate; in all the
'UESD AY, November 23, i„§, T H E NUM„^. % .„
CONNECTICUT COURA N 1
A N P T HI!
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCE^.'
HARTFORD: Printed by HUDSON AMD G O CD WIN, near ths Great-Bridge.
pomp of a vain glorious solemnity, on the
very edge of the glacis, which he had gain
ed under cover of a flag.
What, Sir Henry, could yob intend by
this farce ? What excuse will a person of
Mr. Andre's reputed sense find for this
parade ? Was it that you were obliged to
do fometning, in order t° avoid the scan
dal of doing nothing, ft you meant to
astonish all Europe, then is no doubt but
the intention has been answered. The
capture of fifty men, aftc a fooliffi variety
of movements, and under a v^in pomp of
capitulation, must appear to all the world
a strange effort towards the reduction of
America ; and but a poor recompence for
the millions voted by parliament, and
which you have chea fully expended for
this single purpose.,, ~
When you ellablifhed jourgzrrrfqn on each
fide the ferry; and improved Stoney-point;
till it acquired, in the language peculiar to
your nation, the title of the American
Gibralter; whafwas the good it compre
hended? It did not interrupt the provt
fijns for the army of your enemy; their
waggons came and returned as ufaaL A
few dragoons; and a company or two of
lght troops, under „, r Lee, circum'.
scribed you to the lines you had erected :
And the country between Herveftraw aid
Paules-Hook, afforded its usual fupplies;—
Thus your enemy experienced no injury,
and you felt a thousand inconveniences
from your new fixation.,
It is a maxim Roebefoicault, " that for
tune turns every thing to the advantage
of her favourites." By this rule it would
feein, that neither you nor your nation are
within her patronage, for the business of
both, since the beginning of this bast co^-
ieft, has been connantly going backwards.
Nay, as if die had placed yoo at the ex
tremity of her malice; die has efen made
the blunders of your directors, serve as
the steps to your ruin ; bid to Complete
the catalogue of your evils, (he hants your
bewildered imagination with the fate of
Burgoyne.
How often, Sir Harry, in your affairs,
has the song of the morning been closed
with the evenings tear ! You had scarce
finifhed your dispatches, which were to flat
ter the hopes of an all expecting ministry,
when Stoney- Point was stormed, and car
ried at the bayonet, by a body of troops
but little fuperiobin numbers to its gari
fon.
In your account of this event, (which
holds so small a corner in the Chronicle
of St. James's, as if wishing to escape the
public eye) have you told your nation,
that the American soldiery, in the full ca
reer of their ardour, exhibited a cemp^-
L^Mra rc?gnan:nrtf„ of which the prac
tice of their army, had Act afforded ore
single solitary proof ? „
As this place was of small robinent to
the States, when your .stores and prifontrs
were. I lely lodged, you were permitted to
repossess it without opposition. r Was it.
Sir Harry, to soothe the fhort-fehted fa,
gaciry of a deluded people, that you again
attempted to hold, what you had so oflen
tacioefly acquired, and so degradinoly
loft : Or; because the min'fteriri m:ft was
not to be too suddenly dissipated, that ypu
were obliged to reoccupy a few acres of
unprofitable rock?, ; ,
, But scarce had you announced the se
cond solemnity of re-poffffing Stoney-
Point, when the ministry were compelled
to (bed frefh tears over the furprize of
Paules Hock.,,
The fixation of this post gave it every
possible security ; and you might have
laughed over the midnight bottle without
imputation of folly^ Formed on a penin
sula, within prote^i n of your fhipp\ng;
and the instant fopport of she city. The
approach hazardous in its nature ; and
rendered still more so, by the difficulty of
keeping the leaf! Movement ofyour enemy
from the kn&wlecge of your eircffaiitg
that were f belted for that purpose in it 3
neighbourhood. The retreat was tqbaVy
dangerous, being conducted along fever*!
miles of your flank, and liable at every
step to interfeaicn.-- All thtfe offtakes
were formounted, and another ray pluck
ed from that star, whose luftre is nearly tx
tinguifhed. . ~.
Did the tale end here, you height have
solaced yourfelf in the full fecumy of re-,
ward.-- But the ftreogth of your army was
to be worn down in forming new works on
both sides of King's Ferry; aid the health
of your troops ' wafted in nightly watch
ings, to guard against a furprite, and to
idd to the triumph of your enemy by their
evacuation.
How shall we account for this change
in four sondu& ? Was it a few fafeines
which were ordered to be cut, and Gene
ral Wayne's taking post on Haver&raw
heights, within five miles of your princi
pal fortrefs ;---the bringing of a few boats
down the North river, and the armies on
each fide of the ferry, under Lord Stirling
and General Howe, drawing nearer youn
works, that forced you from a plac| with
out making the smallest resistance ? It is,
however, a just punishment, that what
was occupied from folly, fhculd be eva
cuated through fear. How will jou ex
plain to ministry, the myftezy of your cam
paign; and hew will they explain to the
people, ics labyrinth of perplexities ? How
will they make it appear, that it was pro
per to do ere day, what was improper the
next.,-- That to conquer America, it was
receflaty to disgrace their aimr—That w