The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg [Va.], 1777-05-02 00:00:00, page 1

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTEsi'ctsi:
The Freedom of the Pus: :: due of the great Bul'warlu of Liber", and can never be rcjh ained but by defend: Go'vemmmrssssct
[MAY z, 1777.] WILLXAMSBURG: ss .Printefi by Dxxou' 65? HUNTER. ct [No.134ctz]ctss-"v_
PHILADELPHIA.
copy Ja !lmrfrm Lord CORNWALLIS to General WASHlNGTON ,
R laud Brunswick, April ;, 1777.
s !
zucno'ss on you . plpel' which Lieutennnt Colonel Wllcou deli
. vered elerday w Lieutcmm Coloncl lerison, and which Lieutenant
Colml "risen did me then think grope: to receive. I un, Sir, with
due nspea, your look obedient dom le (man:,
A Co CORNWALLIS.
)
Genenl wctusiycrou, &c. &c. &c.
Danced, Ue. &, Liniment WWALCOTT, Jpn'l :, 1777. qf
(
ss RETURN of PRlSONERS.
T
HEREAS Genenl Walhington did, in hia letter to
?
General Howe, heoring'date the thirtieth da of ]ul ,
: 76, declare that he won authotisedu propo e, and e
dtd in the said letter accordingly gropose, : general
uehange of all prisoners of war, tn the manner and
the term following, vil. " officer: for officers of equal rank,
soldiee for soldier, and eitizen for citizen." To which Froposal hia
heelleney General Sir William Howe did, in hie answer o the ma of
Augnl following, neede and a . And wheren, in persuance of
thin egnetneat. GeneraLSir Wi 'atn Howe, relying uxon the honour
end good faith of General Wathington, for the due an Wnaual per
formanee thereof on hit part, hath, at several times, sent and delivered
ever to General Wabington, n will full appear from the lilt- with
them transmitted, a number of offleen on eir parole, and upwards of
two thousand two hundred printed, of the enemy, his prisoners; and
who, ae well officers as printed, are hill to be considered at such until
the shall be regularly exchanged, officer: for officer: of equal rank,
an! the private; b : [the number of those now in the posseffion of Gene
ral Washington; omeot' whom. having been taken before, or about the
time of concluding the reement, have, in direct violation thereof, been
detained n prisoner- for all eight months, and others taken in the latter
end of December, and in the beginning of January laft, have been in
the like condition of risonen for three monthes none, or very few of
whom, have hitheno sent in, in return or exchange of the number
of risonere sent by General Howe to General Washington. ! Lieutenant
Cofonel William Waleott, vesied with full yowera for this, among other
purposes, do therefore, in the most posittve and peremptory manner,
require and demand ot General Wathington the full and due performance
of the a ent above recited; and confequentl , the speed and imme
diatereease of all risonere, of war, whether ritish, He tane, Wal
deckera, Provincia 3, or Canadiam, as well officers at soldiet's, now in
his fl'efl'ton, or so far as they shall or may go towards the exchange of
th e sent and delivered ovet to General Washingtqn. And whereas
there are still in the offeffion of General Sir William flowe a very con
siderable number ofpofficers, and a number of po'vates of the enemy,
prisoners, unexchanged; ] do farther require and demand of General
W'ashington, that so soon as he shall have completed the exchange of
those almdy delivered over to him. zgreeahle to my nquisition aml
demand for that purpose, he [halk proceed to the exchange of these last
mentioned offlcen and privates, in confonnity to the agreement of the
goth ofjuly and tfl of August, 0776; to the execution of which the
groundlesa and 'unpreeedented ohiectiom offered on the put of Genenl
Wnshington by Lieutenant Colonel Harrison, cannot with any
of reason, or consistently with common sense, be dlowd of Idmi le
obsiacles. The one, that " the whole of the prisoners mnimd in tho'
Commiffary's lists. and-delivered over to Genenl Within", should
not be lccounted for, because many of them died on their "turn to the
plate of their desh'nation, and many immediately astertheirirrifflf"
, Zokrior therefore. eonseledly, from the ohjeEtion itself at stated. to their
cing delivered over to General Weshington. All of whom therefore
mudbe, and all of whom, thia ob' ion notwithlhnding, ! do again
reqmrct- and demand to be exchan , according to the: ex ress terms of
the agreement, " soldier for so] ier," for every man delivered over to
the person who received them for and on the behalf of General Wathing—
ton: The other, " the case of Lieutenant Colonel Let," whose release
General Washington might with greater ropriety demand whenever, with.
in the term! of the bid : ent, " cen for officer: of equal mk,"
he [hall have i_n hit possesiton an officer of mk equal to the reputed nnk
of the Gentleman in 'ueflion; but until the happens. the demlnd nnd
objection upon this su ject are at lean premature. ] do moreovetn
and demmd, (but an immediate lad cudegorical lnswer shall be given to
these, just nnd reasonlble requ'isttiom nnd demands. Given at the house
of the Rev. Mr. Beech, in the township of l-lillsborough, the second day
of April, one thousand seven hundred seventy and seven.
(Copy) W. WALCOTT, ct Licuf. Col.
To General WAsmNoron, &c. &c.
s l—R, Mousits'rowu, ;! nctl 9, 17'77.
TAKE the liberty of t'nnsmitting you : copy e paper addressed
to me by Lieutenant Colonel Wllcott of your lrmy, which cum
enclosed in : letter from Lieutenlnt Geneul Lord Comwallio. lt in with
peeuliu re . I m constrained to observe, that thin illibenl perform.
lnee of Co one] Wzlcott ie obvioufly calculnted to answer : lel'e generom
purpose than that of merely Ming an exchange—eonnim : ;
milteprel'enution of secte, end in : lplble deviation from that debate
!ine, which I expected would mark te conduct :; amut ol cendourud
hlttyGentlemln hn eenlured two articlel insiRed on by me through
m tun . -
Lieutenlnt Colonel Harrison, at their meeting on the loth ult. " ground- '
less, unprecedented, end inconsiflent with any degree of reason, or com-si '
mon sense, though founded, :: I conceive, in t e clearesi principlu of
equity end justice. Nor concerning himself with thin, 'which would hnve
given me no concern, be he: assumed the privilege of mutilating and
mifllking those ntieles, in such : manner 1: to change_their menting,
and to adnpt them to the unsair eonclustom he wished to ellnblish. .
, Hlving remil'erl- these thing:, and being charged tn direct end politiye
term! by Splonel Wllcott, who acted under your authority, with .
violation of the : reement mnde between us for the exchange of prison",
and called upon or I performance of the same; ] think it nece to
'si'pihffsijssisi.
explain the motivee of my conduct, and the grounde on which" ose
uticle: or objefiiom shn .
ln respect to-the first, ] freely repent, that I do not hold in lfbound
either by the spirit of the lgreement, or by the princi let o justice, to
, account for those prisonm, who, from the rigotnr en seventy of their
treatment, were in so emnciated apd languishing : hre at the time they
came out, as to render their death almost certain lnd inevitahle; and
which, in many inlhnces, happened while they were returning to their
homez, and in many othert after their arrivttl. You-muli be senstble,
that our.enga ement, a well :: all other: of the kind, thou !: in letter
it expresl'et on y an equality of rank end number, at the rule o exchange,
yet it necessarily im lies : reglrd to the general principles of mutunl
compensation and : vlnuge. Thi- io inherent in in nature—is the
voice of neson, and no fflpullfion, .: to the condition in which prisoner! .
should be returned, wuct reqnisi'u. Humanity dictated, that their tieat- '
ment should be such a ' hnlth end com ort demnttded, and when
her lum hue be;- d Ielpeaed sitheir condition hat been generally
ood.—Nor it the - > _ - of humanjty elone—justice tlecl-fes the
ss, '"lln
lar Wnt," is the Benefit
the! ; " powen—h: t'hie
- ss *;we Wsslfisi! tey
f-tsisi\ .ctsissictctsi
h'ffle: - evident mfiactinn,
eharguhie Miell the
sszznacmtxsiw,
eritv iwwysi' filbn
sisi - - ge. ]nsuchcdse, An
'- Mld be to give without ' '
. . . si ' " greatest encouragenusintct _ '
end tnhumlmty wn from the mere et" _ ct
the prisonen having been received,.ieosno validity. 'I" from theu
wretched situation, they could not at-tlm time he doe proper sissr an
exchnn e, our htnmnity required that they should * mal: .. tuum
amongst; us. lt mly perhaps he faurl) doubted, whither an Mherlion
of their death. or that of a gr—m part of them, clid'not contribute t'ame
what to their being sent out when they were. Suck an euem, Whillhhey
remained with you, would have been truly interefling, because it would