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fent, and approbation, after reflection, equally evident.

The committee, in the next article, mention, "other circumstances attending the delivery of the arms and military ftores, which excite ftrong fufpicions that the convention has not been strictly complied with on the part of Gen. Burgoyne, agreeable to its true fpirit, and the intention of the contracting parties."

The Congrefs will be too juft to lay any cenfure upon me for not anfwering an allegation propounded in fuch general terms, and the objects of which I do not comprehend. As little is it in my power to conceive the objects alluded to by the words of the fame paragraph, former frauds in the conduct of our enemies." My confternation in finding the British honour in treaties impeached, is the only fentiment I can exprefs upon the fubject.

The committee proceed to ftate, as a neceffary measure for fecuring the performance of the convention, "the refolutions of Congress of the 8th of November laft, directing Gen. Howe to caufe to be taken down the names and rank of every commiffioned officer, and the name, former place of abode, occupation, fize, age, and defcription of every noncommiffioned officer, private foldier, and all other perfons comprehended in the convention of Saratoga."

It might be thought improper in me to renew the arguments ufed in my letter to Maj.-Gen. Heath, dated Nov. 23. which has been already under the confideration of the Congrefs, and upon which they have decided, respecting the impofing new conditions, by infifting upon the defcriptive lift; but I am under the neceffity of reprefenting, that the committee have not attended to the words of my letter, when they obferve, "I am totally mistaken in my appeal." I do not mean to deny that the prifoners names, countries, and towns, were taken down in Canada. I always knew they were; and for this plain reafon, that they bound themselves to return to Canada upon a demand, and it was therefore neceffary to know their abodes.

The committee do not ftate that defcriptive lifts were taken, and I believe them too accurate to have omitted a circumstance fo material to make the cafes parallel; but were it otherwife in any inftances to which I have been a ftranger in Canada, I venture ftill to perfevere in

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my affertions, that in thofe inftances where I was prefent, defcriptive lifts were not made at all, nor any lifts or fignatures propofed, upon fufpicion of public faith, or any other ground than that above fpecified, of afcertaining the prifoners, and the place where they were to be found, in cafe it fhould be judged expedient to recall them.

It will be for the candour and juftic of the Congress to confider, that in my letter to Maj.-Gen. Heath, dated Nov 23. my refufal was founded folely on thi idea, that the application was dishonour able and unprecedented; and as a farthe proof that the committee have place this refufal in a point of view more: larming than it deferves, I beg leave refer the Congress to other letters whic paffed between Gen. Heath and me upe this fubject*, and they will find, th

• The letters here referred to.

wh

Extract of a letter from Gen. Heath, Jan. 1

1778.

You are pleased to observe, that in rega to giving the names, viz. &c. &c. your of nion not being changed, you are under neceflity of referring me to your former lett upon that fubject; but at the fame time affe me, that if I will point out to you the infta ces I alluded to, where fimilar demands ha been made by British officers, and compli with, you will give the matter further con deration, and further anfwer; and then co clude," that in Canada I know the e was directly the reverfe." As your Exo lency appears inclined to appeal to the co duct of the officers in Canada, I will gi you an instance, and a recent one too, fro that quarter, which I think will be fully fo ficient without mentioning others. The merican officers and foldiers taken by t army under your conderoga, and fent down to Canada, a now returned home under parole. The treatment was as follows, which I have fro a Capt. Walcott, of Col. Marshall's res ment: When they got to Quebec, the of cers gave their paroles, and directly aft they were all fent on board the man of w indifcriminately with the privates; and the were told by the officers on board, that the knew no difference between them, as the looked upon the government that mic them to be nothing; and before they wer fent home, the following deferiptions wer taken of the foldiers, viz. their names, th province, country, and town where they ha longed to, age, fize, and complexion. O ficers and nien being intermixed togethe

command at and near T

when a precedent was produced, I only required time to convince myself the parallel held; and though, from an unhap py affair, to which my time has been neceffarily devoted, and the period for the delivery of fuch lifts not preffing, I withheld my final anfwer, I am perfuaded Gen. Heath, and those of his officers with whom I have converfed upon the fubject, plainly faw I meant to comply on the precedent, as stated in his letter of the 21ft of January.

I confefs, Sir, that feeling for the hotour of Sir Guy Carleton, who commanded at Canada at the time, as every man does who knows him, I find it impible to leave unnoticed the matter Gen. Heath has thought proper to intermix with his precedent, in the letter referred to: and I take leave, for one moment's digreffion, to obferve, that Our own officers, of all ranks, in the Ind-fervice, are allowed no more than Three quarters of a ration on board any of cur fhips, nor is any diftinction of ration made for our officers of any rank, it being fuppofed that they fupply themfelves, at their private expence, with different fare.

The committee have thought proper to blend with their obfervation upon my

had two thirds of a ration per day without
tuction. After mentioning thefe inftan-
, fr, I hope you will have no further
tion in complying with the requifition
fen you for taking the deferiptions of the
troops of the convention.-
-I am,
&c.
W. HEATH.

Li-Gen. Burgoyne.

A letter from Lt-Gen. Burgoyne to Maj.-Gen.
Heath, Jan. 24. 1778.

SIR, I should have answered your letter,
received the day before yesterday, fooner,
but the bufinefs of the court martial [40 251]
has taken up my whole time. The officers
fafces have been ordered in; they will be
fafely kept at my quarters, and I will be
refponfible for their not being returned to
the officers while they remain here. These
fufees are no part of the public ftores; they
are private property: if you make a point
of their being given into your cuftody, I
uft beg a little time to reflect upon it.
With regard to the other matter, concerning
the perfonal defcriptions of the troops, I
muft give it ferious confideration; and I
conceive the delay cannot be attended with
any difappointment, as any time before the
ambarkation will equally answer the purpose
for which you require it.- -I am, &c.
Maj. Gen. Heath, J. BURGOYNE.

refufal of defcriptive lifts, my former conduct, and more efpecially the confideration, "that nine days previous to this refufal, I had, without juft cause given, declared, in a letter to Gen. Gates, that the public faith plighted in the convention of Saratoga, was broken on the part of the States ;" and great ftrefs is laid, that my declaration was not dropped in a hafty expreffion, dictated by fudden paffion, but is delivered as a deliberate act of judgement.

I am fo unfortunate not to have preferved any copy of a letter ftated to be of fuch ferious confequence; but that very circumftance, joined to the confcious rectitude of my own intentions, is to myfelf a proof that it cannot bear the interpretation the committee give it, if taken upon the general context.

I well remember, that I meant to inform Gen. Gates, that the treaty was not complied with in respect to the ftipulation of quartering officers; and in whatever words I may have expreffed that idea, though I do not retain them in my memory, I will venture to pronounce, that upon an impartial revifion, and compared with attendant circumstances, they would be found to amount ito no more than a call upon Gen. Gates to fee the complaint redreffed.

To prove that fuch a call was warranted, I tranfinit herewith the reports of the British and German corps*, both refpecting

Subftance of the remenftrances made to the General by the commanding officers of the troops of the convention, foon after their arrival at Cambridge.

The dictates of humanity, as well as our duty, prompt us to lay before your Excellency our humble reprefentation on the state of ourselves, and of the officers and foldiers under our command. We beg of your Excellency to intereft yourself for us, and, by your remonftrances, to remedy the ill treatment which we now undergo, and of which we have but too much reafon to complain.

According to one of the articles of the convention which your Excellency made with Maj. Gen. Gates, it was agreed, that the officers fhould be conveniently lodged, according to their different ranks. Inftead of this article being fulfilled, we are put into barracks, made of fingle boards; five, fix, and feven officers in one room, without any diftinction of rank.

The foldiers barracks, in general, are fo very bad, that the men are not fheltered from the cold, or rain, though they have of

fered

refpecting the officers and the men and to mark that I did not confider the article of the treaty, in this refpect, in a rigorous fenfe, as the committee fuppofe me to have done, but in the latitude they themselves give it upon the words" as far as circumftances would admit," I cannot forbear to represent, that, notwithstanding the concourse of strangers, the late devaftation and deftruction of 'the neighbourhood, and every other circumftance the committee have been informed of, in extenuation of the treatment of the troops, circumstances did fully admit the accommodation of officers. There were, at the time of the above complaints, houfes more than fufficient for the purpose; fome of them, as I have been informed, under feque ftration, and poffeffed only by tenants at will; over which the council of the Maffachufet's had, confequently, controul; others poffeffed by perfons who would have been willing to receive officers, had they not been prevented by the committee of Cambridge; and during this time, after being preffed into Cambridge through bad weather, inconvenience, and fatigue, without any preparation made to receive the fuperior officers, I was lodged in a miserable pu

fered themselves to repair their barrcks, upon materials being delivered to them: they are twenty, and twenty four in a room; three in a birth; are without candle; and fcarce receive wood enough to cook their victuals, much lefs to warm their rooms.

Thefe, but two well founded, complaints, Occasion an univerfal difcontent among the troops; defertion, and other ferious confequences, for which we cannot be anfwerable, are much to be feared; we feel much lefs concern for our own private convenience, than for that of the troops under our command.

We are too well convinced of your Ex. cellency's goodness, to doubt a moment of this remonftrance being taken into confideration. We are well affured, that you will infist upon and obtain thofe advantages to which the convention intitles the troops: we imagine they ought, in juftice, to be put upon the fame footing as in the winter 1775, when the British troops were in garrifon in

Boston.

We put our fate into the hands and under the protection of your Excellency, and have the honour to be, with the greateft refpect,

&c. &c.

Signed by the Brigadier Generals, and offi-
cers commanding corps.

blic houfe; and, in ill health, obliged to partake, with Maj.-Gen Phillips, two very small dirty rooms, for ourselves, our aid-de-camps, and the staff of the army then prefent. Having been amufed, from day to day, for near a fort night, with the expectation of proper ac commodations, I was only at laft relie ved by confenting to pay, upon a privat bargain, a larger fum for an unfurnisher house out of repair, than would hav been required for a palace in the deare! metropolis in the world; and unde thefe circumftances I wrote to Gen Gates. Had they been known to th committee at the time they formed thei report, they would probably have spare a farcafm upon my letter, and have fur pofed I might have dropped a hafty an unguarded expreffion. Should any fur ther refutation of this charge be though neceffary, I refer to the circumstances the officers confenting to fign their pi role after the date of my letter to Get Gates, they having previously refused i to do, upon prefumption that the ft pulations in regard to their quarters we abused. Upon the faith of Gen. Heat I made myself guarantee for the fulfillin of the treaty in the only part complaine of; and the act of figning by a gener concurrence, cannot but be looked upo as the fulleft proof of confirmation an ratification on our part, and when co fidered, muft obliterate every impreffio relative to our thinking ourselves abío ved from our former compact.

The committee not having profeffe to lay any ftrefs on the attempt (as the think proper to term it)" to alter th place of embarkation, or on the seemin inadequate number of veffels at Rhod ifland, or on the improbability of bein able to victual the fleet and army for: voyage of fuch length," and the plan o this addrefs being only to answer matte relative to myfelf, I might wave touch ing these subjects; but trust it will no be thought misplaced to remark, tha Gen. Pigot's letter, to which the com mittee refer, mentions, that twenty-fis tranfports from the Delaware were of the harbour's mouth, at Rhode island; but no expreffion in the letter implies that the fleet was not to confift of more from New York, or any other place: and in regard to the victualling, I not only pledge my own veracity, but that of the most high and reputable characters at Rhode island, that the fleet was fully victualles

victualled for four months, for the whole of the land-army and feamen.

After thefe explanations, and anfwers to the several charges contained in the report, &c. I truft no words of fo harfh a nature, as to imply a diftruft of my personal honour, will be fuffered to remain in the journals of Congrefs.

But fhould any doubt ftill fubfift, that the idea of being releafed from the engagements of the convention has been dopted by any part of the troops, I am confident there is not an officer who will tot join his fignature to mine, for a further pledge of faith, provided the fufpenfion is immediately taken off; and, imated by the most substantial prinaples of truth and honour, I propofe to the Congrefs this laft expedient within my power, to restore the mutual confidence of the contracting parties in the convention of Saratoga, and to fave at Jace G. Britain and America from yet more ferious evils than we reciprocally endure in the prosecution of our unhappy conteft.

The firft account published in Ameca [40. 248.] of the treaty with France, was, that America, by that treaty, was at liberty to make a feparate peace with England. This account produced lately fome difcuffions in news papers; which attracted the notice of the French minifter:

"SIR, Philadelphia, Jan. 12. 1779. It is with real fatisfaction, that I excute the order of Congrefs for tranfmitting to you the inclofed copy of an t of the 11th inftant, on a fubject rendered important by affecting the dignity of Congress, the honour of their great lly, and the intereft of both nations. The explicit difavowal and high difpprobation of Congrefs, relative to the publications referred to in this act, will, fatter myself, be no lefs fatisfactory to his Moft Chriftian Majefty, than pleang to the people of thefe States. Nor have I the leaft doubt but that every attempt to injure the reputation of either, or impair their mutual confidence, will meet with the indignation and refent

ment of both.

I have the honour to be, Sir, with great refpect and esteem, your most obedient and moft humble fervant, JOHN JAY. To the Hon. the Sieur Gerard, Minister-Plenipotentiory of France" VOL. XLI

"In Congrefs, January 12. 1779. Congrefs refumed the confideration of the publications in the Pennsylvania Packet of 2d and 5th instant, under the title of "Common Senfe to the Public, on Mr Deane's affair" [33, 8.], of which Mr T. Payne, fecretary to the committee for foreign affairs, has acknowledged himfelf to be the author; and alfo the Memorials of the MinifterPlenipotentiary of France, of the 5th and 10th inftant, refpecting the faid pu blications; whereupon refolved unanimously, That in anfwer to the Memorials of the Hon. Sieur Gerard, Minifter-Plenipotentiary of his Moft Chriftian Majefty, of the 5th and 10th inft. the Prefident be directed to affure the faid minifter, that Congress do fully, in the cleareft and most explicit manner, difavow the publications referred to in his faid Memorials; and as they are convinced by indisputable evidence that the fupplies fhipped in the Amphitrite, Seine, and Mercury, were not a prefent, and that his Moft Chriftian Maje fty, the great and generous ally of thefe United States, did not preface his alliance with any fupplies whatever fent to America, fo they have not authorised the writer of the faid publications to make any fuch affertions as are contained therein; but, on the contrary, do highly difapprove of the fame."

To which Mr Gerard returned the following answer.

"SIR, Philadelphia, Fan. 14.1779. I have received the letter with which

you honoured me the 13th inft. inclosing me the refolve of Congrefs in answer to the reprefentations I had the honour to make them on the 5th and 10th.

I intreat you to receive, and to exprefs to Congrefs, the great fenfibility with which I felt their frank, noble, and categorical manner of deftroying thofe falfe and dangerous infinuations which might mislead ignorant people, and put

arms into the hands of the common enemy.

To the King, my mafter, Sir, no proofs are neceffary for the foundation

of a confidence in the firm and conftant

adherence of Congrefs to the principles of the alliance; but his Majefty will always behold with pleafure the measures which Congrefs may take to preferve inviolate its reputation; and it is from the fame confideration, I flatter myself, be T will

will find my reprefentations on the 7th of December equally worth his attention.

I am, with refpect and confideration,
Sir, your most humble and moft o-
bedient fervant, GERARD."
Published by order of Congress,

CHARLES THOMSON, Sec. "In Congrefs, Jan. 14. 1779. The

committee to whom was referred the letter of the 7th of December 1778, from the Hon. Sieur Gerard, brought in a report, which was taken into confideration, and thereupon Congrefs came to the following refolution: Whereas it has been reprefented to this Houfe by the Hon. Sieur Gerard, Minifter-Plenipotentiary

of France, that it is pretended the Uni

ted States have referved the liberty of treating with Great Britain separately from their ally, as long as Great Britain fhall not declare war against the King his mafter; therefore refolved unanimoufly, That as neither France nor thefe United States may of right, fo thefe United States will not conclude either truce or peace with the common enemy, without the formal confent of their ally firft obtained; and that any matter or thing which may be infinuated or afferted to the contrary thereof, tends to the injury and difhonour of the faid

States."

According to accounts from New York of Feb. 19. the prefs at Philadelphia was fo filled with various difputes, that the Congrefs were under a neceffity of laying it under certain restraints.

"In Congrefs, January 2. 1779. Whereas thefe United States, unprovided with revenues, and not heretofore in a condition to raise them, have, in the course of the prefent war, repeatedly been under the neceffity of emitting bills of credit; for the redemption of which, the faith of thefe United States has been folemnly pledged; and the credit of which their honour and fafety, as well as juftice, is highly concerned to fupport and establish; and whereas to that end it is effentially neceffary to afcertain the period of their redemption, and feasonably to establish funds, which, in due time, without diftreffing the people, fhall make adequate provifion for the fame; and whereas, in apportioning the payments for the faid fund, it is expedient that an extra fum be called for the current year, both on account

of the prefent ease of paying it, and to reduce the furplus in circulation: Therefore refolved, That thefe United States be called on to pay in their respective quotas of fifteen millions of dollars in the year 1776, and of fix millions a dollars annually for eighteen years from and after the year 1779, as a fund fo United States to the 31ft day of Decem Ginking the emiffions and loans of thef ber 1778 inclufive.

That if the continuance and circum ftances of the war thall make any far ther emiffions necessary the year enfuing they fhall be funk in the manner an within the period aforefaid,

That any of the bills emitted by o der of Congrefs prior to the year 178 and no others, be received in payme of the faid quotas.

That the bills received on the fa be applied firft for payment of the inte quotas, except thofe for the year 177 eft, and fecondly of the principal, loans made by thefe United States pri to the year 1780; and that the refidu together with those received on the qu tas of the year 1779, be not re-iffue fhall direct. but burned and deftroyed as Congre

And whereas many counterfeits ha appeared in circulation, of various d nominations, of the emiffions of May 1777, and April 11. 1778, and counte feits of thefe emiffions have lately be iffued by our enemies at New Yor and are found to be spreading and incre fing faft in various parts of thefe Unit States; whereby individuals are d frauded, prices enhanced, and the cr dit of the paper currency greatly inj red; and it is become neceffary, for th fecurity of individuals, and fafety of th public, that thofe two emiffions fhou ceafe to be a circulating medium, ar fhould be called in and exchanged, otherwife provided for as may be wit convenience to the present holders,

Therefore,

Refolved, That the following bills b taken out of circulation, namely, th whole emiffions of May 20. 1777, an April 11. 1778.

That they be brought in for that pur pofe in the manner hereafter provided, by the first day of June next, and not after wards redeemable.

That they be received for debts and taxes into the continental treasury, and into the ftate-treafuries for continental

taxes,

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