--The
Gentlemen of the Committee appeared to be sensible of the force of
these reasons, however repugnant they might be to the feelings and
wishes of the men who had destruction and death staring them in the
face.
His Excellency was further pleased to suffer me to go to New York to
examine into the grounds of the suffering of the prisoners, and to
devise, if possible, some way or another, for their liberation or
relief. With this permission I went into your lines: and in
consequence of the authority I had been previously invested with, from
the Secretary at War, I made the proposition contained in my letter of
the ninth instant. Although I could not claim this as a matter of
right I flattered myself it would have been granted from the
principles of humanity, as well as other motives. There had been a
balance of 495 land prisoners due to us ever since the month of
February last, when a settlement was made; besides which, to the best
of my belief, 400 have been sent in, (this is the true state of the
fact, though it differs widely from the account of 250 men, which is
falsely stated in the note annexed to my letter in the New York
paper:) notwithstanding this balance, I was then about sending into
your lines a number of land prisoners, as an equivalent for ours, who
were then confined in the Sugar House, without which (though the debt
was acknowledged, I could not make interest to have them liberated),
this business has since been actually negotiated, and we glory in
having our conduct, such as will bear the strictest scrutiny, and be
found consonant to the dictates of reason, liberality, and
justice.
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