I should say that the Indians, and Mr. St. Luc at the head of them, deferted. [*Sir, in regard to the call made upon me by the fame honourable gentleman, for explanation refpecting the burning of the country during the progrefs of the army under my command, I am ignorant of any fuch circumftance; I do not recollect more than one accident by fire; I pofitively affert there was no fire by order or countenance of myself, or any other officer, except at Saratoga. That district is the property of Major General Scuyler of the American troops; there were large barracks built by him, which took fire the day after the army arrived upon the ground in their retreat; and I believe I need not ftate any other proof of that matter being merely accident, than that the barracks were then made use of as my hofpital, and full of fick and wounded foldiers. General Scuyler had likewife a very good dwellinghouse, exceeding large ftore-houses, great faw-mills, and other out-buildings, to the value altogether perhaps of ten thousand pounds. A few days before the negotiation with General Gates, the enemy had formed a plan to attack me; a large column of troops were approaching to pass the small river, preparatory to a general action, and were entirely covered from the fire of my artillery by thofe buildings. Sir, I avow that I gave the order to fet them on fire; and in a very short time that whole property I have defcribed was confumed. But, to fhew that the perfon moft deeply concerned in that calamity did not put the conftruction upon it which it has pleased the honourable gentleman to do, I must inform the Houfe, that one of the firft perfons I faw, after the convention was figned, was General Scuyler. I expreffed to him my regret at the event which had happened, and the reafons which had occafioned it. He defired me to think no more of it: faid, that the occafion juftified it, according to the principles and rules of war, and he fhould have done. the fame upon the fame occafion, or words to that effect. He did more-He fent an aid-de-camp to conduct me to Albany, in order, as he expreffed, to procure me better quarters *This part of the speech, included between crotchets, was omitted at the time of the preceding and following parts, and delivered feparately upon a fecond call of Mr. Wilkes ; but is here inferted in its proper place, as better connecting the whole matter spoke to by General Burgoyne. X 4 than A. 1778. than a ftranger might be able to find. This gentleman con ducted me to a very elegant house, and, to my great furprise, prefented me to Mrs. Scuyler and her family; and in this General's houfe I remained during my whole ftay at Albany, with a table of more than twenty covers for me and my friends, and every other poffible demonftration of hofpitality: a fituation, painful it is true in point of fenfibility at the time, but which I now contemplate with fome fatisfaction, as carrying undeniable teftimony how little I deferved the charges of the honourable gentleman; and I leave it to his feelings, whether, after this explanation, fome farther apology is not due to me.] In regard to the first and moft material queftion asked me by the honourable gentleman who propofed the motion, viz. In what fituation is the army at Cambridge? It is with fome furprife I find that any part of this country is ig norant of the extraordinary circumftances that have attended it, as I conceive government must have received intelligence of them fome time ago. In regard to the report made by myfelf, I acquit the King's minifters of any blame in not yet having made it public, because it was fo voluminous that the papers could not be digefted and copied, with the conftant labour of three clerks, before laft Saturday, when they were put into the hands of the noble Lord, fecretary of ftate for the American department. But I trust that noble Lord will now lose no time to make public matters of fuch importance. Let them undergo the fcrutiny of the committee, as propofed by the amended motion, and let the world judge, upon their report, whether the fpirit of the troops and the honour of the nation have been fuftained and vindicated during those transactions. In confidence that these poffibly be withheld, I refer the honourable gentleman to them for a full delineation and explanation of the state of things at Cambridge, and will reft my prefent information upon a few material facts. The troops have undergone hardships and trials of patience as fevere, though of a different nature, as any they experienced in the conflicts of the campaign. They have acquitted themselves with equal refolution, temper, and honour. They are at present detained by a refolve of the Congress, expreffing that there are causes of fufpicion that the convention was defigned to be broke on our part, and therefore they are juftifiable, without breach of public faith, to fufpend the embarkation of the troops till the convention is ratified by the court of Great Britain. papers cannot In common with various pretences which involved other names in high departments to justify this meafure, the Congress grounded many fuppofitions, that I knew to be unjuft, upon my conduct., I thought it a duty to the ftate, to the army, and to myself, to refute thofe fuppofitions, and ftill, if poffible, to give immediate effect to the convention. It will reft upon the House to judge, when they fee the papers, whether I made good that refutation. And that brings me to another question afked by the honourable gentleman: "By what means, and upon what condition, I am in perfon here?" Sir, I charged my aid-de-camp, who carried my dispatch to the Congrefs in anfwer to their vote of fufpenfion, which the prefident had officially fent me, with a fecond letter, to be delivered in cafe the fufpenfion, after confideration had of my first letter, was continued. The purport of this letter was to afk paffports for my perfonal return for the re-eftablishment of my health (which was then much affected), for the purpose of fettling large and complicated accounts, and other reasons; and I offered to give a parole that, should the suspension of embarkation be prolonged beyond the time apprehended, I would return to America upon demand of the Congrefs, and due notice given, re-deliver my perfon into their hands, and abide the fate of the reft of the army with whom I had served. Sir, I had many reafons, not neceflary nor proper to be alleged to the Congrefs, founded upon a nearer intereft than health or any private expediency, to make me defirous to return home: to lay before govern ment important truths, not to be communicated by other means, and to fupply, as far as in me lay, by an affiduous and honeft exertion in this House, the misfortune that had difenabled me from performing my duty in the field. I ac companied my letter to the Congrefs by one to General Washington, wherein, upon an opinion of his character, I afked him for his fupport to an application that could not interfere with the public duties of our refpective fituations. I fhall beg leave to read his anfwer as part of my speech; and I do it, Sir, not only left in these times of doubt and afperfion, 1 fhould incur cenfure for holding private correspondence with an enemy, but likewife because I think this letter, though from an enemy, does honour to the human heart. [Here the General read the following letter.] Copy Copy of a Letter from General Washington to Lieutenant-Gene "SIR, ral Burgoyne. Head-Quarters, Pensylvania, March 11th, 1778. "I WAS, only two days fince, honoured with your very obliging letter of the 11th of February. "Your indulgent opinion of my character, and the polite terms in which your are pleafed to exprefs it, are peculiarly flattering; and I take pleasure in the opportunity you have afforded me of affuring you, that, far from fuffering the views of national oppofition to be imbittered and debased by perfonal animofity, I am ever ready to do juftice to the merit of the gentleman and the foldier; and to esteem, where efteem is due, however the idea of a public enemy may interpofe. You will not think it the language of unmeaning ceremony, if I add, that fentiments of perfonal respect, in the prefent inftance, are reciprocal. "Viewing you in the light of an officer contending against what I conceive to be the rights of my country, the reverse of fortune you experienced in the field cannot be unacceptable to me; but, abftracted from confiderations of national advantage, I can fincerely fympathize with your feelings, as a foldier, the unavoidable difficulties of whose fituation forbid his fuccefs; and as a man, whose lot combines the calamity of ill health, the anxieties of captivity, and the painful fenfibility for a reputation, expofed, where he most values it, to the affaults of malice and detraction. "As your aid-de-camp went directly on to Congress, the bufinefs of your letter to me had been decided before it came to hand. I am happy that their cheerful acquiefcence with your request, prevented the neceffity of my intervention. And, withing you a fafe and agreeable paffage, with a perfect reftoration of your health, I have the honour to be, Your moft obedient fervant, N." Sir, the Congrefs readily confented to my application ; and by this candid treatment of my enemies, I am here to vindicate my conduct against the falfe and barbarous inter pretations pretations that have arifen,, and have been fuffered to prevail, by those who could have contradicted them, at home. The honourable gentleman wifhes to know what is the difference of numbers of the army between the time of figning the convention and the prefent time; and I find the idea of great defertion very much prevails. That fome have deferted, in the worft fenfe of the word, is true. They are few, the fcum of the regiments, and no lofs of real strength. The greater part who have abfconded, have had no intention to abandon the fervice, and if an epithet of honour could at any time be applied to a fault, theirs might be called an honourable defertion *. Some of these men left letters or fent meffages to their officers, informing them that in their prefent want of neceffaries and comforts, and their inability to ferve in arms, they had taken to trades and day labour in the country, but that they held themselves under an obligation, from which they would never depart, to return to their regiments whenever the time of embarkation was afcertained: others, upon a high, though mistaken, fuggeftion of fpirit, made efforts to effectuate a paffage through the woods, to join the armies under Sir William Howe or Sir Henry Clinton, and it is believed that fome of them fucceeded. The whole of the abfentees may amount to between five and fix hundred men. Sir, I have thus far endeavoured to give the honourable gentlemen fatisfaction in the matters that feem most immediately to engage their attention, and that I could confiftently with order adduce in argument to support my vote for a more general inquiry. He * General Burgoyne took occafion in two subsequent debates to explain his meaning in this phrase, which he found had been misunderstood both within and without the House. meant to apply the word honourable only to the common foldier's conception, who, unused to confider and discriminate punctiliously the obligations of conventions with an enemy, acted only upon the principles of zeal to serve his king, and again to be actively employed in arms: that therefore their conduct was honourably intended, though mifconceived. That, fo far from juftifying that conception himfelf, he was perfuaded that to retain fuch deferters when demanded, or indeed discovered, would be an infringement of the convention; and he was perfuaded Sir William Howe or Sir Henry Clinton would, upon fuch demand or discovery, return them. I fhall |