A. 1778. I shall now proceed (as yet ftronger reafons for agreeing with the amendment) to take notice of what has hitherto paffed in the Houfe, and upon very imperfect information, refpecting other parts of the late campaign.

But, Sir, accustomed as I have been to be indulged by the House upon every occafion, and confident, as I ought to be, upon one where their indulgence is juftice, I find cause in my own mind, in entering upon fo complicated a fubject, to implore anew the fulleft fcope to their patience and candour, for a man, whofe faculties, far too weak for fuch shocks, are almost unhinged by a fucceffion of difficulties abroad, that fall to the lot of few, and whofe disappointments and anxieties have been confummated by the unexpected reception he has met at home.

And this addrefs, Sir, is the more neceffary, because I stand here unconnected and unaffifted. I am ignorant who would bave fupported my own motion, had I made it, though confident, from a prepoffeffion of its propriety, it would have found affiftance fomewhere. Neither courting nor fearing power, neither courting nor fearing party, I ftand here upon the fole basis of truth and honour, and only afk fupport in proportion to the juftice of my cause.

During my abfence an inquiry was inftituted, in which my name was very much involved. In the fhort fpace of time fince my return, and in the agitated ftate of mind I have mentioned, it has been impoffible for me to obtain, from the mere converfation and recollection of friends, all that passed upon that occafion; but I have collected enough to know that I have been treated with great attention in general; and it is among my firft duties to return to every quarter of the Houfe my very fincere and grateful acknowledgments. I alfo know, that with all that attention and favour, much implied cenfure must have fallen upon me, from the nature of the proceedings, and more especially from the pofition, which I cannot admit to be a true one, but which I understand has been nuch infifted upon, "That where there is mifcarriage there must be blame; and confequently, that the acquittal of one man infers the condemnation of another."

Sir, the papers which have been laid before the House are in fome refpects deficient, and in others fuperfluous. The first fuperfluity to which I allude, is a private letter from me to the noble Lord, acquainting him with my intention of going to Bath; of my audience with the King; of my folicitation to his Majefty for active employment the next campaign; expreffing my

hopes

hopes of his Lordship's patronage in that pursuit, and concluding with fuch acknowledgments and profeffions as were patural to flow from a warm and unfufpicious heart impreffed with a fenfe of another's favour.

Not conceiving for what poffible public purpose this letter was produced, I can only attend to the effects it has had to prejudice me perfonally. Sufpicions have been excited, that at the time I wrote that letter I was courting command, and by adulatory means, in preference and in prejudice to Sir Guy Carleton, under whom I had had the honour to ferve, a confidential fecond, in the preceding campaign. Every perfon in government might have pronounced my acquittal of fo base a proceeding, because they knew, though the public did not, that it was decided* in the autumn of 1776, and notified to Sir Guy Carleton accordingly, that his military command was confined to the boundaries of the province of Quebec. It did not occur to the noble Lord to state that fact, because doubtless he did not foresee the prejudices the letter would occafion; but I cannot but lament he did not! produce other letters of mine, which would have removed effectually every poffible fufpicion of a defign fo foreign to my heart as that of fupplanting a gallant friend. Such letters would at the fame time have rendered unneceffary the long train of correspondence laid upon your table to fhew that the preparations in Canada were duly expedited; because I should have been found to exprefs the fulleft fenfe of the zeal, the affiduity, and the honour, with which Sir Guy Carleton acted, notwithstanding his difappointment in not being employed to conduct the campaign.

Will it be faid, that the letters I allude to were withheld because they were private?-In the first place, they do not properly come under that defcription, though it is true they were not office letters.-They could not be directed as fuch; because, acting in fubordination to Sir Guy Carleton, the official correfpondence could only with decorum pafs through him; but they were not private as applied to fecrefy, nor

* This decifion was made, not only upon the expediency of the governor attending the civil duties of the province, which' were thought at that time to require particular attention, butt alfo upon doubts whether the General's commiffion authorised him to act beyond the boundaries: and this whole tranfaction) paffed long before the return of General Burgoyne to England, and entirely without his knowledge.

improper,

A. 1778. improper, as they related to the distinct and separate object of the command I was entering upon. But, Sir, had any parts of thefe letters (or of any others neceffary to my juftification, of which I fay there are many) been private in any fense of the word, will that excufe be alleged for detaining them, when there has appeared before you a paper of the most secret nature, I mean my thoughts upon conducting the war from the fide of Canada. What officer will venture hereafter to give his opinion upon measures or men, when called upon by a minifter, if his confidence, his reafonings, and his preferences, are thus to be invidioufly expofed, to create jealoufies and differences among his fellow-officers, and at laft to put an impofition upon the world, and make him refponfible for the plan as well as the execution of a hazardous campaign? The plan, as originally drawn, I have no reafon to be alhamed of, because it underwent the inspection, and had the fanction, of fome of the first and ableft officers of this country but the plan, as it flood when my orders were framed, can with no more propriety be called mine than any others formed by the cabinet for the diftant parts of America, or any other quarter of the globe, where I had no participation or concern.-The noble Lord well knows that the idea expreffed in the fecret paper laid before you, of a latitude to act against New England, was erafed; that a power to embark the troops in cafe of unforeseen impediments, and make the junction with the fouthern army by fea was not admitted. Will it then be infinuated that the plan was mine?-Why was it not produced in that changed and garbled ftate by which the minifter made it his own? Because it would have been one proof, if one had been wanting to unprejudiced minds, that by cutting off every propofed latitude, and confining the plan to one only object, the forcing a pasfage to Albany, the orders framed upon that plan could be no otherwife understood than as pofitive, peremptory, and indifpenfable. But, Sir, it has been boldly infinuated, and perhaps even credited by fome in this Houfe, that the words at the latter end of the orders, which are called the faving claufe, were fpecially dictated by me.-Sir, to fuppofe that, is to fuppofe me an ideot!-Saving claufe!-to whom? Surely, not to the general who was to act under it; for fee the fituation in which it puts him.-Under the words, "you are to. act as exigencies may require," let us suppose him to take the cautious part. He makes no attempt upon the enemy, becaufe his exigency was fuch, that in doing so he must abandon

his communications and rifk his retreat. What would the government, the army, and the country have faid to him? What ought every man to have faid to him who read the prior part of this order?"Is this vigorous exertion? Is this to force your way to Albany? The enemy were panic ftruck before British troops; their numbers therefore were but as fhadows. The loyalifts awaited your advance to join by thousands-Sir H. Clinton was ready to move upon the lower part of Hudfon's river-Your interpretation of orders was nonsense; your inactivity was cowardice-You have ignominiously loft the campaign."

Take the confideration the other way- -The General follows the principle, the fpirit, and the letter of his order fights his ground by inches, and mifcarries. "You fhall be difgraced for your rafhnefs," fays the minifter.-"You had a referve, and fhould have made ufe of it. Exigencies required you fhould have remained on the eaft fide the Hudfon's river." Sir, to imagine a general could dictate fuch a dilemma for himself is prepofterous. To believe that minifters could mean it, is fevere credulity against them; it would be to believe them capable of the equivocation of a fiend, to insure the ruin of those who acted under their direction, whatever part they fhould take. I charge them not fo heavily. I am perfuaded that faving claufe was meant, when it was penned, as it has been understood by me, by Sir William Howe, and by every other perfon who has read it, as referring folely to exigencies after the arrival of my army at Albany.

But, Sir, this ideal blame, in not availing myself of the faving claufe, has been fupported by a ftory, that I should have hardly believed it within malevolence to invent, but which I find has been propagated with great industry, viz. that Generals Philips and Frazer remonftrated against the paffage of the Hudfon's river; and that finding their remonftrances of no avail, they took the parts of brave men in defpair, and perfevered in their duty againft their reafon. Upon the honour of a gentleman, without any faving or refervation whatsoever, I pronounce that report to be a direct and abominable falfehood. Sir, thofe officers were the eyes and the hands by which I conducted all material operations: more able advisers, or more faithful friends, never existed: that they faw I was placed in an arduous fituation, and felt for my difficulties, it is true; but that they ever dropt a fyllable that implied an idea that I had an alternative, I flatly

deny.

deny. The indefatigable alacrity of General Philips to bring forward the transports, preparatory to the paffage of the river, was uncommon even in fupport of a favourite object; it would have been uncommon indeed, had he acted with fecret reluctancy! As to General Frazer, our communications were thofe of the most unreferved friendship; and it is my pride to affirm, that the confonancy of his fentiments with mine were almost invariable. Upon the paffage of the Hudion's river, in particular, he thought it of uncontrovertible expediency; he thought it glorious danger; he was confulted upon all measures at the time, and subsequent to it; he bore an active part in many; he approved of all; and the last sentence he uttered, was a meffage of affection and good wishes to me.

79

The other falfehoods that have been difperfed refpecting the fame period of time, can hardly be urged as reafons for inquiry, for they are below refutation; fuch as the delays occafioned by carrying forward all the artillery, and a cumbrous train of baggage. "It was a mark of Eastern pomp,' fays a minifterial news-writer. That all the artillery was with the army is falfe, for the heavy train was fent back to Canada: the field-train which remained was that which had been deftined for the expedition, when Sir Guy Carleton expected to have the conduct of it in perfon. That intelligent and judicious officer, General Philips, had been confulted upon the proportion; and it had been regulated upon the confideration of the nature of the war; the power of that arm in forcing pofts, and against new troops; and the probability of having pofts ourfelves to fortify. Neither, Sir, was the artillery, in the proportion carried, the cause of the least delay; because the horfes that drew it were supernumerary to thofe which were fufficient for all the carts and waggons we had; and confequently, within the time indifpenfably given for the tranfport of the provifion, the artillery was brought forward by horfes that could have been no other wife employed.

The fuppofed quantity of baggage is equally erroneous. I cannot fuffer an idea fo unjuft to the fpirit of the army to remain upon the minds of the public. All baggage of bulk, to the abridgment of many material comforts, had been cheerfully left behind by the officers; fome of them had not beds; many lay in foldiers' tents; and I know of none that had more than the common neceffaries for active service.