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GENERAL SULLIVAN 
 
 NOT A 
 
 PENSIONER OF LUZERNK 
 
GENERAL SULLIVAN 
 
 NOT A 
 
 PENSIONER OE LUZERNE. 
 
 p.v 
 
 1 /^ copy: 
 
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 V4 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : 
 
 PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON, 
 
 1875. 
 
 K^^Sl 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by 
 
 JOHN WlI<SON AND SON, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
GENERAL SULLIVAN NOT A PENSIONER 
 OF LUZERNE. 
 
 For historical students, familiar with the events of our war 
 of independence and the character of its leaders, reference to 
 the early life or subsequent career of General Sullivan may not 
 be requisite for our present purpose. To the public generally 
 such information in regard to both is indispensable, for any 
 thorough understanding of the questions which it is proposed 
 to consider. It is certainly with no wish to parade his claim 
 to grateful acknowledgment from his country, that this brief 
 review of the part which he took in the struggle for national 
 existence, is presented. With his countrymen generally, he did 
 his best to make that struggle a success, according to his abili- 
 ties and opportunities. But, when unjustly assailed, whoever is 
 interested in his memory is not only entitled, but under solemn 
 obligation, to vindicate it from undeserved reproach. 
 
 His father came to this country, in early manhood, to seek 
 an asylum from arbitrary rule at home. Having enjoyed the 
 advantages of a liberal education, he long devoted himself at 
 Somersworth in New Hampshire, and at Berwick in Maine, to 
 the instruction of youth. His life was prolonged to the great 
 age of one hundred and five, his death occurring in 1795. Of 
 his six children, four took an active part in the revolutionary 
 contest. The eldest, an officer in the English navy, died before 
 the war broke out. Daniel resided at Sullivan in Maine, on 
 Frenchman's Bay near Mount Desert. James early acquired 
 
reputation at the bar, and, at the age of thirty-one, was ap- 
 pointed, in 1776, Judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, 
 for sixteen years he was its Attorney-general, and, when he died 
 in 1808, Governor of that State. Eben, also a lawyer, rose to 
 the rank of major in the continental army, serving with dis- 
 tinction. From the only daughter, Mrs. Hardy, descended the 
 late Governor Wells of Maine, and John Sullivan Wells of the 
 United States Senate from New Hampshire. 
 
 John, the third son, and subject of this memoir, born in 
 1740, was carefully educated by his father, and, after a voyage 
 to the West Indies, entered the law-office of Judge Livermore 
 at Portsmouth. His success in his profession placed him early 
 among its leaders in his native State. By his earnest and elo- 
 quent denunciations of parliamentary encroachments on the 
 chartered rights of the province, and spirited contributions to 
 the public press, he attracted attention and became popular. 
 He early exhibited a taste for military science, was familiar 
 with all the great historical battles, and, holding from 1772 
 the rank of major under the crown, he drilled his neighbors 
 in successive squads and companies, until they became efficient 
 soldiers. 
 
 He was sent to the first continental Congress, in September, 
 1774, as representative from New Hampshire. He drafted, at 
 least one of its important papers, took his share in its de- 
 bates, and, in opposing the motion of Dickinson for another 
 appeal to the King, with an eloquence eliciting high praise 
 from John Adams. When at home in December, he participated 
 in the attack on the fort near Portsmouth. The powder and 
 arms captured, were removed, at his charge, to Durham, 
 where they were concealed under the pulpit of the church 
 opposite his dwelling, and subsequently used at Bunker Hill. 
 Returning to Congress, he was appointed one of the eight brig- 
 adiers who with Washington, in July, took command of the 
 army engaged in the siege of Boston ; his brigade and tliat of 
 General Greene forming the division of General Lee at Medford 
 and Charlestown, which constituted the left wing of the Amer- 
 ican army. He was twice sent to Portsmouth to fortify and 
 
protect that place from British cruisers ; and when, in January, 
 the withdrawal of the Connecticut troops, whose term of enlist- 
 ment had expired, imperilled the safety of the army, his influ- 
 ence and earnest appeals brought down from New Hampshire 
 two thousand men to replace them. 
 
 After the evacuation of Boston by the British, in March, 
 1776, General Sullivan marched his brigade by Providence to 
 New York. Despatched thence to Canada, he extricated the 
 army, seven thousand in number, prostrate with disease and 
 beset by greatly superior forces, from a position threatening its 
 destruction ; receiving from his officers, amongst whom were 
 many of the most distinguished in the subsequent campaigns, 
 high commendation for his services. At Long Island, now 
 Major-General, with Lord Stirling and MacDougall for his brig- 
 adiers, he commanded on the left of the outer line in the 
 battle, where, after contending, as well as circumstances per- 
 mitted, for three hours, with twenty-two thousand British and 
 Hessians, Lord Stirling, who gained great honor on that day 
 for his defence on the right, and himself were taken prisoners. 
 With the approval of General Washington, he submitted to 
 Congress Lord Howe's overtures for negotiation. Exchanged 
 for General Prescott, he rejoined the army in season to take 
 part in the masterly movements in West Chester to baffle 
 General Howe in his efforts to take our troops at disadvan- 
 tage. Howe withdrew to New York, sorely pressed by Sulli- 
 van, who, for his services on the occasion, received in general 
 orders the acknowledgments of the Commander-in-chief. 
 
 After Lee was captured, on December 13, 1776, as next in 
 command Sullivan marched his army to join Washington, and 
 with him, Christmas night, crossed the Delaware through the 
 ice. After a night's march, in command of the right wing, he 
 entered Trenton at eight in the morning at the head of his 
 troops. Rahl, the Hessian commander, was mortally wounded, 
 and nearly a thousand prisoners were taken. A few days 
 later, at Princeton, Sullivan drove the fortieth and fifty-fifth 
 regiments from the town. During the rest of the winter, in 
 front of the American lines at Morristown, he kept vigilant 
 
6 
 
 •watcli over the movements of the enemy, checking their marauds 
 and confining them within their entrenchments. 
 
 Whilst waiting the following August for intelligence of the 
 movements of Howe, who had quitted Nt3w York and sailed 
 south with a large portion of his troops, Sullivan, learning 
 that several regiments lay exposed along the shores of Staten 
 Island, planned ah expedition to capture them. He ordered 
 Colonel Ogden to cross at the old Blazing Star tavern with two 
 regiments to surprise Colonel Lawrence ; Smallwood and De 
 Borre at Halstead's Point to attack Colonel Barton, and Bus- 
 kirk a,t the Dutch church. Ignorant or treacherous guides 
 led astray some of the columns in the darkness of the night, 
 and, although many prisoners were captured, the result fell 
 short of expectation. A court of inquiry, composed of Stir- 
 ling, Knox, and MacDougall, decided that the expedition was- 
 eligible and well concerted, and would have succeeded hut for 
 accidents not to be foreseen or prevented, and that the con- 
 duct of General Sullivan, in planning and executing the expe- 
 dition, deserved the approbation of the country and not its 
 censure. Their judgment was confirmed by Congress. 
 
 Four days after the descent on Staten Island, Howe landed 
 on the Chesapeake at the head of Elk Kiver with nearly twenty 
 thousand troops. Sullivan proceeded without delay to join 
 Washington on the Brandywine, thirty miles below Philadel- 
 phia. He was posted in command of the right wing, com- 
 posed of his own division under De Borre, Stirling's and 
 Stephen's, on the north bank up the river, with Hazen's regi- 
 ment still higher up ; Washington, with Greene and Maxwell, 
 lying lower down, opposite Chad's Ford. On the eleventh of 
 September, Howe was at Kennet Square, seven miles from 
 the river, and, whilst Knyphausen made a feigned attack on 
 Maxwell, marched his army through dense woods in a thick 
 fog, and, crossing above the forks, where Hazen was stationed, 
 came down the north bank about two in the afternoon. 
 
 Sullivan instantly proceeded with his own division to join 
 Stirling and Stephen, who, ])eing nearer head-quarters, were 
 earher notified aud already in line. The three divisions, hardly 
 
five tliousand strong, boldly contested the ground for two hours 
 against thrice their numbers, " fifty-five minutes nearly muzzle 
 to muzzle." De Borre's division had been headed off by the 
 enemy in their approach, and some confusion resulted from his 
 not obeying orders ; but the l)attle was hotly contested, and the 
 loss that day sustained by the enemy, as shown by rolls captured 
 at Germantowu, exceeded two thousand.* When the right 
 wing, that bore the brunt of the conflict, finally gave way, 
 Sullivan, taking command of Weeden's brigade, joined Greene, 
 who had come up double quick from below, and the battle con- 
 tinued till nightfall, Sullivan having his horse shot under him. 
 The retreat of tlic army was effectually secured and the enemy 
 discouraged from pursuit. 
 
 Five days later, the two armies were confronted at Goshen ; 
 but an engagement was prevented by a violent storm, and Howe 
 proceeded on his way to Philadelphia. Mr. Burke of North 
 Carolina, who had gone out to see the battle, hearkened to 
 the prejudiced accounts of persons hostile to Sullivan, and in 
 Congress spoke disparagingly of his course. Whereupon his 
 companions in arms, Laurens, Hamilton, Lafayette, and all 
 whose opinions were of value, bore willing witness to his cool- 
 ness, courage, and judicious dispositions throughout the day ; 
 and he was entirely exonerated by Washington from another 
 charge, that of want of vigilance in learning earlier the approach 
 of the enemy. Mr. Burke later acknowledged his mistake. 
 
 No suita])le accommodation being found for the British 
 troops in Philadelphia, they were encamped six miles out, at 
 German town. The American army left Matucbin Hills at nine 
 on the evening of the third of October, for a night-march of 
 fourteen miles to attack them. Sullivan commanded the riglit 
 wing, Greene the left. The former reached Cbestnut Hill at 
 daybreak, and, attacking the advanced posts, drove them back, 
 and, pushing on nearly two miles below the Chew Plouse, he 
 encountered the left wing of the British, and a severe conflict 
 ensued. Ordering his troops to advance, when the moment 
 
 * This English habit of understating loss sustained by them in battle of life 
 or limb is as old as Crcssy, Athenry, and llallidun Hill. 
 
8 
 
 arrived, the enemy broke ; malviug a stand, however, wherever 
 ground or wall permitted. Sullivan sent word to Washington 
 of his success, and requesting that Wayne should be ordered 
 forward to attack the enemy's right ; General Greene, who 
 had a larger circuit to make, having been delayed. A British 
 force had taken possession of the Chew House, which was of 
 stone, and Washington and Knox liad halted there to reduce 
 it, but even artillery made little impression upon its solid 
 walls. Sullivan was still pushing on, when, Wayne being 
 ordered back to the Chew House, his left flank became ex- 
 posed to the enemy, who were rallying in large numbers. The 
 morning was foggy ; and, in the obscurity from this cause and 
 the smoke of the battle, Stephen's division fired upon Wayne's. 
 The troops, in their three hours' combat, had expended their 
 ammunition, when an alarm that they were surrounded created 
 a panic, and the army retired with victory in their grasp. They 
 made good their retreat with little loss. Washington, in his 
 report to Congress, accorded high praise to General Sullivan. 
 Among the killed were his two aids. White and Sherburn. 
 
 During the ensuing winter, Sullivan remained at Valley 
 Forge engaged in building a bridge over the Schuylkill. In 
 April, he was placed in command of the department of Rhode 
 Island. France had taken a deep interest in the strife between 
 England and her colonics. Some vexation throughout all classes 
 of the nation was natural at the loss of Canada; there were seeth- 
 ing, besides, in the popular mind sentiments in sympathy with 
 resistance to oppression, and thus both king and people favor- 
 ably inclined towards the colonies in their strike for indepen- 
 dence. Aid was secretly extended, arms and money furnished ; 
 and, after Bennington and Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga, in 
 October, 1777, France recognized our existence as a nation, 
 and, in February, s.igned the treaty of alliance, offensive and 
 defensive. The welcome tidings reached Providence a few 
 days after Sullivan's arrival there, and were celebrated with 
 fitting expression of the general gratification they afforded. 
 In July, D'Estaing, with twelve ships of the line and four 
 frigates with four thousand land troops on buard, after a 
 
9 
 
 long voyage of eighty-seven days, arrived off the coast. The 
 Britisli had evacuated Philadelphia, sustaining a serious dis- 
 comfiture if not an actual defeat at Monmouth, in traversing 
 New Jersey, and were already concentrated in New York, when, 
 on the eleventh of July, the French fleet reached Sandy Hook 
 with intent of attacking the place. Not finding it practicable 
 to cross the bars or pass the batteries that guarded the channel 
 up to the city without pilots, it was concluded, that D'Estaiug 
 should co-operate with Sullivan against Newport, the garrison 
 of which was re-enforced on the seventeenth to the number of 
 seven thousand men. Sullivan, receiving information of the 
 final decision on the twenty-third, lost no time in carrying out 
 the instructions of Washington. By earnest appeals to the 
 neighboring States, with fifteen hundred men from the main 
 army, he collected together in two weeks nine thousand men, 
 not very well armed and with little experience in war, only 
 fifteen hundred of whom had ever been in action. He had with 
 him, however, Greene, Lafayette, Cornell, Yarnum, and Glover, 
 all able and experienced general officers ; and Crane, Gridley, 
 and Gouvion, distinguished engineers. 
 
 On the thirtieth of July, D'Estaing arrived off" Point Judith, 
 and Sullivan went on board to concert measures of co-oper- 
 ation. Two vessels were sent without delay round Conani- 
 cut to capture three regiments on that island, but they were 
 at once withdrawn. Three other vessels were sent into the 
 east passage to cover the crossing of the American troops, 
 and three British vessels of less force stationed there were set 
 on fire and destroyed ; and, on the fifth, five other frigates in 
 the west passage were burnt or sunk. On the eighth, D'Estaing 
 forced the main or middle passage and moored opposite the 
 town, but behind Rose and Goat Islands; and on that day, 
 the troops expected by Sullivan arriving from Boston, and 
 Butt's Hill, which commanded Howland's Ferry on to the 
 island, the best place for crossing, being evacuated, Sullivan, 
 on the ninth, crossed over with a large portion of l\js army, 
 leaving at Tiverton a certain number which it had been 
 proposed should join D'Estaing under Lafayette, who that 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 morning proceeded to the fleet with information of what had 
 been done. 
 
 The French troops were ah'eady partly in the boats, partly 
 ashore on Conanicut, whence, near Lawton's Valley, they were 
 to cross on to the main island, when an English fleet hove in 
 sight. No time was lost in re-embarking the men and making 
 the necessary dispositions for action. D'Estaing could not tell 
 but that Byron, at the time expected daily from Europe, was 
 there as well as Howe. The north wind springing up the next 
 morning, he went in pursuit ; but the storm on the twelfth dis- 
 persed both fleets, dismasted two of the French ships, and when 
 D'Estaing came back on the twentieth it was to inform Sullivan. 
 he must go round to Boston to refit. The Americans were not 
 in strength to attack the place without aid from the French ; 
 the road was now open for re-enforcements and for the English 
 fleet to intercept their crossing; and three thousand volunteers 
 went off on the twenty-eighth. No alternative remained but to 
 withdraw to the north end of the island, which was effected that 
 night. The next day took place what Lafayette pronounced the 
 best fought battle of the war, between equal numbers, five 
 thousand on either side; the British loss, according to the best 
 accounts, exceeding a thousand killed, wounded, and prisoners.* 
 As officers and men alike did their duty, it would be out of place 
 to ascribe to the general in command any particular credit : it 
 belonged alike to them all. Next day, Clinton arrived with 
 five thousand British troops ; but Sullivan, who had despatched 
 Lafayette to Boston to induce D'Estaing to come down by land, 
 had learned that this was not practicable, and already crossed 
 back to the main. At a subsequent page, in another connec- 
 tion, reference will be made to other incidents in the Rhode 
 Island campaign, for the purpose of correcting erroneous 
 impressions with regard to them. 
 
 la 1779, little could be attempted. The French fleet was in 
 the "West Indies. The resources of the country Avcre com- 
 pletely drained, and the English seemed indisposed to be 
 active ; but General Sullivan at the head of a force of nearly 
 * See note, page 7. 
 
11 
 
 four thousand men entered the Indian territory to retaliate for 
 the massacre of Wyoming, and by burning their villages and 
 plantations to deter the Indians from molesting our frontiers. 
 The only encounter with them was at Newtown, which they 
 speedily evacuated. Fatigues and exposures on this expedition 
 undermined the health of General Sullivan ; and, warned by 
 his physician, he sent in his resignation, and in December left 
 the army. 
 
 The following letter of Washington shows the estimation in 
 which he was held by his Commander-in-chief; who, with 
 Greene, Lafayette, Stirling, MacDougall, Stark, and many 
 of the noblest leaders in the war were ever his steadfast 
 friends : — 
 
 " It is unnecessary for me to re23eat to you how high a place you 
 hold in my esteem. The confidence you have experienced, and the 
 manner in which you have been employed on several important occa- 
 sions, testify the value I set upon your military qualifications, and the 
 regret I must feel, that circumstances have deprived the army of your 
 services. The pleasure I shall always take in an interchange of good 
 offices, in whatever station you may hereafter be placed, will be the best 
 confirmation of my personal regard." 
 
 As he was recovering from dangerous and painful illness he 
 ■was chosen to Congress from New Hampshire, and for rea- 
 sons hereafter stated declined ; but, yielding to the earnest re- 
 quest of the Committee of Safety, jfinally consented. Pie went 
 to Philadelphia in August, 1780, and remained a year. We 
 have reserved for a different connection the account of the 
 service he there rendered to the cause. He labored zealously 
 and unremittingly to do his part, and the journals and his corre- 
 spondence show with what effect. Some of the older members 
 would have preferred that affairs should have been still ad- 
 ministered by committees ; but heads of departments were 
 substituted, and for this and other important reforms he 
 exerted his influence. He was proposed as a candidate for 
 the war department ; but he had no wish for the office, even 
 if his independent course had not precluded the likelihood of 
 his election. 
 
12 
 
 The next few years, as Attorney-general of New Hampshire, 
 an office held by himself, son, and grandson for half a century ; 
 as Major-general, in which function he made the military force 
 of the State, twenty thousand men, effective by a system of drill 
 and discipline, important from its nearness to the frontier, and 
 as renewal of the war was at times anticipated ; as Speaker of the 
 Assembly and Chief Executive of the State, to which position 
 he was thrice chosen ; as President of the Convention to ratify 
 the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, brought about, it was 
 said, mainly by his influence and efforts ; as one of the most 
 energetic in putting down the rebellion of 1786 ; as doing Avhat 
 he could to introduce manufacturing industry into the south- 
 east section of the State, now one of its busiest centres in the 
 world; and in performance of his duties as Federal Judge, — 
 he did whatever was in his power to develop the country, shape 
 its institutions, and promote its welfare. 
 
 He died comparatively young, — at the age of fifty-four, — 
 of disease contracted by exposure in the war, at his home in 
 Durham, which remained that of his widow till her death in 
 1820. With this brief sketch of the leading events of his life, 
 the reader will be better able to appreciate the injustice of 
 seeking to attach to his memory the reproach proposed by his 
 calumniator. His extensive correspondence, contributions to 
 the press, when, as candidate for office, he refuted every charge 
 brought against him, though this particular charge that he was 
 a pensioner of Luzerne, never was dreamt of, acquaint us with 
 every important incident of his public career, financial condi- 
 tion, and traits of character. Prejudice and ill-nature may be 
 safely challenged for proof or reason to believe that he was other 
 than upright and honorable in all his dealings, otherwise than 
 faithful to every obligation. It seems difficult to account for 
 the perversity that, without one particle of evidence, can con- 
 strue a simple loan of three hundred dollars, such as he had 
 made himself to others, and certainly to one French officer 
 not repaid for many years, into any indication of corrupt 
 motive. 
 
 From this brief sketch of the leading incidents in his career. 
 
13 
 
 our readers will be better able to understand the nature of the 
 charge now for the first time brought against his integrity, and 
 to judge if in the utter absence of any evidence to prove it there 
 is the slightest probability or possibility of its being true. It 
 will now be stated, and appeal is made with entire confidence 
 to the candor of the public, if the actual circumstances warrant 
 any such imputation. 
 
 In the tenth volume of the History of the United States, 
 recently published, is found, at page 502, the passage, " That 
 New Hampshire abandoned the claim to the fisheries was due 
 to Sullivan, who at the time was a pensioner of Luzerne." * 
 Why Sullivan opposed making the concession of the fisheries 
 a condition of peace was explained by himself in 1785. In 
 the canvass for the presidency of New Hampshire from 1784 to 
 1789, in three of which years he was elected, John Langdon 
 being his competitor, whatever could be said with any plausi- 
 bility by their respective partisans to the prejudice of the 
 opposite candidate, after the fashion of the times was improved 
 to influence the result. His vote on the fisheries was not 
 overlooked, and became subject of comment in the public press. 
 In explanation of the reasons which governed him in his vote, 
 he says that the general instructions to our ministers respect- 
 ing the fisheries remained the same as they were first formed 
 before he went to Congress in August, 1780. Independence 
 was the great ultimatum, and the general instructions directed 
 the negotiators to secure our right of fisheries on the banks. 
 Whilst in Congress Franklin, Jay, Jefferson, and Laurens were 
 added to Adams as commissioners of peace. It was moved, in 
 the course of the debate on their powers, that the fisheries 
 should be made an additional article of the ultimatum, which 
 he opposed, as it was already included in their general instruc- 
 tions, and he thought it unwise to fetter ministers who could 
 
 * The passage, page 452, " that, with the aid of Sullivan of New Hampshire, 
 who was in the pay of France, instructions such as Vergennes might have 
 drafted were first agreed upon," needs no other answer than that made to what 
 is quoted in the text. As to the fisheries, the instructions were not changed 
 whilst Sullivan was in Congress, and it would have been folly and breach of 
 faith to propose terms to which France or Vergennes objected. 
 
14 
 
 better judge what could be judiciously insisted upon. To quote 
 his own language : — 
 
 " With respect to the second charge, I can only say, that the general 
 and secret instructions to our ministers respecting the fishery remained 
 the same as they were first formed, years before I went to Congress 
 in 1780. The secret instructions made the independence of the thirteen 
 United States, and every part of them, — the grand ukimatum of a 
 peace; and the general instructions, among other things, dii'ected them 
 to secure our right of fisherj' on the banks. 
 
 " When I was in Congress, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jay, Governor Jeffer- 
 son, and Mr. Laurens were added to Mr. Adams. New instructions 
 were framed, but no alteration made respecting the fishery. It was 
 indeed moved by a member that the fishery should be made an addi- 
 tional article of the ultimatum, to which I, among others, objected, 
 and thought our general instructions to our ministers on that head 
 were sufficient to show the wishes of Congress ; that their own incli- 
 nations would prompt them to use every possible efl^ort to secure it ; 
 and that it would be dangerous for Congress, at so great a distance, 
 who could not possibly know the disposition of the European powers, 
 to dictate positively the articles of peace, and thereby fetter ministers 
 who, in my opinion, had as much zeal for the American interest, and 
 had more knowledge of what we could or could not obtain, than all 
 Congress together. Besides, let the articles agreed to, be as they 
 might, they could not be binding on Congress until ratified by them. 
 Every person must know that the capture of General Lincoln and his 
 army was owing to the positive orders of Congress to keep possession 
 of Chnrlestown. 
 
 " And I confess myself to be one of those who had rather trust the 
 command of an army to a good general on the ground than to a 
 Congress at five liundred miles' distance ; and the making a peace to 
 five of the greatest characters in America than to a Congress at three 
 thousand miles' distance ; especially as, after all, Congress could 
 approve or disapprove, as they thought proper. 
 
 " There never was a question in Congress whether the fishery should 
 be given up ; and if there had, I should have been the last man in 
 America to have yielded it to Britain ; but I could not see the neces- 
 sity of making it an additional article in our ultimatum. Our right to 
 fish on Jaffrey's Ledge, and off Boon Island and the Isle of Shoals, were 
 not articles of the ultimatum, yet we were never in danger of losing it. 
 
15 
 
 " When the instructions ' Honestus ' alludes to were made out, great 
 part of New York and Virginia, and the whole of Georgia, were in 
 possession of the enemy; we were without money, our paper currency 
 had vanished, and our army was revolting; a change against us, even 
 before our instructions arrived, was at least possible. Had Arnold's 
 plan succeeded ; had Greene been defeated in the South ; had "Wash- 
 ington been unsuccessful against Cornwallis ; had the French fleet 
 been blocked up in the Chesapeake by the British ; had Britain 
 obtained a decisive naval victory over our allies ; had Russia and 
 Germany, or even the former, declared in favor of Britain, we might 
 have been compelled to accept terms less favorable than we obtained. 
 Either of those events was possible ; and yet our ministers obtained 
 not a single point but what they were instructed to insist on. But as 
 the events of war were uncertain, I acknowledge, and glory in the 
 confession, that I was one of those who objected to fettering our min- 
 isters, and positively to dictate orders of peace, to five gentlemen who 
 were in my opinion, more than equal in the business of negotiation to 
 all the members then on the floor of Congress." 
 
 Jay was of the same opinion as himself, and enough more to 
 defeat the motion, and leave the commissioners under their 
 general instructions, which covered the fisheries as finally 
 conceded in the articles. 
 
 The statement implies that he was influenced in his vote by 
 being a pensioner of Luzerne. All that has been transmitted 
 of that minister renders it improbable that he ever sought to 
 tamper with the integrity of members of Congress. It could 
 not well have escaped detection if he had, and would have led 
 to his disgraceful expulsion from his post. What his char- 
 acter and conduct were may be gathered from the following 
 biographical notice of him. 
 
 Born in 1741, after having served in the seven years' war, 
 in which he rose to the rank of colonel, he abandoned the 
 military career, resumed his studies, and turning his views to 
 diplomacy, was sent in 1776 envoy extraordinary to Bavaria, 
 and distinguished himself in the negotiations which took place 
 in regard to the Bavarian succession. In 1778 he was appointed 
 to succeed Gerard as minister to the United States, and con- 
 ducted himself during five years he remained with a prudence, 
 
16 
 
 wisdom, and concern for their interests that gained liim the 
 esteem and affection of the Americans. In 1780, when the 
 army was in the most destitute condition, and the government 
 without resources, he raised money on his own responsibility, 
 and without waiting for orders from his court to relieve the 
 distress. He exerted himself to raise private subscriptions, 
 and placed his own name at the head. In 1783 he returned 
 to France, having received the most flattering expressions of 
 esteem from Congress, and in 1788 was sent an ambassador 
 to London, where he remained till his death in 1791. When 
 the Federal Government was organized, Jefferson the Secretary 
 of the State by order of Washington made Luzerne an express 
 acknowledgment of his services, and the sense entertained of 
 them by the nation. 
 
 As the proceedings of Congress were with closed doors, the 
 proposition to couple two such incongruous and disproportion- 
 ate matters in the ultimatum of negotiation as independence 
 and the fisheries was too inappropriate to be anticipated, 
 and Luzerne could not have been present either to dictate or con- 
 sult. The insinuation of the historian, that General Sullivan 
 opposed it or voted against it in accordance with his wishes, or 
 in requital for the loan, is simply absurd. The motion cer- 
 tainly deserved to be voted down as it was, and not only Jay, 
 but many members of unquestionable wisdom, integrity, and 
 unswerving devotion to the interests of their country, voted 
 with him. New Hampshire, neither by that vote nor by any 
 other, ever abandoned the fisheries, for they were in the general 
 instructions with boundaries, indemnities, and like points for 
 negotiation. To couple them with independence in the ulti- 
 matum would have turned a solemn proceeding into a jest. 
 
 Besides what advantage could it have been either to France 
 or Spain, that their inveterate enemy and rival should retain a 
 monopoly of her fisheries, — both Catholic lands, peculiarly 
 dependent on a plentiful supply of their Lenten food. Even 
 during the war American fishermen went freighted to their ports 
 with the treasures of the sea, which were to prove an important 
 equivalent in the new markets opened to them here by national 
 
17 
 
 gratitude for their commodities of silk and wine. The fallacy 
 of the statement of the historian is sufficiently obvious to who- 
 ever is conversant with what it signifies ; but, to readers not as 
 familiar with the actual condition of affairs, an erroneous im- 
 pression may be conveyed. It is enough to say that, as this is 
 the only instance cited or evidence advanced of any act or 
 word that could have been influenced by the loan, the charge 
 is not only unsustained, but words fail to express the enormity 
 of this attempt, with such an entire absence of proof, to tarnish 
 the memory of one of our patriots, ever honest and honorable 
 in all his transactions public and private, to the great distress 
 of his descendants. 
 
 General Sullivan when in 1774, at the age of thirty-four, 
 elected to the First Congress, was busily occupied in his pro- 
 fessional pursuits. Mr. Adams, in June of that year, mentions 
 in a letter to Mrs. Adams, in speaking of General Sullivan's 
 success at the bar, that he was said to have already accumu- 
 lated by his practice and judicious investments, ten thousand 
 pounds, represented by farms and seven mills, which were his 
 delight and profit. From the rapid depreciation of the cur- 
 rency and unavoidable expenses attending the war, whatever 
 available resources he had were exhausted, and when with 
 shattered constitution he left the army, December, 1779, after 
 five years' constant exposure, he was sore pressed, as his lands 
 were unsalable, for means to provide for his wife and children. 
 He says in 1785 that he had never received but the nominal 
 sum in paper for his services, being the only officer in Amer- 
 ica who had received no depreciation or allowance therefor. 
 There was due to him when he resigned, as back pay, thirty 
 months' allowance as commander of a separate department 
 and for money advanced, in all five thousand dollars, no part 
 of which was paid him before September, 1781, after he had 
 been a year in Congress. Although fifteen hundred dollars 
 was then voted him for the advances he had made, not wishing 
 to take what was needed for the pressing needs of the country, 
 he received only two hundred in cash from the treasury. The 
 rest was paid in a draft on New Hampshire, which was not 
 realized by him till some time after. 
 
 8 
 
18 
 
 He had hardly left the service, recovered from illness in- 
 duced by his late campaign, and resumed his practice, when he 
 was again elected without his knowledge as the representative 
 in Congress from his State. From a sense of obligation to his 
 family, he declined, but urgently solicited by the Committee 
 of Safety, on the plea that public interests demanded the sacri- 
 fice, he consented to go. All they could promise him was one 
 dollar a day, and all in their power to pay was two hundred 
 and two dollars before his return. 
 
 The Vermont controversy was pending before Congress 
 between New York and New Hampshire, and the inhabitants 
 of the territory, and fifty-four townships, between one and two 
 millions of acres cast of the Connecticut, not embraced in 
 Mason's patent, or line sixty miles from the sea, depended on 
 the decision, and might be lost to the State. As a lawyer, and 
 most familiar with the evidence, it was important he should 
 be there to defend the case, not as paid counsel, but as a 
 Member of Congress. He argued it on different points of the 
 questions involved on more than twenty different occasions 
 against the ablest counsel opposed to him, and accomplished 
 the main object, the preservation to New Hampshire of its 
 fifty-four townships, Vermont being left where it belonged to 
 the inhabitants, neither New York nor New Hampshire being 
 able to show any valid claim. 
 
 It was a busy session, and he took his full share of the 
 debates and on committees. In reorganizing the finances 
 and establishing the Bank of America, in instituting reforms 
 in the army and civil administration, which instilled fresh 
 vigor into the cause, he was active and energetic ; and what 
 was done that year at Pliiladelphia rendered possible the 
 success, which the next in the Southern campaign and at 
 Yorktown secured independence. His influence also mate- 
 rially aided to quell the mutinous spirit in the army, being 
 chairman of the committee to bring back to their allegiance 
 the Pennsylvania line. If he had deserted a post where he 
 was useful from any false pride or delicacy or fear of miscon- 
 struction, he would have deserved the censure the. historian 
 
19 
 
 seems eager to attach to him. At the close of a letter to 
 Luzerne, January 13, 1781, giving an account of the revolt 
 and its termination, he says : " One circumstance ought not to 
 be omitted which, in my judgment, does the insurgents much 
 honor. When they delivered up the British emissaries. Gov- 
 ernor Reed offered them one hundred golden guineas, -which 
 they refused, saying that what they did was only a duty they 
 owed to their country, and that they neither wanted nor would 
 receive any reward but the approbation of that country for 
 which they had so often fought and bled." It is difficult to 
 believe that General Sullivan would have used this language 
 had he been conscious of any impropriety on his part, or 
 addressed it to Luzerne, to whom it would have been a tacit 
 reproach, if the minister had been guilty of what the historian 
 imputes, an attempt to bribe him to be faithless. 
 
 Unless convinced that his back pay and advances could have 
 been relied upon to meet the unavoidable expenses attending 
 his residence in Philadelphia, he doubtless would have persisted 
 in declining a position in which pecuniary favors, even from 
 a friend, might compromise his delicacy, shackle his inde- 
 pendence, or to ungenerous minds afford a handle for miscon- 
 struction or misrepresentation. 
 
 Their payment was deferred not from any doubt as to their 
 validity and justice, — the committee in September, 1781, allowed 
 more than he asked for his advances, — but in consequence of 
 the exhausted state of its treasury and inability on the part 
 of the government. Left wholly without resources, if Luzerne, 
 who, as there seems reason to believe from the above notice 
 of him, was noble and generous, and with whom his late rank 
 in the army, knowledge of French, and personal qualities led 
 naturally to an intimacy, was willing to extend him his aid, 
 it was his right to accept it, and no honorable mind familiar 
 with his condition would think of making it a reproach. 
 Application by the descendants of General Sullivan to the his- 
 torian for a statement of the evidence on which he grounds 
 his allegation, resulted in his reply that it was on a circum- 
 stantial report from Luzerne to Vergennes, without stating what 
 that report was. 
 
20 
 
 Upon a second application for the proofs if he had any of 
 the charge, they were informed that, if a copyist were sent to 
 the house of the historian in Washington, a copy could be 
 talvcn. This is now submitted to the public, with the confident 
 assertion that it in no measure or degree sustains the 
 charge that he was in the pay of Luzerne, unless the accept- 
 ance of a loan voluntarily offered in his distress, unattended 
 by any other condition, expectation, or tacit understanding, 
 except of repayment when he had the means, warrants the 
 expression used. There is not the slightest evidence of cor- 
 ruption or any improper or indelicate act or motive, but di- 
 rectly of the reverse. The whole tenor of the letter throughout 
 proves him thoroughly faithful to every obligation, honest and 
 true, inaccessible to any corrupt influence, fearless of whom 
 he offended in the discharge of his congressional duty, 
 devoted to the cause of independence, unswerving in his 
 fidelity to his State and country. It proves that in the darkest 
 day of the struggle, when success seemed more than ever 
 remote, and failure involved confiscation and perhaps death 
 on the scaffold for the leaders, no proffers of rank or wealth 
 as a reward for returning to his allegiance to Great Britain 
 were the slightest temptation to him. If he had entertained 
 for a moment the propositions of General Clinton, he certainly 
 would not have selected the representative of France for his 
 confident. The translation of the document has been made 
 by one who had resided many years in France, and was printed 
 under the supervision of the publishing committee of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Historical Society. The letter is as follows : — 
 
 Lettre de 31. de la Luzerne a M. de Vergennes. 
 
 Philadelphia, le 13 mai 1781. 
 MoNSEiGNEUR, — Lorsque la malle tiux lettres de Philadelphia fut 
 interceptee I'annee dernicre et que les Anglais publiorent quelques- 
 uues de celles qu'ils y avaient ti-ouvees, j'en remarquai una d'un Dclegu^ 
 qui se plaignait du denilment ou son Etat le laissait et de la cherte de 
 toutes les clioses necessaires a la vie dans Philadelpliia, et j'eus I'lionneur 
 de vous en euvoyer la traduction. Des cettc epoquc il me parut necessaire 
 d'ouvrir ma bourse a ce Delegue, dont TEnncmi connaissait les besoins 
 
21 
 
 par sa propre confession, et sous I'apparence d'un pret, je lui reinis 68 
 guinees 4 septieraes. Une seconde malle interceptee a mis les Anglais 
 en possession d'une lettre qui lui est adressee par le Tresorier de son 
 Etat et qu'ils ont imprimee. Elle est egalement relative a des besoins 
 pecuniaires. Le G'i' Clinton a soup^onne qu'un homme aussi presse 
 d'argent pouvait etre dispose a se laisser corrompre, et comnie il avait 
 un frere prisonnier a New Yorck, il a permis a ce dernier de venir a 
 Philadelphia sous pretexte de solliciter son echange ; le Delegue est 
 venu me trouver et m'a confie que son frere lui avait remis une lettre 
 non signee mais qu'il a reconnu h I'ecriture pour etre du Colonel 
 Anglais qui est actuellement a New Yorck. " L'auteur de cette lettre," 
 m'a-t-il dit, "apres s'etre etendu sur les ressources de I'Angleterre, sur 
 les moyens qu'elle a de soumettre a la fin I'Amerique, me fait de grands 
 complimens sur mes lumieres, mes talens et I'estime que les Anglais 
 ont congu pour moi, il ajoute qu'ils me regardent comme I'homme le 
 plus propre a moyenner uue reconciliation entre la Mere patrie et les 
 Colonies Anglaises et qu'ils desirent que je leur expose mon sentiment 
 sur cette matiere, que toutes les ouvertures de ma part seraient re9ues 
 avec la reconnaissance qu'elles meritent, que je n'ai qu'a dire ce que je 
 desire, que la personne qui m'ecrit a tout pouvoir d'ouvrir une negocia- 
 tion jDarticuliere avec moi, et que je puis compter sur le plus profond 
 secret. J'ai repondu a mon frere avec toute I'indignation que m'in- 
 spirait de pareiUes avances, j'ai jete devant lui la lettre au feu, et 
 lorsqu'il est parti pour New Yorck je I'ai prie de temoigner a ceux qui 
 I'envoyaient que leurs offres avaient ete regues avec le plus profond 
 mepris. J'ai cependant garde le silence vis-a-vis du Congres sur I'aventure, 
 soit pour ne pas compromettre mon frere, soit pour ne pas faire parade de 
 mon desinteressement, soit parceque j'ai trouve dangereux d'annoncer 
 avec trop d'authenticite a mes Collegues que I'Ennemi cherche un traitre 
 parmi eux, et que sa recompense est prete ; mais j'ai cru devoir vous 
 confier ces details afin de vous mettre en garde contre les intrigues de 
 I'Ennemi jusques dans le sein du Congres parceque s'ils ont ose faire 
 de pareilles offres a moi, dont I'attachement a la bonne cause est aussi 
 generalement connu, il n'est que trop possible qu'ils en aient fait a 
 d'autres qui ne viendront point vous en faire part." Le fond de cette 
 confidence m'a paru vrai, Mgr., mais je ne suis pas aussi persuade 
 que ce Delegue ait charge son frere de porter a New Yorck une 
 reponse, aussi here et aussi insultante pour les Anglais qu'il me 
 I'assure. II m'a meme fait une proposition tout a fait singuliere, c'est 
 de feindre de preter I'oreille aux ouvertures qui lui sont faites, d'en- 
 
22 
 
 voycr un homme aflide h. New Yorck demander au G";' Clinton un 
 projet de conciliation, en ajoutant qu'il n'a pas voulu se servir du 
 miuistore de son fiere parcequ'il craint son attachen^ent a I'independance. 
 Je trouve, m'a-t-il dit divers avantages a sender de la sorte les disposi- 
 tions des Anglais afia de connaitre quel pent etre leur plan de corrup- 
 tion et de savoir jusqu'oii ils se proposent d'aller dans leurs concessions, 
 et il m'a nommc quatrc membres du Congres, auxquels il se proposait 
 de confier son projet avaut de I'executer, et qui sont tous gens d'un 
 caractere eprouvc. 
 
 Le Delegue jouit lui-meme d'une excellcnte reputation et je 
 repugne infiniraent a soup^onner qu'il voudrait me faire servir de 
 moteiir a une correspondance avec I'ennemi ; mais il m'a si souvent 
 parl6 des pertes que la revolution lui a occasionnees, il regrette si 
 amereraent son ancienne aisance, que j'ai craint pour lui la tentation 
 h laquelle il voulait s'exposer, et je n'ai pas balance a le detourner du 
 projet en lui exposant sans ddguisement les grands inconveniens qu'il 
 entraiiie. II ne m'a pas promis formellement d'y renoncer, mais, si 
 malgre les representations que je me suis propose de lui reiterer, il y 
 persistait je surveillerais de si pres sa conduite, que j'espere decouvrir 
 tout ce qu'clle aura de bonte. Au reste je I'ai constammcnt bien 
 dispose a etre tres conliant, et c'est a lui toujours que j'attribue la rup- 
 ture de la ligue formee par les Etats de I'Est, ligue, qui par de fausses 
 iJees de popularite, de libertu et par une jalousie excessive de I'armee 
 et du G"".' en Chef a longtemps arretc les mesurcs les plus urgcntes et 
 qui en nombre d'occasions s'est montrce egalement jalouse de nos 
 avantages ct de notre influence. II jouit do beaucoup de consideration 
 dans son Etat, il cut le credit de le determiner a se declarer pour 
 I'independance en 1776. C'est le seul Etat qui n'ait pas encore fixe 
 sa forme de Gouvernement, et comme ce retard a de grands incon- 
 veniens, et laisse aux mal intentionnes I'esperance de voir le retablis- 
 semcnt du Gouvernement Anglais, il m'a promis des qu'il y retournera 
 d'employer tout son credit sur le peuple pour I'cngager a se donuer une 
 constitution. 
 
 J'ignore combien de temps il doit encore rester dans le Congres, 
 mais j' li pense que vous ne dcsapprouverez pas que je fisse Folfre que 
 jo. lui ai fait I'annee deriiiere, aussi longtemps qu'il sera Delegue, et ma 
 proposition a cte tres bien accueillie. Dans toutes les suppositions il 
 est iiiteressaut de le manager. II est bien facheux que plusieurs autres 
 Delegues se trouvcnt dans une situation encore plus necessitante. 
 Ceux du Sud, dont les Etats £ont envahis, n'ont d'autre ressource que de 
 
recevoir du Congres un traitement pour leur Subsistance, et ce traite- 
 ment est si borne que I'un d'eux qui a ete precedemcnt Gouverneur 
 de Georgie est rediiit a soustraire sa femme de la societe, faute d'habits 
 sous lesquelles clle puissc paraitre decerament. 
 
 Cette tentative des Anglais m'a donne occasion de demauder au 
 Dek'giie a qui ils se sont adresses, si la longne habitude qu'il a du 
 Congres ct la maniere de voter de ses collegues lui avaicnt donne lieu 
 de soup(;onner quelqu'un d'eux de corruption, il m'a indique celui 
 centre lequel j'ai d'ancieus soup(;ons et un autre dont le caractere lui 
 parait cgalement doutcux ; mais a ces deux exceptions pres, il croit le 
 Congres compose de gens d'un caractere siir et inaccessible a la seduc- 
 tion. 
 
 Je joins ici Mgr. la traduction d'un pamphlet publie centre IM. 
 Duane membre du Congres pour New Yorck, le jour mSme ou ce 
 Delegue a quitte Philadelphia pour se rendre dans son Etat. II a ete 
 insere dans une Gazette dont le Redactenr a annonce qu'il encherissait 
 sur ses Collegues quant a la licence avec laquelle leurs papiers sont 
 ecrits, et que la torture seule ou la formalite de lois lui arracherait les 
 noms de ceux qui se serviraient de son journal pour publier leurs pro- 
 ductions. On attribue I'ecrit dont il s'agit a Mr. le Gouverneur Morris, 
 qui avait Siege dans cette assemblee jusqu'a la fin de 1779 comma 
 Delegue de ce meme Etat. Les faits allegues sont reconnus vrais, 
 mais je crois que Mr. Duane a depuis longtemps abandonne les prin- 
 cipes equivoques qui ont regie sa conduite pendant les premieres 
 annees de cette revolution, et je I'ai trouve constamment attach^ a 
 I'independance. 
 
 J'attendrai vos ordres Mgr. pour porter les avances dont il est 
 question dans cette Depeche sur mes etats de depenses extraordinaires. 
 Le Sr. Payne dont j'ai eu I'honneur de vous parler precedemment et 
 sur qui je pensais qu'on pourrait jeter les yeux pour ecrire I'histoire de 
 la revolution actuelle, est passe en France au mois de fevrier dernier 
 sur la fregate V Alliance. 
 
 Les deux vaisseaux expedies de Cadix avec des habits pour I'armee 
 Americaine sont heureusement arrives a Boston. 
 
 Je suis & & 
 Sio-ne Le Ch. de la Luzerne. 
 
 Le Delegue dont il s'agit au Commencement de cette depeche, 
 Mgr. est le General Sullivan qui represente au Congres I'Etat de New 
 Hampshire. 
 
24 
 
 The same in English. 
 
 Philadelphia, May 13, 1781. 
 
 Mr Lord, — "When the Philadelphia mail was intercepted last 
 year, and the English published some of the letters which they found 
 in it, I noticed one from a delegate, who complained of the destitute 
 condition in which he was left by his State, and of the dearness of all 
 necessaries of life in Philadelphia, and I had the honor to send you a 
 translation of it. From this time, it seemed to me necessary to open 
 my purse to this delegate, whose wants the enemy knew by his own 
 confession ; and, under the semblance of a loan,* I advanced him 68 
 guineas and 4 sevenths. A second intercepted mail put the English 
 into possession of a letter addressed to him by the Treasurer of his 
 State, which they have printed. It also relates to his pecuniaiy needs. 
 General Clinton suspected that a man so pressed for money might be 
 open to corruption ; and as he had a brother, a prisoner in New York, 
 he allowed the latter to come to Philadelphia, under pretext of solicit- 
 ing his exchange.! The delegate came to me, and confided to me that 
 his brother had given him a letter, not signed, but which he recognized 
 by the handwriting to be from an English colonel who is now in New 
 York. " The author of this letter," he said to me, " after expatiating 
 upon the resources of England and the means she possesses of subju- 
 gating America finally, pays me great compliments upon my intelli- 
 gence, talents, and upon the esteem in Avhich I am held by the English, 
 and adds that they look upon me as the most proper person to bring 
 about a reconciliation between the mother country and the English 
 colonies, and they desire me to make known to them my sentiments 
 in the matter ; that all overtures on my part will be received with the 
 gratitude which they deserve ; that I have only to give expression to 
 my wishes ; that the person who writes to me has full power to open 
 
 * So far as General Sullivan was concerned, this implies that it was offered 
 as a loan and accepted as a loan. If then or later no return was expected by 
 M. Luzerne, there is no evidence or reason to believe that General Sullivan did 
 not intend to return it, or that he did not actually do so. 
 
 t As Daniel Sullivan was loyal throughout to the cause of independence, and 
 his life sacrificed to it in the Jersey hulks, he was not likely to have been 
 party or privy to Clinton's " pretext." What General Sullivan proposed as a 
 reason to be assigned to Clinton for employing a trusty person other tlian Daniel, 
 that he fears his attachment to independence, sliows he could not have had 
 knowledge of the contents of the letter from New York before it was opened or 
 of tlie proposition it contained. 
 
25 
 
 a private negotiation with me ; and that I may count upon the most 
 profound secrecy. I answered my brother with all the indignation which 
 such advances were calculated to inspire. I threw the letter into the 
 fire before him, and, when he left for New York, I begged him to de- 
 clare to those who sent him that their offers had been received with 
 the most profound contempt. I said nothing to Congress about this 
 affair, partly not to compromise my brother, partly not to make a parade 
 of my disinterestedness, partly because it seemed dangerous to an- 
 nounce with too much confidence to my colleagues that the enemy 
 sought a traitor among them and that his recompense was ready. But 
 I thought it my duty to confide to you these details, in order to put you 
 upon your guard against the intrigues which the enemy is carrying 
 into the very centre of Congress ; because if they dared make such 
 offers to me, whose attachment to the good cause is so generally known, 
 it is only too possible that they have made them to others who may 
 not come forward to tell you of them." 
 
 What he confided to me has seemed substantially true, my Lord, 
 but I am not as convinced that this delegate charged his brother to 
 carry to New York so proud and insulting a reply to the English as 
 he said he had done. He even made me a very singular proposition : 
 it was to feign to listen to the overtures which were made to him, 
 to send to New York a trusty messenger to ask from General Clin- 
 ton a plan of reconciliation, in adding * that he did not wish to avail 
 himself of the intervention of his brother, because he fears his attach- 
 ment to Independence. " I find," said he to me, '• several advantages 
 in sounding in this way the disposition of the English, so as to know 
 what may be their plan of corruption, and to know how far tiiey pro- 
 pose to carry their concessions ; " and he named to me four members 
 of Congress, to whom he thought of confiding his plan before putting 
 it in execution, and who are all persons of approved character. 
 
 The delegate himself enjoys an excellent reputation, and it is ex- 
 ceedingly repugnant to me to suspect that he wished to involve me in 
 a correspondence with the enemy ; but he has so often spoken to me of 
 
 * " En ajoutant " should be translated " in adding." "What follows, " that he 
 fears his brother's attacliment to independence," is not meant for Luzerne, but as 
 the reason to be assigned to Clinton in New York for not negotiating through 
 Daniel. It would be absurd to suppose that General Sulhvan was proposing 
 to the French minister wliat would sliock his brother's sense of what was proper 
 and honorable. It is not probable that the idea of any sucli communication 
 with Clinton was ever seriously entertained. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 the losses which he has met with by the Revolution, he regrets so bit- 
 terly his former competency, that I have feared for him the temptation 
 to which he wished to expose himself, and I have not hesitated to divert 
 him from the plan by showing him plainly the great inconveniences 
 that it would entail. He has not formally promised me to renounce it ; 
 but if, m spite of the views that I intend again to present to him, he 
 should persist, I will watch his course so closely that I shall hope to 
 discover all that is good in it. As to the rest, I have always found him 
 disposed to be very confiding, and it is to him that I always attrib- 
 ute the rupture of the league formed by the Eastern States ; a league 
 which, by false ideas of popularity, of liberty, and by an excessive 
 jealousy of the Army and of the General-in-Chief, has for so long a 
 time delayed the most urgent measures, and which on numerous occa- 
 sions has shown itself equally jealous of our advantages and of our 
 influence. He enjoys much consideration in his State, and had the 
 credit of determining it to declare for Independence in 1776. This 
 is the only State which has not yet fixed upon its form of Govern- 
 ment ; and as this delay has great inconveniences, and leaves to the 
 badly intentioned the hope of seeing the re-establishment of the Eng- 
 lish Government, he has promised upon his return to use all his credit 
 with the people to induce them to give themselves a constitution. 
 
 I do not know how much time he has yet to remain in Congress, 
 but I thought you would not disapprove my making him the same 
 offer that I made him last year, as long as he remains a delegate ; and 
 ray proposition has been very well received.* At all events, it is desira- 
 ble to treat him with consideration. It is much to be regretted that 
 several other delegates find themselves in a still more necessitous con- 
 dition. Those from the South, where the States are invaded, have no 
 other resource than to receive from Congress an allowance for their 
 subsistence, and this allowance is so limited that one of the delegates, 
 who was formerly Governor of Georgia, is obliged to withdraw his wife 
 from society for want of attire in which she could suitably appear. 
 
 This attempt of the English has given me the opportunity of asking 
 
 * The loan was made in the autumn of 1780. As he served but one year, 
 the occasion did not arrive for the second one being made. Tiie amount was 
 so nearly identical with what he was to receive from his State that this, tliere 
 seems reason to presume, li.\ed the amount. New Hampshire had no regular 
 government or ta.xes. Money was probably contributed by those best off for 
 public purposes. Tiie entry on his account, in which he states the receipt 
 of $202, has no date attached to it, and may not have been before his return 
 home in September, 1781. 
 
27 
 
 the delegate to whom they have applied if the long acquaintance he 
 has had with Congress, and the manner of voting among his colleagues, 
 has led him to suspect any of them of corruption. He pointed out to 
 me one against whom I had some old suspicions, and another whose 
 character appeared to him equally doubtful ; but with perhaps these 
 two exceptions he felt sure that the Congress was composed of persons 
 of trustworthy character and inaccessible to corruption. 
 
 I transmit, my Lord, the translation of a pamphlet against Mr. Duane, 
 member of Congress for New York, published the very day that this 
 delegate left Philadelphia to go to his own State. It has been in- 
 serted in a Gazette whose Editor has announced that he valued con- 
 tributors according to the license with which they had written, and 
 that torture alone, or the formality of the law, should draw from him 
 the names of those who should use his journal to publish their produc- 
 tions. The article now in question is said to be by Gouverneur Mor- 
 ris, who sat in this assembly till the end of 1779 as delegate from 
 this same State. The alleged facts are acknowledged to be true, but 
 I think that Mr. Duane has long since abandoned the equivocal prin- 
 ciples which guided him during the first years of the Revolution, and 
 I have found him always attached to Independence. 
 
 I shall await your orders, my Lord, to enter the advances spoken 
 of in this despatch upon my account of extraordinarj'^ expenses. Mr. 
 Paine, of whom I have had the honor to speak to you before, and 
 to whom I have thought all might look to write the history of the 
 present Revolution, left for France last February, iu the frigate 
 " Alliance." 
 
 The two vessels sent from Cadiz with clothing for the Americaa 
 army have arrived safely in Boston. 
 
 I am, &c., &c., 
 Signed, The Chevalier de la Luzerne. 
 
 The delegate of whom I spoke at the beginning of this despatch, 
 my Lord, is General Sullivan, who represents in Congress the State 
 of New Hampshire. 
 
 That he should have stood in need of peciniiary assistance, 
 in 1780, in Philadelphia was no discredit to him. He had 
 expended all his available means in the service of the country ; 
 that country owed him five thousand dollars, of which he had 
 reason to expect payment of a part certainly at an early day. 
 
28 
 
 The army was ten months in arrear ; currency seventy to one 
 in silver. The resources of the country were exhausted ; Wash- 
 ington writes, there was not money enough in the treasury to 
 pay for an express : and that he should have been in a 
 straitened condition, and at a loss to procure food and raiment, 
 was his misfortune and not his fault. The whole tenor of his 
 conduct in private and public relations was upright and honor- 
 able, and his life may safely challenge the most searching 
 scrutiny for any transaction to justify the character which the 
 historian would attach to this loan. 
 
 After the arduous campaign of 1777, of Brandywine and 
 Germantown, when the army settled down at Valley Forge, 
 General Sullivan requested a furlough in January, 1778, for 
 the reason that his means were exhausted, his raiment in rags, 
 and he wished to go home to replenish them. Waslnngton 
 felt compelled to withhold his consent, as there were not gen- 
 eral officers enough in camp for the ordinary routine of duty. 
 Later, when this objection was removed, he renewed his appli- 
 cation, stating his needs, and that his pay for a month, such 
 was the depreciation, was not sufficient for the expenses of a 
 day. His second appeal was favorably received, and in March 
 he was appointed to command the military department of 
 Rhode Island at Providence. 
 
 Marbois, in his " Treason of Arnold," has given us the reply of 
 Luzerne to that General, when he sought help to pay his debts, 
 urging as an inducement the service he could render in return 
 to the French government. These sentiments are in character 
 with what is known of Luzerne and with those of his letter to 
 Vcrgennes. There is not a single expression to intimate a 
 wish or intent to corrupt. It is difficult indeed to conceive 
 of any assignable motive for the French government or its 
 ministers to desire to corrupt the Congress. France and 
 America were one in the war. Tiiey had no separate objects 
 or conflicting interests. Louis XVI. had expressly that very 
 year disclaimed any wish to recover Canada, unless for the 
 Americans. In a contest of which the strength essentially 
 consisted in character and moral force, it would have been 
 
29 
 
 suicidal to ■weaken public confidence by exposing to suspicion 
 those who possessed it. France was at this time not only- 
 fighting our battles, sending us arms and raiment, lending and 
 giving us money, and guaranteeing our loans, but actually 
 paying from her treasury our ministers abroad. But this loan 
 to Sullivan was not from France, but from the minister at his 
 own motion and from his own private purse who did not men- 
 tion it to Vergennes till six months afterwards, May 13, 1781, 
 and then asks permission under the circumstances to charge 
 it on account of his extraordinary expenses. When Sullivan 
 accepted the loan, he had reason to expect to be able soon to 
 repay it, but the poverty of the treasury prevented his obtain- 
 ing what was due to him, and Luzerne had perhaps become, 
 with reason, doubtful of repayment. In the absence of any 
 proof to the contrary, there seems every reason to presume 
 that Sullivan duly paid back what was thus kindly advanced. 
 He received it as a loan, and there is no evidence he accepted 
 it as a gift, or so considered it, certainly none as a bribe ; and 
 the assertion that he was in the pay of Luzerne, and that it 
 influenced his vote, is a wholly gratuitous aspersion on his 
 integrity, a violence to language and violation of truth. His 
 pay as Major-general, Attorney-general, President of the State, 
 federal judge, was small. His depreciation, about five thousand 
 dollars, was allowed him in 1787 ; his lands and mills became 
 valuable after the peace : but his expenses were large, his hos- 
 pitalities bountiful, and when he died he left the estate at Dur- 
 batn, but little else, to his family. But this does not prove he 
 did not repay the sixty-eight guineas to Luzerne. 
 
 The allusion to better days, in contrast with his then strait- 
 ened condition not understood by Luzerne, seems susceptible of 
 easy explanation. It does not necessarily imply that General 
 Sullivan repined at sacrifices he doubtless cheerfully accepted 
 with his countrymen as the price of liberty. He may have 
 been simply paying an indirect compliment to the minister 
 whose hospitality and festal entertainments were the one cheer- 
 ing incident in the social life of Philadelphia at that gloomy 
 period ; or possibly apologizing for attire not up to the occasion 
 
30 
 
 or in character with the splendors that surrounded liim ; or, 
 what is yet more natural, for the reduced condition which com- 
 pelled him to accept a pecuniary favor by this loan thus kindly 
 proffered. He was frank and outspoken, and what he said was 
 not intended for history ; and there is no reason to believe that 
 any candid mind will give it an ungenerous or unwarranted 
 construction. 
 
 Luzerne expresses a doubt if the response sent by his brother 
 Daniel to Clinton was as proud and offensive as described. 
 But a few months before, Arnold had sold himself to the 
 English for thirty thousand pounds and other like considera- 
 tions ; and the sentiment among the Americans towards him 
 would have naturally created a lively sense of indignation in 
 any honorable mind at this attempt to tamper. Daniel Sulli- 
 van, after being engaged in the siege of Castine, was taken, in 
 February, 1780, from his bed at Sullivan in Maine, by Mowatt, 
 who burnt Falmouth in 1775. In an English frigate entering 
 Frenchman's Bay, he burnt Daniel's house, the family being 
 driven out into the snow, took him to Castine, endeavored to 
 induce him to swear allegiance to the king, and upon his refusal 
 carried him to New York, where he was imprisoned in the Jersey 
 hulks, and, when released a few months after this visit to Phila- 
 delphia, he died, it is said of poison, on the Sound on his way 
 home. 
 
 The response Gen. Sullivan made to Clinton's proposition, 
 the disposition of the letter, his selection of his confidant, all 
 proved his good sense, right feeling, and integrity of character. 
 That no evidence exists in the letter of Luzerne that he com- 
 municated this attempt to corrupt him to his associates in Con- 
 gress, is no proof that no such communication was made. It 
 probably was made to his more intimate friends. The proposi- 
 tion to draw Clinton into a correspondence, with the knowledge 
 of four of the most trusty and respected members of Congress, 
 was thrown out in the freedom of friendly intercourse, without 
 fear of misapprehension, and was probably not very seriously 
 contemplated for a moment, and dismissed without a second 
 thought. It should serve as a caution to public characters to 
 
31 
 
 weigh their words in conversation with foreign ministers, whose 
 correspondence home, after slumbering for ages in its appropri- 
 ate sepulchres, may be exhumed by historians to work preju- 
 dice not deserved. The letter of Luzerne, so far from proving 
 that Sullivan was in his pay by borrowing from him three 
 hundred dollars, which he offered of his own accord, is honor- 
 able to Sullivan throughout. We do not claim any credit for 
 him for not yielding to Clinton's attempt to corrupt him. 
 Though penniless, with some reason to feel he had been un- 
 kindly dealt with by Congress, though the cause was well-nigh 
 lost by exhaustion and discouragement, and he may well have 
 anticipated confiscation and possibly death as the consequence 
 of its failure, it was no temptation to him, and he certainly 
 was not likely to sell his integrity to Luzerne for a few hun- 
 dred dollars, if it had not been a gratuitous insult to the 
 memory of that minister to suppose him capable of any partici- 
 pation in any such transaction. 
 
 In history as in morals, suppression of the truth is near akin 
 to suggestion of what is not. If descendants or kindred of 
 historical personages have no rights historians are bound to 
 respect, readers of history certainly have a claim not to be mis- 
 led ; and historical societies are bound to further the cause of 
 the truth in historical relations. It signifies little what view 
 any one author may entertain of the public services of the 
 dead, who cannot vindicate their fame when unjustly aspersed ; 
 but, where his position enables him to convey erroneous im- 
 pressions, societies and individuals should listen without 
 impatience and without favor, with entire impartiality, till 
 both sides have been heard. 
 
 In some other passages of the lately published volume, occa- 
 sion is taken to present views not borne out by the evidence 
 with regard to General Sullivan. It is stated that in the 
 Rhode Island campaign in 1778, Sullivan for a whim detained 
 for ten days the French fleet in the ofling. In his first letter 
 to D'Estaing, upon his arrival, — the copy is not dated, — he 
 states his reasons for wishing the larger part of the fleet to 
 block up the middle channel between Rhode Island and Conan- 
 
32 
 
 icut, were to prevent re-enforcements from New York, to keep 
 out the British fleet, to co-operate with the force that was to 
 pass up the West Channel to turn Conanicut and prevent 
 three British regiments on that island from passing over to 
 Newport. This was not a whim, but good sense, and the 
 historian had access to this letter which explained them. 
 Even in this Sullivan did not dictate, but l6ft it to D'Estaing's 
 own judgment to determine what was best. 
 
 The admiral, in his letters, assigns three other reasons for 
 remaining where he was until the arrival of the American 
 re-enforcements should justify an attack. His fleet, farther up 
 the channel, would be exposed to the fire of the batteries, 
 which could inflict more damage upon his vessels than he 
 could upon them. In the anticipation of a possible attack 
 from Howe and Byron, it was important to keep control of his 
 fleet, which, as the south wind generally prevails at Newport 
 in summer, he would lose higher up, and his laying off" Beaver- 
 Tail, blockading the middle channel, would prevent the garri- 
 son escaping. This last consideration loses force as the event 
 fell short of expectation ; but if an attack could have been 
 made by the combined forces of D'Estaing and Sullivan the 
 place must have surrendered. 
 
 All the arrangements for landing on the island were based 
 upon the British retaining Butt's Hill, about one hundred and 
 eighty feet high, strongly fortified at the north end of the island 
 commanding the passage from Tiverton, the best place to cross. 
 As soon as they abandoned it, Sullivan crossed over, and took 
 possession early on the morning of the 9th of August. D'Estaing 
 had written him two days before that he proposed to land when 
 he had an opportunity without waiting for him. Any one who 
 knows the island must realize that if with such a force any 
 crossing was to be effected, the opportunity to do so unopposed 
 was not to be hazarded by delay. It is inconceivable that Sul- 
 livan should not have sought to communicate the fact of his 
 crossing the earliest possible moment to D'Estaing. He did so. 
 Lafayette went to the fleet that morning, whilst one part of the 
 army intended to co-operate with D'Estaing remained still at 
 Tiverton. 
 
33 
 
 That day the fleet of Howe hove in sight, and on the next 
 morning D'Estaing bore down upon it; but the English admiral 
 drew him off the coast, probably to open the gate for re-enforce- 
 ments to Newport. When on the 20tli his fleet returned in a 
 shattered condition, Greene and Lafayette, going on board, 
 endeavored in vain to persuade him to remain. The moment 
 liope could no longer be reasonably entertained of co-operation, 
 orders were given by General Sullivan to fortify Butt's Hill 
 and Howfand's ferry, and that other measures should be taken 
 for withdrawing from the island. The volunteers had become 
 restless, and many of them had already left. It was necessary 
 to proceed with caution ; for, in the event of a panic, the safety 
 of the army would have been endangered. If numerically 
 stronger, — Sullivan had less than eight thousand men; the 
 garrison of Newport consisted of about seven thousand, for the 
 most part veterans well officered and organized ; a large propor- 
 tion of the American troops had been hastily levied since the 
 middle of July, undrilled, poorly armed, only fifteen hundred 
 having ever been in action. 
 
 While taking every step to ensure a safe and speedy re- 
 treat, a bold front was presented to the enemy ; and the general 
 orders of the twenty-fourth, after impressing upon his army the 
 importance of not allowing the departure of the French fleet to 
 discourage them, expressed a hope that they might be able to 
 procure by their own arms what their allies refused their assist- 
 ance in obtaining. On the twenty- sixth, while disclaiming any 
 intention of givin-g offence to their allies, he expressed the 
 wish that they might speedily return to carry out the enterprise. 
 Certainly, under no other compulsion than his own good sense 
 and consideration for others he cheerfully endeavored to remove 
 on this occasion, as on many another in his life, sensitiveness 
 from expressions he had felt bound to use under tlie existing 
 conditions, and which had wounded undue susceptibility. Our 
 own army and the country had cause to feel not only disap- 
 pointed but provoked at the posture of affairs. Had D'Estaing 
 on his return consented to stay forty-eight hours, Newport 
 would have been taken. 
 
34 
 
 In the army were many of the most influential men of New 
 England, of its best and bravest, who had left their work and 
 their employments with confidence of success from the encour- 
 agement held out by Prance. They had made extraordinary 
 eiforts and been at great cost. To keep them in good heart 
 and willing to remain till they could withdraw in safety from 
 the island was the main consideration, and this was best to be 
 accomplished by giving expression to their prevailing sentiment. 
 Whoever scans without prejudice either of the general orders, 
 of the 2-lth or 26th, must admit that they were eminently 
 calculated to produce the state of feeling the occasion demanded, 
 of reliance upon themselves in the first moment of abandonment, 
 of due acknowledgment to France for services rendered to the 
 cause as well as confidence in her continued co-operation. Gen- 
 eral Sullivan's own letter to D'Estaing contained no word of 
 irritation, and the protest that followed was an exact statement 
 of the case, and the French officers, in taking umbrage at its 
 freedom, were unduly sensitive. If they had acted upon its sen- 
 sible conclusions, instead of losing temper, Newport would have 
 fallen, and the war possibly have come to an end. Sullivan 
 had but little time in the pressure of events to cull words or 
 phrases, but only the maligner can find in what is left of his 
 correspondence of those busy weeks any thing to criticise or 
 censure. 
 
 Sullivan is criticised for fortifying Honeyman's Hill with a 
 redoubt. All may not be familiar with the ground ; but the 
 hill one hundred and eighty feet in elevation, and the highest 
 point at the southerly part of the island, was just two miles from 
 the extreme left of the British outer line beyond Miantonomi 
 Hill, and a like distance from the extreme right of its inner 
 line at Easton Beach. The salient point of the British outer 
 line at Bliss Hill was within half a mile of Honeyman's, and the 
 fire of the American works compelled Pigot to draw farther 
 back. Honeyman's Hill could not be turned ; and, in case of 
 re-enforcements to the garrison and any disaster compelling 
 withdrawal from the island, it would have formed a rallying 
 point. It communicated by a straight road running north to 
 
35 
 
 the east road, the direct line to Butt's Hill, and also with the 
 east passage, in case it were found worth while to cross lower 
 down, boats at Tiverton being near enough to be available for 
 that purpose anywhere along the shore. 
 
 The historian is of course wiser than Gridley or Gouvion, 
 two of the most distinguished engineers of the war, when he 
 complains that batteries were raised too remote to be of use. 
 The most distant was half a mile from the outer lines of the 
 enemy, and Pigot admits that their fiie compelled him to 
 withdraw his troops. It must be remembered that it was 
 the 23d of August before all hope of co-operation was relin- 
 quished, indeed not altogether then, and it was not prudent to 
 acquaint the enemy by discontinuing the approaches that the 
 siege was given up. Of the five general officers consulted on 
 that day nearly all counselled an attack on the enemy's lines 
 if opportunity offered. But Sullivan, whilst prepared for such 
 an event, sent over his heavy guns and stores, and fortified 
 Howland's and Bristol ferry. It was on the 28th that the 
 departure of three thousand of the militia and volunteers whose 
 terms of enlistment were expired reduced his strength so that 
 the expectation of any such chance occurring was given up, and 
 that day the Americans, without precipitation, removed to 
 Butt's Hill at the north end of the island. 
 
 If the author had known much of what was usual among 
 gentlemen and generals at that period, he would have realized 
 that General Washington was too much of both to send incessant 
 messages to quit the island. Sullivan commanded a separate 
 department, responsible to Congress and the Board of War as 
 well as to the Commander-in-chief, and all of them while giving 
 information and advice would naturally have left the decision 
 of what was most prudent to the officer in command. Letters 
 were two or three days on the road between White Plains and 
 Newport. 
 
 Washington wrote on the 23d to inform Sullivan that one 
 hundred and fifty vessels were collected near Frog's Point, and 
 possibly destined for Newport, and that he must be upon his 
 guard ; that he does not doubt that every precaution will be 
 
36 
 
 taken to secure the passage across to the mahi on any emer- 
 gency ; at the same time he is persuaded that he will not suffer 
 any ill-founded or premature alarm to produce any change in 
 his dispositions which may impair or frustrate the enterprise. 
 On the 29th he says that the day before he had written to say that 
 a number of transports were in the sound, and were then at 
 Oyster Bay, detained by the wind ; that a large body of troops 
 had been embarked upon them from Long Island, and it was 
 rumored that they numbered five thousand men, and Sir Henry 
 Clinton was with them. Sullivan was already making all due 
 despatch in order to leave the island without sacrifice of his 
 valuable stores of provisions, arms, and munitions of war, which 
 had been collected there. He was daily apprised of all that 
 it concerned him to know. When the letter of the 29th reached 
 him he had already quitted the island, and the uncourteous 
 language indulged by the historian conveys a censure altogether 
 undeserved. The admirable letter of General Greene to John 
 Brown bears witness to the prudence, sagacity, and energy of 
 General Sullivan throughout the campaign, and Congress con- 
 firmed the justice of his conclusions by their vote of thanks. 
 
 Sullivan is said to have been unduly importunate for supplies 
 for the Indian expedition of 1779. His force when Clinton 
 was ready, and he could not start before, left Wyoming twenty- 
 one hundred strong on the 31st of July, and Clinton joined 
 them at Tioga on the 22d of August. Their united forces, 
 about thirty-six hundred, discovered on the 29th the Indians 
 with their British allies in a well-fortified position at Newtown. 
 They were less actually in number than there was reason to 
 believe. The fort was on the declivity of a hill with the water 
 in front and forming a bend around it. To have made an 
 assault from the space between the water and the hill would 
 have exposed the army to disadvantage ; and the object was, if 
 possible, to capture the enemy with little loss. He despatched 
 a force under Clinton and Poor to attack them in the rear from 
 the hills above and surround them ; but its progress was obsti- 
 nately disputed, and the enemy, better acquainted with the 
 ground, eflccted their escape. 
 
37 
 
 Wasliington, on the 15th January, 1779, wrote Sullivan that 
 as no reasonable expectation could be entertained of collecting 
 sufficient forces for an attack to advantage on New York or 
 Rhode Island, and the invasion of Canada was too hazardous 
 and expensive, he advised that the efficiency of the army should 
 be increased by discipline and organization rather than by num- 
 bers and that by improving the condition of officers and soldiers 
 the service should be rendered popular. In this Sullivan was 
 disposed of course to aid, and, in the opinion of a good judge in 
 military matters, the instructions given by General Sullivan to 
 his officers, the order of march he prescribed to his troops, and 
 the discipline he had the ability to maintain, would have done 
 honor to the most experienced general. 
 
 He maintained good discipline in his camp, and firing the 
 morning gun as customary, when omitted, would have been 
 sufficient blind to their position. It would have been folly to 
 have expected to keep the movements of so numerous a force 
 concealed from the Indians, in the wilderness with so large a 
 part of which they were familiar ; whilst for the Americans to 
 leave their lines was to expose them to the fate of Captain Boyd, 
 and it was consequently judicious to conform to the ordinary 
 ceremonial of camp life. Their instructions were to destroy 
 the crops and villages, but so late in the season that the In- 
 dians should not replant or rebuild ; to prevent their inroads on 
 our settlements by retaliation, and by depriving them of means 
 of annoyance : and this was effected, but, long before the ap- 
 pointed task was completed, the army was put on short allow- 
 ance from insufficient supplies. General Sullivan's request to 
 the army to submit patiently to half rations, which had become 
 from the quantity remaining unavoidable, stated that every 
 effort had been made, but from inattention to his entreaties 
 enough had not been provided. This gave offence to the Board 
 of War ; but, long before the campaign was over or its objects 
 effected, they were from this cause in danger of being defeated. 
 Congress took no notice of these expressions of discontent, 
 but passed the usual vote of thanks to the army for what it 
 had accomplished. 
 
38 
 
 Our present design is not a biograpliy. Materials exist not 
 yet in print to warrant such a work. It would shed light that 
 is needed upon the great historical epoch that cradled our 
 national life and shaped the Republic. But whilst our institu- 
 tions are considered worthy of preservation, interest in that 
 epoch will little abate. Other generations will demand new 
 publications, value what remains to be told of its characters 
 and incidents. Prejudice and misconception will have at last 
 run their course, and juster estimates be made. Should these 
 materials be thus improved by some one competent for the task, 
 the services Sullivan rendered to the cause of independence 
 will be better appreciated. His path of duty was beset with 
 many embarrassments. He had to contend with his full share 
 of ill-natured opposition and ungenerous rivalry. It was a 
 fiery furnace to try whatever there was of good in him, but 
 among the most precious legacies our revolutionary era has left 
 us are the lessons it affords for the study of character. 
 
 Standards differ as to what is meritorious. But there are 
 central points common to all. It is not for his near of kin to 
 praise him, but some latitude must be allowed even to them 
 when appealing to the country from what they conceive a 
 systematic attempt to defame by statements they can prove to 
 be untrue and inferences which are wholly unsustained. No 
 human character is free from blemish. But his ardent desire 
 not only to deserve but secure the favorable judgment of other 
 men never swerved him from what he conceived his duty 
 demanded. His quickness of temper under injury and insult, 
 impatience of what he conceived open to censure, his frankness 
 in expressing his mind, became chastened, and he profited by 
 experience. His readiness to make reparation when he had 
 given unwilling or unintentional offence, his general amiability 
 and kindliness of nature, his warm sympathy with other men's 
 trouljlcs and generous contributions to their needs to the extent 
 of his means and opportunity, should cover a multitude of faults, 
 if any he had. His character in some points was strongly 
 contrasted to that of Greene, one of the noblest of the war. 
 Greene was of a calmer mould, of a quieter temperament. 
 
39 
 
 But they were both loyal, upright, self-sacrificing, generous, 
 attached to each other as they were to Washington and 
 Washington to them ; and as the friend of Washington and 
 Greene, whose esteem he never forfeited or lost, the memory of 
 Sullivan will remain unscathed, even under the fiery darts of 
 the historian. 
 
 Our struggle for liberty and independence was not by any 
 means a series of brilliant victories. It consisted, on the 
 contrary, of constant defeats, but brave and prolonged resist- 
 ance to enemies more numerous, better armed and supplied 
 with every appliance of war, whilst our troops were often with- 
 out shoes to their feet, was more heroic, redounded more to the 
 glory of the combatants than success. There were other trials 
 besides physical suffering. Hope deferred imbittered the public 
 mind, and whoever occupied positions of responsibility Avas 
 held to rigorous account for not succeeding where success was 
 impossible, and it was quite unreasonable to expect it. This 
 disposition to hold him accountable for events which he could 
 not control had its advantages. He was not disposed to 
 parade his services, but when subjected to criticism he was 
 often compelled in self-defence to state what had actually taken 
 place, and details that otherwise would have been lost have been 
 preserved. What he stated to Congress or other public bodies 
 or in the press was with the knowledge of crowds of witnesses 
 who had taken part in the events described. The accuracy of 
 his statements would have been questioned if not corresponding 
 with their own impressions. Every particle of information 
 connected with the war has its interest, and these details are of 
 value. Possibly the readiness to censure may have chilled the 
 spirit of enterprise, and induced circumspection ; but in our 
 Fabian policy, which was our safety, and which our inferior 
 means and numbers rendered imperative, it may also have 
 prevented waste of resources not easily replaced. 
 
 As this vindication may be read by many unacquainted with 
 the biographies of General Sullivan, some passages from them 
 are presented to indicate what he appeared to his contempo- 
 raries or to the generation that immediately followed. They 
 are for the most part selected from Peabody's Memoir: — 
 
40 
 
 " General Sullivan was an eloquent lawyer, a good writer, and. as a 
 man, just and sagacious. He was generous, high-spirited, and intrepid; 
 and, in his bearing, graceful and dignified. He conversed freely and 
 with fluency; and his engaging address made the stranger at once at 
 ease in his presence. He had the faculty — invaluable to an advocate 
 — of making each one in a company of many persons think he was 
 an object of his particular attention. He was hospitable, fond of the 
 elegancies of life, prodigal of money ; but in his dealings honest, 
 generous, and honorable. His temper was ordinarily mild and 
 tranquil, and as far removed from petulance as any man could be, but 
 when irritated it was fierce and violent. It was however transient, 
 leaving behind it no feeUng of bitterness ; a single conciliatory word 
 would readily disarm his anger. He was not without fondness for 
 display, and at all times exercised a liberal hospitality. In his deal- 
 ings he was scrupulously careful of the feelings as well as the rights of 
 others ; always generous, and more careless of his own interest than 
 his friends could have desired. 
 
 " His talents must have been of no ordinary kind. Without many 
 advantages of early instruction, he rose, at an early period of life, to 
 high distinction at the bar, and in a few years entered the military 
 service. Little time could have been spared from these engagements 
 to devote to subjects unconnected with his principal pursuits ; but he 
 appears to have been familiar with political science ; and his letters, 
 the only productions of his pen which survive, are written in a clear, 
 vigorous, and manly style. 
 
 " He took a lively interest in military preparations for defence, 
 and his writings on that subject are sensible and comprehensive. His 
 religious sentiments were deep, though he shrank from display ; and a 
 manuscript defence of Christianity — written in camp and circulated 
 amongst his brother-officers — is alluded to in a subsequent notice of 
 him, though not known to have been preserved." 
 
 Should it be thought that too much importance has been 
 attached to this charge, it must be remembered that the 
 expressions used in their natural import convey an imputa- 
 tion of dishonor which has no greater or less, for which had it 
 been true there is no extenuation. Influence exerted or votes 
 cast in legislative bodies from unworthy motives are not to be de- 
 fended, cannot be palliated. The charge not only was calculated 
 
41 
 
 to create prejudice from its vagueness, but from the evidence 
 being in a foreign language, in a confidential letter of great 
 length, occupied with other topics. It was necessary to secure 
 a faithful rendering of the original letter which could not be 
 questioned, and then that its contents should be passed upon 
 by the leading historical societies of the country, better able to 
 pass judgment upon such questions from their familiarity with 
 the period, its events and personages, than the generality of 
 readers. The letter of Luzerne and its translation, with the 
 comments upon it herein contained, as well as the correction 
 of numberless other mistakes of the historian, have been laid 
 before the historical societies of Rhode Island, those of Maine, 
 New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and is 
 respectfully commended to the attention of other similar soci- 
 eties in America, to consider whether the acceptance of a loan 
 of three hundred dollars, when penniless, in Philadelphia, from 
 M. Luzerne,justifies the language used by the historian ; whether 
 that language was not obviously designed to convey an impres- 
 sion wholly unsupported by the evidence which, when the 
 descendants of General Sullivan besought and demanded the 
 proof of this cruel charge, was forthcoming. Those descendants 
 may well ask the American public to credit to the unreasoning 
 and unscrupulous prejudice, to use no harsher term, which has 
 inspired this accusation, the unjust and uncourteous criticisms 
 on his military services. There is not a statement of any 
 importance in this last volume or its predecessor relating to 
 him which is not wholly untrue or grossly inexact. 
 
 Honorable and candid minds not blinded by the reputation 
 of a successful writer to the claims of truth will, we are confi- 
 dent, after examination of the evidence, come to the conclu- 
 sion that he was not a pensioner of Luzerne ; that he did not 
 for a whim keep D'Estaing ten days in the ©ffing at Newport ; 
 that he sent timely notice to that ofiicer of his crossing on to 
 the island ; that what Greene, Glover, Cornell, Yarnum, were 
 willing to sign could not have been more than the occasion 
 demanded ; and that he did not disregard Washington's order 
 to leave the island, as he did not receive any, but of his own 
 
42 
 
 judgraent, lost no time in withdrawing the moment it was 
 prudent and sensible that he should. 
 
 This claim upon the attention of the American public can 
 require no apology. The character of our statesmen and 
 general officers, prominently engaged in our revolutionary 
 struggle, concerns us all. The success of that struggle against 
 formidable odds and various discouragements is to be attrib- 
 uted, in part, to the virtue and patriotism of the whole people, 
 but also, in a great measure, to the high honor and unimpeach- 
 able integrity of their leaders in counsel and field. The 
 confidence which they inspired gave strength at home, and 
 conciliated support from abroad. When, as in this instance, 
 charges are brought which tarnish their good name, it be- 
 hooves the public generally, and especially historical societies 
 composed of historical students familiar with the subject, to 
 investigate their truth. It is important that the vindication 
 should be preserved in the transactions ; they are of a perma- 
 nent nature, and will he accessible in all future times to his- 
 torical writers. If evidence is wanting of any fact stated to 
 show these charges groundless, it is at hand. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 In one of the comments of the " Philadelphia Press " on 
 the paper read by President Wallace, of the Historical Society 
 of Pennsylvania, on the letter of Luzerne, are to be found 
 certain arguments conclusive to show that not only the state- 
 ments of the historian are not sustained by the evidence offered, 
 but could not possibly be true : they are not embraced in 
 the paper read itself, or, if suggested, not directly and fully 
 presented. The article says that the document produced by 
 the historian fails to show that Sullivan's vote on the fisheries 
 was in any way influenced by the loan, and for the following 
 reasons : — 
 
 "1. Luzerne says tliat the delegate 'enjoys an excellent reputa- 
 tion,' and that it is ' exceedingly repugnant to me to suspect that he 
 wished to involve me in a correspondence with the enemy.' But to 
 what purpose is such a remark if Luzerne was at the moment con- 
 scious that he had himself been guilty of bribing a member of Con- 
 gress, and had just bought the man in question for the paltry sum of 
 sixty-eight guineas ? 
 
 " 2. Luzerne, it must be remembered, was writing with an object, 
 an interest. He had made, a long time before (' last year '), an advance 
 ('avance' is the French original) of the public money of France to 
 Sullivan. He made no mention of it at the time to Vergennes. The 
 object of his letter now is to get himself credited in account with it. 
 Had he told Vergennes simply that he had made a loan to Sulli- 
 van, he would have destroyed the object which he had in view. The 
 answer would have bi'en, ' Get it back from Sullivan.' Could he have 
 said that the interests of Franco made it expedient to bribe a certain 
 
44 
 
 person, and that he had bribed him, his case would have been clear. 
 But he does not say this. It looks as if the State of New Hamp- 
 shire being tardy, Luzerne had made to Sullivan an ' advance ' of his 
 congressional pay, on private account, and expecting certainly that the 
 State would soon put Sullivan in funds to repay it ; that the State not 
 doing this immediately, or soon, Luzerne considered the loan in danger, 
 and now profits by the revelation which Sullivan had made to him 
 about British tentatives at bribery to inform Vergennes that it was 
 desirable to keep well with Sullivan, and so now lays claim to be 
 refunded out of the public purse what he had advanced long before 
 on an account purely private, and with an expectation of being cer- 
 tainly and soon repaid. That Luzei'ne was repaid by France is not 
 shown. 
 
 " 3. "When Luzerne says that he advanced to Sullivan sixtj^-eight 
 guineas, 'under the appearance of a loan,' he implies that he offered 
 to lend the money, and that Sullivan took it promising to repay ; and 
 he implies that not a word was said about bribe or gift. For had one 
 such word been spoken, ' the appearance of a loan ' could not have 
 existed. The appearance would have disappeared. Now, if Luzerne 
 offered to lend the money, and if Sullivan took it promising to repay 
 it, and if not a word more was said on either side, Mr. Bancroft's 
 round and positive charge is unjustified, and if unjustified is defama- 
 tory. That which at the time of making it was both made and re- 
 ceived as a loan may be called in one sense, and when the lender thinks 
 he will never again see his money, an * advance ' or even a gift ' under 
 the appearance of a loan ; ' especially when by being called either the 
 lender can make himself whole again out of the public purse. 
 
 " 4. Had the money been given as a bribe, no mention of names 
 would have been made as made in Luzerne's letter. Bribes are 
 charged to the secret service fund ; a fund for the disposition of which 
 no minister is expected to account, and where the name of the recip- 
 ient would certainly not have been mentioned, the times and the agent 
 having been the times and the agent of Louis XVL; the recipient 
 being a major-general in the army of an ally, and a member of the 
 Congress of a friendly nation. 
 
 "When Luzerne says that he gave Sullivan sixty-eight guineas 
 sous Vapparence d\m pret,^ we understand him to mean, that, though 
 Sullivan was in great pecuniary necessity, he, Luzerne, could not 
 undertake to offer him money as a gift; that Sullivan would have 
 resented this, and therefore that he had offered to lend Sullivan money, 
 
45 
 
 wliici) money, as a loan, Sullivan had accept-ed ; though it is rather 
 plainly implied that Luzerne, who was writing six months after the 
 loan was made, did not the7i ever expect to see his money again. But 
 this don't prove that Sullivan betrayed his State for that money. 
 
 " As for all the conversation and fears about Sullivan's going over 
 to the British, it is not of any weight. The whole letter, after all, is 
 but a report by a diplomat to his superior, of a conversation had six 
 months before with a man who spoke a language not common to the 
 two parties. The conversation bears conclusive marks of having come 
 through the alembic of a vivacious Frenchman's memory, not to say, 
 perhaps, in some degree of his imagination. For, though the conversa- 
 tion was one six months old, Luzerne does not profess to give its 
 substance, but all its very words in quoted form. It was wholly 
 impossible for him to have done this, even supposing that he perfectly 
 understood all that six months before Sullivan meant to say to him. 
 Sullivan never saw the letter. He might have denied three-fourths 
 or the whole of it. The country did not support the historian in his 
 remarks about Greene and Schuyler. Neither will it, we think, in his 
 charge that Sullivan betrayed New Hampshire for a few pieces of 
 
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