204 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



all, except those guilty of very serious offences against 

 the state, should be dealt with as gently as possible, 

 they being permitted to return on payment of 10-15-20 

 per centum of their property, and the sin of their 

 adherence to Great Britain forgiven them. Mr. Burke, 

 Mr. Hutson, Mr. Vanhorsh and many other high- 

 minded and estimable men used all their influence to 

 recommend indulgence, forgiveness, and gentle meas- 

 ures ; they desired that only those who in their zeal for 

 the cause of the King had been plainly guilty of mur- 

 der, or of serious wrong committed in respect to mem- 

 bers of the American party, such as fire, devastation, 

 and the like, that only such offenders as these should 

 be deprived of all hope of returning to their homes 

 and of more than a hundred and fifty on the black list 

 not more than 15 could have been so described. How- 

 ever, .the magnanimous views of these many worthy 

 men were opposed by others, of the lower and rougher 

 class, with a veritably raging obstinacy ; they breathed 

 nothing but the bitterness of vengeance, and would 

 hear of no forgiveness, although their grounds were 

 neither sufficient nor seemly. I was witness at. another 

 time to a noble answer given in court by one of the 

 Judges to the plaintiff who hoped greatly to weaken 

 the argument of defendant by bringing out that he 

 had belonged to the King's party and deserved, like 

 many others, to be banished the country. ' Here be- 

 fore the court, answered the Judge, is no question of 

 Whig and Tory. Your adversary has not been ban- 

 ished ; he has thus permission to live here ; and in con- 

 sequence must have the same claims before the court 

 as you to an impartial examination and an unpreju- 

 diced decision.' Such opinions as these are all the 



