APPENDIX. 441 



No. IV. 



Address to General Burgoyne."^ Chap. IV. p. 100, 



TO John Burgoyne, Efq. Lieutenant General of his majefty's armies 

 in Amciica, Colonel ot the Queen's regiment of light dragoons, governor 

 ot fort William in North BntaiD, one of the reprefentatives of the Com- 

 mons of Great Britain, and commanding an army and fleet employed on 

 an expec!irion from Canada, &c. &c. &c. 



Mojl high, mujl mighty, vtoji pwjfunt, and fullinu General^ 



When the forces under your command arrived at Ou-ebec in order to ad: 

 in cancel I and upon a common principle with the r,uinerou5 fleets and armies ushick 

 already difplay in every quarter ij America, the j'^Jlice and mercy oj your king, 

 wc the reptiles of America, vi/ere /truck with unuliial trepidation and af- 

 tonirnment. But what words can exprefs the plenitude of our horror, 

 when tlie colonel i)f the Qjieen's regiment of light dragoom, advanced towards 

 Ticondfroga. The mountains (book before thee, and the trees of the forelt 

 bowed their lofty heads ; the v,ift lakes of the north were chilled at thy 

 prefence, and the mighty cata rafts flopped their tremendous career, and 

 were fulpended in awe at thy approach. Judge, then, ok ineffable governor 

 of Fort M'illtam in North Britain, what mufl; have been the terror, dilmay, 

 and defpair, that overfpread this paltiy continent ol America, and us its 

 wretched inhabitants. Dark, and dreary, indeed, was the profpe£l before 

 usjtill like the fun in the horizon, your moft gracious, fublime, and irre- 

 firtabie proclamation opened the doors of mercy, and Inatched us, as k 

 were, from i.he jaws of annihilation. .' 



We toolifhly thought, blind as we were, that your gracious mailer's 

 fleets and armies were come to deftrov us and our liberties ; but we are 

 happy I'l hearing from vou (and who can doubt what you afTert ?) that they 

 were called forth for thefo'e purpofe of rcjloring the jights oj'tke conjlitution to e 

 JrovMrd andjlubborn generation. 



And is it for this, oh iiiblime lieutenant general, that you have given your- 

 feif the trouble to crofs the wide Atlantic, and with incredible fatigue tra- 

 verfe uncultivated wiids ? And we ungratefully rcfufe the proffered bleT- 

 fing ? — To reftore the righ'.s of the conuitution, you have called together 

 an amiible hofi of (ava^es, and turned them loofe to fcalp our women and 

 children, and lay our country wafle. This they have performed with their 

 ufual Ikill and clemency, and yet wc remain infeofible of the benefit, and. 

 unthankful for fo much goodnefs. 



Our Congrefs have declared independence, and our affemblles, as yout 

 highnefs jiiUly obferves, have mo^ luickedly imprifoned the avowed friends 

 of that power v/uh which they are at war, and moft /i^o/ins/y compelled 

 thofe, whofe confcienceS will not permit them to fight, to pay fome fmall 

 part towards the expences their country is at, in fupporting what is called a 

 hcceflary, defenfive war. If we go on thus in our obilinacy and ingrati- 

 tude, what can we expeft, but that you fho'jid, in your anger, give a (Iretch 

 to the Indian forces under your direCliun, amounting to thoufinds, to overtake and 

 dtfirey us ? Or, which is ten times worie, that you Ihould withdraw youc 

 flfC's and ai mies. and leave us to our own mifery, without compleating the^ 

 benevolenr talk you have begun, of reftoring to us the rights of the csnjlilutionf 



We fubmit, wc fubmit, mod puiflant coionA of the Queen's regiment oJ light 

 dragoons, and governor ojfoit IVilliairf. in North Britain I We offer our heads tc> 

 the fcalping knife, and our bellies to the bayonet. Who can rcfiR the force 



* IVtitten by ayOUng ojjiccr, and defignedfor theja'.diir-i in the American army, 



V n T, . T r G 3 



