" MEMOIR. xliii 



the years 1780 and 1781, I published 

 many small political things, without at- 

 taching my name to them ; the principal 

 of which was written at the desire of the 

 commandant of the garrison of Charles- 

 town, the present General Nesbitt Balfour. 

 The cause was the following. Men of rank 

 in that country in the American service, 

 after having been taken prisoners, and sent 

 to their homes under their military paroles, 

 used to make no scruple whatsoever to 

 appear again in arms against the British 

 government. I therefore was desired to 

 show, by an appeal both to military usage, 

 and the nature of the thing itself, that such 

 conduct subjected them to the punishment 

 of death. This paper was held of that 

 importance by the commandant, that he 

 gave orders that its publication in the 

 public newspapers should be frequently 

 repeated ; and I think it highly probable, 

 that it was owing to this warning, that 

 General Balfour and Lord Moira thought 



