344 LETTER TO 



to assist in its defence, and received from him, 

 in consequence, the command of a company of 

 volunteers, who were to serve without pay. 

 This company I raised, and kept together as 

 long as the fears continued, on account of which 

 it had been formed. 



I have thus mentioned, my Lord, some of the 

 facts which I possess in proof, that my conduct 

 at least was not, formerly, disloyal. They hap- 

 pened at a time of life, from the age of eighteen 

 years to that of twenty-six, when actions are not 

 often discordant with internal feelings ; when 

 the veil of hypocrisy is seldom worn, and, if 

 ever assumed, is soon blown aside by the tem- 

 pests of passion, which so frequently arise in 

 that season of human existence. I shall, how* 

 ever, exhibit more direct testimony that my 

 conduct and principles were in unison. I shall 

 produce to your Lordship a profession of attach- 

 ment to my country and its constitution, which 

 was 'made by me in the midst of enemies, from 

 an unwholesome prison, and while threatened 

 with assassination on account of that attach- 

 ment. For, going to Charlestown, in 1783, 

 upon some family concerns, I was arrested there 

 and thrown into gaol, a few days after my arrival, 

 in violation of a flag of truce with which I had 

 entered the country. Such, at least, was the 

 opinion of governor Tonyn, who had given that 



