APPENDIX I. 409 



forsake ns in this hour of our distress. "We have shed our 

 blood in her cause. She surely does not mean to make 

 us the sacrifice of peace. She will not leave us to perish 

 for want, now that she has no longer any occasion for our 

 services ; nor will she insult our misfortunes by referring us 

 to the mercy of our enemies. Be assured we must expect 

 no mercy from them. 



' I flatter myself before you reach England our petition will 

 have been taken into consideration and our request granted. 

 If this should not be the case, we must depend upon you to 

 solicit for us. You know the ways of office, and can get 

 access to ministers, while others less acquainted with 

 public business and less known, though equally zealous in 

 our cause, would have it much less in their power to assist 

 us. You know our services and our sufferings, and can 

 give every information that can be wanted relative to our 

 present situation.' 



As soon as Colonel Thompson arrived in England he 

 sent the following letter to Lord North : 



'Pall Mall Court, June 8, 1783. 



' MY LORD, Having assisted in drawing up the represent- 

 ation and petition of the commanding officers of his 

 Majesty's provincial regiments in North America, and 

 having been desired by them to solicit for them in this 

 country, that the prayer of their petition be granted, I take 

 the liberty of troubling your Lordship upon that subject. 



' The situation of the provincial officers, particularly such 

 of them as are natives or were formerly inhabitants of the 

 American colonies, is truly distressing. Having sacrificed 

 their property and all their expectations from their rank 

 and connections in civil society, and being now cut off 

 from all hope of returning to their former homes by the 

 articles of the peace, they have no hope left but in the 

 justice and the humanity of the British nation. 



' I will not trouble your Lordship with an account either 



