A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings

44

As well may the New Zealanders, who have not yet discovered Europe, fit out a ship, land on the coast of England or France, and, finding no inhabitants but poor fishermen and peasants, claim the whole country by right of discovery.

45

General Prideaux was killed by the bursting of a mortar, before the surrender of the French.

46

It has been controverted whether the capture of General Cornwallis was the result of a plan preconcerted between General Washington and Count de Grasse; or rather whether the arrival of the Count in the Chesapeak was predetermined and expected by General Washington, and consequently all the preparations to attack New York a mere finesse to deceive the enemy; or whether the real intention was against New York, and the siege of Yorktown planned upon the unexpected arrival of the French fleet in the bay. The following letter will let the matter in its true light.

 Mount Vernon, July 31, 1788.

Sir,

I duly received your letter of the 14th instant, and can only answer you briefly and generally from memory; that a combined operation of the land and naval forces of France in America, for the year 1781, was preconcerted the year before; that the point of attack was not absolutely agreed upon [Because it would be easy for the Count de Grasse, in good time before his departure from the West Indies, to giv notice, by expressing at what place he could most conveniently first touch to receive advice], because it could not be foreknown where the enemy would be most susceptible of impression; and because we (having the command of the water with sufficient means of conveyance) could transport ourselves to any spot with the greatest celerity; that it was determined by me, nearly twelve months before hand, at all hazards, to give out and cause it to be believed by the highest military as well as civil officers, that New York was the destined place of attack, for the important purpose of inducing the eastern and middle States to make greater exertions in furnishing specific supplies, than they otherwise would have done, as well as for the interesting purpose of rendering the enemy less prepared elsewhere; that by these means, and these alone, artillery, boats, stores, and provisions, were in seasonable preparation to move with the utmost rapidity to any part of the continent; for the difficulty consisted more in providing, than knowing how to apply the military apparatus; that before the arrival of the Count de Grasse, it was the fixed determination to strike the enemy in the most vulnerable quarter, so as to ensure success with moral certainty, as our affairs were then in the most ruinous train imaginable; that New York was thought to be beyond our effort, and consequently that the only hesitation that remained, was between an attack upon the British army in Virginia and that in Charleston: And finally, that, by the intervention of several communications, and some incidents which cannot be detailed in a letter, the hostile post in Virginia, from being a provisional and strongly expected, became the definitiv and certain object of the campaign.

I only add, that it never was in contemplation to attack New York, unless the garrison should first have been so far degarnished to carry on the southern operations, as to render our success in the siege of that place, as infallible as any future military event can ever be made. For I repeat it, and dwell upon it again, some splendid advantage (whether upon a larger or smaller scale was almost immaterial) was so essentially necessary, to revive the expiring hopes and languid exertions of the country, at the crisis in question, that I never would have consented to embark in any enterprise, wherein, from the most rational plan and accurate calculations, the favorable issue should not have appeared as clear to my view as a ray of light. The failure of an attempt against the posts of the enemy, could, in no other possible situation during the war, have been so fatal to our cause.

That much trouble was taken and finesse used to misguide and bewilder Sir Henry Clinton, in regard to the real object, by fictitious communications, as well as by making a deceptiv provision of ovens, forage, and boats, in his neighborhood, is certain: Nor were less pains taken to deceive our own army; for I had always conceived, where the imposition did not completely take place at home, it could never sufficiently succeed abroad.

Your desire of obtaining truth, is very laudable; I wish I had more leisure to gratify it, as I am equally solicitous the undisguised verity should be known. Many circumstances will unavoidably be misconceived and misrepresented. Notwithstanding most of the papers, which may properly be deemed official, are preserved; yet the knowlege of innumerable things, of a more delicate and secret nature, is confined to the perishable remembrance of some few of the present generation.

With esteem, I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

G. WASHINGTON.

To –.

47

A dollar, in sterling money, is 4s6. But the price of a dollar rose in New England currency to 6s; in New York to 8s; in New Jersey, Pensylvania and Maryland to 7s6; in Virginia to 6s; in North Carolina to 8s; in South Carolina and Georgia to 4s8. This difference, originating between paper and specie, or bills, continued afterwards to exist in the nominal estimation of gold and silver.

Franklin's Miscel. Works, p. 217.

48

A dollar was usually cut in five pieces, and each passed by toll for a quarter; so that the man who cut it gained a quarter, or rather a fifth. If the State should recoin this silver, it must lose a fifth.

49

This pernicious opinion has prevailed in all the States, and done infinit mischief.

50

Columbian Magazine for May, 1787.

51

The existence of a custom of paying respect to these Indian heaps, as they are called, is proved by a ludicrous practice, that prevails among the Anglo Americans in the vicinity, of making strangers pull off their hats as they pass by this grave. A man passing by with one who is a stranger to the custom, never fails to practise a jest upon him, by telling him that a spider, a caterpillar, or some other insect is upon his hat; the unsuspecting traveller immediately takes off his hat, to brush away the offending insect, and finds by a roar of laughter, that a trick is put upon him. I have often seen this trick played upon strangers, and upon the neighbors who happen to be off their guard, to the great amusement of the country people. The jest, however, is a proof that the aborigines paid a respect to these rude monuments, and in ridicule of that respect, probably, originated the vulgar practice of the English, which exists to this day.

52

Camden's Britannia, volume II, page 759.

53

Mona Antiq. Restaur, page 47.

54

That the primitiv Britons may claim a very direct descent from the ancient inhabitants of Syria and Phenicia, whose languages were but branches from the same common stock, with as Hebrew, may be made to appear probable by a comparison of their customs; but may be almost demonstrated by a collation of the old British language with the Hebrew roots. See my Dissertations on the English Language, Appendix.

55

Britannia, volume I, page 127.

56

One as large as that is said to be found at Grave Creek, about eighty miles above Muskingum.

57

Volume II, page 763.

58

Camden, volume II, page 751.

59

Mons. Mallet, in his Northern Antiquities, has produced unquestionable testimony, from the Chronicles of Iceland and others histories of the north, that the American continent was discovered about the tenth century; and the esquimaux are clearly of the same race as the Greenlanders.

60

Elements of Criticism. Vol. I, page 198.

61

A line of houses built on the descent of land to the river, with a street adjacent to the houses on both sides.

62

This title, and many of the following ideas, are borrowed from a treatise of Mr. Michaelis, director of the Royal Society of Gottingen.

63

Any person may prove this by a trifling experiment. Let him place a glass receiver or bowl over the grass in a summer's day, and the next morning he will find as much dew under it as around it.

The truth is this; the particles of water are constantly exhaled from the earth by the heat of the sun. During the day time, these particles ascend in an imperceptible manner, and furnish the atmosphere with the materials of clouds and rain. But in the night, the atmosphere grows cool, while the earth, retaining a superior degree of heat, continues to throw off the particles of water. These particles, meeting the colder atmosphere, are condensed, and lodge upon the surface of the earth, grass, trees and other objects. So that the expression, the dew falls, is in a degree true, altho it first rises from the earth.

64

It is a fact, supported by unquestionable testimony, that the savage nations on the frontiers of these States, have fewer vices in proportion to their virtues, than are to be found in the best regulated civilized societies with which we are acquainted.

65

Uxores habent deni, duodenique inter se communes; et maxime fratres cum fratribus, et parentes cum liberis. Sed si qui sunt ex his nati; eorum habenter liberi a quibus primum virgines quæque ductæ sunt.– Cæsar de bell. Gall. Lib. 5.

66

Let an individual depend solely on his own exertions for food, and a single failure of crops subjects him to a famin. Let a populous country depend solely on its own produce, and the probability of a famine is diminished; yet is still possible. But a commercial intercourse between all nations, multiplies the chances of subsistence, and reduces the matter to a certainty. China, a well peopled country, is subject to a famin merely for want of a free commerce.

67

Jacob Dict. word, domesday.

68

Cowel Dict. Daysman.

69

Coke Litt. 3. 248.

70

It iz singular that the last syllable of this word domesday, should hav been mistaken for day, a portion of time; for the latter in Saxon waz written daeg and daegum, az in the Saxon version of the Gospels; whereaz the termination of domesday waz formerly, and ought now to be, spelt dey.

71

Cowel, Law Dict. dome.

72

In some words dom is substituted for the ancient termination rick; and in one sense, it iz equivalent to rick, which implies jurisdiction or power. King rick waz used az late az Queen Elizabeth: Bishop-rick iz stil used, denoting the territory or jurisdiction of a bishop.

73

Johnson derives lay from the Greek λαος; as he does all other words which hav some resemblance to Greek words in sound or signification. I beleev the Saxon or Gothic original and the Greek may be the same, and of equal antiquity.

74

Blackstone Com. vol. I. 112.

75

Camden's Britannia. Baron.

76

Let no one question the probability of such changes of consonants which are formed by the same organs; for to this day b and v are often used promiscuously. In the Spanish language, we are at liberty to pronounce, b az v, or v az b; and with us, marble is often pronounced marvle. It is also certain that the Roman vir is found in the word mentioned by Cesar. Com. 11. 19. Vergo bretus, an annual magistrate among the Ædui, a nation of Germany. This word is derived from vir, and guberno, altho Cesar and Tacitus never suspected it. The same word iz mentioned by Mc Pherson, az stil existing in the Erst language, Fergubreth; and its meaning iz the same az in Cesar's time: A decisiv argument that vir, fer, and bar, are radically the same; and that the ancient Celtic language had a common origin with the Latin. A similar change of consonants iz observable in the words volo and bull (the Pope's decree) which are radically the same; az also the German woll and the English will. So the ancient Pergamus iz called by the modern Turks, Bergamo. See Masheim's Eccle. Hist. Vol. I. and my Dissertations on the Eng. Language, Appendix.

77

The feudal system iz commonly supposed to hav originated in the conquest of the Roman empire by the northern nations. The rudiments of it however may be discovered az erly az the Cimbric invasion of Italy, a century before the Christian era. Se Florus. lib. 3. c. 3. The Cimbri and Teutones were tribes of the same northern race, az the Germans and Saxons.

78

So it iz spelt in the Saxon laws; but its root waz probably circe, from sciran, to divide. C before i and e was in Saxon pronounced ch or neerly; hence circe is chirche.

79

Blackstone Com. vol. I, 112. That each shire had its bishop, seems to be obvious from a law of Edgar, c. 5, where, respecting the county court, it iz ordered, "celeberrimo huic conventui episcopus et aldermannus intersunto;" not unus episcoporum, but the bishop and erl.

80

Parson iz said, by Coke and others, to be derived from persona, because this officer represents the corporation or church, vicem seu personam ecclesiæ gerere. This reezon seems to be obscure and unsatisfactory. It iz possible the word may proceed from the same root az parish, viz. par.

81

Great synod—great meeting.

82

Stuarts English Constitution, p. 275.

83

Mallets North. Antiq. Vol. I. 61. The northern nations had, like the Greeks, twelv principal deities, and this article in their religious beleef might originate the institution of twelv preests, twelv judges, &c. Many civil institutions among rude nations, may be traced to their religious opinions; and perhaps the preference given to the number twelv, in Germany, in Greece, and in Judea, had its origin in some circumstances az ancient az the race of the Jews.

Odin, which in Anglo Saxon, waz Woden, waz the supreme god of the Goths, answering to the Jupiter of the Greeks: And it iz remarkable that the words, god, good, odin and woden, all sprung from one source. We shall not be surprized that the same word should begin with such different letters, when we reflect that such changes are very common. The Danes omit w in word; a dictionary they call ord-bog, a word book; and the Spaniards, in attempting to pronounce w, always articulate g. See my Dissertations, p. 335.

84

North. Antiq. Vol. I. 169.

85

London, in England, probably had its name from this place.

86

North. Antiq. Vol. II. 41.

87

See Chardin's Travels, Vol. III.

88

Tac. de Mor. Germ. c. 7.

89

Tac. de Mor. Germ. c. 11.

90

C. 12.

91

De Bello Gallico. lib. VI. c. 21.

92

Com. Vol. III. 35. This cannot be strictly true; for the principes were electiv; and therefore could not hav owned the land (pagus) or exercised the office of judge in right of their property. The kings, princes, and generals of the ancient Germans were elected; some for their nobility, that iz, the respectability of their families, arising from the valor and merits of their ancestors; others, az their duces, military commanders, were chosen for their virtues, their personal bravery. This I take to be the meening of that passage in Tacitus, "Reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumunt."

"The Comites ex plebe," says Selden, chap. 18, "made one rank of freemen superior to the rest in wisdom." The Saxon nobles were called adelingi, or wel born; the freemen, frilingi, or free born; the latter might be assistants in the judicial department. The lower ranks were called lazzi or slaves; and indolence iz so necessary a consequence of bondage, that this word lazzi, or lazy, haz become sinonimous with indolent, sluggish. This word iz a living national satire upon every species of slavery. But the effect of slavery iz not merely indolence; its natural tendency iz to produce dishonesty; "almost every slave, being, says Dr. Franklin, from the nature of hiz employment, a theef." Az a striking proof of this, we may instance the change of meening in the words villain and knave, which at first denoted tenant and plowman, but during the oppressions of the feudal system, come to signify, a rogue. Vassal also denoted originally, a tenant or feudatory of a superior lord. It waz an honorable name, the barons being called the kings vassals. But servitude iz to natural a consequence of the tenure of lands under a proprietor, in see, that vassal haz become sinonimous with slave [Blackstone, Vol. II. 52, says, "we now uze the word vassal opprobriously, az sinonimous to slave or bondman, on account of the prejudices we hav justly conceived against the doctrins grafted on the feudal system." So good a man ought not to hav uzed the word prejudice; and so great a man ought to hav assigned a better reezon for this opprobriousness of the modern word vassal]. The change of meening in theze words iz a volum of instruction to princes and legislators. Reduce men to bondage, and they hav no motiv but feer to keep them industrious and honest, and of course, most of them commence rogues and drones. Why hav not the tyrants of Europe discovered this truth? Good laws, and an equal distribution of the advantages and the rights of government, would generally be an effectual substitute for the bayonet and the gallows. Look thro Europe; wherever we see poverty and oppression, there we find a nursery of villains. A difference in the property, education and advantages, originates the difference of character, between the nobleman of nicest honor, and the culprits that swing at Tyburn.

93

De Mor. Germ. c. 13.

94

The practice of choosing assistant judges in the Roman commonwealth, waz something similar to our mode of impannelling a jury. Theze assistants were sometimes a hundred, and it iz not improbable, the Roman and German customs of electing that number might be derived from the same original.

95

See Coke Litt. and Hargraves notes on this subject.

96

Mallets North. Antiquities.

97

Mentioned in the preceding note, copied from Mallet.

98

These facts gave rise to Cokes quaint remarks, "that the law delighteth herself in the number of twelv;" and he adds, "the number of twelv iz much respected in holy writ; as 12 apostles, 12 stones, 12 tribes, &c." On juries, fol. 155.

99

Com. Vol. I. 398.

100

Com. Vol. I. 399.

101

I am by no meens certain that this derivation of counts from comites, iz just; it iz at leest az probable az otherwise, that contees may be a Gothic word. But this iz conjecture.

102

See Cowel on the word thane; and in Domesday, "thanus, est tenens, qui est caput manerii."

103

Com. Vol. I. 403. "But the same author, in page 399, says, the right of peerage seems to hav been originally territorial, that iz, annexed to lands, manors, &c. the proprietors of which were, in right of thoze estates, allowed to be peers of the relm;" that iz, in plain English, certain men, in right of their estates, were allowed to be equals of the relm. This will not pass for reezon and truth on this side of the Atlantic.

104

Horne, in hiz Mirror of Justices, chap. I. sect. 2. says, "altho the king ought not to hav any peer (that iz, equal) in the land, yet because he cannot be a judge in a case where he iz a party, it waz behovefull by the law that he should hav companions to heer and determin of all writs and plaints of all wrongs, &c. Theze companions are now called countees, earles, according to the Latin comites, &c." This iz singular! The king ought to hav no equal; therefore he ought to hav companions for judges; or, in plainer words, if possible, the king ought not to hav equals in the kingdom, therefore he should hav peers to heer and determin criminal causes. Common sense at leest, if not etymology, will say, "the king ought not to hav equals, but he must hav judges."

105

Blackstone, Vol. I. 157, from Staunford P C. 153.

106

It iz now held that e converso, a vote of the spiritual lords, if a majority, iz good against all the temporal lords; but Coke douts it. Supposing this to be admitted, the privilege is modern, and makes nothing against my supposition.

107

It haz been remarked that baron iz the most general title of nobility; indeed every nobleman waz originally a baron. Coke. I. 74. The lords of manors, both in England and on the continent, were the suitors in the king's court, and called pares curtis or curiæ. The lords tenants were called the peers of hiz court baron. See Blackstone, Vol. I. ch. 4.

108

The Norman princes might well call their councils parliaments, meetings of barons; for they often summoned none but the barons and clergy, and sometimes but a few of the barons. Henry the third, once summoned but twenty five barons of two hundred and fifty, then in the kingdom, and one hundred and fifty of the clergy. Yet this meeting waz a parliament. Selden, chap. 67.

109

Thoze who wish to see a more particular account of the extensiv judicial powers of the barons in Europe, may consult Robertson's Charles V. Vol. I. page 49, and note [Z] page 250, where the authorities are referred to.

110

Coke Litt. 74. That the freeholders were judges iz tru; but that the barons and freeholders derived their authority from kings, iz wholly a mistake.

111

1. Coke Litt. 73.

112

Cap. I. Sect. III.

113

He must speak of the state of things after the conquest, otherwise justices in eyre would not hav been mentioned.