1946. CRUELTY, British in America.—[further continued].
I confess that when I
heard of the atrocities committed by the
English troops at Hampton, I did not believe
them, but subsequent evidence has placed them
beyond doubt. To this has been added information
from another quarter which proves the violation
of women to be their habitual practice in
war. Mr. Hamilton, a son of Alexander Hamilton,
of course, a federalist and Angloman,
and who was with the British army in Spain,
declares it is their constant practice, and that
at the taking of Badajoz, he was himself eye
witness to it in the streets, and that the officers
did not attempt to restrain it. The information
contained in your letter proves it is not merely
a recent practice. This is a trait of barbarism,
in addition to their encouragement of the savage
cruelties, and their brutal treatment of
prisoners of war, which I had not attached to
their character.—
To Josiah Meigs.
Ford ed., ix, 419.
(M.
1813)
See Cornwallis and Retaliation.
