7439. RETALIATION, On prisoners of war.—[further continued].
It is my duty, as well as
it was my promise to the Virginia captives, to
take measures for discovering any change which
may be made in their situation. For this purpose,
I must apply for your Excellency's interposition.
I doubt not but you have an established
mode of knowing at all times, through
your commissary of prisoners, the precise state
of those in the power of the enemy. I must,
therefore, pray you to put into motion, any
such means you have, for obtaining knowledge
of the situation of the Virginia officers in captivity.
If you should think proper, as I could
wish, to take upon yourself to retaliate any
new sufferings which may be imposed on them,
it will be more likely to have due weight, and
to restore the unhappy on both sides, to that
benevolent treatment for which all should wish.—
To General Washington. Washington ed. i, 237.
Ford ed., ii, 280.
(Wg.
Nov. 1779)
