159
expense of transportation as the article would not bear. Here, then, is a great field, whose supplies of bread cannot be carried to our army, or, rather, which will raise no supplies of bread, because there is no body to eat them. Was it not, then, wise in Congress to remove to that field four thousand idle mouths, who must other- wise have interfered with the pasture of our own troops? And, if they are removed to any other part of the country, will it not defeat this wise purpose? ‘The mills on the waters of James river, above the falls, open to canoe navigation, are very many. Some of them are of great note, as manufacturers. ‘The barracks are sur- rounded by mills. There are five or six round about Charlottesville. Any two or three of the whole might, in the course of the winter, manufacture flour sufficient for the year. ‘To say the worst, then, of this situation, it is but twelve miles wrong. ‘The safe custody of these troops is another circumstance worthy consideration. Equally removed from the access of an eastern or western ene- my ; central to the whole State, so that, should they attempt an irruption in any direction, they must pass through a great extent of hostile country ; in a neighborhood thickly inhabited by a robust and hardy people, zealous in the American cause, acquainted with the use of arms, and the defiles and passes by’which they must issue : it would seem, that in this point of view, no place could have been better chosen.
Their health is also of importance. I would not endeavor to shew that their lives are valuable to us, because it would suppose a possibility, that humanity was kicked out of doors in America, and interest only attended to. ‘The barracks occupy the top and brow of a very high hill, (you have been untruly told they were in a bottom.) They are free from fog, have four springs whieh seem to be plentiful, one within twenty yards of the piquet, within fifty yards, and another within two Hundred and fift they propose to sink wells*within the piquet. Of four thousand people, it should be expected, according to the ordinary calcula- tions, that one should die every day. Yet, in the space of near three months, there have been but four deaths among them ; two infants under three weeks old, and two others by apoplexy. The officers tell me, the troops were never before so healthy since they were embodied.
But is an enemy so execrable, that, though in captivity, his wishes and comforts are to be disregarded and even crossed? think not. It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the horrors of war as much as possible. ‘The practice, therefore, of modern nations, of treating captive enemies with politeness and generosity, is not only delightful in contemplation, but really interesting to all
