of renown" had
cost him a world of hardships;--thrown into irons as a felon;
threatened with a halter; carried to England to be tried for treason;
confined in Pendennis Castle; retransported to Halifax, and now a
prisoner in New York. Washington had been instructed, considering his
long imprisonment, to urge his exchange. This had scarce been urged,
when tidings of the capture of General Lee presented a case of still
greater importance to be provided for. Lee was reported to be in
rigorous confinement in New York, and treated with harshness and
indignity. The British professed to consider him a deserter, he having
been a lieutenant-colonel in their service, although he alleged that
he had resigned his commission before joining the American army.

On the 13th of January, Washington addressed the following letter to
Sir William Howe: "I am directed by Congress to propose an exchange of
five of the Hessian field-officers taken at Trenton for Major-general
Lee; or, if this proposal should not be accepted, to demand his
liberty upon parole, within certain bounds, as has ever been granted
to your officers in our custody. I am informed, upon good authority,
that your reason for keeping him hitherto in stricter confinement than
usual is that you do not look upon him in the light of a common
prisoner of war but as a deserter from the British service, as his
resignation has never been accepted, and that you intend to try him as
such by a court-martial. I will not undertake to determine how far
this doctrine may be justifiable among yourselves, but I must give you
warning that Major-general Lee is looked upon as an officer belonging
to, and under the protection of the United Independent States of
America, and that any violence you may commit upon his life and
liberty will be severely retaliated upon the lives or liberties of the
British officers, or those of their foreign allies in our hands."

In this letter he likewise adverted to the treatment of American
prisoners in New York; several who had recently been released having
given the most shocking account of the barbarities they had
experienced.

Sir William, in reply, proposed to send an officer of rank to
Washington to confer upon a mode of exchange and subsistence of
prisoners. This proposal led to the appointment of two officers for
the purpose, Colonel Walcott by General Howe, and Colonel Harrison,
"the old secretary," by Washington.

Lee's actual treatment was not so