of the guards, and only son and heir of Sir Charles
Asgill. Efforts were immediately set on foot to save Asgill. For a long
time the matter remained in suspense, but Washington, firm in his
purpose, was deaf to all entreaty. Lippincott was tried by a
court-martial, and acquitted, it appearing that he was acting under the
verbal orders of Governor Franklin, who was at the head of the board of
associated loyalists. General Carleton, meanwhile, had succeeded Sir
Henry Clinton in command at New York. He condemned the proceedings in
the case of Huddy, and broke up the board of loyalists. Thus, in time,
the most prominent features of the case became changed.

Meanwhile Lady Asgill had written a most pathetic letter to the Count de
Vergennes, the French minister, imploring him to intercede on behalf of
her son. Vergennes, at the request of the king and queen, to whom he
showed the letter, wrote to Washington, soliciting the liberation of
young Asgill. The count's letter was referred to Congress. That body had
already admitted the prisoner to parole; and to the great relief of
Washington, he received orders from Congress, early in November, to set
Captain Asgill at liberty.

The case of Asgill excited Washington's deepest sympathies. He was an
amiable and honorable young man. "I felt for him," wrote the
commander-in-chief, "on many accounts; and not the least, when viewing
him as a man of honor and sentiment, I considered how unfortunate it was
for him that a wretch who possessed neither, should be the means of
causing him a single pang or a disagreeable sensation."

On the twenty-fifth of July, 1782, the British Parliament passed a bill
to enable the king to consent to the independence of the United States,
and the monarch signed it, though with reluctance. Richard Oswald was
immediately appointed, with full powers, to negotiate a treaty of peace
with the new republic, on the basis of its independence. The American
ministers abroad, Franklin, Adams, and Jay, were constituted
commissioners for the United States, to treat for peace, and on the
thirtieth of November, preliminary articles were signed by them
respectively at Paris. Henry Laurens, who had arrived at Paris, from
London, while the negotiations were in progress, had joined the American
commissioners, and he also signed the treaty.

Washington, meanwhile, had been anxiously preparing the way for the
anticipated disbanding of the army. Congress, through utter inabilit