not be thought
uncharitable to conclude, that you conceived your plan could be better
executed at Bristol, than under the eye of General Washington. Besides, you
might reasonably hope to shake more easily the constancy of untried
officers of militia, than those in the army, whose minds might be supposed
better fortified against such attacks.

I am at a loss for words to express my indignation for the attempt you made
on my integrity; for though I did not see it in that point of view at the
time, yet the whole testimony, as now collected, fully proves such to have
been your intention; and happy I conceive it to be for my own honour and
the safety of my country, that you found in me that strength of mind, which
you might not have experienced in some of your particular friends, had they
been in my situation.

The circumstances relating to the letter you wrote Count Donop, created at
the time no suspicions; nor do I recollect any publication which alludes to
it. This affair, and that mentioned by Major Lenox[TN], are distinct
transactions; but it is not more than probable, that at the interview you
proposed under cover of serving the inhabitants of Burlington, you intended
to confer with Count Donop upon the subject of your own interest and
personal safety? This suspicion, in my opinion, is perfectly warranted by
the indubitable proofs of your intended desertion. Another circumstance
relating to this affair was equally unusual and improper. Mr. Daniel
Ellis,[J] by whom you sent the letter with a flag, was universally known to
be disaffected; having been so long in the service you could not be
ignorant of those obvious reasons, which prove the propriety of sending men
with flags, whose attachment to the cause is well known, and men of
observation.

Every page, almost, of your publication is full of reflections against me,
and almost upon every subject; so intent have you been to injure my
reputation. The errors I committed during my command may serve a double
purpose; because he who committed them is subject to censure, and he who
points them out claims the merit of the discovery. That I committed
errors, I readily admit; my friends have marked some, and subsequent
experience discovered others; but I am conscious they proceed from want of
experience, not a want of integrity. Why, then, need I seek to justify
myself, when, from the nature of the war, considerable commands were, from
necessity, entrusted to young officers, t