honour and character. Conway, now smarting under the imputation of having instigated a hostile faction against the illustrious Washington, and being extremely unpopular among the officers in general, and finding his situation did not accord with his feelings and views, resigned his commission, without having commenced the duties of inspector. He was believed to be an unprincipled intriguer, and after his resignation, his calumny and detraction of the commander-in-chief, and the army generally, were exercised with unrestrained virulence and outrage.

No man was more zealously engaged in the scheme of elevating General Gates to the station of commander-in-chief. His vile insinuations and direct assertions in the public newspapers, and in private conversations, relative to the incapacity of Washington to conduct the operations of the army, received countenance from several members of Congress, who were induced to declare their want of confidence in him, and the affair assumed an aspect threatening the most disastrous consequences. Conway maintained a correspondence with General Gates on the subject, and in one of his letters he thus expresses himself: "Heaven

has been determined to save your country, or a weak general and bad counsellors would have ruined it." He was himself at that time one of the counsellors against whom he so basely inveighs. Envy and malice ever are attendant on exalted genius and merit. But the delusion was of short continuance; the name of Washington proved unassailable, and the base intrigue of Conway recoiled with bitterness on his own head.

General Cadwalader, of Pennsylvania, indignant at the attempt to vilify the character of Washington, resolved to avenge himself on the aggressor in personal combat. The par

ticulars of this meeting are given in the biography of General Cadwalader. General Conway, conceiving his wound to be mortal, and believing death to be near, acted honourably in addressing to General Washington, whom he had perfidiously slandered, the following letter of apology:

"Philadelphia, Feb. 23, 1778. "Sir, I find myself just able to hold my pen during a few minutes, and take this opportunity of expressing my sincere grief for having done, written, or said any thing disagreeable to your excellency. My career will

soon be over, therefore, justice and truth prompt me to declare my last sentiments. You are, in my eyes, the great and good man. May you long enjoy the love, esteem, and veneration of these states, whose liberties you have asserted by your virtues.

I am, with the greatest respect,

Your Excellency's

Most obedient and humble servant,

THS. CONWAY."

WILLIAM RICHARDSON DAVIE,

Colonel-Commandant of the State Cavalry of North-Carolina.

COLONEL DAVIE was born in the village of Egremont, in England, on the 20th of June, 1759. His father, visiting South Carolina soon after the peace of 1763, brought with him this son; and returning to England, confided him to the Rev. William Richardson, his maternal uncle who becoming much attached to his nephew, not only took charge of his education, but adopted him as his son and heir. At the proper age, William was sent to an academy in North Carolina; from whence he was, after a few years, removed to the college of Nassau-Hall, in Princeton, New Jersey, then becoming the resort of most of the southern youth, under the auspices of the learned and respectable Dr. Witherspoon. Here he finished his education, graduating in the autumn of 1776, a year memorable in our military as well as civil annals.

Returning home, young Davie found himself shut out for a time from the army, as the commissions for the troops just levied had been

issued. He went to Salisbury, where he commenced the study of law. The war continuing, contrary to the expectations which generally prevailed when it began, Davie could no longer resist the wish to plant himself among the defenders of his country. Inducing a worthy and popular friend, rather too old for military service, to raise a troop of dragoons, as the readiest mode of accomplishing his object, Davie obtained a lieutenancy in this troop. Without delay the captain joined the southern army, and soon afterward returned home on a furlough. The command of the troop devolving on Lieutenant Davie, it was, at his request, annexed to the legion of Count Pulaski, where Captain Davie continued, until promoted by Major-General Lincoln to the station of brigade-major of cavalry. In this office Davie served until the affair at Stono, devoting his leisure to the acquirement of professional knowledge, and rising fast in the esteem of the general and army. When Lincoln attempted to dislodge LieutenantColonel Maitland from his entrenched camp on the Stono, Davie received a severe wound, and was removed from camp to the hospital in