Spain, in which these men (meaning the French corps) he said had been trained, told me they could not be restrained. Thus far he thought he could not give a more convincing proof of the sincerity of his professions than in the withdrawal of these troops, and that he had, moreover, just been employed in finding a new watering place on Back river in order to remove from Hampton, and to quiet the minds of the inhabitants. He assured me that in making such a pledge as he was doing, it should not be lightly regarded. That he would either send away these troops, or wait the arrival of others, for new operations. He concluded by expressing a hope that you, sir, would in future use no reserve in communicating any subject of impropriety; and on his part, that he should certainly do so, with a due regard to the liberality of your conduct; he hoped the subject was at rest.—I took my leave. I have the honour to be, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, JOHN MYERS, Capt and Aid-de-camp. Brigadier-General Robert B. Taylor, Norfolk. Extract of a Letter from General Taylor to Sir Sidney Beckwith, Quarter-Master-General, commanding the Land Force of His Britannic Majesty at Hampton Roads, dated Head-Quarters, July 5, 1813. I have now the honour to transmit to you the proceedings of the board of officers convened to enquire into the transactions at Craney Island. They doubtless will convince you that in that affair the American troops merited no censure; that their conduct was distinguished by humanity and magnanimity; and that the distance to which you were removed from the scene, by rendering it impossible that you could be informed of the motives of their conduct, unhappily led you to draw conclusions equally mistaken and unmerited. You have done me the justice to declare that the measures pursued by me, evince a disposition to permit in my troops no abuses on humanity or the laws of authorized war. As I cannot doubt the existence of similar sentiments with you, I have a right to expect on your part, measures equally decisive and unambiguous. If I have deemed it needful to forbid openly to my whole army all acts of impropriety, and to direct a public investigation of charges believed to be unmerited, but having the sanction of your imputation, I put it to your candour to determine, if excesses in your troops, admitted by yourself, and some of them of the most atrocious VOL. II. 3 H character, should pass unnoticed. My conduct and your declarations, give me a claim to ask that these excesses be punished. Your army will then learn the abhorrence you feel for such acts, and be restrained, by the fear of your indignation, from similar outrages. But if these admitted excesses are passed by, the impunity of the past will be construed by your troops into an encouragement of future outrages, and your own humane intentions be completely defeated. Neither can you be unmindful of the propriety of taking from my army the pretexts for impropriety, by a knowledge of effectual restraints on yours. I am fully impressed with the liberality of your conduct in promising to remove the troops who committed the outrages at Hampton, from the opportunity of repeating these enormities. But, besides that my confidence in the gallantry of the American troops forbids me to desire any diminution of your force, such a measure being liable to misconception by our own troops, might not attain your object. The rank and file of an army seldom reason very profoundly, and, however erroneously, might ascribe their withdrawal to the desertions which have on every opportunity taken place in that corps, and in their unwillingness, if any should have been displayed, to fire on the American troops. If this should unfortunately be the case, your force will be diminished, without securing the great ends of discipline and humanity, for which you had, with so much liberality, made the sacrifice. I am the more pressing on this subject, because I have reason to believe, that even since your assurance, though unquestionably against your wishes, very improper acts have been committed by the troops on James river. The domestic property of peaceable private citizens, respected by all civilized nations, has been pillaged, and what furnished no allurements to cupidity, has been wantonly defaced and destroyed. If such acts are either directed or sanctioned, it is important to us and to the world, to know what species of warfare the arms of Great Britain mean to wage. If authorized, it will be of little practical avail to know that the director of these arms entertains the most liberal personal dispositions, while these dispositions remain dormant and inoperative. If I am troublesome on this subject, charge it to my anxious desire that nothing may occur to embitter our own feelings and those of our respective nations. In the progress of the war charges of inhumanity have unhappily been frequent and reciprocal. I am not indifferent to the infamy which such a charge fixes on the officer, who either encon rages or permits it. I derive the highest satisfaction from the assurances you have given of similar sentiments. We have, sir, become enemies, by the sacred obligations we owe our respective countries. But on the great and expanded subject of human happiness, we should be friends by the sympathy of our feelings. Let us then cordially unite, and exercising effectually the powers with which our governments have invested us, give to our warfare a character of magnanimity, conferring equal honour on ourselves and on our countries. Extract from General Orders. Norfolk. Assistant Adjutant-General's Office, July 1st, 1813. The general commanding has deemed it proper to remonstrate against the excesses committed by the British troops who took possession of Hampton. It has been attempted to justify or palliate these excesses, on the ground of inhumanity in some of the troops at Craney Island, who are charged with having waded into the river and shot at the unresisting and yielding foe, who clung to the wreck of a boat which had been sunk by the fire of our guns. Humanity and mercy are inseparable from true courage, and the general knows too well the character of the troops under his command, to doubt their magnanimity towards an unresisting foe. It is equally due to the honour of the troops engaged, and to the hitherto unquestioned fame of the American arms for honour and clemency, that the imputation should be investigated. If the charge be well founded, the army must be purified by punishment for this abomination. If, as the commander hopes and believes, the conduct of our troops has been misconceived, the world should have an authentic record to repel the imputation. He therefore directs that a board of officers, to consist of colonel Freeman, president, lieutenant-colonels Boykin, Mason, and Read, do convene the day after to-morrow, at a place to be appointed by the president, for the purpose of investigating these charges, and report accordingly. JAMES MAURICE, Major, Act. Assist. Adj.-Gen. The Evidence having been gone through, the Board, after deliberate and mature consideration, do pronounce the following opinion: That it appears.from the testimony adduced, that on the 22d of last month, in the action at Craney Island, two of the enemy's boats, in front of their line, were sunk by the fire of our batteries, the soldiers and sailors who were in those boats were consequently afloat and in danger of drowning, and being in front of the boats which were uninjured, to disable these our guns were necessarily fired in a direction of the men in the water, but with no intention whatever to do them further harm, but on the contrary, orders were given to prevent this by ceasing to fire grape, and only to fire round shot. It also is substantiated that one of the enemy, who had apparently surrendered, advanced towards the shore, about 100 yards, when he suddenly turned to his right and endeavoured to make his escape to a body of the enemy who had landed above the island, and who were then in view, then, and not till then, was he fired upon, to bring him back, which had the desired effect, and he was taken unhurt to the island. It further appears that the troops on the island exerted themselves in acts of hospitality and kindness to the unresisting and yielding foe. Therefore the board do, with great satisfaction, declare, as their unbiassed opinion, that the charge alleged against the troops is unsupported, and that the character of the American soldiery for humanity and magnanimity, has not been committed, but on the contrary confirmed. (Signed) CONSTANT FREEMAN, Colonel Artillery, President. Lieutenant-Colonel commanding 5th Regt. Inf. Lieutenant-Colonel commanding 3d Regt. Inf. JOHN BARBER, Recorder. Copy of a Note from Sir Sidney Beckwith to General Taylor, dated His Majesty's Ship San Domingo, July 6, 1813. Quarter-master-general sir Sidney Beckwith begs leave to return his best acknowledgments to general Taylor for his polite communication, and to repeat his earnest wish that military operations should be carried on with all the liberality and humanity which becomes the respective nations. Any infringement of the established usages of war will instantly be noticed and punished. 4 Sir, Copy of a Letter from Midshipman M'Clintock to the Secretary of the Navy. Kinsale, Va. July 15, 1813. I have to inform you of the unfortunate event which occurred here on the 14th; the action between the British barges and the United States schooner Asp, commanded by Mr. Segourney. At 9, A. M., the Scorpion and Asp got under way from Yeocomico river and stood out; at 10, discovered a number of sail, which proved to be the enemy; the Scorpion then made signal to act at discretion, and stood up the river; the schooner being a bad sailer and the wind ahead, we were not able to get out. Finding the enemy approaching us, we thought it best to return; immediately two of the brigs stood towards us and anchored a short distance from the bar, where they manned their boats. Mr. Segourney thought it would be for our advantage to run further up the creek, which we did, but finding the enemy had left their vessels, we had no time to weigh anchor, therefore we were obliged to cut our cables. We were attacked by three boats well manned and armed, we continued a well-directed fire on them, and after a short time had elapsed, they were compelled to retreat, and obtain a reinforcement. About an hour after they retired, we were attacked by five boats; we continued doing the same as before, but having so few men, we were unable to repel the enemy. When they boarded us, they refused giving us any quarter; there were upwards of fifty men on our decks, which compelled us to leave the vessel, as the enemy had got possession. They put her on fire and retreated. A short time after they left her we went on board, and with much difficulty extinguished the flames. But it is with deep regret that I inform you of the death of Mr. Segourney, who fought most gallantly in defence of the vessel, and the utmost exertion was used by every man on board. Our crew only consisted of 21; there are ten killed, wounded, and missing. Your obedient servant, H. M. M'CLINTOCK, Midshipman in the U. S. Navy.', The Hon. W. Jones, Secretary of the Navy. Sir, Copy of a Despatch to his Excellency William Hawkins, Newbern, July 24. In compliance with your request I have made the following statement of facts relative to the late affair at Ocra |