september ii 1778 the number 445 north-c^rolin^l gazette with the lateft advices foreign and domestic semper pro libert ate et bono publico to the e arl of carlisle mr lord as you in conjunction with your brother commiftion ers have thought proper to make one more iruitiefs negotiator y eflay permit me through your lord fhip once m re to addrefs the brother ho<_d it is certainly to be lamented that gentlemen fo accom plished ftioold be fo unfortunate particularly my lord it is to be regretted that you fhould be raifed up as the topltone to a pyramid of blunders on behalf of america i have to entreat that you will pardon their congrefs for any want of politenefs in not anfwering your letter you may remember that in their laft letter they hated certain terms as preliminaries to a negotiation ; and 1 am fure your lord/hip's candour will do them the juitice to acknowledge hat they are not apt to tread back the ftcps they have taken ' e addition to this it fo happens that they are at p-cfcnt very in jjiftr-nt whether or not your king and parliament acknowledge leir independence and ftill more indifferent as to the withdraw ing his fleets and armies you miltake the matter exceedingly when you fuppofe that any perfon in america wifties to pr long the calamities of var no my lord we have had enough of them in all confeience ; but the fault lies wi.h vou or your mailer or fome of the people he has about him congrefs when sir william howe landed on sia ten ifland met him with their declaration of independence they adhered to it in the mod perilous circunftances they put their lives upon the iffbe nay their honour now in the came of common fenfe how can you fuppofe they will relinquilh this object in the prefent moment ? i am fully of your lord'hip's opinion when you decline any difpute with congrefs about the meaning of the term indepen dence they would have infinite advantage ever you logically ; but ha is worfe they are politically in capacity to put upon the term juft what conftruftion they pica it . nay my lord e verm uy great britain mull acknowledge juft fuch an indepen dence as congrefi thick proper ; they are now in the full poftefli on and enjoyment of it how idle in you to talk of enfuring or enlarging what is out of your power and cannot be encreafed ! you give two reapns for not withdrawing your fleets and ar mies the firft is that you keep them here by way of precauti on aoainft your ancient enemies really my lord i was at a lofs for f-.me rime to comprehend the force of this reafoning or how a bi dy of men in this country and a large fleet could pro tect you aoaintt an invafion fr>rn france and i am even now perhaps miltaken when i luppcfe that your fea and l.i^d forces have been kept here to draw the attehtion of your enemies to this quarter and leave their coaft expc.fed that fo yea may have an opportunity of invading france if this was the ubjift it hath had the di fired cffcft your strmtes are doobtlefs affcmbled in readinels t.»r the defcent which confiderln the unprovided itate of thar country cannot but prove fuccefsful i aud herefore i congratulate your lordlhip on the fair profpeft you erj y of fee ing your fovereign make h:s triumphant entry through the gaies v paris your fecond reafon for s?ving here is to proteft the tories pray my lord eafe yoar mind upon that fubjeffc let them take care of theirifelves the li:tle ones may be pardor.ed whenever they apply the great ones have joined you from confcienrious or from interested motives the firft in having dene what they thought right will find fufficient comfort the laft deferve none i offer you this confol&tion my lord becaufe we both know ihat you cannot protect the tcries and btcaufc there is every reafon to believe lhac you cannot proceed your felves you have it feems determined your judgment bj what you conceive to be the intercft of your country and you propefe to abide by your declarations in every poffible fituation i rather imagine that you arc determined by your inflections j bat if o therwife furely my lord you are not to learn that circumftan ccs may materially alter the intercft of your country and you conceptions of it the decifion of fume military events which y u did not wait for would put you in a fituation to fpeak to congrefs in much more decent terms than thule coataincd in your laft letter but you want to know my lord what treaties we have enter ed into in pity to your nerves congrefs have kept back this knowledge ic will make ihc boldelt among you tremble as we are not about to negotiate at prelect there is no nerd of the communication however to fatisfy your cariofiiy as far as aft individual can i pray you to recollect that the marquis de noailles told you his court when they formed an alliance with america had taken eventual mcafures you cannot but know that a french fleet is now hovering on the coaft near you draw your own conclulions my oti it is a m;>ft diverting circumstance to hear you afk congreft what power they have to treat after crt ring to enter into treaty with them and being refufed but i mail be glad to know by what authority you call on them for this uifcovery the count de vergennes had a right to it but the earl of carlifle certainly has not ltt me add my lord that in making the requeft there is a degree of afperity not fuited to your fituation when y were in the arms of victory we pardoned an infojsnce which had become habitual to your nation we fhali referve it if prefervei when you are rtdaced to the lowed pitch of wretchednefs but in the prefect moment when you certainly cannot terrify and have not fu ire red fo as to deferve pity fuch language is quite improper and it forces from me certain fads which i nm forry to mention as they ihovv your mailers to be wicked beyond all ex ample • when they found that an alliance was actually en the carpet between his moft chriftian majdty and thefe dates they offered to cede a part of the eait indies to give equal privileges to the african trade and to divide the filhenej provided they might be a liberty to ravage america and when that would not do they told the french u.initlry that it was abfurd to treat with cor.grefs ; tha they were faithlcfs ; nay that the bargain was actually ftruck for the purchafe of america and money to the amount of half a million fen over to pay the price thefe tr.y lord are fads fads which will hang up to eternal infamy che names of your rultrs the french my lord laughed at tha meannefs and falfrhood of thefe declarations but they futfer