duced by a regard for their rank, to remonstrate against this appointment.

Believing that, under these peculiar circumstances, the good of the service and the prosperity of the great cause for which we were contending, required his resignation, he tendered it to general Washington, assigning the above circumstances as the only cause. Sensible of the force of Major Macclintock's reasons, general Washington accepted his resignation, and he retired from the army much regretted by the commander in chief and all the general officers of his acquaintance. He returned home in 1779. Wishing to do something more in the service of his country, he embarked as captain of marines on board the private armed ship, general Sullivan, of 20 guns, captain Manning, commander, and having captured a British ship of war, they manned her to cruize in company. Major Macclintock was second to his friend, lieutenant Broadstreet, in command of this ship. In an enengagement in 1780, under great disadvantage, with two of the enemy's ships of vastly superior force, lieutenant Broadstreet's ship was captured and Major Macclintock was killed by a ball through his head. Thus fell as promising a young man as the state of New-Hampshire at that time contained.

MACPHERSON, WILLIAM, was the son of captain John Macpherson, a Scotch gentleman, who came to America about thirty years before the declaration of independence, and of Margaret Rodgers, the sister of the late Reverend Dr. John Rodgers, of New York. He was born in Philadelphia, in the year 1756, and there received the early part of his education, which was finished at Princeton, in New Jersey. At the age of thirteen he received the appointment of cadet in the British army, and before the declaration of independence, his father having purchased for him a lieutenant's commission, he was made adjutant of the 16th regiment. Mr. Macpherson was with his regiment at Pensacola, at the commencement of the revolutionary war, at which period he offered to resign his commission, but his resignation was not accepted. Several years afterwards, on the arrival of the 16th regiment at New York, sir Henry Clinton permitted Mr. Macpherson to resign his commission, in consequence of his declaring that he never would bear arms against his countrymen. He was not, however, allowed to sell his commission, for which his father had given a considerable sum of money. He joined the American army on the river Hudson, above New York, about the end of the year 1779, and as general Washington had known him for many years, and understood the value of the sacrifice he had made for the good of his country, the appoint

ment of major by brevet, in the American army, was conferred upon him.

Major Macpherson was for some time aid-de-camp to general La Fayette, and was afterwards appointed by general Washington to the command of a partizan corps of cavalry, which served in Virginia, in 1781. The appointment of so young an officer to so honorable a command, appears to have been a cause of dissatisfaction to the colonels and lieutenant colonels of the Pennsylvania line, and to have induced them to make application to general Washington on the subject, through the medium of generals Wayne and Irvine. It is believed that this circumstance never became public, the officers having been satisfied by the unanswerable arguments and irresistible appeals to their patriotism and honour, contained in the following letter from general Washington, dated 11th August, 1780, addressed to generals Wayne and Irvine: "Head Quarters, Tappan, August 11, 1780.

"GENTLEMEN,

"I cannot but premise my answer to your letter of yesterday, by observing, that the refusal of the colonels and lieutenant colonels of your line, to comply with my request for stating in writing their motives to the part they have taken in the affair of major Macpherson, is to me as extraordinary as unexpected. I assure you, I had not the least idea there could have been any difficulty in the matter, and had no other reason for desiring it, than that which I assigned to you; to prevent a possibility of misrepresentation.

"Though I consider the conduct of the gentlemen concerned as extremely exceptionable, in every point of view, yet as I attribute it to misapprehension, as I have a good opinion of their intentions, and the highest sense of their patriotism, their zeal for the service, their talents and merit; as I should esteem their resignation an injury to the army, not only by the loss of so many good officers, but by deranging a very valuable corps of troops; as I wish the motives to the step I have taken, to be well understood by them, I shall recapitulate the substance of the conversation which passed between us at our interview, and request you once more, to call their attention to it, before they come to a final determination. I wish them to be assured that on the appointment of major Macpherson, I did not imagine it could, by any construction, be deemed injurious to their rights, or prejudicial to their honour; and that they cannot be more tender of both, themselves, than I have been, and ever should be: that though I have the best opinion of that gentleman's qualifications, the choice of him was not founded on any preference derogatory to them; that from the fullest information of the practice of

all other armies, I was convinced the appointment was agreeable to military rule; that it appeared to me, by the articles of war, and repeated resolutions of congress, to be agreeable to our own constitution; that the estimation in which Mr. Macpherson seemed to be held by the whole Pennsylvania line; the former application of some of the officers to me in his behalf; the sacrifice he made to his principles, by quitting a service in which he had a handsome existence; his being a native of the same state, and a man of acknowledged capacity and worth, left me no doubt that the officers of your line would, with pleasure, see him placed in a situation, which would enable him to be useful to the public, and to do credit to himself.

"A command in the light corps offered itself as an unexceptionable mode for answering this purpose. Corps formed by detachments are the usual method in which brevet officers are employed; as they cannot be introduced into regiments without displacing other officers, or violating the right of succession; both of which are justly deemed injurious in every service. But the reasoning is new, by which the employing such officers in detached corps, is made an infringement of the rights of regimental officers. Military rank, and an elegibility to military command, are ideas which cannot be separated. Take away the latter, and the former becomes an unmeaning sound. The principle being admitted, would in our army degrade many officers who have every claim to the consideration of their country, and to the justice of their fellow soldiers, some of whom have been in the army since the commencement of the war; have relinquished regimental stations, by which, in the natural course of succession, they would have been higher in rank than they now are; have made as great sacrifices as many others; and yield to none in merit or in useful service. To wish to exclude them from the most essential privilege of an officer, is alike inconsistent with justice and generosity; and on cooler reflection, the liberality of sentiments, which I believe the gentlemen concerned to possess, will not suffer them to persist in such a design.

"The practice of other armies, in all cases not expressly provided for, is the best standard by which we can form our notions, and it would have obviated many difficulties, if it had been been better known, or more attended to. If particular officers are to depart from that, and set up new distinctions as it suits their interest or fancy, there is an end to all order and subordination. Every thing is set afloat upon the precarious footing of as many different opinions as there are individuals that compose the army. It is too notorious to be denied, that the practice of other armies, (not less than our

own) warrants the appointment of major Macpherson to his present command. I understand, however, from you, gentlemen, that a line has been drawn, and applied to the present case, between temporary and permanent commands: admitting this distinction to be good, detachments which are again to return to their corps, can be deemed nothing else than temporary commands; whether they are out for a week, for a month, or for a campaign, they are still temporary. The permanent commands are of regiments, and other established corps: if we appeal to precedent, here also we shall find the period for brevet commands indefinite.

"You inform me that a distinction was also made between a detachment from one line, and a detachment from different lines, and that no objection would have arisen if the corps to which major Macpherson was appointed, had been composed partly of Pennsylvania and partly of other troops. Though there are particular quotas of troops furnished by the several states, the whole compose one army, and the commissions are from the same authority, with different designations: all detachments, therefore, whether from one line, or from more than one, must be subject to the same rules; and if a brevet is not to operate upon a detachment from one line, I see no principle upon which it can have effect in detachments from different lines, united together.

"If it be allowed that brevet commissions create a capability of temporary command by detachment, and that the light infantry answers to this description, then the propriety of appointing major Macpherson can only be questioned on two principles; a want of qualifications, or being appointed out of course. The first would be inadmissible, because the officer commanding the army has alone the right to judge, and if he made an injudicious choice, the officers might entertain what private opinions they pleased, but they could not make it the subject of official complaint. If it be said, major Macpherson was appointed out of course, and that the officers of light infantry should be taken by roster, as in the common routine of service, let the practice of armies, as in the other case, be recurred to, and it will be found that no regard is paid to the roster in similar corps. It is an undisputed privilege of the commander in chief to officer them as he pleases.

"The same was done last year, nor would scarcely an officer then in the corps have been appointed, if the principle in question had been observed. No objection, however, that I ever heard of, was made on the score, and why should the officers of the Pennsylvania line be singular in making it now? or why not make it in the case of colonel Stewart, as well as

of major Macpherson? His appointment, no more than that of the latter, can be justified by the roster. The good sense of every officer of discernment must decide against this rule for a variety of obvious considerations.

"For these reasons, and others equally decisive, it is impossible for me to revoke the appointment. I view the measure the gentlemen concerned have entered into, as peculiarly intemperate, hasty, and ill-judged. I sincerely hope they may be induced to re-consider it, and change their resolution. On my part, I shall be happy to forget what has happened, and to continue to them the same share of my esteem, which they have merited and possessed. I am persuaded their rights in the present case are untouched. I am conscious I had no intention to injure them. I cannot pretend an indifference to the conduct they may observe, because, as I have already confessed, I shall consider their quitting the service, as a serious detriment to it. They ought also, as good citizens and good men, to realize the consequences, and to assure themselves they act upon substantial grounds, before they venture to execute what they have intimated. They ought to recollect that they cannot hereafter be happy, if they find their conduct condemned by the country and by the army, especially if it has been the cause of any misfortune. They should remember that we have actually entered upon the operations of the campaign; that we are men in the vicinity of the enemy, and in a position that makes an action not very improbable, perhaps (if my intelligence is true) not very remote. When they duly weigh these things, they cannot but be sensible that the love of their country; the obligations of their respective stations; what they owe to their own characters, and to that discipline which ought to be sacred among military men; all these motives call upon them to relinquish the intention they have suggested. It is true, we have not many considerations of interest to attach us to the service; but we have those of honour and public good in a high degree, and I flatter myself these ties will not prove too feeble.

"I wish you to communicate this letter as well to the majors as to the other field officers; and if they still persist, I shall think I have discharged my duty to them and to the public. "I am, with great esteem,

Gentlemen,

Generals Wayne and Irvine."

Your most obedient servant,
GO: WASHINGTON.

The foregoing letter, the original of which in general Washington's hand-writing, is now in the possession of a member of general Macpherson's family, shows very clearly the high