The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

For the New-Hampshire Gazette.

To the honorable Committee of Safety for the State of New-Hampshire.

The Petition of Forlorn Hope, lately an Officer in the Continental Army, humbly sheweth, That your Petitioner in the month of May 1775, (roused by the oppressions under which his country groaned, and grieved at the cries of her distress,) forsook the peaceful sweets of tranquil retirement, bid adieu to the soft allurements of domestic ease, and repaired to arms. That since that period his life has been devoted to his country, & his labors to her service. Once only in that long round of time, was he indulged an interview with the dearest pledges of his conjugal felicity, whom he had left behind, and a sight of the little spot, which (cultivated by his own hands) used to yield them support. Bunker-Hill received his first offerings as a soldier, Brandy-Wine and Germantown, have been witnesses of his service. The wounds he received in the battle of Monmouth, bear testimony to his sufferings, and the fatigues and dangers he passed through at Wyoming, are proofs, that he neither shrunk from his duty, nor lie hid in the hour of danger. In all the perils and hardships of eight tedious campaigns, he has had his share, nor quitted he the standard of his country, till Peace waved her snowy banners o'er the land, and Liberty had made her residence secure. Having obtained the desirable end, for which he first took the field, he was dismissed with approbation by his illustrious commander, and returned with laurels to his home. But alas! what are laurels against the distresses of poverty, & the dire apprehensions of immediate want? while he has been fighting the battles of his country, his little patrimony has laid untilled, and his estate has been hastening to decay. Not having received his promised wages; he has the gloomy prospect of soon seeing his little family reduced to extremities, & himself suffering in the land he has jeoparded his life & spilt his blood to defend. It is with pain he is compelled to observe, that many of his fellow-soldiers, are also his fellow sufferers, that every day is adding to the number, and enlarging the scene of their distress. Your petitioner is aware, that the finances of the State are embarrassed, and that inability more than disinclination, is the cause of their increasing calamity. But while misfortunes like thick clouds are gathering round them, and miseries in long succession, like devouring waves, are threatening to overwhelm them: it is with astonishment he is told, that the confiscated property of those, whom he has faced in the field, and who have drawn the sword against him, is sufficient to give them immediate relief; but that it yet remains unappropriated and unsold. Far be it from your petitioner, to remonstrate with your Honors; but with deference he begs leave to observe, he cannot with justice be kept out of pay, that has been so long and so justly due, while there are estates in the Government, upon which the soldier has so just a claim. Your petitioner therefore humbly requests, that your Honors would take his case into your most serious consideration, and in your wisdom order so much of the Refugees property to be immediately sold, as will relieve him and his suffering brethren, from the distresses that are hastening with rapid progress upon them. And your petitioner as in duty bound will ever pray, &c.

FORLORN HOPE.

Strafford County, June 21, 1783.