The Virginia Gazette

To Mr. PURDIE.

SIR,

INFLUENCED by a concern for the best interest of those who have put their lives in jeopardy to defend the rights of America, I have determined to address myself to them in a few letters, in which I shall keep the common soldiers in Virginia chiefly in my view; and I request, when it will not prevent your inserting things of greater moment, that you would give them a conveyance through the medium of your Gazette. I flatter myself you will not deny the favour, when I assure you that I do not mean to amuse them with trifles, nor to gain the character of an elegant writer, but rather to call their attention to things deeply interesting, in plain decent language. Please to excuse me to Montanus, who made his appearance in your paper a few weeks ago, for assuming his name. The place of my residence suggests to me the propriety of my subscribing myself your most obedient humble servant,

MONTANUS.

LETTER I.

To the OFFICERS of the Virginia Army.

GENTLEMEN,

While the present situation of America, is only known to the sovereign disposer of all events. The cause, however, in which we are embarked, is just. You are now standing in defence of those inestimable rights which the KING of HEAVEN has conferred upon all, and of which no man, nor body of men, can deprive another, without being guilty of robbery and sacrilege. Therefore, the success of your undertaking is most devoutly to be wished and expected. It is my daily prayer to ALMIGHTY GOD that his blessing may attend you, that he would make you patterns of every manly and Christian virtue, and defend you from the destroying sword; that he would preserve you from sickness and every contagious disease, and from the still more pernicious contagion of vice; that you may be quickly returned in triumph to the tender embraces of your friends, and into the glowing bosom of your country; or, if you are prevented by death, that you may triumph in glory. If the soldiers are preserved from the contamination of vice, they will ever be entitled to the highest esteem of every friend to our UNITED STATES; but if they become vicious, every good man must shudder at the melancholy consequences. Could I contribute the smallest mite to prevent the one, and promote the other, I should think myself extremely happy. This I shall attempt in a few letters. I hope my unfeigned regards for our armies will be a sufficient apology for the freedom I shall use in my addresses; and if they merit your approbation, I need not solicit you to patronise them, and to recommend them to the men under your command. Give me leave, gentlemen, with the greatest seriousness, to remind you, that there are many youth, raw unexperienced youth, removed from the inspection of watchful tender parents, and now put under your immediate care. Their parents consented to this, with a cheerfulness scarcely to be equalled in any instance. They hoped, and confided, agreeable to the ordinance of our Convention in the case, that you would be the guardians of their moral conduct, and not suffer gaming, profaneness, and debauchery, to prevail amongst them. They justly expected, that you would exert yourselves to make the army, not a seminary of vice, but a school of virtue. I hope that from a principle of benevolence you will cheerfully do this, and not give such worthy parents the inexpressible pain of a disappointment. To these youth you are substituted in the place of parents; and you are accountable to their natural parents, to your country, and to your GOD, for the faithful discharge of the important trust. If vice prevails in our camps shame will soon publish it throughout the country; it will greatly alarm and discourage the inhabitants, and cause many to repent that ever their sons entered into the service under your command, and to do every thing in their power to recall them as soon as the time for which they were enlisted is expired. It will also discourage sober and virtuous youth from entering into the service, for the future: so that beginning with a high hand will probably, in all these respects, be attended with the most fatal consequences. And besides, if licentiousness prevails among the soldiery, is it not greatly to be feared that they are ripening for a final defeat, and not for victory? Or, if the LORD should mercifully prosper our arms, consider how deplorable will be the consequences, should these brave men, after proving successful in repelling the invaders of our country, return home dissolute and abandoned, not to be useful honourable members of the commonwealth, but to corrupt and debauch our youth of both sexes, or to deluge the country with rapine and violence, and every species of wickedness. I shall not now bring into the list the judgments of GOD, in the life to come, against the workers of iniquity; but every wise politician will assert, that "justice, temperance, frugality, and virtue, are essentially necessary for the preservation of a free state;" and that, in the revolution of a few years, by indulging the reverse of these, we must lose what we are now maintaining with an infinite expense of blood and treasure. Endeavour then, gentlemen, by every powerful persuasive, by the proper exertion of your authority, and by your own laudable example, to discountenance every kind and every act of vice; and to recommend every political, social, and moral virtue, in your respective spheres. Duty, benevolence, humanity, and the love of GOD and man, with united voice, call upon you to exert your utmost influence; and this call, I hope, and believe, you will cheerfully obey. I beg leave to add a short account of a scene which must have been very affecting to you, had you been present. A gentleman of my acquaintance, who lately paid a visit to the army, on his return, had the pleasure to assure a number of his neighbours of the laudable and virtuous behaviour of their sons. The agreeable intelligence so transported them with joy that language failed them, but the tears which flowed from their eyes indicated the tender and pious feelings of their hearts. This has confirmed me in the opinion, that many parents could hear, with less durable pain, that their sons had continued to behave themselves like men and Christians, until they were slain in battle, than that they were living and indulging themselves in the violation of the precepts of our most holy religion. I repeat my request, gentlemen, that you will communicate my future letters to your men, and thereby give me the privilege of testifying with how much respect and affection I am your and their sincere friend and humble servant,

MONTANUS.

WILLIAMSBURG, Aug. 30.