The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

From the Pennsylvania Packet.

To the feelings of a mother, with a few remarks on the opposite conduct of your nation. All the horrors of distress which you have felt have been experienced by many mothers, wives and sisters on this side of the Atlantic. To you it is needless to describe what the sensation must be in the breast of a lady, who is informed that her son, brother or husband is destined to the gallows. It is acknowledged that Capt. Asgill is possessed of great merit, but give me leave to add, that this country has produced characters as brave and as respectable, who though equally innocent have been put to death by order of your officers. The southern States are filled with widows, orphans, and bereft mothers, made so by British executions. Lord Cornwallis, Lord Rawdon, Colonel Balfour & Colonel Brown, have realized to many of your sex, those very evils, the bare expectation of which has filled you with inconceivable distress. The late Col. Hayne in bravery and personal merit was not inferior to your son. I, who have a thorough knowledge of all circumstances, can with justice add, he was no more guilty, and yet he suffered on the gallows by order of Lord Rawdon and Colonel Balfour. The only crime ever laid to his charge by his murderers was, that he bore arms with the Americans after submitting to the royal government. One single argument destroys the apology for the execution. - He had as good a right to rejoin his countrymen as he had to join the British. If the principle is adopted, that the inhabitants of a country may change their allegiance with their masters, he had the same authority for the second scene that he had for the first. All who knew him acknowledge his great worth, that virtue, honor and public spirit were the ruling principles of his conduct. Possessed of all these amiable qualities and the father of four children, he was notwithstanding deliberately put to death. The ladies of Charlestown preferred the following petition, which was refused. After reading it you will better judge what hearts the commanding officers must have had to be able to withstand such melting arguments. His sister in law, with his four motherless children presented herself on her bended knees to Lord Rawdon and Col. Balfour, but without any effect. They doubtless represent, on your side of the ocean, that this barbarity was dictated by policy, but they who knew all its circumstances are convinced, that it proceeded from mean, low pitiful revenge. They had wrote home pompous accounts of their victories and represented the country as compleatly conquered. When Lord Rawdon was drove from all his posts in the upper country, and compelled to seek safety in flight, his pride was so mortified, that in a fit of despair, revenge and chagrin, he sacrificed this worthy man to the ghost of his departed military fame. Your nation was once brave, and they were also humane. But how are they changed? A noble Lord hangs where he cannot conquer, and breaks through the tenderest ties of human nature to make some reparation for his lost honor. Contrast this conduct with that of the Americans. I can assure you that the tear of generous sympathy flowed from many eyes on behalf of your son, when destined to an untimely end. The conduct of our rulers in sparing his life, is generally approved, though many think that the higher feelings, national honor and character, are thereby sacrificed to the finer feelings of humanity. The bare reading of your pathetic letter had its effect on the feelings of this country, so as to soften them into lenient measures but your officers were unmoved by the following petition, and the more melting eloquence of 4 children, accompanied by the sister of their deceased mother, on her bended knees, soliciting for the life of a brother and a father, equally innocent and worthy as your son. The contrast must strike you in the most forcible manner. May my country build her fame on the noble and exalted virtues of generosity and humanity. May yours repent of her many deliberate murders, cease from her ambition, and once more restore peace to contending nations.

AN AMERICAN.

[The petition referred to will be in our next.]