Virginia Argus

HUMANITY AND MAGNANIMITY THE CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF VIRGINIANS.

The excesses lately committed by the British at Hampton have induced the Gentleman, who, some time since, communicated to us a valuable letter from Gen. Washington to Col Woodford, &c. to transmit for publication in our columns the account which he gives of the humanity and magnanimity of the Virginians; after the affair at the Great Bridge, in the Historical Work which now employs his attention.

Virginians of the present day, read this, and exult in being the sons of such sires! At the same time that you retrace their intrepidity and manly ardor, never cease to emulate their delicacy of sentiment, their generous humanity! The atrocious conduct of the British must, from those reactions which obtain in a moral as well as in a physical sense, recoil tenfold upon their own heads. The vengeance of Heaven, if not yours, will inevitably overtake them; and both through the present, and through future generations, this defender of the faith, this bulwark of our holy religion, must be loaded with universal execration. Humanity is founded on an immutable basis: woe to the nation that attempts to shake its eternal laws and obliterate its sacred principles! That nation is mad, worse than mad.—Englishmen, will you henceforth dare to rail, and scoff, and shudder at French excesses? Look at yourselves—We deprecate not, we fear not your deeds of valor in fair and honorable warfare—but away with your rapine, conflagrations and brutality! away with your flagitious, wanton, unprofitable barbarism! If your leaders can yet blush, let their cheeks crimson at what has been achieved, at what is further intended!—Spirit of Albion, now, indeed art thou a fallen spirit!!—But to our friend's interesting extract from his Manuscript History of Virginia. We regret that the limits of our paper do not permit us to insert his narrative of the whole transaction at the Great Bridge.

The humanity of the Virginians after the battle was no less conspicuous than their intrepidity during the engagement. The wounded prisoners were treated with a delicate, if not, indeed, tender attention. The gallant Fordyce was interred with all the military honors due to his rank, and the sympathy, as well as the admiration of his conquerors attended him to the tomb. The British commander was allowed to remove and bury his other dead, on condition of not firing on the Virginia troops, during the performance of this sacred and melancholy office. Lieutenant Battut could not resist an inclination to inform the King's troops of the humane and generous treatment which he experienced. At his request, Ensign Holmes was dispatched with a flag of truce, and the Lieutenant's letter. He returned with the following answer from the Commander of the British fort: "Capt. Leslie presents his compliments to Mr. Battut, and returns Col. Woolford his sincere thanks for his kind treatment of the prisoners. He is happy Mr. Battut's wound is so slight, but is extremely sorry for the loss of poor Fordyce."

"Amid the turbulent scenes of civil discord. and the bloody conflicts of angry war, whenever any of those amiable and generous affections which ennoble and dignify our nature, happens to gleam through the sombre tints of the subject before the historian, his feelings are irresistibly soothed into delight, and his heart dilates with manly exultation. This remark applies with peculiar force to the present occurrence. We dwell with complacency on the affecting contrast between the conduct of Dunmore and that of the Americans.—On one side, systematic treachery, implacable rancor and a flagrant violation of almost every principle in civilized and social life—the ruthless Indian, and the no less ferocious slave, arrayed against a colony entitled to redress and forbearance—the terrors of martial law wantonly conjured up to dragoon a kindred race of freemen into an unconditional surrender of their inherent and essential rights .....On the other, a reluctant but just and necessary appeal to arms, when all remonstrance fails—and, in the bosom of victory, a magnanimous oblivion of accumulated wrongs—a pious regard to the feelings of humanity—a ready tribute to the gallantry of the foe—a proud acquiescence in all the usages of civilized war'—Nor was this temperate and honorable spirit confined to Woodford and his army. All the documents before us, both public and private, evince its universal prevalence. I have "been sensibly touched with a letter from a member "of the Convention to the commander of the "Virginia forces with the treatment of the "officers and soldiers made prisoners in the "late attempt upon your breast work. I "cannot refrain from expressing my appro- "bation of a Conduct, which must do honor, "through your delicacy of sentiment, to our "national character. To make war against "humanity is not our object, but to "take up arms against a tyrannical system "of oppression becomes the good and the "brave. When, through the chance of war, "any of our fellow subjects, though differ- "ing in political opinions fall into our hands, "not only the rites of humanity should be "shown to them, but the utmost tenderness "and affection., as it is obvious that they are "not the authors of our present calamities. "In all cases, the vanquished are entitled "to lenity. The Convention not only thank, "but honor you on the present occasion, and "applaud your paying the highest tribute "to the memory of the brave Captain For- "dyce. Such magnanimity will exhibit your "character in a most favorable light to your "fellow citizens."
"Friends and countrymen."—Other communications expressed in substance the same sentiments; and the solemn homage of the Convention soon crowned these private eulogies.

*Mr. John Banister was the writer of this letter. The other communications alluded to were from Edmund Pendleton, John Page, &c. &c.

Dec. 12, 1775. Resolved unanimously, that the Convention highly approve of Col. Woodford's conduct, manifested as well in the success of the troops under his command, as in the humane treatment of, and kind attention to, the unfortunate, tho' brave officers and soldiers, who were made prisoners in the late action near the Great Bridge, and that the President communicate to Col. Woodford the sense of his country upon the occasion.

Proceedings of the Convention, &c.