To this letter, a haughty and intemperate answer was returned, retorting the complaints concerning the treatment of prisoners, and affecting to consider it as an instance of clemency, that the cord was not applied to those whose imprisonment was complained of. To this answer, General Washington gave a manly and dignified reply, which was, he said, "to close their correspondence perhaps forever;" and which concluded with saying, "If your officers, our prisoners, receive from me a treatment different from what I wished to show them, they and you will remember the occasion of it."
The result of this correspondence was communicated to the council of Massachusetts,[18] who were requested to order the British officers then on parole to be confined in close jail, and the soldiers to be sent to such place of security as the general court should direct.
On the recall of General Gage, the command devolved on General Howe, whose conduct was less exceptionable; and this rigorous treatment of prisoners was relaxed.
Not long after this correspondence with General Gage, while Montgomery was employed in the siege of St. John's, Colonel Ethan Allen was captured in a bold and rash attempt on Montreal. Under the pretext of his having acted without authority, he was put in irons, and sent to England as a traitor.
While he was yet in Canada, congress requested the Commander-in-chief to inquire into the fact. He addressed a letter to Sir William Howe, requiring explanations on it, and assuring him that General Prescot, who had been taken in Canada, and was understood to have contributed to the severities inflicted on Colonel Allen, should receive exactly the fate of that officer.
General Howe, not holding any authority in Canada, or not choosing to enter fully into this subject, General Schuyler was directed to make particular inquiries into the conduct of Prescot; and congress, on being informed of the inefficacy of the application to General Howe, ordered that officer into close jail.
CHAPTER III.
Invasion of Canada meditated.... Siege of St. John's.... Capture of fort Chamblée.... Carleton defeated at Longueisle.... St. John's capitulated.... Montreal surrenders.... Arnold's expedition.... He arrives before Quebec.... Retires to Point Aux Trembles.... Montgomery lays siege to Quebec.... Unsuccessful attack on that place.... Death of Montgomery.... Blockade of Quebec.... General Thomas takes command of the army.... The blockade raised.... General Sullivan takes the command.... Battle of the Three Rivers.... Canada evacuated.... General Carleton constructs a fleet.... Enters lake Champlain.... Defeats the American flotilla.... Takes possession of Crown Point.... Retires into winter quarters.
1775