Vernon, on hearing of what had passed, gave orders that Mr. Laurens should be permitted to walk out, and this exercise was in consequence thereof resumed, after an intermission of two months and a half.

About this time [Feb. 26, 1781] an old friend and mercantile correspondent, having solicited the secretaries of state for Mr. Laurens's enlargement on parole, and having offered his whole fortune as security for his good conduct, sent him the following message: "Their lordships say, if you will point out any thing for the benefit of Great Britain, in the present dispute with the colonies, you shall be enlarged." This proposition filled him with indignation, and provoked a sharp reply, part of which was in the following words: "I perceive from the message you sent me, that if I were a rascal I might presently get out of the Tower, but I am not. You have pledged your word and fortune for my integrity. I will never dishonour you nor myself. I can foresee what will come to pass. Happen to me what may, I fear no possible consequences."

The same friend soon after [March 7] visited Mr. Laurens, and being left alone with him, addressed him as follows: "I converse with you this morning, not particularly as your friend, but as the friend of Great Britain. I have certain propositions to make for obtaining your liberty, which I advise you should take time to consider." Mr. Laurens desired to know what they were, and added, "That an honest man required no time to give an answer, in a case where his honour was concerned. If," said he, "the secretaries of state will enlarge me upon parole, I will strictly conform to my engagement to do nothing directly or indirectly to the hurt of this kingdom. I will return to America, or remain in any part of England which may be assigned, and surrender myself when demanded." It was answered, "No, sir, you must stay in London among your friends: the ministers will often have occasion to send for and consult you: you can write two or three lines to the ministers, and barely say you are sorry for what is past. A pardon will be granted: every man has been wrong, at some time or other of his life, and should not be ashamed to acknowledge it." Mr. Laurens replied, "I will never subscribe to my own infamy, and to the dishonour of my children." He was then told of long and painful confinement, and hints were thrown out of the possible consequences of his refusal to which he replied, "I am afraid of no consequences but such as would flow from dishonourable acts."

In about a week after this interview, Major-general James Grant, who had long been acquainted with Mr. Laurens, and had served with him near twenty years before, on an expedition against the Cherokee Indians, visited him in the Tower, and talked much of the inconveniences of his situation, and then addressed him thus: "Colonel Laurens, I have brought paper and pencil to take down any propositions you have to make to the administration, and I will deliver them myself." Mr. Laurens replied, "I have

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pencil and paper, but not one proposition, beyond repeating a request to be enlarged on parole. I had well weighed what consequences might follow before I entered into the present dispute. I took the path of justice and honour, and no personal evils can cause me to shrink."

About this time, Lieutenant-colonel Laurens, the eldest son of Henry Laurens, arrived in France, as the special minister of Congress. The father was requested to write to the son to withdraw himself from the court of France, and assurances were given that it would operate in his favour. To these requests he replied, "My son is of age, and has a will of his own; if I should write to him in the terms you request, it would have no effect: he would only conclude, that confinement and persuasion had softened me. I know him to be a man of honour; he loves me dearly, and would lay down his life to save mine; but I am sure he would not sacrifice his honour to save my life, and I applaud him."

[June 29.] Mr. Laurens penciled an address to the secretaries of state for the use of pen and ink, to draw a bill of exchange on a merchant in London who was in his debt, for money to answer his immediate exigencies, and to request that his youngest son might be permitted to visit him, for the purpose of concerting a plan for his farther education and conduct in life. This was delivered to their lordships; but they, though they had made no provision for the support of their prisoner, returned no answer. Mr. Laurens was thus left to languish in confinement under many infirmities, and without the means of applying his own resources on the spot, for his immediate support.

As soon as Mr. Laurens had completed a year in the Tower, he was called upon to pay nine pounds seven shillings and ten pence sterling to the two warders for attending on him. To which he replied, "I was sent to the Tower by the secretaries of state without money (for aught they knew)

their lordships have never supplied me with any thing-it is now upwards of three months since I informed their lordships that the fund I had hitherto subsisted upon was nearly exhausted, and prayed for leave to draw a bill on Mr. John Nutt, who was in my debt, which they have been pleased to refuse by the most grating of all denials, a total silence, and now a demand is made for nine pounds seven shillings and ten pence. If their lordships will permit me to draw money where it is due to me, I will continue to pay my own expenses, but I will not pay the warders whom I never employed, and whose attendance I shall be glad to dispense with."

Three weeks after, the secretaries of state consented that Mr. Laurens should have the use of pen and ink, for the purpose of drawing a bill of exchange, but they were taken away the moment that business was done.

About this time, Henry Laurens, jun., wrote an humble request to Lord Hillsborough, for permission to see his father, which his lordship refused

to grant. He had at first been permitted to visit his father and converse with him for a short time; but these interviews were no longer permitted They nevertheless occasionally met on the lines and saluted each other, but durst not exchange a single word, lest it might occasion a second confinement, similar to that to which Lord George Gordon had been accessary. As the year 1781 drew near a close, Mr. Laurens's sufferings in the Tower became generally known, and excited compassion in his favour, and odium against the authors of his confinement. It had been also found, by the inefficacy of many attempts, that no concessions could be obtained from him. It was, therefore, resolved to release him, but difficulties arose about the mode. Mr. Laurens would not consent to any act, which implied that he was a British subject, and he had been committed as such, on charge of high treason. Ministers, to extricate themselves from this difficulty, at length proposed to take bail for his appearance at the court of King's Bench. When the words of the recognisance, "Our sovereign lord the King," were read to Mr. Laurens, he replied in open court, "Not my sovereign," and with this declaration he, with Mr. Oswald and Mr. Anderson as his securities, entered into an obligation for his appearance at the court of King's Bench the next Easter term, and for not departing thence without leave of the court. Thus ended a long and a painful farce. Mr. Laurens was immediately released. When the time of his appearance at court drew near, he was not only discharged from all obligations to attend, but was requested by Lord Shelburne to go to the continent, in subserviency to a scheme for making peace with America. Mr. Laurens, startled at the idea of being released without any equivalent, as he had uniformly held himself to be a prisoner of war, replied, that "He durst not accept himself as a gift, and that as Congress had once offered Lieutenantgeneral Burgoyne for him, he had no doubt of their now giving Lieutenan general Earl Cornwallis for the same purpose."

N the fall of 1781, orders were received by Commodore Barry to fit the Alliance for taking the Marquis de Lafay ette and Count de Noailles to France, on public business. On the 25th of December, she sailed from Boston, with them on board.

The Alliance left L'Orient in February, 1782, from which time she continued cruising, with great success, till March of the following year; when, shortly after leaving Havanna, whither she had been ordered, to bring the United States a large quantity of specie, having in company the continental ship Luzerne, of twenty guns, Captain Greene, three frigates were discovered right ahead, two leagues distant; the American vessels were hove about; the enemy gave chase. The Luzerne not sailing as fast as the Alliance, the commodore