| Citation |
VGR(NP.782.002
26 Jan 1782:31 (5)
Extract of a letter from an officer in Charlestown, South
Carolina, to his friend in London. --Taken from a late
London paper.
The retrograde progress of our arms in this country, you
have seen in your news-papers, if they date tell you the
truth. This precious commodity is not to be had in the
government paper which is printed here, for a fell licencer
hangs over the press, and will suffer nothing to pass but
what is palatable, that is, in plain terms, what is false.
Our victories have been dearly bought, for the rebels seem
to grow stronger by every defeat, like Antaeus, of whom it
was fabled, that being the son of the Goddess Tellus, or the
earth, every fall which he received from Hercules gave him
more strength, so that the hero was forced to strangle him
in his arms at last. I wish our ministry would send us a
Hercules to conquer these obstinate Americans, whose
aversion to the cause of Britain grows stronger every day.
If you go into company with any of them occasionally, they
are barely civil; and that is, as Jack Falstaff says, by
compulsion. They are in general sullen, silent, and
thoughtful. The King's health they dare not refuse, but
they drink it in such a manner, as if they expected it would
choak them.
The assemblies which the officers have opened, in hopes
to give an air of gaiety and cheerfulness to themselves and
the inhabitants, are but dull and gloomy meetings; the men
play at cards, indeed, to avoid talking, but the women are
seldom or never to be persuaded to dance. Even in their
dresses the females seem to be bid us defiance; the gay toys
which are imported here, they despise; they wear their own
homespun manufactures, and take care to have in their
breasts knots, and even on their shoes, something that
resembles their flag of the thirteen stripes. An officer
told Lord Cornwallis not long ago, that he believed if he
had destroyed all the men in North America, we should have
enough to do to conquer the women. I am heartily tired of
this country, and wish myself at home.
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