19th That he was taken Captive on the American Coast & first landed upon American Ground where he saw before his Eyes, Exchanges of American Prisoners in Negotiation, & enlargements, one at least, granted upon Parol. 20th That he has been upwards of Eight Months & an half a Prisoner in the Tower, great part of that time in very close & painful confinement, almost totally deprived of the company of his nearest friends & relations & particularly of his Son, a Boy in his Eighteenth Year. 21st That he hath, during his Imprisonment lived entirely at his own expence & now begins to need a supply of Money for the further support of himself & his Son. Grounded upon the Premises the Representer humbly presumes to Pray. That Your Lordships will be pleased inso far to mitigate the Rigor of his Imprisonment as, First, to grant him the use of Pen & Jnk (which he is informed cannot be allowed with special permission from Your Lordships) for writing a draught or draughts on a Merchant in London, (John Nutt Esquire) who is indebted to him. And secondly, to permit his Son to visit him once twice or thrice as the Jnteresting occasion may require for the sole purpose of consulting upon a Plan for the Young Man's future conduct in Life. together with such further indulgence to the Representer & Petitioner as to Your Lordships Wisdom & Goodness shall seem fitting. Jn conclusion; as the Representer & Petitioner enjoys not the benefit of the advice of Counsel, the assistance of an Attorney or even of the opinion of a judiciōs friend & as he is unpracticed in the Executive of forms of this kind, he implores Your Lordships indulgent construction & interpretation upon any & every part of the preceeding lines which to Your Lordships may appear censurable or exceptionable & that Your Lordships will condescend to listen to him while he assures Your Lordships that he regrets exceedingly the necessity which he finds himself under to take up one Moment of Your Lordships attention. HENRY LAURENS. TOWER OF LONDON 23 June 1781. ALEXANDER HAMILTON TO JOHN LAURENS, SEPTEMBER 12, 1780. (From the original manuscript in the Emmet Collection, New York Public Library.) We ought both my Dear Laurens to beg pardon of our friendship for mutual neglect in our correspondence, though I believe you are a good deal in arrears to me, and I am sure one of my letters must have miscarried-I informed you that the application, in favour of Portail, and yourself, had been referred to a general exchange as I expected When this general exchange will take place is precarious; but it may happen in two or three months-The enemy have offered to exchange all the officers and men on Long Island and in New York for an equivalent in our hands-They have about four hundred private men. The offer has been hitherto evaded in hope of offensive operations-four hundred men you know in garrison would have been equal to twice their number out of it—and might have made a critical difference in the event-But unhappily for us our prospects of offensive operations vanish, and that of a general exchange becomes probable in proportion-Two months will explain the business; and I counsel you to defer your plan; you will then have time enough to execute it against Next Campaign or to ruin yourself in a rash attempt. If we are able to act offensively, we shall do it on good grounds, and you may look with certainty for relief—if we are not able to do this, I believe the enemy's offer will be accepted; and I think there will be no difficulty in including you. I am angry with you for having "taken the liberty" to introduce Vanderhorst and M: Call-If you had simply introduced them (without taking such a liberty with me) I should have been obliged to you-They will tell you however, that we have done all we could to make their stay in Camp agreeable. I have conveyed your reproof to the lads-They have considered me as the secretary of the family and fancied a partnership which did not exist-Writing or not writing to you, you know they love you, and sympathise in all that concerns you. Indeed my Laurens, I often realize your situation. But play the Philosopher if you can-and improve your captivity in improving your mind-Tell me not of the difficulty-I expect you will surmount difficulties which would bear down other men with your sensibility and without your fortitude-I was told you were going to explore the caverns of the blue mountains in quest of knowledge-enterprises of this kind are worthy of you, not fruitless repinings at your fate I gave you in a former letter my ideas of the situation of your country and the proper remedies to her disorders-You told me, my remedies were good—but you were afraid would not go down at this time. I tell you necessity must force them down; and that if they are not speedily taken the patient will die-She is in a galloping consumption-and her case will soon become desperate-Indeed, my 50 ALEXANDER HAMILTON TO JOHN LAURENS, SEPTEMBER 12, 1780 Dear friend, to drop allegory, you can hardly conceive in how dreadful a situation we are―The army, in the course of the present month, has received only four or five days rations of meat—and we really know not of any adequate relief in future. This distress at such a stage of the campaign sours the soldiery-'Tis in vain you make apologies to them-The officers are out of humour, and the worst of evils seems to be coming upon us-a loss of our virtue-'Tis in vain you attempt to appease; you are almost detested as an accomplice with the administration-I am losing character my friend, because I am not over complaisant to the spirit of clamour-so that I am in a fair way to be out with every body-With one set, I am considered as a friend to military pretensions however exorbitant, with another as a man, who secured by my situation from sharing the distress of the army, am inclined to treat it lightly-The truth is I am an unlucky honest man, that speak my sentiments to all and with emphasis. I say this to you because you know it and will not charge me with vanity-I hate Congress-I hate the army-I hate the world-I hate myself. The whole is a mass of fools and knaves: I could almost except you and Meade. Adieu My ravings are for your own bosom The General and family send you their love A HAMILTON NEW BRIDGE Sep 12. 80 [The address "To Col. John Laurens" has been added in pencil by Dr. Emmet.] PERIODICALS RELATING TO ZOOLOGY IN THE NEW YORK * ** The letters N and C after the titles stand respectively for the New York Annales de la Société entomologique de Belgique. See Société entomologique de Belgique. Annales de la Société entomologique de France. See Société entomologique de France. Annales de la Société malacologique de Belgique. See Société malacologique de Belgique. Annales des sciences naturelles comprenant la physiologie animale et végétale, l'anatomie comparée des deux règnes, la zoologie, la botanique, la minéralogie et la géologie. Par Audouin, A. Brongniart et Dumas. v. 1-30 & Atlas of plates, 1-12 (1824-33); 2. sér. Zoologie v. 1-20 and table (183443); 3. sér. Zoologie v. 1-20 and table (1844-53); 4. sér. Zoologie v. 1-20 and table (1854-63); 5. sér. Zoologie v. 1-20 and table (1864–74); 6. sér. Zoologie V. I-20 and table (1874-85); 7. sér. Zoologie v. I20 and table (1886-95); 8. sér. Zoologie v. I-2 (1896). 156 v. Paris, 1824-96. 8°. NC For the division "Botanique" of series 2-8 see under Botany in this bulletin. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, including zoology, botany, and geology. (Being a continuation of the Magazine of Botany and Zoology" and of Loudon and Charlesworth's Magazine of Natural History.) Conducted by Sir W. Jardine, P. J. Selby, Johnston, D. Don and R. Taylor. v. 6-20 (1841-47); 2.ser. v. 1-20 (1848-57); 3. ser. v. I-20 (1858–67); 4. ser. v. 1–20 (1868-77); 5. ser. v. I-20 (1878-87); 6. ser. v. 1-19 (1888–97). 113 V. London, 1841-97. 8°. NC Current. The title of v. 1-5 of the 1. series is: "Annals of Natural History or Magazine of Zoology, Botany and Geology." See that title. Annals of Natural History; or, Magazine of Zoology, Botany, and Geology. (Being a continuation of the " Magazine of Zoology and Botany and Sir W. J. Hooker's Botanical Companion.) Conducted by Sir W. Jardine, P. J. Selby, Johnston, Sir W. J. Hooker and Richard Taylor. V. I-5. London, 1838-40. 8°. NC Continued as: Annals and Magazine of Natural History, including zoology, botany and geology. In 1840 Hooker dropped and David Don became one of the editors. Annual report of the Museum of comparative zoology at Harvard University. See Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Annual report of the New York zoological society. See New York Zoological Society. Archiv für Entwickelungsmechanik der Organismen. v. 1-2. Leipzig, 1895-96. 8°. C v. 5-6 (1897-98). Current. 96. 8°. Current. — v. 1-13 (1880-95). N Archives de zoologie expérimentale et générale. Histoire naturelle, morphologie, histologie, évolution des animaux. Publiées sous la direction de H. de Lacaze Duthiers. V. I-10 (1872-82); 2. sér. v. 1-10 (1883-92); 3. sér. v. 1-3 (1893-95). 23 v. N Paris, 1872-95. 8°. v. 1-10 (1872-82); 2. sér. v. I-10 (1883-92); 3. sér. v. 1-4 (1893–96). Archives des sciences biologiques. v. I-4. St. Pétersbourg, 1892-96. fo. 1-4 N Also with the Russian title: Arkhiv biologicheskikh, etc. Archives italiennes de biologie. Revues, résumés, reproductions des travaux scientifiques italiens sous la direction de C. Emery et A. Mosso. v. 1-25. Paris, 1882-96. 8°. Current. From 1887 by A. Mosso alone. v. 1-14 (1882-91). Arkhiv biologicheskikh... des sciences biologiques. N C See Archives Årsberättelse om framstegen i crustaceernas och de lägre skelettlösa djurens natural historia. See Konglig Vetenskaps Akademien. ་ 8°. N Entomologica Americana. v. 1-6(1885-90). Brooklyn, [1885-90]. Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France. See Société entomologique de France. Bulletin de la Société ornithologique suisse. See Société ornithologique suisse. Bulletin de la Société zoologique d'acclimatation. See Société zoologique d'acclimatation. Bulletin de la Société zoologique de France. See Société zoologique. Bulletin of the Brooklyn entomological society. See Brooklyn Entomological Society. Bulletin of the Museum of comparative zoology at Harvard University. See Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. Bulletin of the Nuttall ornithological club. See Nuttall Ornithological Club. Cellule (La); recueil de cytologie et d'histologie générale. v. I-II. Lierre, 1885-96. 4°. C Current. Conchologist (The). A quarterly magazine for conchologists. Edited by W. E. Collinge. 1-2. London, 1891-93. 8°. V. N Continued as: Journal (The) of Malacology. Contributions of the Zoological laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania. See Zoological Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania. Entomologischer Verein in Berlin. Berliner entomologische Zeitschrift. Jahrg. 1-40, Reg. 1857-92. Berlin, 1857-95. NC |