The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Author:Benjamin Franklin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Published: 2011-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

EXCHANGING PRISONERS ONCE AGAIN

Despite the victory at Yorktown, there were still nearly a thousand of our brave fellows prisoners in England, and 200 in Ireland, who were destitute of every necessity, and died daily in numbers. All were committed and charged with high treason. Many had patiently endur’d the hardships of that confinement several years, resisting every temptation to serve our enemies. The slender supply I was able to afford of a shilling a week to each, for their greater comfort during the winter, amounted weekly to near £50 sterling. An exchange would have made so many of our countrymen happy, adding to our strength and diminishing our expense. But our privateers who cruised in Europe would not be troubled with bringing in their prisoners, so I had none to exchange for them.

I wrote the following letter to Mr. David Hartley in England, proposing an exchange:I am pleased to see in the votes and parliamentary speeches, and in your public papers, that in mentioning America the word reconciliation is often used. It is a sweet expression. It certainly means more than a mere peace. Will not some voluntary acts of justice and even of kindness on your part have excellent effects toward producing such a reconciliation? You have in England and Ireland twelve hundred of our people prisoners, who have for years bravely suffered all the hardships of that confinement rather than enter into your service to fight against their country. What if you were to begin your measures of reconciliation by setting them at liberty? I know it would procure for you the liberty of an equal number of your people.

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