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From the Columbian Magazine. Letters relative to the treatment of Captain Afgill, while prisoner in the American army ; being a full refutation of the charges of inhumanity ex hibited in London against General Wafliington. M'Jjrs. Printer WHEN I was in England, last winter, I heard suggestions that the treatment Cap tain Afgill experienced, during his con finement, was unnecessarily rigorous, and as such refleded diferedit on the Americans. Having my felf belonged to the family of the Commander in Chief, at that period, and having been acquainted with the molt minuted circumflance relating to that nnplcafant affair, I had no hesitation in utterly denying that there was a particle of veracity in those illiberal suggestions. On my return to Mount Vtrnon, this summer, I mentioned the fubjed to General Wafliington. He fliewed me a commu nication from London, addrefied to Col. Tilgh man, which, arriving just after the death of that rnoft amiable character, had been forwarded by his lather to the General—by the latter I was also indulged with a fight of hiS answer. I desired to he permitted to take copies of these papers, toge ther w;th tranferipts from all the original letters and orders refpeding Captain Afgill. Os these I am now poftefled. Anxious that the circulation of truth ftiould be co-cxtenfive with the falfhoods which have been a/Tiduoufly propagated ; and desirous that the fads may be placed in a true point of view before the eyes of the present age, and even of poflerity, I have determined, without confuting any one, to charge myfclf with their publication. It is for this purpose, I request you to insert the inclofed docu mints, for the authenticity of which I hold myfelf ’ responsible to thc’pubtic. I am, Gentlemen, your mad humble servant, D. HUMPHREYS. Nf<w~ Haven, Nov. 6, ’l7 84. No. I. Toftfcript to a letter from James Tilghman, Esq. to His Excellency General Wafliington, dated Baltimore, May 26, 1786. “ P. S. A letter is just come to hand from an American in London, who was the friend of my fun, in which your name is mentioned, and 1 take the liberty of enclosing to you a copy of the para graph. If you think it worth your while to fay any thing upon the fubjed, I will transmit it to the Gentleman, who writes the letter with some degree of anxiety. I know what pleasure my poor son would have taken in felting the matter in its pro per light.” JAMES TILGHMAN.” No. 11. Copy of the Paragraph. » ** I have had it in contemplation to write to 1 you for some time past on a fubjed in which I find myfelf more and more interested I have endea voured to fliake it off from my mind, because I am persuaded that General Wafhingtou is too great in himfelf to be concerned at any calumny, and his charader too fair and pure to need any de fence of mine. I have the honor to be introduced to a party of sages, who meet regularly at a coffee house, where they difeufs politics, or fubjeds to communicate ufeful knowledge. This set of men often mention our great and good General, and commonly in a proper manner: but some give cre dit to a charge exhibited against him by young Afgill, of illiberal treatment and cruelty towards himfelf. lie alledges, that a gibbet was ereded before his prison window, and often pointed to, *. in an insulting manner, as good and proper for him to atone for HudJy’s death ; and many other insults, all of which he believes were countenanc- • ed by General Washington, who was well inclined to execute the Sentence on him, but was refttained by the French General Rochambeau. I have con tended that it was entirely owing to the humane procraliination of our General, that ( apt. Algill did not Suffer the fate allotted him, and that is was molt happy for General Washington’s good depo sition that the French Court interposed so as to en able him to save Afgill, and at the fame time keep our army in temper. This affair is Slated by young Afgill, and can vaSTed at the Britilh Court as before related. Now, Sir, not for General Washington's fake, who, as I observed before, is above it, but for mine, who take pride in him, as I believe every honeit Ame rican muff, I request the favor that you would in form me fully on the fubjeft, that I may be en abled to parry the only bad thrust made at our he ro in my presence. No. nr. Extraft of a letter from His Excellency General Washington, to James Tilghman, Esq. in an swer to the foregoing, dated Mount Vernon, July 5, 1786. “ As your son’s correspondence, with the com mittee of New-York, is not connected with any transactions of mine, so consequently, it is not ne cessary that the papers to which you allude, Should compose part of my public documents; but if they Band Single, as they exhibit a trait of his public chara&er, and like all the rest of his tranfadions, will, I am persuaded, do honor to-his understand ing and probity, it may be desirable in this point of view, to keep them alive by mixing them with mine, which undoubtedly will claim the attention of the historian; who, if I am no*, mistaken, will, upon an infpedion of them, di cover the illiberal ground on which the chargt, mentioned in the extrafl of the letter you did me the honor to en close me, is founded. That a calumny of this kind had been reported, I knew:—l had laid my account for the calumnies of anonymous Scribblers, but I never had conceived before, that such a one, as is related, could have originated with, or met the countenance ofCaptain Afgill: whose Situation often filled me with the keenest anguish.—l felt for him on many accounts, and not the least, when viewing him as a man of honor and fentimeut, I considered how unfortunate it was for him, that a wretch, who poflefled neither, Should be the means of causing in him a Angle pang, or disagreeable sensation. My favorable opinion of him however is forfeited, if, being acquainted with these re ports, he' did not immediately contradid them. That I could not have given countenance to the in sults, which, he Jays , were offered to his person, especially the groveling one of creating a gibbet before his prison window, will, I exped, readily be believed, when I explicitly declare, that t never heard of a Single attempt to offer an insult, and that I had every reason to be convinced that he was treated by the officers around him, with all the tenderness, and every civility in their power. I would fain aSk Captain Afgill how he could re concile such belief (if his mind had been seriously impreflipd: with it) to the continual indulgences and procrastinations he experienced ? He will not, I presume, deny that he was admitted to his parole within 10 or 12 miles of the British lines ; if not to a formal parole, to a confidence yet more unli mited, by being permitted, for the henefit of his health, and the recreation of his mind, to ride, not only about the cantonment, but into the sur rounding country for Several miles, with his friend and companion Major Gordon, constantly attend ing him. Would not these indulgences have point ed a military character to the fountain from which they flowed ? Did he conceive that discipline was so lax in the-American army, as that any office I in it would have granted those liberties to a | confined by the express order of the Comman d I in Chief, unless autiiorifed to do so by the | authority? And ts ascribe them to the interference | of Count Rochambeau, is as Void of foundation a- I his other coujeftures, for I do not recollect that sentence ever pafied between that General and m v . felf, direitly or indireftly, upon the fubjett. ' m I was not without suspicions after the final libe- ft! ration and return of Capt. Afgilt to New-York | that his mind had been improperly impressed: Or I that he was deficient in politeness. The treatment I he had met with, in my conception, merited an 1 acknowledgement. None however was offered 1 and I never fought the cause. § This concise account of the treatment of Capt. I Afgill, is given from a hasty recollection of the ft circumstances —If I had time, and it was essential, I by unpacking my papers and recurring to authen. I tic files, I might have been mot e pointed aud full, | It is in my power, at any time, to convince the I unbiased mind, that my conduct through the whole I of this tranfaftion, was neither influenced by path I fion, guided by inhumanity, or under the controul I of any interference whatsoever. I eflayed every I thing to save the innocent, bring the guilty to ft punilhment, and flop the farther perpetration of I iimilar crimes. With what success the impartial I world mult, and certainly will decide.—Withve- I ry great esteem and regard, I have the honor to be, I dear Sir, your most obedient servant, | G. WASHINGTON. (To be continued.) • LONDON, December 1 6. A letter from an Englith gentleman" at Madeira I has the following article : The Captain of an Ame- I rican vessel, who is arrived herefrom Boston, has I given us the most pleasing piece of intelligence we I have had for feme years. He fays, that he was I chafed by two large Algerine gallies some time; I that they fired several ffiot at him too ; that he cer-1 tainly should have been taken had they not met I with the following : Being eager to seize their I prey, they crowded all the fail they could, and I alio made use of their oars ; when, in their hurry, I they run upon a rock, and soon went to pieces, and I both crews were drowned. These two gallies had I taken up their flation off here, to intercept all I veilels that were bound hither. This piece of in- 1 telligence gave great joy to all ranks of people. I Several of their bodies have been thrown on shore, I which were buried in the lands, after being ftrippel I of their ornaments. Extract oj a letter from Hanover, Sept. 24. “ The Duke of York arrived here the 20th from I his tour, last from Zell. It is asserted here, that I the matrimonial negociation between his Highness I and the young Princess of Pruflia, has only bees I impeded by the death of the late King . The alliance is certainly to take place, and that in a very ftiort time. The Duke goes to Berlin immediately after the coronation.” BOSTON, March 14. Last Sunday evening his Excellency the Gover* nor received the following dispatches, dated Pitts field, March p, 1787 : “ Dear Sir t ** I have the pleasure to inform your Excel lency, that, in confequefice of the inclofed resolve of the slate of New-York, his Excellency Gover nor Clinton commenced his journey for New-Le banon on the 4th inst. On the 7th I met him there; he took lodgings with us at Pittsfield that night; the next morning I accompanied him to New Con cord, where were assembled a number of his prm*' cipal officers, both civil and military ; in a