DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT: District Clerk's Office. BE it remembered, that on the ninth day of June, anno domini eighteen hundred and fourteen, and in the thirty-eighth year of the independence of the United States of America, William Wells and Robert Lilly of the said District, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit: Defence of Brigadier General William Hull. Delivered before the general Court-Martial, of which Maj. Gen. Dearborn was President, at Albany, March, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen. With an Address to the Citizens of the United States. Written by himself. Copied from the original manuscript, and published by his authority. To which are prefixed, the Charges against General Hull, as specified by the Government. In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, intitled "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein mentioned ;" and also to an Act intitled An Act supplementary to an Act, intitled an Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etelring Historical, and other Prints." ADDRESS TO THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. Fellow-Citizens, In submitting my defence to your consideration, and in making my appeal to your judgment, I have only to ask you to examine with candour, and decide with impartiality. I am sensible the fate of one man is of little consequence, compared to the fate of a nation. If the sacrifice of me, however innocent, could make atonement for the sins of others, redeem our misfortunes, and restore the national character, it might be justified by precedents in other countries, and perhaps, as a patriot, I ought to be satisfied. It is unfortunate for the administration, and for the other generals who have conducted our armies, that it cannot have the effect. In countries, where the people are hardly permitted to * think, and their only prerogative is obedience, innocence is no shield; and because there can be no inquiry, the most elevated merit is often brought to the scaffold for the most meritorious conduct. But in a country where justice is the basis of its government, where the people are enlightened by science, and understand both their rights and duties, such outrages on justice cannot with impunity be committed. 9 Under a government thus constituted, when public misfortunes occur, those to whom the administration is intrusted are in the first instance responsible. They well know the public vengeance will fall on them, unless they avert it, and too often have no other means of justification, but in the condemiration of others. The power they possess; and the patronage they can give, afford great facilities. effecting the object. It is however our happy lot, that, when this power and patronage e unjustly exercised, a remedy exists; and that remedy is an appeal to your justice. To that justice I now appeal, in the confident expectation, that you will be satisfied of the purity and rectitude of my conduct, that you will reverse the unjust sentence which has been pronounced against me, and restore me to that honourable standing in society, which had been acquired by the services of nearly half a century. I regret that it is not in my power, in this communication, to present to you all the testimony and documents, on which my defence is grounded, and which had any relation to the trial. The proceedings of the Court Martial are deposited in the office of the Secretary of the Department of War, and by law I am entitled to a copy of them. As soon as they are obtained, they will be published in a separate number. I believe we are all conscious of the crimes of which we are guilty. When I might have sheltered myself in the enemy's territory, as a prisoner of war, I ask you to account for my return to my own country on any other principle, than a consciousness of my innocence, and that I had faithfully done my duty? What other principle could have induced me to have requested an investigation of my conduct? When a Court Martial was ordered to assemble at Philadelphia for my trial, why did I promptly repair there, without any restraint, and without even having been divested of my sword? After the trial was postponed by the government, without any request on my part; and having before that time received notice of my exchange from the government, why did I remain more than a year in the country, without any restraint or confinement? When the new court was ordered for my trial at Albany, and I was furnished with the volume of capital charges, exhibited against me by the government, why did I voluntarily appear before the Court, and submit to my trial, when it was in my power so easily to have avoided it? Why, after the trial, did I return alone and unattended to my residence in Massachusetts, and there wait the sentence of the Court Martial?—I do presume your answer must be, that this conduct only could have resulted from a consciousness of innocence, and a full conviction that I had done my duty. I now ask you to consider the conduct of the government, in relation to me. Did they believe the black catalogue of charges they exhibited against me was true? If they did, could the administration have been justified in leaving me at perfect liberty, for more than a year after I had been furnished with a copy of these charges? Did the members of the Court Martial, who pronounced the sentence, in their consciences believe I was guilty, and deserved punishment? If they did, how can their conduct in directing me, the day after the sentence was concluded, to return to my home in Massachusetts, without any kind of restraint, and without requiring any kind of security for my appearance to receive the execution of the sentence? This direction was given the |