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[v. 3, No. 135.] Isaac Hayne to Lord Rawdon and Col. Balfour PROVOST, July 29, 1781. My Lord and Sir: On Thursday morning I had the honor of receiving a letter from Major Frazer, by which he informed me, that a council of general officers would be assembled the next day for my trial; and on the evening of the same day, I received another letter from the same officer, acquainting me, that instead of that, a court of inquiry would sit for the purpose of deciding under what point of view I ought to be considered. I was also told, that any person whom I should appoint, would be permitted to accompany me as my counsel. Having never entertained any other idea of a court of inquiry, or heard of any other being formed of it, than of its serving merely to precede a council of war, or some other tribunal, for examining the circumstances more fully, except in the case of a spy; and Mr. Jarvis, lieutenant marshal to the provost, not having succeeded in finding the person who had been named for my counsel, I did not take the pains to summon any witnesses, though it would have been in my power to have produced many; and I presented myself before the court without any assistance whatever. When I was before that assembly, I was further convinced that I had not been deceived in my conjectures. I found that the members of it were not sworn, and the witnesses were not examined upon oath; and all the members, as well as every person present, might easily have perceived, by the questions which I asked, and by the whole tenor of my conduct, that I had not the last notion that I was tried or examined under an affair on which my life or death depended. "In the case of spies, a court of inquiry is all that can be necessary, because the simple fact whether a person is or is not a spy, is all that can be the object of their researches; and his having entered the liens of the enemy's camp or garrison, subjects him to military execution. As that accusation neither is nor can be made against me, I humbly conceive that the information I received, that the court would make inquiry concerning what point of view I ought to be considered under, could not be taken as a sufficient notice of their having an intention to try me then; but could only be thought to signify, that they were to take into consideration whether I ought to be looked upon as a British subject or as an American: that in the first case I should undergo a legal and impartial trial; in the second, I should be set at liberty on my parole. Judge then, my lord and air, of the astonishment I must have been in, when I found they had drawn me by surprise into a proceeding tending to judgment, without my knowing it to be such; and deprived me of the ability of making a legal defence, which it would have been very easy for me to have done, founded both in law and in fact;when I saw myself destitute of the assistance of counsel and of witnesses; and when they abruptly informed me, that after the procedure of the court I was condemned to die, and that in a very few daysimmediately upon receiving this notice, I sent for the lawyer whom I had originally chosen for my counsel. I here inclose his opinion concerning the legality of the process held against me; and I beg that I may be permitted to refer myself to him. I can assume you with the utmost truth, that I had and have many reasons to urge in my defence, if you will grant me the favor of a regular trial; if not, which I cannot however suppose from your justice and humanity, I earnestly intreat that my execution may be deferred, that I may at least take a last farewell of my children, and prepare for the dreadful change. I hope you will return me a speedy answer; and am, with respect, ISAAC HAYNE" (From Documentary History of the American Revolution, by Gibbes, Volume 3, p. 109) Doc ID: Gibbes, v. 3, p. 109b Date: 7/29/1781 |
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