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British General William Phillips Secret Negotiations to General Horatio Gates

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:4,000.00 USD Estimated At:6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
British General William Phillips Secret Negotiations to General Horatio Gates
American Revolution
“Matters Have Gone So Unluckingly Between Sir Henry Clinton and the American Congress it is Scarcely to be Expected Any New Negotiation Will Be Opened”
(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) British General William Phillips’ Retained Copy of his Letter to General Horatio Gates documenting secret negotiations to effect a prisoner exchange of the Troops of Convention.
December 3, 1778-Dated Revolutionary War Period, Original Contemporary Copy Autograph Letter bearing the Secretarial Signature of William Phillips, likely in the hand of William Collier, aide to British Commander-in-Chief Sir Henry Clinton, 2 pages, 7.5” x 9” and tipped to a 10.5” x 15” linen sheet, Cambridge, to American general Horatio Gates, Very Choice Extremely Fine. A few tiny barely perceptible age spots, and the left margin of the verso, where hinged, is very slightly affected by archival tape.

It reads, in part: “The letter I wrote to you dated the 1st Instant concerning the proposed general exchange of the Troops of Convention [British prisoners captured at Saratoga] I did not entrust a Communication of the Contents of with any person accept my secretary and he had my positive orders not to reveal any part of the letter. You have opened on the matter with Lieutenant Campbell [Charles Campbell, d. 1780, a lieutenant with Fraser’s Highlanders captured at Saratoga] of which I am perfectly satisfied as he is an officer of trust - He informs me you mean to collect...my letters for the perusal of some members of the American Congress who are your friends... I again assure you I have no authority from Sir Henry Clinton or any person for what I do... Matters have gone so unluckily between Sir Henry Clinton and the American Congress that it is scarcely to be expected any new negotiation will be opened, much less take place and therefore, should we be able to bring this affair to an agreement it will redound to our Credit - Serve all parties and open a way for the dictates of humanity to operate towards a General Cartel.”

Phillips had proposed, in his letter of December 1st, that he and Gates secretly forge an agreement whereby the British troops captured at Saratoga might be returned to Britain by means of ransom. Washington, however, wanted no part of any repatriated troops, arguing that the arrival of these men in Britain would simply free up a like number of troops for service in America. Congress in turn refused to honor Gates’ terms of surrender - and by delay and evasion, assured that the Troops of Convention were never released, and finished the war as prisoners.