NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2003 Aug 24 @ 10:00UTC-08:00 : PST/AKDT
<b>Autographs</b><hr><b>A British General Secretly Asks George Washington For a Meeting!</b>
<b>(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) British General William Phillips’ retained copy of his letter to George Washington proposing a secret plan to meet and negotiate a prisoner exchange.</b>
Autograph Letter, marked “copy”, most likely in the hand of British Commander-in-Chief Sir Henry Clinton’s aide, William Collier, 4 pages, 7.5” x 9” and tipped to a 10.5” x 15” linen sheet, Cambridge, December 8, 1778; to General George Washington. Very Choice Extremely Fine. Two minor tears at the folds have been expertly repaired, and the left margin of the verso, where hinged, is very slightly affected by archival tape.
In part: “The unsuccessful attempts which have been made to ratify the Treaty of Convention of Saratoga and the Asperity which seems to have crept into the Correspondence between Sir Henry Clinton and the American Congress leaves it to be conjectured that the humane purpose of a General Cartel of Exchange of Prisoners of War and Troops of the Convention will not have force so soon as good men like yourself could wish. You may naturally suppose, Sir, that I have been and am greatly interested in the fate of the Troops with whom I have served, and in the vanity of my ideas upon the subject of Exchanges I have been led to imagine that the interposition of intermediate Persons might operate in favor of a Cartel...
“Major General Gates having made the Treaty of Convention seemed to me to be a person proper to apply to on this subject. I conveyed to him my sentiments upon the matter, but not having any authority for writing or acting publicly upon the occasion, I could only make a Private Opinion of my own...that some negotiation might be opened from which all Parties might be benefited, and the Prisoners of War on both sides, as well as the Troops of Convention, might be exchanged and Ransomed.
“Major General Gates was willing to report to you and the American Congress whatever I pleased to propose upon this subject, this I have not ventured to allow through fear of having my letters made public or published, but I am still of the opinion that by my having a conversation with you, Sir, if you will permit it....a plan might be formed for the mutual advantage of the British and American Armies, and it might be done so that neither you, Sir, or the American Congress on the one part, or Sir Henry Clinton on the other, need be committed in any manner on the subject unless upon a General approbation so far as it might be necessary to ratify such propositions as might be made...
“I leave this, Sir, to your consideration, and if you will permit me I shall with great satisfaction pay a Visit at your Head Quarters in my way to Virginia...it would afford me particular satisfaction to be able to transact such an affair with a Gentlemen who, altho’ the misfortunes of the times has made an enemy to Great Britain, calls upon my Respect for his private virtue...”
At the Saratoga Convention, Gates had agreed that the surrendered troops might return to Britain on the condition that they stay there, not to return. Washington believed that not only would this enable them to replace other troops who could be sent across the ocean, but that once Burgoyne’s troops were put on a transport, they would sail straight for New York. “Do they not declare,” Washington asked, “that no faith is to be held with rebels?”
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<p>1. This is a Mail Bid, Phone & Fax Auction, Closing Date:
August 23, 2003. Mail, Phone & Fax Bids accepted, these absentee bids will be executed over eBay Live Auctions on Sunday, August 24th, beginning at 10 AM Pacific Time. The sale is conducted in accordance with the regulations of the State of California and the City of San Diego.
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