Sir

The letter you wrote to Lady Selkirk of the 8^th. of May from Brest,¹ & inclosed to Lord Le Despencer he was so good as to forward, & it came to hand t’other day, as did also its duplicate by common Post. It was matter of surprise both to my Wife & me, as no apology was expected for your landing from your Privateer at St. Mary’s Isle on the 23^d. of April; but as the letter is polite, & you seem very anxious for an answer, I shall therefore transmit this unseald to Lord Le Despencer; who as I have the honour to be well acquainted with him, will I hope excuse my giving him this trouble; & his Lordship as Post Master General will judge whether or not it is proper to be forwarded: as a letter to you by common post would certainly be stop’d at the London office.

Your lamenting the necessity of these things in the Profession of Arms; & of being obliged to gratify your officers by permitting them to go to my House & carry off some Plate; & your expressing the great sensibility of your feelings at what your heart cannot approve, are things which we, who have no knowledge of you nor of your character but by report, can form no proper judgement of; but must leave to your own Conscience, & to the Almighty Judge of the real motives of all actions.—You are certainly in the right Sir in saying it was fortunate for Lady Selkirk that I was from home, as you intended to carry me off & detain me Prisoner, for had that happend I dread what might have been its effect on my Wife, then well advanced in her Pregnancy. I own I do not understand how a Man of Sensibility to fine feelings could reconcile this to what his heart approved: especially as the carrying me off could have no possible effect for the purpose you mention; which you say was,—“knowing my Interest with the King, your intention was to detain me, untill through my means a general & fair exchange of Prisoners, as well in Europe as in America had been effected.”—Now Sir nothing can be more erroneous than those Ideas. For I have no Interest whatever with the King; & am scarce known to him, being very seldom at London, scarce six months in whole, during these last one and twenty years. With regard to the Kings Ministers I neither have nor can have any Interest with them, as I have generally disapproved of most of their measures; & in particular of almost their whole conduct in the unhappy & ill-judged American contest. And as to a general exchange of Prisoners being effected through my means; I am altogether at a loss how any man of sense could entertain such an Idea. I am neither a Military nor Ministerial Man, I neither have nor ever had any Government Office, Imployment, or Pension nor any Connection with Administration; nor am I in Parliament & except having the disadvantage of a useless Scotch Title, I am in all respects as much a Private Country Gentleman as any one can be: living a retired life in the Country, & engaging in no Factions whatever. How then would it have been possible for such a Man to effect a general exchange of Prisoners? when so many Men of great Power & Influence in both Houses of Parliament have not been able to bring it about.—

You must therefore be sensible on reflection Sir, that you proceeded upon a very improper & mistaken Notion: & that had your attempt succeeded, its only effect would have been to distress a family that never injured any person, & whose wishes have certainly been very friendly to the Constitutional & Just Liberties of America.— You exclaim on the barbarities committed in America, & say they will be retaliated in Britain if not discontinued. I have always been extremely sorry at the accounts of these things: no Man can be a greater enemy to all ungenerous inhumanities in War that I am. God knows best which side began these things, & which has most to account for: but it is certainly the general opinion in Britain, that the Americans began the unusual & cruel practices complaind of, & first against their own Country Men who adhered to the British Government.—In your letter you profess yourself a Citizen of the World, & that you have drawn your Sword in support of the Rights of Men; yet you say, you are not in Arms as an American, nor in pursuit of Riches. If you are not in Arms as an American, I do not understand in what character you act: & unless you have an American Commission, I doubt the Laws of the War & of Nations would not be very favourable to you as a Citizen of the World: which however ought to be a very honourable character, & you will do well to endeavour to act up to the humanity & honour of it. Consider then Sir the impropriety & danger to the common Interests & happiness of Society in your departing from the established & usual practices of Modern War. Nothing does more honour to Mankind than the generous humanity & mildness introduced in War of late Ages through all the best civilized parts of Europe; & its violation is always disapproved of, & generally resented by the Ministers of every State: I am therefore persuaded that neither the French Government nor the Congress would have countenanced your carrying me off; nor would have permitted me to be detaind. Their own Coasts are as much exposed to such enterprises as ours, & they will not wish to introduce such things into the Practice of War as can have no effect upon the great & general operations of it, but would only add to its calamities.—It was certainly fortunate both for Lady Selkirk & me that I was from home: & it was also fortunate for you Sir that your officers & Men behaved well; for had any of my Family sufferd outrage murder or violence, no quarter of the Globe should have secured you, nor even some of those under whose commission you act from my vengeance.

But Sir I am happy that their wellfare enables me to inform you, that the orders you mention in your letter were punctually obeyd by your two officers & their Men, who in every respect behaved as well as could be expected on such an occasion. All the Men remaind on the outside of the house, were civil, & did no injury; the two officers alone came within, & behaved with civility: & we were all sorry to hear afterwards that the younger officer in Green Uniform was killed in your engagement with the Drake; for he in particular shewd so much civility; & so apparent a dislike at the business he was then on, that it is surprising how he should have been one of the proposers of it.—² What you mention is certainly so, that some of the Plate was left; but this was contrary to Lady Selkirks intention & to her orders, but happend partly by accident, confusion, and hurry; & partly by the improper inclinations of some Servants, for which they were severely reprimanded afterwards. So much was it contrary to Lady Selkirks intention, that she having met a Servant carrying some Plate out of the way, orderd it instantly to be taken back, & given up: & indeed her giving the Inventory along with it, tho not asked for, proves that she meant it all to go: as the Inventory could only serve to shew what she would not have inclined to be known, had she intended or believed any was left: & indeed had your Officers taken time to examine it, they would have got all by means of the Inventory, but the only thing they observed wanting was a Tea pot & Coffee Pot, & on mentioning it the Servant immediately brought them.—This circumstance however proves also what I have pleasure in acknowledging, that your two Officers obeyd your orders in making no search: for which Sir you are intitled to our thanks, & I most willingly give it.—Tho you say nothing improper about what was left; nor can Lady Selkirk be at all thought accountable for it, yet she chooses these things to be mentiond, as she said to your officers, she believed it was all deliverd; & she now would be sorry if any person whatever should believe her capable of deceit.—The little Plate that was left will seem greater by the Inventory than it is in reality: of the six candlesticks left, two pair are of a very small old fashiond kind, that belonged to Lady Selkirks Grand Mother, & are not one third of the weight of those now in fashion: the other two are little flat trifles made exceeding small for the purpose of standing in Cabinets for sealing letters: the Tea Spoons & also some spoons of an inferiour make used at the housekeepers table by not being keep in the Butlers Pantry were forgot; together with some other very small things of little value: all the large things left were of the Brimingham plated kind:—

Your genteel offer Sir of returning the Plate is very polite, but at the same time neither Lady Selkirk nor I can think of accepting of it, as you must purchase it you say for that purpose: but if your delicacy makes you unwilling to keep that share of its value which as Captain you are intitled to without purchasing, I would in that case wish that part to be given to those private men who were on the Party; as an incouragement for their good behaviour.—You Sir are intitled to what is more honourable, viz the Praise of having your men under good Discipline: which on all occasions I take care to make known.—

There is one thing not so agreeable, as it must put me to considerable inconvenience; it seems the people you sent away from the Ranger after taking the Drake have reported, that you had said,—“you were still determined to take me Prisoner; & would do so within a few months.”

As to my personal danger I have no apprehension about it; but Justice to my Wife & Children makes it necessary to remove myself & family to a more inland situation. Thus your ill judged & useless intentions whilest it can do no good to you, nor be of any service to those in captivity, serves only to deprive my family & me of the pleasure of our Country Residence.—Were there anything in my Power for the procuring an exchange of Prisoners,—God knows I would most willingly do it, for I all along thought the refusing it, both an unjust & impolitic measure; & which I still think will prove useless, & must be departed from.

Tho your letter is wrote like a man who means well, & who wishes to be considerd as a man of honour, yet some people in this Country who say they know you, (tho I do not think it is certain that you are the person they mean,) laugh at your saying you are not in pursuit of Riches, & at your intention of taking me for the purpose of procuring a general exchange of Prisoners: they say your design must have been a Ransom, & that your offer of returning the Plate is only a snare to put me off my guard. But as I chanced to be intirely ignorant of you & of your character till your enterprise on the 23^d. of April, I have therefore nothing certain to judge by but your behaviour then & since; & as that has in so far as regarded my family been genteel, & tho your intention of taking me was certainly absurd, yet as it was so from mistake, I therefore will not allow myself to think with these people, that a man who professes honourable sentiments, & is acting under an honourable commission for what he thinks is supporting the Rights of Mankind, would for the sake of a pitiful Ransom degrade himself to the low & vile character of a Barbary Pirate: which would be the case, if those people were right in the opinion they give; but I choose to judge more favourably of you, & am Sir [&c.]