all other armies, I was convinced the appointment was agreeable to military rule; that it appeared to me, by the articles of war, and repeated resolutions of congress, to be agreeable to our own constitution; that the estimation in which Mr. Macpherson seemed to be held by the whole Pennsylvania line; the former application of some of the officers to me in his behalf; the sacrifice he made to his principles, by quitting a service in which he had a handsome existence; his being a native of the same state, and a man of acknowledged capacity and worth, left me no doubt that the officers of your line would, with pleasure, see him placed in a situation, which would enable him to be useful to the public, and to do credit to himself.

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"A command in the light corps offered itself as an unexceptionable mode for answering this purpose. Corps formed by detachments are the usual method in which brevet officers are employed; as they cannot be introduced into regiments without displacing other officers, or violating the right of succession; both of which are justly deemed injurious in every service. But the reasoning is new, by which the employing such officers in detached corps, is made an infringement of the rights of regimental officers. Military rank, and an elegibility to military command, are ideas which cannot be separated. Take away the latter, and the former becomes an unmeaning sound. The principle being admitted, would in our army degrade many officers who have every claim to the consideration of their country, and to the justice of their fellow soldiers, some of whom have been in the army since the commencement of the war; have relinquished regimental stations, by which, in the natural course of succession, they would have been higher in rank than they now are; have made as great sacrifices as many others; and yield to none in merit or in useful service. To wish to exclude them from the most essential privilege of an officer, is alike inconsistent with justice and generosity; and on cooler reflection, the liberality of sentiments, which I believe the gentlemen concerned to possess, will not suffer them to persist in such a design.

"The practice of other armies, in all cases not expressly provided for, is the best standard by which we can form our notions, and it would have obviated many difficulties, if it had been been better known, or more attended to. If particular officers are to depart from that, and set up new distinctions as it suits their interest or fancy, there is an end to all order and subordination. Every thing is set afloat upon the precarious footing of as many different opinions as there are individuals that compose the army. It is too notorious to be denied, that the practice of other armies, (not less than our

own) warrants the appointment of major Macpherson to his present command. I understand, however, from you, gentlemen, that a line has been drawn, and applied to the present case, between temporary and permanent commands: admitting this distinction to be good, detachments which are again to return to their corps, can be deemed nothing else than temporary commands; whether they are out for a week, for a month, or for a campaign, they are still temporary. The permanent commands are of regiments, and other established corps: if we appeal to precedent, here also we shall find the period for brevet commands indefinite.

"You inform me that a distinction was also made between a detachment from one line, and a detachment from different lines, and that no objection would have arisen if the corps to which major Macpherson was appointed, had been composed partly of Pennsylvania and partly of other troops. Though there are particular quotas of troops furnished by the several states, the whole compose one army, and the commissions are from the same authority, with different designations: all detachments, therefore, whether from one line, or from more than one, must be subject to the same rules; and if a brevet is not to operate upon a detachment from one line, I see no principle upon which it can have effect in detachments from different lines, united together.

"If it be allowed that brevet commissions create a capability of temporary command by detachment, and that the light infantry answers to this description, then the propriety of appointing major Macpherson can only be questioned on two principles; a want of qualifications, or being appointed out of course. The first would be inadmissible, because the officer commanding the army has alone the right to judge, and if he made an injudicious choice, the officers might entertain what private opinions they pleased, but they could not make it the subject of official complaint. If it be said, major Macpherson was appointed out of course, and that the officers of light infantry should be taken by roster, as in the common routine of service, let the practice of armies, as in the other case, be recurred to, and it will be found that no regard is paid to the roster in similar corps. It is an undisputed privilege of the commander in chief to officer them as he pleases.

"The same was done last year, nor would scarcely an officer then in the corps have been appointed, if the principle in question had been observed. No objection, however, that I ever heard of, was made on the score, and why should the officers of the Pennsylvania line be singular in making it now? or why not make it in the case of colonel Stewart, as well as

of major Macpherson? His appointment, no more than that of the latter, can be justified by the roster. The good sense of every officer of discernment must decide against this rule for a variety of obvious considerations.

"For these reasons, and others equally decisive, it is impossible for me to revoke the appointment. I view the measure the gentlemen concerned have entered into, as peculiarly intemperate, hasty, and ill-judged. I sincerely hope they may be induced to re-consider it, and change their resolution. On my part, I shall be happy to forget what has happened, and to continue to them the same share of my esteem, which they have merited and possessed. I am persuaded their rights in the present case are untouched. I am conscious I had no intention to injure them. I cannot pretend an indifference to the conduct they may observe, because, as I have already confessed, I shall consider their quitting the service, as a serious detriment to it. They ought also, as good citizens and good men, to realize the consequences, and to assure themselves they act upon substantial grounds, before they venture to execute what they have intimated. They ought to recollect that they cannot hereafter be happy, if they find their conduct condemned by the country and by the army, especially if it has been the cause of any misfortune. They should remember that we have actually entered upon the operations of the campaign; that we are men in the vicinity of the enemy, and in a position that makes an action not very improbable, perhaps (if my intelligence is true) not very remote. When they duly weigh these things, they cannot but be sensible that the love of their country; the obligations of their respective stations; what they owe to their own characters, and to that discipline which ought to be sacred among military men; all these motives call upon them to relinquish the intention they have suggested. It is true, we have not many considerations of interest to attach us to the service; but we have those of honour and public good in a high degree, and I flatter myself these ties will not prove too feeble.

"I wish you to communicate this letter as well to the majors as to the other field officers; and if they still persist, I shall think I have discharged my duty to them and to the public. "I am, with great esteem,

Gentlemen,

Generals Wayne and Irvine."

Your most obedient servant,
GO: WASHINGTON.

The foregoing letter, the original of which in general Washington's hand-writing, is now in the possession of a member of general Macpherson's family, shows very clearly the high

opinion entertained by the former of the character of the latter, and of the sacrifices he had made to the welfare of his country. Major Macpherson always retained the esteem and friendship of the commander in chief, and his services during the revolutionary war, were rewarded by president Washington by the appointment of surveyor of the port of Philadelphia, by commission dated 19th September, 1789. On March 8th, 1792, a new commission was issued, appointing him inspector of the revenue for the port of Philadelphia, and on the 28th November, 1793, he was appointed naval officer of the port of Philadelphia, which office he held until his death, in 1813; being continued therein during the successive administrations of president Adams, Jefferson and Madison.

In the year 1794, upon the manifestation of opposition in some of the western counties of Pennsylvania, to the excise law, enacted in the previous session of congress, a large and respectable body of the citizens of Philadelphia, formed themselves into several companies, and invited major Macpherson to place himself at their head. They were organized into a battalion, and in compliment to him, they styled themselves Macpherson's Blues. This fine corps formed a part of the army commanded by governor Mifflin on the western expedition, and was universally respected for its patriotism and dicipline. Before the return of the army to Philadelphia, major Macpherson was promoted to the rank of colonel, and subsequently was appointed by governor Mifflin, a brigadier general in the militia of Pennsylvania. On the occasion of war with France in 1798, the Blues were re-organised, and with the addition of several companies, consisting of calvary, artillery, grenadiers and riflemen, were formed into a legion under the command of general Macpherson. On the 11th of March, 1799, general Macpherson was appointed by president Adams a brigadier general of the provisional army, and was selected to command the troops sent into Northampton county to enforce obedience to the revenue laws. After the disbanding of the provisional army, general Macpherson retired from military life to his country seat near Philadelphia, where he resided until his death which took place in November, 1813, in consequence of hemorrhage caused by a schirrous tumour on his neck. The greater part of his life had been spent in the active service of his country, and he was universally beloved for his urbanity and generosity, and respected for his integ rity, honour, and patriotism.

MANLY, JOHN, a captain in the navy of the United States, received a naval commission from Washington, commander in chief of the American forces, October 24, 1775. Invested with the command of the schooner Lee, he kept the

hazardous station of Massachusetts bay, during a most tempestuous season, and the captures which he made were of immense value at the moment. An ordnance brig, which fell into his hands, supplied the continental army with heavy pieces, mortars and working tools, of which it was very destitute, and in the event led to the evacuation of Boston. His services were the theme of universal eulogy.

The spirit of enterprise, encouraged by success, he sailed in the privateer Hancock, on a cruise, and falling in with his Britannic majesty's sloop of war Fox, compelled her to surrender. This capture increased his high reputation for bravery and skill. Some time after this, commanding the privateer Jason, he was attacked by two British privateers, the one of eighteen, the other of ten guns. He reserved his fire till he came close upon them; run his vessel betwixt the two, and by a well-directed broadside, fired into each, compelled them both to strike their colours and surrender. The Americans had already learnt to fire with deliberation and effect. Short as the contest was, the larger privateer lost thirty of her crew. But he was taken prisoner with his prize, by the Rainbow, of forty guns, July 8, 1777, and suffered a long and rigorous confinement on board that ship at Halifax, and in Mill prison, which precluded him from further actual service till near the close of the war.

In September 1782, the Hague frigate was entrusted to his care. The cruise was peculiarly unhappy. A few days after leaving Martinque, he was driven by a British seventy four on a sand bank, at the back of Guadaloupe. Three ships of the line having joined this ship, came too within point blank shot, and with springs on their cables opened a most tremendous fire. Having supported the heavy cannonade for three days, on the fourth day the frigate was got off, and hoisting the continental standard at the main top-gallant-mast, thirteen guns were fired in farewell defiance. On his return to Boston, a few months afterwards, he was arrested to answer a variety of charges exhibited against him by one of his officers. The proceedings of the court were not altogether in appprobation of his conduct. He died in Boston, February 12, 1793, in the sixtieth year of his age.

MARION, FRANCIS, colonel in the regular service, and brigadier-general in the militia of South Carolina, was born in the vicinity of Georgetown, in South Carolina, in the year

1733.

Young Marion, at the age of sixteen, entered on board a vessel bound to the West Indies, with a determination to fit himself for a seafaring life. On his outward passage, the vessel was upset in a gale of wind, when the crew took to their