Chapter III: Part 3

Again, "upon our return to Philadelphia," you say, "I became the open and avowed patron of those who are distinguished by the appellation of tories; and my decisive attachment to the British Army,[N] and their adherents, "has marked every subsequent period of my life, too plainly to admit of doubt or denial." If you really entertained such sentiments, why did you, in the month of February, (after my marriage,) waiving the indignity offered to you in not paying the usual compliments of congratulation, upon your appointment, pay me the first visit, and thereby make advances towards a reconciliation? Such a condescension, so contrary to the _usual forms_, can scarcely be reconciled even to a character like yours.

Men who acquire popularity by means disgraceful to a gentleman, dare not hazard a sentiment that is not approved by the party with which he is connected. I have, on all occasions, and in all companies, private and public, delivered freely my political opinions; nor has the dread of losing the little popularity I possessed in Pennsylvania, ever induced me to make a sacrifice of my honour, by adopting opinions or measures which I disapproved, or thought injurious to my country. Esteeming it the highest honour to deserve the approbation of my fellow-citizens, I have ever been solicitous to obtain it. You and some others have industriously propagated reports for the purpose of injuring my reputation; but conscious that my political opinions and conduct will stand the test, upon the nicest scrutiny, and having never experienced any diminution of that esteem, respect and warmth of friendship, which my fellow-citizens have ever shown towards me, a refutation of such calumny is utterly needless.

From the whole of what I have here laid before the public, supported by the testimony of the most respectable witnesses, the following conclusions may fairly be deduced:

1. That the conversation alluded to, which I have asserted to have passed between us at Bristol, was mentioned by me in confidence to Col. Hamilton and some others of General Washington's family, in the year 1777; and therefore could not have originated at the time, you mention, or to gratify my resentment against you, as at that time, you acknowledge, no parties subsisted.

2. It could not have been invented to gratify my resentment for the attempt you made to evade the payment of Mr. Porter's order; because I did not make it public at the time, nor till several years afterwards, and you acknowledge, all that coolness was done away, and our former habits of friendship restored.

[TN] As is appears, by Mr. Clymer's testimony, that I mentioned it publicly at Mr. Hamilton's trial, which was before you were elected President of the state, it ought to be imputed to another cause than that which you have assigned.

4. As it appears, from Mr. Pryor's testimony, that I mentioned it at the Coffee House, in the hearing of some of your friends, we may reasonably conclude you were informed of it; and this conclusion is strengthened by your passing over unnoticed, the information contained in Major Lennox's testimony, which was related to you by Major Thomas Moore.

5. It cannot appear improbable that you should have held this conversation with me, as your expressions to Gen. Dickinson, Col. Nixon, and Doctor Rush, convey sentiments equally injurious to your reputation as a patriot and Adjutant General of the army.

6. As it fully appears, by the testimony of Col. Ellis and Mr. Davenport, and that of Col. Bradford, that you had communicated such sentiments to your brother-in-law, Mr. Pettit, and to Col. Bayard, contrary to your declaration, we may with propriety assert that you have forfeited that veracity, which is essential to the character of a gentleman.

Lastly, from the testimony of Major Lennox and Col. Nichols, it appears that you absolutly[TN] applied to Count Donop for protection, and that a particular and intimate friend of yours was included in it; and therefore, from this and the foregoing testimony, all pointing to the same object and to the same period, supporting and confirming each other, it cannot leave the least room to doubt the truth of my assertion.

In some instances, a man's general good conduct has had great weight to invalidate or weaken charges highly criminal; but unfortunately, _yours_ can receive no aid from such circumstances. Dissimulation and cunning have for a time deceived the most discerning, but the snares you have laid for others will most probably accomplish your own destruction.

Having long since known how to estimate your character, I have not any where pretended, in this performance, to fix it at a higher value than what it generally passes current for; you have, since the term of your administration, repeatedly put yourself upon your country. Your name has been offered to the people for a seat in the legislature; to the legislature, for a seat in Congress; to Congress, for posts of Continental trust; but that _name_, its counterfeit gilding at length rubbed off, and the native colour of the contexture exposed, has depreciated, like the Continental money, with such velocity, that though a few years ago worth a President's chair, it would not, _now_ purchase a constable's staff; nor is it more highly rated in the sphere of polite life, than in the great theatre of the world; for its unfortunate owner stands alone, unnoticed in the midst of company, with full leisure to reflect on the sensible effects of the loss of reputation.

My immediate purpose requires nothing further from me; but your administration, the theme of your own solitary praise, might not improperly have been touched upon, but that it is a field too extensive for me, and that I have not asperity enough in my nature to do justice to the subject. I will yet observe upon some matters in your pamphlet, not in direct connexion with one or the other subject; but which are extremly[TN] demonstrative of a temper in the writer to wish evil to the community, after the power of doing it has ceased.

You, who have ever been a rapacious lawyer, and have never omitted any means of amassing a fortune, have, with a truly consistent spirit, shown an implacable enmity to all those who are raised to a condition above want and dependence. And though you kick against the parallel drawn between you and the Cataline of antiquity, you have in this point proved its exactness; he haranguing in the circle of his conspirators, exasperates them against the opulent citizens of Rome; you, in your pamphlet, labor to create invidious distinctions, would pervert the order of well regulated society, and make fortune's larger gifts, or even its moderate blessings, criterions of disqualification for public trust and honours in Pennsylvania; and under a spacious description of men, offer with your _sword_ to lead the indigent, the bankrupt, and the desperate, into all the authority of government. But in the shallowness of your understanding, you have mistaken the spirit of the times; it will not countenance or support a Cataline.

You would also, no doubt, as may be inferred from your pamphlet, _you_, who are so deficient in morality, draw your sword in religious quarrels, to bring you once more into play; but 'tis to no purpose you would raise an alarm, as a very great and respectable part of your opponents consist of persons belonging to that society, of which you profess yourself to be a member; and there is a general and commendable coolness and indifference for such quarrels, that will not easily take fire on your false and inflammatory suggestions; so that whatever you have catched at to raise you from the earth, has broke in your hands and brought you again to the ground.

JOHN CADWALADER.

VALLEY FORGE LETTERS,

AS

PUBLISHED IN THE EVENING JOURNAL.

1842.

From the Evening Journal.

MR. WHITNEY--At this distant day from the American Revolution, a new dawn seems to be breaking upon the darkness of that period, and much that has heretofore been shrouded in seemingly inscrutable mystery, is beginning to be made plain even to the naked vision. The "seventeen trunks" of revolutionary papers, a selection from which Colonel Beekman, the grandson and heir of Gen. George Clinton, has just published, in one of the New York papers, must necessarily contain much of exceeding value: and I should not be surprised if the Colonel were to receive a visit, at his place on Long Island, from Mr. William Bradford Reed, to request to be permitted to _rummage_ their contents, and abstract or destroy any "document" that might likely prove prejudicial to the fame of his grandfather, the late General Joseph Reed. The Colonel must keep a sharp look out for Mr. Reed, and turn a deaf ear to his blandishments, when he arrives.

Doctor Johnson, in one of his Lives of the Poets, makes an observation strictly applicable to the claim of patriotism, which, originally set up for himself by General Reed, has been perpetuated for him by his descendants. Speaking of the boast a certain poet was accustomed to make, of the sternness with which he had driven back an ass laden with gold, that had sought to invade the citadel of his integrity, the Doctor remarked, "but the tale has too little evidence to deserve a disquisition; _large offers and sturdy rejections are among the most common topics of falsehood_." That portion of the quotation which I have italicised, fits the case of General Reed to a hair; but "the tale" of his patriotism, however "little evidence" there may to support it, _does_ "deserve a disquisition," if only on account of the pertinacity with which it is endeavoured to engraft it upon the public mind.

I have already given the _truth_ concerning General Reed's famous reply to the British commissioners, and I propose to follow it up with the publication of a few letters, interesting on account of the light which they shed upon our revolutionary history.

Many of the citizens of Philadelphia must remember Mrs. Sarah Kemp, who died in Race street, in 1820, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Andrew Kemp, the only son of this respectable matron, entered the American army, almost at the very commencement of the struggle, and before, as his mother has often informed me, he had reached his majority. As he shall be my first witness against General Reed, it is proper to make the reader well acquainted with him. His gallantry, and a personal service which he had the good fortune to render to one of General Washingston's[TN] immediate staff, soon promoted him from the ranks, and he fought with great bravery, at the battles of White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth. Sergeant Kemp was one of the garrison of Fort Mercer, under the command of Colonel Greene, when that fortress was assailed in the autumn of 1777, by the Hessian troops, commanded by Colonel Donop. In this affair, which, though not one of the most remarkable, was one of the most brilliant of the Revolution, Sergeant Kemp particularly distinguished himself, and was wounded slightly in the arm, and severely in the left thigh by a musket ball: at the subsequent capture of Fort Mercer by Cornwallis, Kemp was one of the few who fell into the hands of the enemy--the remainder of the garrison succeeding in safely evacuating the fort. In a few weeks, he managed to effect his escape from Howe's winter quarters at Philadelphia, and immediately joined the American army at Valley Forge. The privations of that encampment, dreadfully aggravated the sufferings of poor Kemp; but, after languishing during the season in one of the military hospitals, he resumed active service in the spring, and served in May under Lafayette at the affair of Barren Hill. At the battle of Monmouth, he fought with his usual intrepidity, but the fatigues of the engagement renewed the affection of his imperfectly healed leg; and, about three weeks after, he was obliged to submit to its amputation. Upon leaving the army, he received from General Washington himself a certificate of conduct and character, which I copy from the original before me.

_Head Quarters, June 23, 1778._

Sergeant Andrew Kemp is personally known to me as a brave and
faithful soldier, who has served in several engagements, and
who desires his discharge only in consequence of the loss of a
limb, which unfits him for further service. His dutiful
conduct is reported to me to be equal to his bravery; and he
retires from the army with my good opinion and that of all
whom I have heard speak of him.

(Signed,) G. WASHINGTON.

From among other testimonials to Mr. Kemp's worth and conduct, which formed to her dying day, the pride and solace of his aged mother, I select the following, given by Col. Samuel Smith, the late Mayor of Baltimore, and the gallant defender of Fort Mifflin against the six days' attacks of the British.

"Andrew Kemp has served with me three times; the last nearly
four months. He was discharged from the army last month, in
consequence of the loss of his leg and other bodily
infirmities. I have always found his conduct exemplary. He
came to me with high recommendations from officers whom he had
previously served with, and fully realized what they had
prepared me to expect from him.

(Signed,) SAMUEL SMITH.
_September 3, 1778."_

This brave fellow fell a victim to his benevolent daring, during the prevalence of the yellow fever in this city, in 1798. Upon the death of his mother, the certificates of character which I have transcribed, and a number of his letters, of various dates, written while he was in the army, passed into the hands of the veteran, to whom in my former article, I referred, but whose name I am not _yet_ at liberty to mention. From among them, I make two selections--the first a letter to his mother, who then resided in Chester County.

_Camp, June 13th; 1788._

My Dear Mother,--You must be very uneasy not hearing from me
so long, and the only wonder is that I am alive to give any
account of myself. After my escape from Philadelphia, last
November, I wrote to you, but whether you received my letter
or not I cannot tell, for I have never heard a word of you
since. We have had a dreadful time of it through the winter at
Valley Forge. Sometimes for a week at a time with nothing but
frozen potatoes, and even worse off still for clothing;
sometimes the men obliged to sleep by turns for want of
blankets to cover the whole, and the rest keeping watch by the
fires. There is hardly a man whose feet have not been frost
bitten. I have been laid by nearly the whole time on account
of my leg, from which I suffered very much; and Doctor Le
Brean insisted upon taking it off, but I would not suffer him;
for which I have great reason to be joyful, for it is now
nearly as well as ever, except a little stiffness,
particularly after marching. But our distress from want of
food and comfortable raiment, was nothing compared to the
grumbling of some of the men, and I am sorry to say, of some
of the officers. I really thought we should have a meeting
once or twice; but we weathered through without it. Some hard
things are said since about some of the officers, but the
whole talk of the army is now about General Reed. There have
been a good many attempts to conceal it from the men, but it
has pretty much leaked out. This spring, it seems, King George
sent over some Commissioners, as they call them, to endeavour
to make a peace with us; and it turns out that General Reed
has been in secret correspondence with them all the time, and
was offered large amounts to play into their hands; but the
bargain was broken off by his wanting more than they were
willing to give. I know this much for certain; that one of
their letters was taken to General Washington, and that the
men were all called up at the dead of night, by beat of drum,
and most of the officers called to Head Quarters. In the
morning, General Reed was placed under guard, but released in
about two hours. The letter was from one of the British
Commissioners, in answer to one of his--he gave some
explation[TN], but it did not satisfy the General, but he was
obliged to accept it, as the contrary could not be proved. I
heard Captain Anderson tell Dr. Le Brean, that General
Washington was fully satisfied that Reed had been on the very
point of betraying us all to the British, but that it could
not be fully proved; and at such a time, it was better to keep
a strict eye upon him, without getting the army into disgrace
by exposure.

"Near the last of May, we had a smart little affair with the
British at Barren Hill; it was the first time I was under
marching orders since I left the hospital. The British army
came very near surprising us after night--two of the sentinels
of the picket guard having fallen asleep on their posts. But
we managed to get across the river again with very little
loss, only eight men killed and wounded, and three prisoners.
I made a narrow escape, for I heard a bullet whistling by my
ear as close as it could, without hitting. All well at home, I
hope. Tell Sally not to forget to knit me a supply of woollen
stockings, and a couple pair of mittens for next winter, for I
dread the idea of another Valley Forge; and give her and Ann
my kind love.

"From your affectionate son,
"ANDREW KEMP."

My object in giving this _introductory_ letter is to show Mr. William B. Reed that the treachery of his grandfather was understood by the army at large, and that the knowledge of it was not confined to a few leading officers. _Documents of a more precise, specific, and important character_, are in my possession, or within my means of access; and shall seasonably appear; but, unlike "_McDonough_," I do not choose to put my best foot foremost, and limp ever aftewards[TN]. I subjoin another letter from Sergeant Kemp, for the edification of Mr. Reed.

_"Monmouth Court House, N. J., July 2d, 1778."_

"Dear Mother,--I am laid up again, but after the fatigues of a
great battle, and a great victory, which we fought on the 28th
of June,--James Maris, who had his hand shattered by a
bullet, has leave of absence for four weeks; and I drop a few
lines by the opportunity which his going gives me. God be
thanked, we have had a glorious victory! The British troops,
commanded by Sir Henry Clinton, and ours by General
Washington, were nearly matched--say ten thousand each. We
fought from the forenoon till nigh dark; and our whole loss,
killed and missing, is short of seventy, while the British
lost about three hundred, and among them one Colonel Monks or
Monkston. I have no great time for particulars. The men
behaved very nobly; and the morning after, when we found that
the British had decamped over night, the General [Washington,]
thanked us all, from horseback. But one thing there is which
has occasioned much disturbance among us. I mean the conduct
of General Lee, who attempted to retreat, and who has since
been put under order, to be court martialed.

"Then there's that General Reed has been behaving very
strangely again. Not a man nor officer in the army that does
not hate the sight of him; we all believe that he came very
near betraying us, only that the General [Washington] found
him out in time. We all remember Valley Forge last winter.
Before the battle began, I myself heard Gen. Washington
whisper to General Greene and Wayne, to keep a sharp eye upon
Reed's movements, and if he made any suspicious attempt, to
order him under arrest, and shoot him if he resisted. During
the whole battle, I never saw him; but after the last gun was
fired, and when it was almost dark, General Reed suddenly made
his appearance from the rear, and gave out that he had just
had a horse shot in two under him, and asked for two men to go
and remove his saddle and holsters. I was one of them; we
examined the horse very carefully, and found him to be without
hurt or scratch; and he had plain enough died from mere heat,
which killed several horses and a number of men during the
day. The story has got wind--some laugh, but others shake
their heads about it. Jim Maris heard General Washington say
to General Wayne in the evening, that he abhorred the very
sight of Reed, and could never again put the least faith in
him. This is not the first time that General Reed has showed
the white feather. He pretended to have a horse killed under
him, in the same way at the Battle of Brandywine, and had two
men put in irons for talking about it. I am afraid my leg is
going to give me a good deal of trouble again It is very much
swollen, and discharges continually. They have me on the sick
list. My best love to Sarah and Ann.

"Your dutitful[TN] son,
(Signed) "ANDREW KEMP."

Having given the testimony of Sergeant Kemp, I will now have the pleasure of introducing to the notice of Mr. William B. Reed a letter from Col. Samuel Smith, to his old friend in arms, Colonel ----, by whom I have been so kindly supplied with much of the reminiscences which I have given to the readers of the Journal, and who had addressed to Col. Smith a letter, the nature and object of which will best be explained by the following reply:

_"Senate Chamber, Washington, Feb. 15th, 1832._

"MY DEAR FRIEND,--Yours of the 9th was received yesterday,
having been forwarded to me by my family from Baltimore, to
which place you had addressed it, forgetting my still being in
public life at Washington. I suppose you think that so old a
man, and one who has led so busy and active a life, should
take the evening of his days to his comfort and quiet
reflection, and I am not sure but that you are right. Public
life ought to have but little charms for either you or me; we
have both seen enough of active service, and should devote the
remnant of time which is left us, to settling our accounts
with this world, and preparing for a better.

"I am gratified to hear of the task in which you tell me you
are engaged. I do not know that it is in my power to afford
you much of the assistance which you seem to think I can give;
but such information as I can communicate is very cheerfully
at your service. Upon my return to Baltimore, I will examine
my papers; and whatever letters I can spare, which I may think
likely to aid you in your labors, or illustrate the times of
which you propose to write, shall be forwarded to your
direction.

"I agree with you that many of the men, and not few of the
events, of the Revolution, are very imperfectly understood.
Take General Washington himself, for example: he is
represented as having been cold and repulsive in his manner,
when the very reverse was the fact. True, he was dignified and
reserved, but always courteous, and, what I admired above all,
always sincere. I never knew a man capable of stronger
attachments; he had none of the vices of humanity, and fewer
of its weaknesses than any man I ever knew. I do not believe
Mr. Jefferson _meant_ to be unjust; but the character drawn of
Washington, which appears in his recently published papers and
correspondence, falls, in all respects, very far short of
doing him justice. Mr. Jefferson had not the sort of mind
which was entirely capable of appreciating, or even exactly
understanding, a character like that of Washington's. I saw
much of the old General in his latter days; visited him
several times at Mount Vernon, and frequently at Washington.
Doctor Craih, (my near connexion by marriage,) was long his
physician and intimate friend, and was in attendance upon his
death-bed. He has given me anecdotes innumerable of
Washington's generosity and kindness of heart, which, though,
not known to the world, ought to be. Of these, I will write to
you more fully from home.

"I can communicate but little concerning Gen. Wayne, which you
do not know already. His son, who lives somewhere in your
state, I should take to be a proper person to whom to apply. I
wish it were in my power to answer more fully than I can, your
inquiries concerning General Reed. My personal acquaintance
with him was limited. I shared in the deep dislike with which
he was regarded, and his negotiations with the British
commissioners, in the spring of 1778, made him obnoxious to
the whole army, from the commander-in-chief to the lowest
subaltern. You and I talked this matter over nearly fifty
years since, and I have found nothing to change, but much to
confirm, my opinions. It is a little too bad that this man
should be reverenced by posterity as one of the purest of the
men of the revolution, when you and I, and all who were really
active in those times, know that nothing but accident
prevented his taking the start of Benedict Arnold. Though not
communicative, General Washington was always candid, and upon
the subject of Reed's premeditated betrayal of the country to
England, he has frequently conversed with me very freely. None
of the correspondence between Reed and the British
commissioners, fell into his hands except the letter from
Governor Johnston, and an enclosed note in cypher from Lord
Carlisle, but these contained sufficient to assure Washington
that a long correspondence had passed--that proposals had been
made and debated, and that Reed had finally submitted a
proposition which the commissioners were endeavouring to
reduce. With the explanation Reed gave you are familiar. No
one believed it, but it passed muster, for the only proofs
which _at the time_ could be had, were the intercepted papers.
But ever after, Washington regarded Reed with great dislike,
and treated him with a manner strictly marked by the display
of his feelings. I was present when General Washington took
his final leave of his officers at New York, after the close
of the revolution, in the winter of 1783. The general's eyes
streamed with tears, he grasped each officer by the hand, but
when Reed approached him with extended hand, he started as if
bitten by a serpent, made a cold bow, and passed on.
Afterwards, at Annapolis, where Congress was then sitting, I
was present when General Reed was repeating to some half a
dozen of delegates, the old story of his refusal of the
commissioner's offer. Washington, who was within three yards
of him, turned away, and remarked to General Knox, "I know the
fellow well; he wanted but a price, and an opportunity, to
play us false as Arnold," and passed out of the room. There
was a general titter, and upon Reed's enquiring of General
Knox what it was that General W. had remarked, Knox replied,
"If you did not hear it, I advise you to follow the general,
and request him to repeat his observation." Reed was not a
fighting man. I do not say that he was a coward, but he was
always very careful of his person. His visit to England in
1784, I could never understand. His circumstances, just
before, were very much embarrassed, he had borrowed of all who
were willing to lend, and he paid nobody. Immediately upon his
return, he paid off all his debts, including one of three
thousand dollars to General Wayne, and commenced speculating
in real estate largly[TN], when he was taken ill and died.

I have given you very near all I have concerning this person.
I have anecdotes from others, of which I will inform you
hereafter; as also, the particulars of several conversations
which I had with Washington respecting him. I have always,
from principle, been opposed to making mischief; but I have
always, at the same time, been opposed to trickery and
unfounded pretensions. Why the survivors of the Revolution
have so long permitted General Reed's treachery and baseness
to be glossed over, and himself converted into a patriot, is
to me a mystery; but the veil must be raised at last, and I
know of no one more capable of performing the task than
yourself.

"Let me hear often from you--and always be assured that I am
sincerely your friend,

SAMUEL SMITH.

I will close my budget of "documents" as "_McDonough_" would call them, for the present. When I open it again, the information to be drawn forth will be even more definite than that just given, and possibly, even still less palatable to Mr. Reed. He will pardon me for troubling him with two questions: Among the papers left by your grandfather, did you ever come across a copy of a very remarkable correspondence had between that person and General Anthony Wayne in 1781? If yea, why have you withheld it from publication? Although _you_ can answer this last question, I cannot; but I will tell you, Mr. Reed, what I can do: I can lay my hands upon a copy of the same correspondence, and I propose to entertain the readers of the Journal with a few selections, upon some not very distant occasion.

In Mr. Reed's selection of a _period of time_ to be illustrated by the labors of "McDonough," it appears to me he has been unfortunate. If he had gone further back, he might have recounted some of the _real_ exploits of his grandfather, and spared _me_ the labor which his deficiencies have compelled me to undertake. If he had come a little further down, he might have dilated upon the performances of his father, a Recorder of the city of Philadelphia, and Treasurer and Secretary of the University of Pennsylvania. _That_ labor, also, I fear, will devolve upon me.

VALLEY FORGE.

Monday, Sept. 25, 1842.

From the Evening Journal.

MR. WHITNEY--The communication of "McDonough" (alias U. S. Bank Reed,) in this Morning's Court Chronicle, manifests that there is no small degree of fluttering among the wounded pigeons of the "Holy Alliance." The assumption of "McDonough" that _you_ and "Valley Forge" are one and the same person, is a more novel than logical mode of disproving the truth of my allegations. But let Mr. Reed rest easy upon that score. _Who_ I am, is very little to the purpose; _what_ I assert is more germain to the matter--and let this lacquay of Nicholas Biddle deny _that_ if he dare, or disprove it if he can. If my charges are _true_, the identity of their author with the editor of the Evening Journal could not detract from their truth; if _false_, a more obvious as well as conclusive mode of establishing their falsity presents itself.

But the truth is, that no arrow which has been shot into the camp of the "Holy Alliance" rankles more deeply, or has worked worse execution, than the exposure of the authorship of "McDonough." Not that Mr. Reed is by any means, either intellectually or extrinsically, the most formidable member of the combination; but now it is known that _he_ is the author of those attacks upon the character of a good citizen, of a man against whom for years the minions of the Bank have been directing their warfare without the ability to discover a crevice in his coat of mail, the arm of the puny assailant falls paralyzed to his side, and his intended victim laughs at him in a tone of scorn, in which the whole community participates.

_William B. Reed_ to prate of patriotism! _William B. Reed_ to declaim upon honor and patriotism! For the chimney-sweep to prate of cleanliness would not be more anomalous. With what grace does the defence of the United States Bank come from this "McDonough" of the Chronicle, when we know him to be the veriest lick-spittle that Nicholas Biddle, in his day of pride and power, ever retained in his service? As the friend of Nicholas Biddle, as his purchased tool and agent, rather, Mr. Reed has never, for an instant, hesitated to sacrifice to the promotion of the interests of the Bank, every public trust which for the time being was confided to his keeping. Why is it that Mr. Reed has never yet explained away or answered the very extraordinary and _specific_ disclosures of _bribery_ which a correspondent of the Ledger made against him in the summer of 1841? Disclosures so astonishing that the eyes of the public, although long accustomed to look upon the doings of the man with distrust, dilated with astonishment. He was accused by the correspondent of the Ledger with having as a member of the House of Representatives, _accepted bribes from the Bank of the United States_; the several amounts were specified; documents were even refered[TN] to; and yet Mr. Reed, instead of maintaining his good ground and confronting his accuser, flies the city, absents himself for some time upon the plea of a previously arranged excursion of pleasure; and when, after his return, driven at length to a show of explanation, he parades in print an evasion of charges, so paltry that its sophistry would degrade the merest pettifoger in Mr. Biddle's Court of Criminal Sessions.

But since Mr. William B. Reed, alias Mr. U. S. B. McDonough, is so pure a patriot, and has such a holy horror of "treason" and "traitors," I will give him a few facts upon which to reflect, and with which he may enrich and illustrate his future lucubrations.

_Fact No. 1._--That Mr. William B. Reed is, or claims to be, the grandson of General Joseph Reed, of Revolutionary memory.

_Fact No. 2._--That Mr. William B. Reed is feelingly alive upon the subject of his grandfather's memory, and has devoted the labors of nearly his whole life to establish the popular delusion that his grandfather's patriotism underwent the severest test and ordeal of the revolutionary struggle.

_Fact No. 3._--That Mr. William B. Reed has written essays, reviews and paragraphs innumerable, to induce the public to believe, that when in 1778 or 1779, Governor Johnstone and the other British Commissioners, proposed to General Reed a reward of 10,000 pounds sterling, and a lucrative office, upon condition that he would lend himself to the views of Great Britain, he indignantly spurned the proposal, and replied, "I am not worth the purchase, but such as I am, King George is not rich enough to make it."

_Fact No. 4._--That no such proposal was ever made to General Joseph Reed, and that General Joseph Reed never made any such reply.

_Fact No. 5._--That General Joseph Reed endeavoured to effect a negotiation with the British Commissioners, and actually commenced it, to ascertain what he might expect, in money and office, in case he succeeded in effecting a reconciliation between the colonies and the mother country, or in other words, that he would be instrumental in causing the revolted colonies to return to their allegiance to Great Britain!

_Fact No. 6._--That General Joseph Reed, after much chaffering as to the price, finally proffered his services to the British Commissioners, to effect the objects mentioned in "Fact No. 5," for the sum of 10,000 pounds sterling in hand, a Chief Justiceship, and the right to a tract of land West and North-West of the then city of Philadelphia, upon a part of which the Cherry Hill Penitentiary is now erected, and the whole of which, is at this time probably worth from five to seven millions of dollars.

_Fact No. 7._--That while this negotiation was pending, and while the hucksters were haggling as to the terms upon which it should close, it came to the ears of the American Commander-in-Chief, that General Reed was engaged in a very suspicious correspondence with the British Commissioners; that General Washington sent for General Reed, and in the presence of his staff, informed him of what he had heard, and demanded an explanation; and that General Reed, finding denial out of the question, admitted that overtures had been made to him by Governor Johnstone and his colleagues, but that he had replied to them; "I am not worth the purchase, but such as I am, King George is not rich enough to make it."

_Fact No. 8._--That this patriotic reply of General Joseph Reed, to the attributed overtures of the British Commissioners, had its _sole origin_ in the explanation with which he sought to dispel the suspicions of General Washington; that General Washington ever after continued to regard him with great distrust; and that several years subsequently, when General Reed, in the presence of General Washington, was descanting upon the patriotic reply with which he had foiled the British Commissioners, General Washington turned away in disgust, and remarked to a friend, in a tone of voice sufficiently audible to be heard by all present--_"I know the fellow well, and am satisfied that he wanted but a price and an opportunity to play us as false as Arnold."_

When Mr. Reed shall have sufficiently pondered over the facts thus enumerated, I shall descend the ladder a step from his grandfather, and come to his more immediate progenitor! Of him, I shall have the great question to ask--what is the reason of his aversion to sunshine, that he secludes himself all day like an owl or a bat? But the grandfather will suffice for the present. Mr. Reed has certainly taken uncommon pains to keep up the public delusion upon this subject. Let him know (what he will soon know to his mortification,) that there yet survives a veteran of the revolution--one whose mental faculties are undimmed by age--whose very physical frame, time has treated with tenderness and respect--whose keen and lively intelligence retains its ancient vigour--a Revolutionary soldier, who well knew Joseph Reed; who equally well knew George Washington; and who intends to give to the world, at no very distant day, his knowledge of them, and of much beside.

Mr. Reed has fair warning--let him look to it.

Monday, Sept. 19, 1842. VALLEY FORGE.

From the Evening Journal.

MR. WHITNEY:--Since your publication of my last, "McDonough" has slacked his fire wonderfully. It is surprising how one's tone becomes altered after the discovery is made that the former idea of _invulnerability_ was a great mistake. The home truths pressed upon Mr. William Bradford Reed (I believe this is the first time that the public have been made acquainted with the learned gentleman's name in full) have proved to be of unpalatable flavor and difficult digestion; and it is not, therefore to be wondered at that they should have for him no relish. I have not yet done with the revolutionary reminiscences of his grandfather; that worthy whom "King George was not rich enough to buy," although, as he himself modestly admitted, he was "_not worth purchasing_:"

The writer of this paragraph had an opportunity, very many years since, when Mr. Reed was a student of the Pennsylvania University, of becoming somewhat intimately acquainted with his bent of mind; and if there ever was a school-boy despised and detested by his fellows, William was that youth. "The boy's the father of the man," and those who have known him only in his ripened years, if they apply the truth of this axiom, will have no difficulty in correctly conjecturing what must have been his early youth. Even then his predominant weakness was to almost daily, and by the hour, expatiate upon the merits of his _great_ "grandfather," and to entertain boys, smaller and younger than himself, with the revolutionary exploits--more numerous and diversified far than those with a narration of which Othello beguiled the fair Desdemona, performed by that distinguished personage: and in particular, how "the General" had repulsed the proffered bribe of the Treasury of Great Britain, and his pick and choice of the most lucrative office in the Colonies.

Down to this day, this has continued to be the habit of Mr. Reed; and to such an extent has he indulged it, that he has become the butt and laughing stock of his acquaintance.

"O, wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae manie a blunder free us,
An foolish notion!"

The extraordinary pains taken by Mr. Reed, to circulate the notion of his grandfather's more than Roman patriotism, would, of itself, be a circumstance calculated to induce suspicion of their being "something rotten in Denmark;" but, fortunately for the truth of history, the _proofs_ of General Reed's treachery and meditated "treason," [TN](if not _actual_ treason, are extant--and the veteran, to whom in my last I referred, will, in due time, give them to the world. The descendants of General Reed have succeeded long enough in imposing upon the American people, as a patriot and a hero of the "times that tried men's souls," a wretch, who, in the emphatic language of General Washington, spoke in his presence and hearing, "wanted but a price and an opportunity to play us false as Arnold!" who, while his fellow soldiers were stinted of food and scant of clothing, was in actual treaty with the British Commissioners, to betray the American Army, and their Commander-in-Chief, and their cause, _and their Country_, to Great Britain, for the consideration of ten thousand pounds sterling, a judicial office, and a tract of land!!!

By a monstrous suppression of truth, and an adroit perversion of the explanation which General Reed gave to the demands of the American Commander-in-Chief, respecting his correspondence with the British Commissioners, his descendants have managed, so far, with tolerably general success, to thrust into the ranks of the Carrolls and Hancocks, the Putnams and Warrens of the Revolution, a "traitor," who entered into the struggle as a matter of speculation; and who, from the date of his appointment, in 1774, as one of the Committee of Correspondence of Philadelphia, down to the detection of the fact, some years after, that he was engaged in a correspondence with the British Commissioners, watched with untiring vigilance, for a proper "opportunity" to betray, for a sufficient "price," the cause, and the country, to the tender mercies of George the Third and his ministry! There is scarcely a Review or Magazine, published in the country, into which, under the pretext of reviewing some publication, Mr. William B. Reed has not contrived to obtrude some panegyric of his grandfather's patriotism--fulsome, even if true, but most monstrous when considered with reference to its unworthy object.

Not content with chaunting Gen. Reed's praise as an "invisible singer," Mr. Reed has not hesitated to take the field openly, and in person, and sound the trumpet in the ears and before the eyes of the astonished lookers on. Before every literary or collegiate association which he has been called on, or _finefied_ to have himself invited to address, the eternal burden of his song has been, "I am the grandson of the great and good patriot, General Joseph Reed, of revolutionary memory, who replied to the emissaries of Great Britain, when they offered him his own terms to further the views of England, 'I am not worth the purchase, but poor as I am, King George is not rich enough to make it.'" At New York, a few years since--afterwards, in the Musical Fund Hall, in this city--more recently at Dickinson College--quite lately at Harvard University, in short, everywhere, and on all occasions, the self same tune has lulled his audiences into a general slumber. How any one whose cheek is not formed of brass, can stand up as Mr. Reed has accustomed himself to do, and thus dole out, on all occasions, and before all assemblies, the patriotism of a grandfather for whose "treason" he should blush, I am at a loss to imagine. Even if deserved modesty ought to insinuate that the tribute would be more appropriately paid, and in better taste, by other voices.

But the strongest part of all is, that Mr. Reed, with that full knowledge which I know him to possess (and which I will satisfy him that I _know_ him to possess) of his grandfather's traitorous designs and conduct, should, nevertheless, have succeeded in steeling himself to the habit which has made him so supremely and universally ridiculous.

Whenever it is announced that a new work is in preparation, in any way connected with the events of the American Revolution, poor Mr. William B. Reed "gets the fidgets." He throws business, as Macbeth did physic,--to the dogs; he can hardly delay for the introduction of a supply of clean linen into his carpet-bag; but, jumping into the next steamboat or railroad car, he travels post-haste till he has reached the residence of the author, whom he never leaves till he has fully satisfied himself that the projected work is to contain nothing that can detract from the spurious fame of General Reed, or call into question the truth of his attributed reply to the British Commissioners. Poor Mr. Jared Sparks must have had a hard time of annoyance during the long series of years in which he was engaged in preparing for the press his editions of the correspondence of Washington and Franklin. Mr. Bancroft, the author of _the_ History of the United States, is, at present, a particularly prominent object of Mr. Reed's dread. Indefatigable in his researches he cannot have failed to become possessed of some of the evidences of General Reed's "treason," and, stern in his impartiality, it is not to be supposed that he will hesitate to place before the world the character and doings of this miscreant in their true colours. Fearful of this, Mr. Reed has long been engaged in playing the _toady_ to Mr. Bancroft: with what success thus far, remains to be seen: but one thing is certain, that Mr. Bancroft will have placed in his hands, in time to inform him fully for his preparation of that volume of his history in which it will become necessary for him to introduce the name of General Joseph Reed, letters and documents that will establish the "treason" of that worthy beyond a doubt.

The last volume of Mr. Bancroft's work comes down no later than 1784; so that there will probably appear another volume before the period of General Reed's exploits will become the subject of his composition; and of this length of time Mr. Reed will doubtless endeavor to take advantage and make good use. He has just made a formidable demonstration upon Mr. Bancroft. "At the recent literary festival at Cambridge," (to borrow the language of Mr Reed, contained in his late letter to the editors of the National Intelligencer, concerning Mr. Graham, the historian,) Mr. Reed's _toadying_ of Mr. Bancroft was the subject of general comment. Not content with the display of his fulsome civilities on that occasion, Mr. Reed has since forced an opportunity of volunteering to the editors of the National Intelligencer, the letter to which I have just alluded; in which under the pretext of honouring the memory of the late James Graham, Esq., the English author of a History of American Colonies, Mr. Bancroft is plastered with praise. It is thus that Mr. Reed seeks either to impose upon Mr. Bancroft the same "Romance of American History," in which the grandfather is the principal personage, with which he flatters himself he has duped every body else, or to disarm him of any intention of publishing the _true_ history of his connection with the British Commissioners.--And what most of all enhances the meanness of Mr. Reed's conduct is the fact, that, but a year or two since, he was accustomed, at the Whig political meetings of this city, to make Mr. Bancroft (who then held the office of Collector of the Port of Boston, and was a prominent Democrat,) the especial object of his abuse, lavished upon him in the most unmeasured terms.

Such is the man, who, with a thorough knowledge of his grandfather's delinquencies, persists in upholding him to the world as a true and sterling patriot; who, knowing him to be a "_Traitor_," steeped in "_Treason_" to the very eyelids, and seeking to barter away his country and its liberties for British gold and office, represents him, unblushingly, as the worthy compeer of Washington, a fellow labourer in the same vineyard, toiling from the rising to the setting of the sun!!! But Mr. Reed's race of eulogy of his ancestors is nearly run. The proof of that man's treachery, long known to the _few_, will soon be promulgated to the _many_--to the WORLD. How _then_, will Mr. William B. Reed feel, when he remembers his itinerant career of laudation; his journeyings by sea and by land, that the trumpet of General Joseph Reed's praises might be sounded? His essays, reviews, addresses, and heaven only knows what all besides? But, above all, how will he _then_ feel when he remembers that, under the stolen name of a naval hero of the Late War, he, this worthy descendant of a Traitor and Tory of the Revolution, once devoted whole weeks to the malignant endeavour to fasten upon a pure and unoffending citizen the very crime of "Treason," of which he knew his own grandfather to have been guilty?

With one or two little anecdotes, (the character of which may somewhat surprise Mr. Reed at the extent and accuracy of my information,) I close for the present. I will select those which Mr. Reed has the best reasons for knowing to be true. During the visit of Lafayette to this country, the father of Mr. William B. Reed, (Mr. Joseph Reed, the late Recorder of Philadelphia,) called on the General at his quarters, in this city, and requested the honour of a private interview. The General (who had been waited upon by Mr. Reed before, in company with the authorities, and other citizens) intimated his numerous and pressing engagements; but Mr. Reed persisting, the interview was granted; one not strictly private, however, there being two other gentlemen present. Mr. Reed informed the General that his object was to obtain from him some revolutionary anecdotes, of which he was convinced he must possess a stock, of his father, the late General Joseph Reed. General Lafayette's countenance immediately fell: he endeavoured politely to evade Mr. Reed's request; at last, as Mr. Reed would take nothing short of downright refusal, the General was, at length, compelled to remark, "I am sorry to say, sir, that I am acquainted with no anecdotes of the late General Reed which it would be pleasant for his son or any of his friends to hear." Mr. R. having bowed himself out of the room in great confusion, the General remarked to one of the gentleman present, in surprise, "This is very strange! Can it be possible that Mr. Reed is ignorant of the opinion which the officers of the Revolution entertained of his father?" And now for another, in which Mr. William B. Reed himself figured. A year or two before the death of Bishop White, he called on the venerable prelate and made a request precisely similar to that with which his father had troubled General Lafayette. Anxious to spare his feelings, the good Bishop endeavoured to change the subject; but, no other mode offering of escaping from the pertinacity of Mr. Reed, he said to him, "Young man, upon the subject of your grandfather, the least that's said, will be soonest mended!"

In my next, I will so far follow the example of McDonough, as to publish a few "Documents," the original of which will be consigned, before long, to Mr. Bancroft.

VALLEY FORGE.

Sept. 23d, 1842.

From the Evening Journal,

MR. WHITNEY:--The Jeremiads of the Forum and the Evening Courier shall not deter me from the task which I have deliberately assumed, and which I mean to carry out, of exposing the treachery of the late General Joseph Reed, and the delinquencies of his living grandson, Mr. William Bradford Reed. Why, instead of _deprecation_, do not these journals give _disproof_? Is a fellow to be canonized as a saint, because he is no longer of the living? Then let all history be rewritten, and let the puling mawkishness which the hypocrites call manly indignation, reject from the page of history the infamy of a Nero, the cruelty of a Tiberius, and the treason of an Arnold. If it be proper for the entertainment or instruction of posterity, that the vices and crimes of the men of history shall be faithfully detailed, why should not the "_treason_" of General Reed, contemplated or effected, be spread upon his country's annals? Above all, when he and his descendants have adroitly disguised his villainy with the varnish of incorruptible patriotism, why should the hand which has the power to tear off the mask, and expose the enormity of guilt, be made to fall, self-withheld and self-paralyzed, from the effort? These are questions which admit of but one reply. I shall _go on_, and in continuation of my developments, I here subjoin another letter from Col. Samuel Smith to the same gentleman to whom was addressed his last.

_Baltimore, October 2d, 1832._