Note 1111 — Chapter VI · (continued 2)

Hough in his Charleston (p. 50) has reprinted a despatch purporting to have been written by Clinton and addressed to Lord George Germain. It was dated Savannah, Jan. 30, 1780; reprinted in Hough, Charleston, p. 50; and was said to have been captured by a privateer. In it Clinton described the dispiriting effect on the royalists of Georgia of D'Estaing's attack on Savannah. It has been regarded as a forgery, partly on this very account. It probably was a forgery. But it is curious to observe that the opening pages of Tarleton contain the same statement, and he repents the despatch without a hint as to its being a forgery. And this forms the ground of Mackenzie's first stricture.