Page:Charles Lee Papers 1873 Vol 3.djvu/339

day he develop'd to the World. He was put on a wrong scent when he aim'd his pistol at your head, and when you aim'd at his — Alexander (pas le Grand, mais le Gros) and his Hephestion McWilliams were the pro- per objects of your respective resentments — but of this more hereafter — Now quantum ad me attinet — You know how I have been persecuted and unjustly dealt with both by Bodies Corporate and Individuals — the latter I have the pleasure to assure you I have com- pleatly got the better of — some I have sham'd and others put to flight — the Bodies Corporate begin (from many visible signs) to be quite asham'd themselves of the injustice done me — to speak plain, the Members of the Congress are become extremely civil in their words and actions to the Man whom They so lately affected to shun as the Plague — indeed I do not find that there is a single Member so devoid of grace as to insinuate that the charges brought against me had the shadow of support — two notorious Idiots perhaps excepted — one Penn of North Carolina, a broken Attorney, and a Scudder of the Jerseys, a gossiping pragmatical pres- byterian Doctor or Appothecary, to both which wor- thies I have given a very dowsing slap on the face in a letter, which I make no doubt you will soon see, addressed to the Divine W. H. Drayton — nunc ad te, et eas res quae ad te attinent — I hope you are in earnest when you talk of resigning — You cannot serve with safety — a mine is under your feet — the materials for your destruction are heap'd up and prepar'd, and the least error (such as are incident to humanity) blows you up — for my own part I wou'd have sent my com- mission to the Devil long ago, but was prevented by the advice of, I believe, the Devils eldest Brother, who had assum'd the form and really perswaded me that He was my warmest Friend — but no art, no artifice shall (you may depend upon it) prevail upon me to draw my sword again at least whilst Gargantua or Lama Babak is at the head of our Armies. I am sorry for the poor American Soldiers, who have certainly