The writer is not certain but that the cause of humanity would be promoted by writing out a detailed statement of the sufferings of American prisoners in South Carolina during the period of the Revolutionary War and sending it over as a compliment to Queen Victoria, her House of Lords and Commons.  It is stated upon good authority that the jail in Camden was literally crammed with men from the time of the defeat of Gen. Gates until the following spring; that for a considerable time in the autumn of 1780 not a morsel was given them to eat save pieces of pumpkins gathered from the troughs where horses had been fed.  These remnants of horse feed were brought in baskets once a day and thrown into the jail among the prisoners, and it often occurred that some of them failed in getting a single morsel even of this fare.  It is to be remembered that many of these persons were men of the purest morals and highest respectability.  All of them prisoners of war, and of course many of them murdered by this process of ‑‑ shall I call it slow torture?

For all actions there is a responsibility somewhere.  Is a government answerable for the doings of its agents?  Is a people in any sense responsible for the acts of those to whose government they submit, and whose authority they sustain?  Who were responsible for the immense chain of frauds, cruelties, &c., practice by the agents of the British Government in the vain attempt to subdue this country?  It appears to the writer that not only were the immediate agents responsible but that the Government and all who sustained its authority and measures must be held accountable.  A government nominally Christian may decree a day of thanksgiving for victories achieved and multitudes repair to the House of God with hymns of praise for battles won, yet the hands lifted up may be stained with blood.  A day of swift vengeance may be in reserve for a nation ringing with acclamations of joy and apparent gratitude.