Short and sweet — or, a curious dialogue between
general Marion and captain Snipes, on retaliation.

"No radiant pearls that crested fortune wears,
No gem that sparkling hangs in beauty's ears;
Not the bright stars that night's blue arch adorn,
Nor opening suns that gild the vernal morn,
Shine with such lustre as the tear that flows
Down virtue's manly cheeks, for others' woes."

What gigantic form is that which stalks thus awfully before the eyes of my memory; his face, rough and dark as the cloud of winter, and his eyeballs burning like coals of fire? 'Tis the impetuous captain Snipes. He is just returned from the quarter house near Charleston, where he and captain M'Cauley, with Macdonald and forty men, have recently surprised and cut to pieces a large party of the enemy. He looks as if the fury of the battle had not yet subsided in his wrathful countenance. His steps are towards Marion, and as he presents a packet, he exclaims in an angry tone, "There, sir, is a Charleston paper. You'll see there how those villains are going on yet. Not satisfied with all the murders they had committed before, they have gone now and murdered colonel Haynes." Here he gave the heads of that disgraceful act, seasoning his speech every now and then, as he went along, with sundry very bitter imprecations on lord Rawdon.

"Ah shame! shame upon him!" replied the general with a sigh, and shaking his head; "shame upon lord Rawdon!"

"Shame!" answered captain Snipes, his eyes flashing fire; "shame!
I hope something heavier than shame will light upon him for it soon.
The American officers have sworn never again to give quarter
to the British or tories."

Marion. God forbid that my countrymen should have taken such an oath as that!

Snipes. Why, general Marion, would you have the enemy go on at this rate,
and we take no revenge?

M. Revenge? O yes, to be sure, sir; revenge is sweet,
and by all means let us have it; but let it be of the right kind.

S. Of the right kind, sir! what do you call revenge of the right kind?

M. Why, sir, I am for taking that kind of revenge which will make our enemies ashamed of their conduct, and abandon it for ever.

S. Ashamed of their conduct! Monsters! they are not capable of shame.

M. Pshaw! don't talk so, captain Snipes! our enemies, sir, are men, and just such men as we are; and as capable of generous actions, if we will but show them the way.

S. Well then, general Marion, how do you account for that great difference between us and them in point of spirits? We have never yet killed any of their men, except in fair fight, that I have heard of; but they have often murdered ours. Yes, the cowardly rascals! they have often done it, and that in cold blood too.

M. Granted. And I am very glad that when we have had them in our power, we have always treated them so much more generously. But, I suppose the reason of such barbarity on their part, is, they have had, or which is the same thing, have THOUGHT they had greater provocations.

S. They be d—n-d, they and their provocations too! Are not WE the persons who have been invaded, and plundered and murdered by THEM, and not they by us? How then can they have greater provocations?

M. Why, sir, sprung originally from them, and always looked on by them as their children, our turning now and fighting against them, must appear, in their sight, a very great provocation; as great perhaps as that of children fighting against their parents. And again, our shaking off what they glory in, as the wisest, and freest, and happiest government on earth, must make us seem to them as no better than the vilest traitors and rebels; which cannot otherwise than prove another very great provocation. And again, after having been first settled in this country by them, as they will have it, and afterwards, so long and liberally assisted with their best blood and treasure, in hope that some day or other we should be of service to them; that now, at the very time when, by our immense population, we were just arrived to the so long desired point, to swell their wealth and spread their commerce and arms over the world, we should separate from them, blast all their fond hopes, and throw them back to the former level; this, I say, you will certainly allow, must be a very severe provocation. Now, sir, putting all these provocations together, and also taking poor human nature into the account, is it to be wondered at, that the British should be so much more angry, and consequently more violent than we?

S. Why, certainly, general Marion, you have always a very fine knack of setting off your arguments. But still, sir, I can't see things in that light. For a man, sir, to go and trump up a pack of claims against me, and all of them because I can't credit him in the abominable extent he wishes, to fall upon me and kill and murder me, as the British and tories have done with us, and we not stop them by revenge! why, my God! sir, it will never do. For, at this rate, whom shall we have living in all this country, in a little time, but the British, and their friends the tories and negroes?

M. My brave captain let me tell you again, I am as anxious to stop them as you can possibly wish me to be; but I am for doing it in what I think the right way. I mean the way of policy and humanity.

S. Policy, sir! can there be policy in letting our best men be murdered
by these savages! I'm sure general Washington did not think so.
For, though I am no man of learning myself, yet I have been told
by those that are, that, on its being threatened by general Gage
to hang an American soldier, he instantly wrote him word, that if he dared
to do such a thing, the life of a British soldier should pay for it.
And, it is well known, that he kept the British army and nation too,
in a fright for three months together, with the halter constantly
around the neck of captain Asgil, expecting every day to be hung
for the murder of captain Huddy.

M. True; general Washington did act so. And it was policy
to act against a foreign enemy. But our standing with the tories
is quite a different case, and requires a very different course.
The tories are our countrymen, a part of our own population and strength,
so that every man of them that is killed, is a man forever lost
to ourselves. Now, since the British have put them up to murder us,
if we go, out of revenge, to murder them again, why,
in the course of a little time our population will be so cut up,
as to allow the British ministry, with ease, to take our country,
and make slaves of us all; which is just what lord North desires.

S. Yes, I dare say it is. But I hope he'll be disappointed yet.

M. No doubt of it, sir; if we shall be wise and magnanimous enough to follow the true policy, which is no other than HUMANITY to these deluded people, the tories; and to this we have every inducement that generous spirits could desire. The tories and ourselves are brothers; many of us went to the same school together; and a thousand times have ate and drank in each other's houses. And as to the quarrel in which we are now unfortunately engaged, though not the most, still we are much in fault. We made no allowances for those follies of theirs which led to it. They thought — First, That we were too nearly allied to England to go to war with her; this was a weakness, but there was something amiable in it. — Secondly, They thought the British were much too warlike and powerful to be resisted by us: this was an error, but it was learned in the nursery. — Thirdly, They wished to keep in with the British, merely that they might save their property; this was altogether from fear, and therefore claimed some commiseration. But no! we could not grant one grain of indulgence to any of their mistakes. We would have it, they all proceeded from the vilest of motives. We called them traitors, and cowards, and scoundrels; and loaded them with a thousand indignities besides. Well, the consequences were, as might have been expected from human weakness and passion. Wrought to desperation, and caring not what they did, they have gone and joined our enemies, and many valuable lives have been lost on both sides. Surely 'tis high time now that we should set about doing something to end it.

S. Well! let them set about ending it themselves. They were the first to begin it.

M. But would you have the tories to lead to glory?

S. GLORY! I should think it meanness to be the first to make overtures to such rascals!

M. Well, but, captain Snipes, when brethren, as we are, fall out, is it policy to go on to exasperate and cut each other's throats, until our enemy comes and takes away a fine country, of which, by such madness, we had rendered ourselves unworthy? Would it not be much better policy to trace back all our wrong steps of passion and revenge, and making hearty friends again, and joining our forces against the common enemy, drive him out of our country; and then by establishing a free government, and encouraging agriculture and commerce, and learning, and religion, make ourselves a great and happy people again; would not this, I say, be the true policy?

S. Why yes, I confess, general Marion, it would be a noble thing, and very desirable, if it could be done. But I cannot bear to think of being the first to make terms with the tories, after they have been burning, and plundering, and murdering our best friends. It is too hard, sir, for mortal flesh and blood.

M. It is a great trial, I confess; but "the heavier the cross the brighter the crown," you know, sir. And as to the difficulty of the undertaking, that's the very thing that should make us jump at it; the glory of showing ourselves wiser and better men than our enemy. And besides, let us recollect that the glory of this exploit all now lies with us: for if we do not pluck up courage and do it, it will never be done. — The tories are, generally, an ignorant people; and therefore not much of wise or good is to be expected from that quarter. They have also, in many instances, acted a very savage part by us: their consciousness of this can have no tendency to make them court reconciliation with us. Since, then, but little is to be expected from THEM, it seems incumbent on US to do the more. We have better information, and we have also a much better cause. These are great advantages which God has given us; and now it becomes us to improve them, to his glory and to our own honor, by showing a conciliatory and magnanimous spirit towards our enemies. And though it should cost us labor to win such a victory, yet, I am confident, that when won, it will appear to us the most glorious that we ever achieved. To conquer an enemy by the sword, is, no doubt, honorable; but still it is nothing in comparison of conquering him by generosity. As arguing both superior virtue and courage, it commands higher admiration from the world, and is reflected on by ourselves with far more self-esteem and applause. And then, sir, only consider how such conduct will gild the future scenes of life. This unfortunate quarrel betwixt us and our countrymen, the tories, is not to last forever. It was only the act of a wicked ministry, attempting, by an unconstitutional tax to enslave an affectionate part of the nation. God can never suffer such an attempt to prosper. It must be but a momentary quarrel; and we ought to accustom ourselves to think of it as such, and to look beyond it to the happy days that are to succeed. And since the storm of war is soon to subside into the calm of peace, let us do nothing now, that may throw a cloud over the coming sunshine. Let us not even talk of `exterminating war'! that unnatural crime which would harrow up our souls with the pangs of remorse, and haunt our repose with the dread of retaliation — which would draw down upon our cause the curse of heaven, and make our very name the odium of all generations. But, far differently, let us act the generous part of those who, though now at variance, are yet brothers, and soon to be good friends again. And then, when peace returns, we shall be in proper frame to enjoy it. No poor woman that we meet will seem to upbraid us for the slaughter of her husband; no naked child, for robbing him of his father; no field will cry against us for a brother's blood. On the contrary, whenever the battles which we are now fighting, shall recur to our thoughts, with the frightened enemy grounding their arms and crying for quarter, we shall remember how we heard their cries and stopped the uplifted sword. Joy will spring in our bosoms, and all around will smile with approbation. — The faces of the aged will shine upon us, because we spared their sons; bright-eyed females will bless us for their surviving husbands: and even the lips of the children will lisp our praises. Thus with a heaven of delighted feeling in our hearts, and the smiles both of God and man on our heads, we shall pass the evening of our days in glorious peace. And when death shall call us to that better world, we shall obey without reluctance. Conscious of neither dread nor hate towards any of the blessed people that dwell there, we shall go in strong hope of witnessing the bright realities of that state, where all is immortality and love. Perhaps we shall there meet many of those whom it has been our sad destiny to fight with here; not in their present imperfect state, but in their state of exaltation, clad in robes brighter than the stars, and their faces outshining the sun in his noonday splendors. Perhaps at sight of us, these glorious spirits may rush with new-flushed beauties, to embrace us, and in the presence of crowding angels, recount our kindness to them in the days of their mortality; while all the dazzling throngs, listening delighted, shall fix on us their eyes of love, inspiring those joys which none but strong immortals could sustain. Are not these, O my friends, hopes worth contending for? Is revenge to be cherished that would rob us of such honors? Can generosity be dear that would ensure to us such so great rewards? Then let us not think benevolence was enjoined in vain, which is to conduct us to such immortal felicities."

As Marion spoke these words, his countenance, which in general was melancholy, caught an animation beyond the reader's fancy to conceive. The charms of goodness, and the bright rewards which await it, were painted in such living colors on his face, that not even the stranger could have beheld it unmoved. On me, who almost adored Marion for his godlike virtues, its effects were past describing. My bosom heaved with emotions unutterable, while the tear of delicious admiration swelled in my eyes. As to captain Snipes, he appeared equally affected. His eyes were riveted on the general, and towards the close of the speech his breath seemed suspended; his color went and came; and his face reddened and swelled; as under the powerful eloquence of the pulpit.