ging letters from prisoners, the
officers saluted and separated. The British barge had gone but a short
distance when it quickly put about, and the officer asked by what
particular title Washington chose to be addressed. Colonel Reed
replied, "You are sensible, sir, of the rank of General Washington in
our army." "Yes, sir, we are," said the officer; "I am sure my Lord
Howe will lament exceedingly this affair, as the letter is quite of a
civil nature, and not of a military one. He laments exceedingly that
he was not here a little sooner." Reed and Knox supposed this to be an
allusion to the Declaration of Independence, but making no reply, they
again bowed, and parted, as Knox says, "in the most genteel terms
imaginable."[71]

[Footnote 71: _Colonel Knox to his wife._--_Drake's Life of Gen.
Knox_, p. 131.]

But Howe was unwilling to have the matter dropped in this fashion, and
on the 20th he sent his adjutant-general, Lieutenant-Colonel
Patterson, to hold an interview with Washington in person, if
possible, and urge him to receive the letter and also to treat about
the exchange of prisoners. Patterson landed at the Battery, and was
conducted to Colonel Knox's quarters at the Kennedy House, without the
usual formality of having his eyes blindfolded. Washington, "very
handsomely dressed"[72] and making "a most elegant appearance,"
received him with his suite, and listened attentively while Patterson,
interspersing his words at every other breath with "May it please your
Excellency," explained the address on the letter by saying that the
etc. etc. appended meant every thing. "And, indeed, it might mean any
thing," replied Washington, as Patterson then proceeded to say, among
other things, that the benevolence of the king had induced him to
appoint General and Admiral Howe his commissioners to accommodate the
unhappy disputes; that it would give them great pleasure to effect
such an accommodation, and that he (Colonel Patterson) wished to have
that visit considered as preliminary to so desirable an object.
Washington replied that he himself was not vested with any authority
in the case; that it did not appear that Lord Howe could do more than
grant pardons, and that those who had committed no fault wanted no
pardons, as they were simply defending what they deemed their
indisputable rights.[73] Further conversation followed, when
Patterson, rising to leave, asked, "Has your Excellency no particular
commands with which you