, which had
been confiscated, and then occupied by Washington. Robinson was sent by
Sir Henry Clinton as a witness in behalf of Andre.

Prince William Henry, afterwards William the Fourth, was a guest of
Colonel Robinson, in New York, during the revolutionary war. Several of
his descendants, and those of Captain Roger Morris, have attained
distinction. Among them Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson, son of Colonel
Beverley Robinson, was an officer of rank under Wellington, and saw hard
service in the Peninsular war, and was dangerously wounded at the siege
of St. Sebastians. In the war of 1812 he led the British in the attack
on Plattsburg, under Prevost.[707:A]

On the twentieth of October, a British fleet, in accordance with
intelligence which had been communicated by spies and deserters, made
its appearance in the Chesapeake. General Leslie was at the head of the
troops aboard. Having landed, they began to fortify Portsmouth. Their
highest post was Suffolk, and they occupied the line between Nansemond
River and the Dismal Swamp. A person of suspicious appearance,
endeavoring to pass through the country from Portsmouth toward North
Carolina, was apprehended; and upon its being proposed to search him he
readily consented, but at the same time he was observed to put his hand
into his pocket and carry something toward his mouth, as if it were a
quid of tobacco. Upon examination it proved to be a letter, written on
silk-paper, and rolled up in gold-beaters' skin, and nicely tied at
each end, so as to be no larger than a goose-quill. The letter was as
follows:--

"To LORD CORNWALLIS:--

"MY LORD,--I have been here near a week, establishing a post.
I wrote to you to Charleston, and by another messenger by
land. I cannot hear with certainty where you are. I wait your
orders. The bearer is to be handsomely rewarded if he brings
me any note or mark from your lordship.

A. L.

"Portsmouth, Virginia, November 4, 1780."

It was a source of mortification to Governor Jefferson and other
patriots that the State was unable to defend herself for want of arms.
In compliance with the call of the executive, General Nelson made an
effort to collect the militia of the lower counties, and to secure at
least the pass at the Great Bridge; but his exertions were ineffectual,
as the alarmed inhabitants made it their first business to secure their