if it was his horse, he supposed he must be given up, but insisted to ride him some distance out of town to dine with a French officer. This was more, however, than Mr. Giles was disposed to indulge him in, having been forced, when he and his horse were taken, to travel good part of a night on foot at the point of the bayonet; he therefore refused to trust him out of sight, and made him dismount in the midst of the street crowded with spectators. Many such instances have since happened on the road. The people who have been insulted, abused, nay, ruined by them, give them no quarter. I have not seen the articles of capitulation, but have given you the substance as well as I can recollect from such as have read them.
We are surely to have a garrison at York; whether French or American was not known when I left York, the day before yesterday. Some troops are to go to the southward. It is supposed the French fleet and most of their troops will go to the West Indies, though all is conjecture, and will probably remain so to all but the Count de Grasse and Gen. Washington. The General had been aboard the Admiral for some days past as I came away; something of consequence, I suspect, was projecting between them. The troops at Portsmouth are levelling to prevent the British taking post there. Nothing certain of a British fleet. They have lost, 'tis said, Bengal and Madras in the East Indies, by the powerful exertions of Hyder Ali in favor of the French.
Cornwallis, I am well assured, previous to his surrender, acknowledged to the Secretary, that the capture of his army would put an end to the war. The same sentiment was expressed to me by two of his officers, and, I learn from an intelligent inhabitant of York, generally prevailed among them.
