It was proposed to send
one of the prisoners to London to demand of that court a cartel for the
exchange of prisoners taken, and to be taken, during this war, and to
intimate that a refusal would be looked upon as a resolution on their
part to give no quarter. It was visible a cartel would be of great
advantage to the Prince's affairs; his friends would be more ready to
declare for him if they had nothing to fear but the chance of war in the
field; and if the court of London refused to settle a cartel, the Prince
was authorised to treat his prisoners in the same manner the Elector of
Hanover was determined to treat such of the Prince's friends as might
fall into his hands; it was urged that a few examples would compel the
court of London to comply. It was to be presumed that the officers of the
English army would make a point of it. They had never engaged in the
service but upon such terms as are in use among all civilised nations,
and it could be no stain upon their honour to lay down their commissions
if these terms were not observed, and that owing to the obstinacy of
their own Prince. Though this scheme was plausible, and represented as
very important, the Prince could never be brought into it, it was below
him, he said, to make empty threats, and he would never put such as those
into execution; he would never in cold blood take away lives which he had
saved in heat of action at the peril of his own.
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