CHAPTER IX.


Colonel Burr was a rigid disciplinarian, and in the performance of his
duty made no difference between those officers who were his friends
and those who were not; yet he never failed to adopt the most delicate
and gentlemanly course, where, in his opinion, rigour became
necessary. There are many documents tending to establish this fact,
such as the following:--

Camp, April 10th, 1778.

My Lord,

In my weekly returns, your lordship may have observed that Captain Tom
has been returned--_absent without leave_. As he had been long from
the regiment, and no reasons had been assigned to me for his
extraordinary absence, I thought myself in duty bound to make such
report. Upon his return to camp, he has accounted for his conduct in a
manner more satisfactory than I feared he could.

Unwilling to deal too severely with a valuable officer, and conscious
of the impropriety of passing any seeming neglect in entire silence, I
refer him to your lordship as the proper judge of his conduct and
excuses.

My lord, you are acquainted with the character of Captain Tom. You