Analysis of Loyalists, [1783?]
Analysis of Loyalists6
D: Library of Congress
[1783?]
Two hundred & eighty eight persons called Loyalists, & specified by Name in the Morning Post, classed in the following Manner.—
| Persons residing in Great Britain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 32. | |
| Deceased Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 34. | |
| Apostates, that is to say, persons who had conformed to the American Government, & voluntarily taken the necessary Oaths, among whom also are divers who had been Demagogues & Leaders of the People, & who had REFORMED in hopes of saving their Estates after the capture of Charles Town by Sr Henry Clinton & who are now desiros of being re-reformed for the same benefit— |  |
139. |
| Persons of doubtful Principles, vizt, who, from the beginning, were endeavoring to play a safe Game, & take the strongest side, as Occasion might offer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 12. | |
| Persons whose Names are unknown & others who are known to be of no weight or importance; the greatest part of whom would probably come, properly, under the title of Apostates . . . . . . . . . . | 71. | |
| 288. | ||
| American true Loyalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 000. | |
| 288. | ||
Analysis of Loyalists.
6. This undated satire on classifications of Loyalists, found among BF’s papers, remains to some degree mysterious. We believe the text to be in the hand of Henry Laurens, Jr. (who adopted his father’s idiosyncratic spellings), and “Analysis of Loyalists,” written on the verso, to be in the hand of Laurens himself. The Laurens Papers editors found no trace of this piece, and our search of newspapers yielded no definitive clues. Whatever its origins and date, its sentiments conform to the views exchanged by Laurens and BF in the spring of 1783: XXXIX, 298, 358, 430–1; see also 230–4.