To Mrs. Martha J. Lamb<br><br>Editor of the Magazine of American History.<br><br>The appearance in your magazine for October, 1883, and in subsequent numbers, of "Sir Henry Clinton's Original Secret Record of Private Daily Intelligence" has attracted great attention among American historians, and has seriously injured the reputation of General Samuel Holden Parsons whose name and conduct are frequently referred to by W. Heron in letters addressed to the commander of the British forces in New York during the early part of the year 1781. The celebrations of the settlement of Marietta in 1883 and 1888 have brought the name of General Parson's conspicuously before the public, and opened discussion with regard to the inculpatory letters discovered in the Clinton record. These letters have been accepted in important quarters as conclusive of General Parsons' guilt. Several attempts have been made to vindicate him, but they have not been complete on account of the absence of sufficient documentary evidence.