From Diary of the American Revolution, Vol II. Compiled by Frank Moore and published in 1859.
February 22.—By letters of a very late date from New York, says a writer in England, we are informed that Sir Henry Clinton has been attempting to negotiate a peace with America by offering the most advantageous terms to many of her leaders. Several of the American officers of rank, while prisoners, such as Lee, Stirling, &c., were tampered with on the same subject, but all without effect, as Washington, who is now more in the French interest than ever, opposes every attempt towards such accommodations short of independence. As to General Lee, he is now neglected and despised even by the Americans, who never had any opinion of his fidelity to their cause, after he was taken prisoner; nay, some of the most violent have gone so far as to charge him with being ever since in the British interest, although they have never been able to prove it.1
1 Upcott, vi. 181.