It is supposed and expected that justice will lead the General Congress to declare, upon their receiving the proclamation, that if any one is proceeded against here, for corresponding with the people of America, or befriending them here, they will immediately seize upon all those in America who correspond with the Ministry. Without such a declaration, their friends, and especially their agents here, will be at the mercy of the most unprincipled Administration that ever disgraced humanity. Vattel, the most respected writer on the Laws of Nations, has this apposite observation: "Le Due d' Alva condamnoit à mort tous les prisonniers qu' il pouvoit faire sur les confédérés des Pays-Bas; ceux-ci userent de represailles, et les contraignirent enfin à respecter, à leur égard, le droit des gens, et les loix de la guerre." The same check must be held over these men, whose inclinations are equally bloody and unjust
"Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732 – June 19, 1794) was an American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. His famous resolution of June 1776 led to the United States Declaration of Independence, which Lee signed. He also served a one-year term as the President of the Continental Congress, and was a U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1789 to 1792, serving during part of that time as one of the first Presidents pro tempore."
Good find.