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 HISTORY 
 
 Of the 
 
 AMERICAN BEVOLUTIflN. 
 
 f IRST PUBLISHED IN LONDON UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCB 
 
 OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL 
 
 KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 IMPROVED WITH 
 
 MAPS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 REVISED AND ENLARGED, 
 
 By Rev. J. L. BLAKE, D. D. 
 
 ACTTHOR OF " SKETCHES OF AMERICAIT HISTORY.' 
 
 ^/ 
 
 HARFER^'^^SS^^VHERS/ PUBLISHERS, 
 
 82 CLIFF STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
;^\:i 
 
 /*J \ 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and forty -seven, by 
 
 Harper & Brothers, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern Distiict 
 of New York. 
 
 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 It is stated, on the title page, that this work was first 
 published in London under the superintendence of the 
 Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Such 
 is its character for impartiality and accuracy and 
 correct diction, that several editions of it have been 
 published in this country without alteration. In the 
 present edition, where more minute details were judged 
 desirable, additions have been made which amount to 
 about one fifth of the whole volume. These additions 
 are partly incorporated into the text, and are partly in 
 the form of notes. The pictorial illustrations will also 
 be esteemed a great improvement, whether it is to be 
 used as a class-book for study in schools, or as a read- 
 ing book in families. The distinctive merits of the 
 original work were presented, in the first American 
 edition, published at Boston, 1832, under the following 
 classification. 
 
 First — It is the most brief, concise, and distinct nar- 
 rative of the principal events of the American Revolu- 
 tion, known to exist. 
 
 Second — It possesses an uninterrupted continuity of 
 interest from the first to the last, without embellishment 
 and with no other alteration than a plain recital of his- 
 torical facts. 
 
 Third — It communicates facts in which persons of 
 
IV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 all ages have an interest, in a style simple enough to 
 satisfy the young, and substantial enough to gratify the 
 mature and cultivated. 
 
 Fourth — The facts are collected and published under 
 the sanction of a society composed of men most emi- 
 nent for their learning and station among every class 
 of the citizens of Great Britain, of whom Mr. Brougham, 
 the Lord Chancellor, was chairman, and therefore to 
 them no undue partiality for the cause of this country 
 during the struggle for independence can be imputed. 
 
 Fifth — Although the occasion was one of the most 
 justifiable for war that ever has or can arise, and the 
 contest was continued by high and honorable minds 
 under the severest trials of disappointment, self-denial, 
 and suffering, (the surest tests of principle,) still the 
 detail of devastation, murder, and personal revenge is 
 sufficiently conspicuous throughout the whole, to give 
 the contest the peculiar malignity of a civil war, and to 
 make the young and the retiecting miftd shudder even 
 at what may be termed a glonoy-s var. 
 
 New York, October, 1843. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 rage. 
 
 Settlement of British America. - - - 7 
 
 War of Seventeen Hundred and Fifty-six. - 14 
 Resolution of the House of Commons, 10th of 
 
 March, 1764 19 
 
 Stamp-act, March 22d, 1765. - - - - 23 
 
 Repeal of the Stamp-act, 10th of March, 1766. 29 
 
 New Attempt at Taxation. _ - - - 29 
 
 Petition and Remonstrance, 1773. - - - 45 
 Boston Port-act, and Repeal of the Charter of 
 
 Massachusetts. ------ 55 
 
 Removal of the Seat of Government from Boston. 68 
 First Acts of the Assembly at Concord. - - 71 
 Opening of Congress at Philadelphia. - - 76 
 Address of the House of Commons, 9th Feb. 1775. 80 
 Affair at Lexington, 19th of April, 1775. - 92 
 Battle of Bunker Hill, 16th of June, 1775. - 96. 
 Union of the Thirteen Provinces. Hancock ap- 
 pointed President, and Washington Com- 
 mander-in-chief. ----- 101 
 
 Invasion of Canada. Death of Montgomery. - 105 
 
 Evacuation of Boston, March 17th, 1776. - 108 
 
 Declaration of Independence, 4th of July, 1776. 116 
 
 Capture of Long Island, 26th of August, 1776. 128 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Evacuation of New York, 1st of September, 1776. 132 
 
 Battle of Trenton, 28th of December, 1776. - 135 
 
 Capture of Philadelphia, 26th of September, 1776. 142 
 
 Burgoyne's Expedition. - - - - 146 
 
 Failure of Burgoyne. 153 
 
 Convention of Saratoga, 13th of October, 1777. 161 
 
 Treaty with France, 6th of February, 1778. - 164 
 
 Rejection of Lord North's Overtures, June, 1778. 169 
 
 Arrival of the French Fleet 180 
 
 Campaign of 1779. 184 
 
 Siege and Capture of Charleston, May 12, 1780. 193 
 
 Defeat of Gates by Cornwallis, 15th of Aug. 1780. 198 
 
 Arrival of the French under Rochambeau. - 208 
 
 Treason of Arnold, and Death of Andre. - 212 
 
 Campaign of 1781. Defeat of Greene by Lord 
 
 Cornwallis 221 
 
 Campaign of 1781 continued. Defeat of Lord 
 
 Rawdon by General Greene. - - - 228 
 Further Events of the Campaign. Preparations 
 
 for the Siege of New York. - - - 235 
 
 Siege of Yorktown. Surrender of Cornwallis. - 241 
 
 Provisional Treaty of Peace. _ - - 245 
 
 Conclusion. ... ... 249 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 SECTION L 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF BRITISH AMERICA. 
 
 The discovery of the western hemisphere, 
 efFecred by the bold and persevering genius 
 of Christopher Columbus, in the year 1492, 
 gave a new impulse to European activity ; 
 and the splendid conquests of the Spaniards 
 in the West Indies, and in South America, 
 excited the emulation of the other maritime 
 powers of Christendom. Our ancestors were 
 not dilatory in their endeavors to enter upon 
 this new path to glory and wealth ; for we 
 find that, in the year 1498, John Cabot, by 
 virtue of a commission from Henry VII., took 
 formal possession, in the name of that mon- 
 arch, of a considerable portion of the conti- 
 nent of North America. 
 
 No attempt, however, was made to estab- 
 lish a colony in that country till the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth, when Sir Humphrey Gil- 
 bert and Sir Walter Raleigh, in the years 
 1578 and 1584, formed settlements there, 
 
8 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 which were soon wasted by famine, by dis- 
 ease, and by the arrows of the natives, who, 
 as heathens, were counted as nothing in the 
 royal grants under which the adventurers 
 acted. The first permanent British settlement 
 was established in the reign of King James 
 L, under whose auspices a company of adven- 
 turers built Jamestown, on the northern side 
 of James river. This colony, however, con- 
 tinued for a long time in a feeble state. It 
 was founded A. D. 1 607 ; and, though it re- 
 ceived continual accessions of new settlers, its 
 population, in the year 1670, amounted to no 
 more than 40,000 souls. 
 
 The Virginian colonists were prompted to 
 quit their native country by the hope of bet- 
 tering their temporal condition. A higher 
 motive gave rise to the colonization of the 
 northern portion of the new continent. After 
 the passing of the Act of Uniformity, in the 
 reign of Elizabeth, the Puritans had suffered 
 grievous persecution ; to escape from which 
 a small body of them had fled, in the year 
 1606, into Holland. Unwilling, however, en- 
 tirely to sever themselves from the land which 
 gave them birth, they applied to their sover- 
 eign. King James, beseeching him to permit 
 them to establish themselves in his North 
 American dominions, in the full exercise of 
 liberty in religious matters. 
 
 With this their request, in its full extent, 
 James refused to comply. All that they could 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 9 
 
 obtain from him was a promise that he would 
 connive at their infringements of the statutes, 
 the operation of whicli had driven them into 
 voluntary exile. On the faith of the royal 
 word to this effect, they embarked, to the 
 number of 101, in the month of September, 
 1620, and arriving at Cape Cod in the follow- 
 ing November, soon afterwards fixed them- 
 selves in a place of settlement which they 
 called New Plymouth, and which, it must be 
 observed to their honor, they purchased from 
 the natives. 
 
 Landing of the Fathers. 
 
 The whole number of emigrants was 101, 
 viz. : 41 men, 18 women, and the rest were 
 
10 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 children and servants, of whom 40 died with- 
 in three months from the day of their landing. 
 
 Dreadful were the difficulties with which 
 this handful of religionists had to struggle ; 
 landing as they did in the depth of wdnter, 
 and exposed as they were, notwithstanding 
 their conciliatory disposition, to the hostility 
 of the natives. But, supported by the princi- 
 ples of piety, and determined at any price to 
 purchase religious freedom, they maintained 
 their ground ; and being from time to time 
 recruited by new migrations of their persecu- 
 ted brethren, they, by degrees, spread them- 
 selves over the province of Massachusetts. 
 
 It too often happens that religion produces 
 dissension, and that those w^ho have suffered 
 persecution, when they have obtained power, 
 become persecutors themselves. This was 
 the case with the principal inhabitants of the 
 colony of Massachusetts. Falling into the 
 common error of the times, in thinking that 
 uniformity of sentiment on the subject of re- 
 ligious doctrines was required by the truth of 
 the gospel, and by a regard to the peace and 
 welfare of society, they established it as a 
 rule of government, " that no man should be 
 admitted to the freedom of their body politic, 
 but such as w^ere members of some of their 
 churches ;'* and they afterw^ards passed a 
 resolution, " that none but such should share 
 in the administration of civil government, or 
 have a voice in any election." 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 11 
 
 Tn this instance, however, as in many oth- 
 ers, evil was productive of good. Tiie dis- 
 contented sectarians sought other settlements, 
 and founded the colonies of Connecticut, 
 Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. 
 
 While the once persecuted Protestants thus 
 gave a sad proof that their sufferings had not 
 taught them mercy, it was reserved for a 
 Roman Catholic nobleman to give to the new 
 world a striking example of this happy docili- 
 ty. In the year 1632, Lord Baltimore obtain- 
 ed a charter for a new colony, the first settlers 
 of which consisted chiefly of Roman Catholic 
 gentlemen ; and, having established his band 
 of emigrants in Maryland, he so exerted his 
 influence with the members of the assembly 
 of the new province, that they laid it down 
 as a fundamental principle of their constitu- 
 tion, " that no persons professing to believe in 
 Christ Jesus should be molested in respect of 
 their religion, or in the free exercise thereof." 
 His lordship's enlightened policy was eminent- 
 ly successful. Under the nurture of religious 
 liberty, his infant settlement soon advanced 
 rapidly towards maturity. 
 
 In the reign of Charles II., royal charters 
 of the most liberal tenor were granted to Con- 
 necticut, Rhode Island, and Providence Plan- 
 tations ; and patents were also granted to 
 Lord Clarendon and the Duke of York, be- 
 stowing on the former a right to form planta- 
 tions in the district now comprehending North 
 
12 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 and South Carolina and Georgia, and dele- 
 gating to the latter the same right as respect- 
 ing New York and New Jersey ; and finally, 
 a patent was issued, authorizing the celebra- 
 ted William Penn to colonize Pennsylvania 
 and Delaware. 
 
 The English emigrants who settled in North 
 America were a class of people very different 
 from the Spaniards, who subdued the southern 
 continent. They did not leave their native 
 shores for the purpose of invading and plun- 
 dering rich provinces and wealthy cities ; but 
 they sought prosperity by the painful arts of 
 industry and economy. Purchasing land from 
 the aborigines, they at first devoted themselves 
 to the culture of the soil ; and in process of 
 time, those who continued to reside on the 
 sea-shore, or on the banks of navigable rivers, 
 addicted themselves to commerce. Their suc- 
 cess in this pursuit is evinced by the fact, that 
 though ill the year 1704 the imports of the 
 province of Pennsylvania amounted only to 
 £11,499 sterling, in 1772 they were increased 
 to the value of £507,909, and in the same year 
 the whole of the exports from Great Brit- 
 ain to her North American colonies amount- 
 ed to upwards of £6,000,000 sterling. 
 
 Though each colony had its separate consti- 
 tution, the principles of freedom pervaded 
 them all. In some provinces the governors 
 and the magistrates were elected by the peo- 
 ple ; and in those, the governors and chief 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 13 
 
 officers of which were appointed by the 
 crown, the power of these functionaries was 
 Controlled by assemblies, the members of 
 which were chosen by the freeholders, who 
 were too numerous to be bribed, and too in- 
 dependent in their circumstances to be swayed 
 by influence. Throughout the whole of the 
 Union there was not found a single proprietor 
 of a borough, nor an interest to nurture the 
 principles of bigotry and passive obedience. 
 
 When the first settlers took possession of the 
 country, they brought with them all the rights 
 of Englishmen, and those rights they were 
 jealous in maintaining. Their interior con- 
 cerns were regulated by their representatives 
 in assembly ; but in consideration of their 
 origin, and of the protection against foreign 
 enemies, which they received from the mother 
 country, they cheerfully submitted to the ob- 
 ligation of exclusively trading with her, and 
 of being bound by all the laws touching com- 
 merce, which might be passed by the British 
 parliament. The limits of the authority of 
 parliament they were not critical in canvass- 
 ing, with one exception — namely, claiming to 
 be independent of that body in the matter of 
 internal taxation. They maintained, con- 
 formably to one of the most established 
 principles of the British constitution, that an 
 assembly in which they were not repre- 
 sented had no right to burden them with im- 
 posts. 
 
 2 
 
14 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 
 
 The leading element in the early colonial 
 character, and perhaps the strongest in giving 
 it its peculiar cast of austerity and elevatioi^ 
 was religious enthusiasm. Many believed 
 themselves under the immediate direction of 
 heaven. The stern traits of the English 
 Puritans, so remarkable in the civil wars of 
 the first Charles, and under the common- 
 wealth, were strong in the pilgrims of Ply 
 mouth Rock. These traits of character, in 
 their descendants, under the benign influence 
 of a better knowledge and wider freedom, are 
 much softened, but still exist ; and, under cir- 
 cumstances favorable to their development, 
 stand forth in great prominence. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 WAR OF SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX. 
 
 The growing power of the British colonies 
 in America was strikingly evinced in the year 
 1745, when a force of 5,000 men, raised and 
 equipped by the single state of Massachu- 
 setts, and acting in concert with a British 
 armament from the West Indies, took Louis- 
 bourg from the French. The success of this 
 expedition so much excited the jealousy of 
 the government of France, that, after the 
 termination of the war in which Louisbourg 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 15 
 
 was taken, they dispossessed the Ohio Com- 
 pany of the settlements which it had formed 
 *on the river of that name, alleging that the 
 territory in question was part of the domin- 
 ions of his Most Christian Majesty. 
 
 It was on this occasion that George Wash- 
 in,2:ton, then a major in the Virginian militia, 
 first drew his sword in hostility. At the 
 head of three hundred men he defeated a 
 party of French; but being afterwards at- 
 tacked by a superior force, he was obliged 
 to surrender, receiving, however, honorable 
 terms of capitulation. 
 
 A war with France now seeming inevita- 
 ble, a general meeting of the governors and 
 leading members of the provincial asserpblies 
 was held at Albany, in the state of New 
 York. This meeting proposed, as the result 
 of its deliberations, "that a grand council 
 should be formed, of members to be chosen 
 by the provincial assemblies ; which council, 
 together v\^ith a governor to be appointed by 
 the crown, should be authorized to make gen- 
 eral laws, and also to raise money from all 
 the colonies, for their common defence. 
 
 The British government seem to have view- 
 ed this proposal with jealousy, as a step 
 towards independence. They disapproved of 
 the projected mode of the election of the 
 members of the council ; nor were they sat- 
 isfied with the plan of raising the requisite 
 supplies by acts of the colonial legislatures •; 
 
16 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 and they proposed that "the governors of all 
 the colonies, attended by one or two members 
 of their respective councils, should, from time 
 to time, concert measures for the whole colo- 
 nies ; erect forts and raise troops, with a pow- 
 er to draw upon the British treasury in the 
 first instance ; but to be ultimately reimbursed 
 by a tax to be laid on the colonies by act of 
 parliament." 
 
 This counter proposal was strenuously op- 
 posed by the colonists, who refused to trust 
 their interests to governors and members of 
 councils, since almost the whole of the former, 
 and the great majority of the latter, were 
 nominated by the crown. As to the plan of 
 raising taxes in the colonies by the authority 
 of the British parliament, they rejected it in 
 the most peremptory manner. In the discus- 
 sions which took place on this occasion, Dr. 
 Franklin took an active part, and in a letter 
 to Mr. Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, as 
 Dr. Ramsay observes, " he anticipated the 
 substance of a controversy which for twenty 
 years employed the pens, tongues, and swords 
 of both countries." 
 
 In his correspondence with the governor, 
 the American patriot intimated his apprehen- 
 sion, that excluding the people from all share 
 in the choice of the grand council, would give 
 extreme dissatisfaction, as well as the taxing 
 them by act of parliament, where they have 
 no representation. " It is," observes he, with 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 17 
 
 equal candor and good sense — "it is very 
 possible that this general government might 
 be as well and faithfully administered with- 
 out the people as with them ; but where 
 heavy burdens are to be laid upon them, it 
 has been found useful to make it, as much as 
 possible, their own act ; for they bear better, 
 when they have, or think they have, some 
 share in the direction ; and when any public 
 measures are generally grievous, or even dis- 
 tasteful to the people, the wheels of govern- 
 ment move more heavily." 
 
 On the subject of the general characters of 
 the governors of the colonies, to whom it was 
 thus intended to delegate extraordinary pow- 
 ers. Dr. Franklin thus expressed himself, in 
 terms well worthy the attention of all minis- 
 ters who are invested with the appointment 
 of such functionaries ; — " Governors often 
 come to the colonies merely to make fortunes, 
 "with which they intend to return to Britain ; 
 are not always men of the best abilities or in- 
 tegrity ; have many of them no estates here, 
 nor any natural connection with us, that 
 should make them heartily concerned for our 
 welfare ; and might possibly be fond of rais- 
 ing and keeping up more forces than neces- 
 sary, from the profits accruing to themselves, 
 and to make provision for their friends and 
 dependants." 
 
 The opposition which their project experi- 
 
 ienced induced the British government to with- 
 
 2* 
 
18 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 draw it, and the colonies and the mother coun- 
 try for some time longer acted together in 
 union and harmony. The consequence of 
 this was, that under the vigorous administra- 
 tion of Mr. Pitt, the war, begun in 1756, was 
 terminated by a treaty signed in 1763 ; ac- 
 cording to the articles of which, Canada was 
 ceded to great Britain by France, and the two 
 Floridas by Spain. 
 
 The North American colonies, in general, 
 entered into the war of 1756 with such zeal, 
 that some of them advanced funds for its 
 prosecution to a greater amount than the 
 quota which had been demanded of them by 
 the British government. Others of them, how- 
 ever, the state of Maryland for instance, had, 
 from local and accidental causes neglected to 
 contribute their share to the requisite sup- 
 plies. This circumstance, in all probability, 
 led British statesmen to wish to establish a 
 system, by means of which the resources of 
 the colonies might be made available without 
 the necessity of the concurrence of their local 
 legislatures. 
 
 Accordingly, Mr. Pitt is said to have told 
 Dr. Franklin that, " when the war closed, if 
 he should be in the ministry, he would take 
 measures to prevent the colonies from having 
 a power to refuse or delay the supplies which 
 might be wanting for national purposes." 
 This declaration is certainly at variance with 
 the doctrines which Mr. Pitt maintained when 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 19 
 
 the question of colonial taxation was after- 
 wards discussed in parliament. But at the 
 latter period that great statesman was no 
 longer minister ; and he is not the only poli- 
 tician who has held different language when 
 in and when out of power. 
 
 SECTION TIL 
 
 EESOLUTIONS OP THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, TENTH OP 
 MARCH, 1764. 
 
 Whatever might be the motives of their 
 conduct, the British ministry, in the year 1764, 
 began to manifest a narrow and jealous policy 
 towards the North American colonies. For a 
 long series of years the commerce of the east- 
 ern states had been most beneficially extended 
 to the Spanish and French colonies ; to which 
 they transported great quantities of British 
 manufactures, the profits on the sale of which 
 were divided between themselves and their 
 correspondents in the mother country. This 
 course of trade, though not repugnant to the 
 spirit of the navigation laws, was contrary to 
 their letter. 
 
 Of this the British ministry took advantage ; 
 and by the activity of their revenue cutters, 
 they put a stop to the traffic in question, to 
 
20 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 the detriment and ruin of many merchants, 
 not onlv in America, but also in Great Britain. 
 
 ml ' 
 
 In September, 1764, indeed, they caused an 
 act to be passed, authorizing the trade be- 
 tween the North Americans and the French 
 and Spanish colonies, but loading it with such 
 duties as amounted to a prohibition, and pre- 
 scribing that all offenders against the act 
 should be prosecuted in the Court of Admiral- 
 ty, where they were deprived of a trial by 
 jury. 
 
 As an accumulation of the grievances which 
 the colonists felt from this act, its preamble 
 contained the following words of fearful 
 omen : " Whereas it is just and necessary that 
 a revenue be raised in America for defraying 
 the expenses of defending, protecting, and 
 securing the same, we, the Commons, &c., 
 towards raising the same, give and grant 
 unto your Majesty," &c. 
 
 It is believed by competent judges that the 
 colonists, however disposed to resent this en- 
 croachment on their constitutional rights, 
 would have submitted without resistance to 
 the provisions of the act as regulations of 
 trade and commerce. But the ministry soon 
 took a bolder step, by proceeding to impose a 
 direct internal tax upon the colonies by au- 
 thority of parliament. This measure was vin- 
 dicated on the following grounds, that the 
 pressure of the payment of the interest of the 
 national debt weighed so heavily on the Brit- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 21 
 
 isli community, that it was expedient that by 
 every proper means this burden should be 
 lightened ; that a considerable portion of this 
 debt had been contracted in the furnishing of 
 supplies for tlie defence of the North Ameri- 
 can colonies ; that it was just and reasonable 
 that those colonies should contribute their 
 proportion towards its liquidation ; and that 
 the authority of parliament was competent to 
 bind them so to do. 
 
 The idea of relieving the public burdens 
 by the taxation of distant colonies was, of 
 course, very popular throughout the British 
 nation ; and so little was the right of parlia- 
 ment to impose such taxation at first question- 
 ed in Britain, that on the 10th of March, 1764, 
 a resolution to the following effect passed the 
 House of Commons, without any remark — 
 *• That towards furthej* defraying the said ex- 
 penses, it may be proper to charge certain 
 stamp duties in the said colonies and planta- 
 tions." Nothing, however, was immediately 
 done in pursuance of this resolution ; as min- 
 isters were in hopes that the apprehension of 
 the passing of an act founded on it would in- 
 duce the colonists to raise a sum equivalent 
 to the expected produce of such act, by bills 
 passed in their respective legislative assem- 
 blies: but in these hopes they were disap- 
 pointed- 
 
 Wheii intelligence of the resolution for 
 laying a tax on stamps arrived in America, 
 
22 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 the colonists were filled with alarm and in- 
 dignation. They declared internal taxation 
 of the colonies by the authority of parliament 
 to be an innovation and an infringement on 
 their rights and liberties. If parliament was 
 authorized to levy one tax upon them, it was 
 authorized to levy a thousand. Where, then, 
 was the security of their property, or what 
 protection could they expect for their dearest 
 interests, from a body of men who were ig- 
 norant of their circumstances ; between whom 
 and themselves there was no bond of sympa- 
 thy, and who, indeed, had a direct interest in 
 removing the weight of taxation from their 
 own shoulders to those of the colonists ? They 
 were entitled, they affirmed, to all the rights 
 of British subjects, of which the most valua- 
 ble was exemption from all taxes, save those 
 which should be imposed upon them by their 
 own freely chosen and responsible represen 
 tatives. Influenced by the feelings and mo- 
 tives implied in these declarations, instead of 
 passing tax bills, they voted petitions and 
 remonstrances to parliament and to the 
 throne. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 23 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 STAMP-ACT, MARCH 22, 1765. 
 
 The supplications and complaints of the 
 colonists were disregarded. In the month of 
 March, 1765, a bill for laying a duty on stamps 
 in America was brought into the House of 
 Commons by Mr. Grenville. This bill was 
 supported by Mr. Charles Townsend, who is 
 reported to have concluded his speech in its 
 favor, in the following words : — " And now 
 will these Americans — children planted by 
 our care, nourished up by our indulgence, till 
 they are grown to a degree of strength and 
 opulence, and protected by our arms — will 
 they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve 
 us from the heavy weight of that burden 
 which we lie under ?" 
 
 To this invidious appeal to the pride and 
 the prejudices of the members of the House 
 of Commons, Colonel Barre thus energetically 
 replied : 
 
 " They planted by your care ! No ! your op- 
 pressions planted them in America. They 
 fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated 
 and inhospitable country, where they exposed 
 themselves to almost all the hardships to 
 which human nature is liable, and, among 
 others, to the cruelty of a savage foe, the most 
 
24 AMERICAN EEVOLUTION. 
 
 subtle, and, I will take upon me to say, the 
 most formidable of any people upon the face 
 of God's earth ; and yet, actuated by princi- 
 ples of true English liberty, they met all 
 hardships with pleasure, compared with those 
 they suffered in their own country, from the 
 hands of those who should have been their 
 friends. 
 
 " They nourished up hy your indulgence ! 
 they grew by your neglect of them. As soon 
 as you began to care for them, that care was 
 exercised in sending persons to rule them in 
 one department and another, who were, per- 
 haps, the deputies of deputies to some mem- 
 bers of this House, sent to spy out their liber- 
 ties, to misrepresent their actions, and to prey 
 upon them — men whose behavior, on many 
 occasions, has caused the blood of those sons 
 of liberty to recoil within them — men pro- 
 moted to the highest seats of justice ; some 
 who, to my knowledge, were glad, by go- 
 ing to a foreign country, to escape being 
 brought to the bar of a court of justice in their 
 own. 
 
 " They protected by your arms ! they have 
 nobly taken up arms in your defence, have 
 exerted their valor, amidst their constant and 
 laborious industry, for the defence of a coun- 
 try whose frontier was drenched in blood, 
 while its interior parts yielded all its little 
 savings to your emolument. And, believe 
 me, remember I this day told you so, tha* 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 25 
 
 same spirit of freedom which actuated that 
 people at first, will accompany them still ; 
 but prudence forbids me to explain myself 
 further. God knows I do not at this time 
 speak from any motives of party heat ; what 
 I deliver are the genuine sentiments of my 
 heart. 
 
 " However superior to me, in general know- 
 ledge and experience, the respectable body of 
 this House may be, yet I claim to know more 
 of America than most of you, having seen, 
 and been conversant with that country. The 
 people, I believe, are as truly loyal as any 
 subjects the king has, but a people jealous of 
 their liberties, and who will vindicate them 
 if ever they should be violated. But the sub- 
 ject is too delicate — I will say no more." 
 
 In the House of Lords the bill met with no 
 opposition ; and on the 22d of March it re- 
 ceived the royal assent.*" In adopting the 
 stamp-act as a method of taxing the colonies, 
 ministers flattered themselves that the nullity 
 of all transactions in which the stamps pre- 
 scribed by the new law were not used would 
 insure its execution. In this confidence they 
 
 * The night after the passage of the stamp-act, Franklin 
 wrote from London to his friend Charles Thompson, after- 
 wards the Secretary of Congress — " The sun of Liberty is 
 set — the Americans must light up the lamps of industry and 
 eeonomy." The heroism of the revolution spoke in Mr. 
 Thomeson's pithy answer : " Be assured we shall light up 
 torch^ of another sort." 
 
 3 
 
26 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 postponed the commencement of its operation 
 to the month of November, 1765. 
 
 This was a fatal error on their part. Had 
 they prescribed its enforcement immediately 
 on its arrival in America, the colonists might, 
 in their consternation, have been awed into 
 compliance with its provisions ; but the long 
 interval between its arrival and its execution, 
 gave them ample time to organize their op- 
 position against it. Of this they fully availed 
 themselves. On the 28th of May, the assem- 
 bly of Virginia passed strong resolutions 
 against the stamp-act, the substance of which 
 was readily adopted by the other provincial 
 legislatures. Popular pamphlets were pub- 
 lished in abundance, in reprobation of the 
 power thus assumed by the British parlia- 
 ment ; and the proprietors of newspapers, 
 whose journals were destined to be burdened 
 with a stamp duty, raised against the obnox- 
 ious statute a cry which resounded from Mas- 
 sachusetts to Georgia. The oppressive meas- 
 ures of ministers were canvassed in town- 
 meetings and in every place of public resort ; 
 and the limits of the obedience due to the 
 parent country were freely and boldly dis- 
 cussed in every company. 
 
 In these proceedings the colony of Virginia 
 led the way, by passing, in the House of Bur- 
 gesses, at the motion of Mr. Patrick Henry, 
 the following resolutions: — 1st. "That the 
 first adventurers — settlers of this his maj Aty's 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 27 
 
 colony and dominion of Virginia — ^brought 
 with them, and transmitted to their posterity, 
 and all other his majesty's subjects, since in- 
 habiting in this his majesty's said colony, all 
 the liberties, privileges, and immunities that 
 have at any time been held, enjoyed, and 
 possessed by the people of Great Britain." 
 
 2d]y. " That by tv^o royal charters, granted 
 by King James I., the colonies aforesaid are 
 declared to be entitled to all liberties, privi- 
 leges, and immunities of denizens, and natural 
 subjects, to all intents and purposes, as if they 
 had been abiding and born w^ithin the realm 
 of England." 
 
 Sdly. " That his majesty's liege people of 
 this his ancient colony have enjoyed the right 
 of being thus governed by their ovs^n assem- 
 bly, in the article of taxes and internal police, 
 and that the same has never been forfeited 
 or yielded up, but been constantly recognised 
 by the king and people of Britain." 
 
 4thly. " Resolved, therefore, that the gen- 
 eral assembly of this colony, together with his 
 majesty or his substitutes, have, in their repre- 
 sentative capacity, the only exclusive right 
 and power to lay taxes and imposts upon the 
 inhabitants of this colony, and that every at- 
 tempt to vest such power in any other person 
 or persons whatsoever than the general as- 
 sembly aforesaid, is illegal, unconstitutional, 
 and unjust, and hath a manifest tendency to 
 destroy British as well as American liberty." 
 
28 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 5thly. "Resolved, that his majesty's liege 
 people, the inhabitants of this colony, are not 
 bound to yield obedience to any law or ordi- 
 nance whatever, designed to impose any taxa- 
 tion whatever upon them, other than the 
 laws or ordinances of the general assembly 
 aforesaid." 
 
 6thly. "Resolved, that any person who shall, 
 by speaking or writing, assert or maintain 
 that any person or persons, other than the 
 general assembly of this colony, have any 
 right or power to impose, or lay any taxation 
 on the people here, shall be deemed an enemy 
 to this his majesty's colony." 
 
 The heat engendered by the debates, which 
 in various colonies issued in resolutions to the 
 tenor of the foregoing, at length broke out in 
 acts of violence. The populace of Boston at- 
 tacked the houses of the officers of govern- 
 ment, and destroyed their furniture. Similar 
 excesses took place in some of the other colo- 
 nies ; and the general antipathy of the public 
 against the act sheltered the perpetrators of 
 these outrages from punishment. 
 
 These ebullitions were followed by more 
 regular and more effective proceedings on the 
 part of the American patriots On the 6th of 
 June the assembly of Massachusetts, sensible 
 of the necessity of union to the maintenance 
 of their rights and liberties, invited the other 
 colonial legislative bodies to send deputies to 
 a general congress to be holden at New York 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 29 
 
 on the second Tuesday of October, for the 
 purpose of deliberating on the steps necessary 
 to be taken in the existing circumstances. 
 
 This summons was readily answered by all 
 the colonies except those of Virginia, North 
 Carolina, and Georgia, which, however, hearti- 
 ly approved of the purposed measures, but 
 were prevented by their respective govern- 
 ors from meeting for the purpose of electing 
 deputies to attend the congress. The repre- 
 sentatives of nine colonies met at the time 
 and place appointed, and after mature delib- 
 eration agreed upon a declaration of their 
 rights and a statement of their grievances, 
 and also drew up and signed petitions to the 
 king and to both houses of parliament. Simi- 
 lar steps were taken individually by the colo- 
 nies which had been prevented from sending 
 deputies to the congress. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 REPEAL OF THE STAMP-ACT, TENTH OF MARCH, 
 1766. NEW ATTEMPT AT TAXATION, AND RE- 
 SISTANCE TO THE SAME. 
 
 The first of November, the day on which 
 the stamp-act was to commence its operation, 
 was ushered in throughout the colonies by 
 
 3* 
 
30 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 the funereal tolling of bells. In the course 
 of the day various processions and public ex- 
 hibitions were made, all indicative of the ab- 
 horrence in which the detested statute was 
 universally held. By common consent the 
 act was utterly disregarded, and not a stamp 
 was bought to legalize any transaction. . 
 
 Nor did the Americans content themselves 
 with this sullen opposition to the measures of 
 ministers.* They entered into solemn reso- 
 lutions not to import any British manufactured 
 goods till the stamp-act was repealed ; and 
 an association was formed to oppose the act 
 by force of arms. The latter step had no 
 
 * In some places the disafFection and excitement broke 
 out in tumultuous violence. In August several riots oc 
 curred in the town of Boston, in which much valuable pro- 
 perty was destroyed, notwithstanding the earnest efforts of 
 the great body of the citizens to discountenance and depress 
 them. The effigy of Oliver, the proposed distributer of 
 stamps, was publicly gibbeted in the streets of the town, on 
 an elm-tree, afterwards known as " Liberty Tree." His 
 office was torn down, his house mobbed, and great injury 
 done to his furniture. He was compelled to decline tlie ap- 
 pointment, and forced, some time after, to repeat the pledge 
 at the foot of the tree. 
 
 In Providence, R. I., effigies of the stamp collectors, and 
 those who favored Britain, were hung and burnt — and in 
 Newport the house of one of them destroyed in the popular 
 fury. In New York the act was contemptuously cried about 
 the streets, as " The Folly of England, and the Ruin of 
 America." The stamp distributer resigned, and the stamp 
 papers were seized and destroyed. When the vessels con- 
 taining the stamp paper approached Philadelphia, the vessels 
 in the harbor hoisted flags at half-mast, and the bells were 
 muffled and tolled, as for a public calamity. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 31 
 
 immediate effect ; but the non-importation 
 agreement brought such distress upon the, 
 British manufacturers that they besieged par- 
 liament with petitions against the measures 
 which had been adopted for the taxing of the 
 colonies. 
 
 Thus assailed by the clamors of the colo- 
 nists, and by the complaints of the suffering 
 British merchants, his majesty's government, 
 at the head of which was now placed the 
 Marquis of Rockingham, for a time wavered 
 at the view of the unpleasant alternative 
 which was set before them, of either repeal- 
 ing or enforcing the obnoxious statute. The 
 former measure was grating to the pride of 
 the nation at large, and the latter evidently 
 involved in its prosecution the danger of a 
 civil war. During this period of hesitation, 
 the state of the colonies was frequently dis- 
 cussed in parliament. 
 
 It was, in particular, the prominent subject 
 of debate at the opening of the session on the 
 17th of December, 1765. On this occasion 
 Mr. Pitt seems to have exerted all the ener- 
 gies of his powerful mind to avert the mis- 
 chiefs which he beheld impending over his 
 country. " It is a long time, Mr. Speaker," 
 said he, " since I have attended in parliament. 
 When the resolution was taken in the House 
 to tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could 
 have endured to have been carried in m}^ bed, 
 so great was the agitation of my mind for the 
 
32 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 
 
 consequences, I would have solicited some 
 kind hand to have laid me down on this floor, 
 to have borne my testimony against it. 
 
 " It is now an act that has passed ; I would 
 speak with decency of every act of this House, 
 but I must beg the indulgence of the House 
 to speak of it with freedom. I hope a day 
 may be soon appointed to consider the state 
 of the nation with respect to America. I 
 hope gentlemen will come to this debate with 
 all the temper and impartiality that his ma- 
 jesty recommends, and the importance of the 
 subject requires — a subject of greater import- 
 ance than ever engaged the attention of this 
 House, that subject only excepted, when, 
 nearly a century ago, it was the question 
 whether you yourselves were to be bound oi 
 free. In the mean time, as I cannot depend 
 upon health for any future day, such is the 
 nature of my infirmities, I will beg to say a 
 few words at present, leaving the justice, the 
 equity, the policy, the expediency of the act 
 to another time. I will only speak to one 
 point — a point which seems not to have been 
 generally understood — I mean to the right. 
 
 " Some gentlemen seem to have considered 
 it as a point of honor. If gentlemen consider 
 it in that light, they leave all measures of 
 right and wrong, to follow a delusion that 
 may lead to destruction. It is my opinion 
 that this kingdom has no right to lay a tax 
 upon the colonies. At the same time I assert 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 33 
 
 the authority of this kingdom over the colonies 
 to be sovereign and supreme in every circum- 
 stance of government and legislation whatso- 
 ever. They are the subjects of this kingdom, 
 equally entitled with yourselves to all the nat- 
 ural rights of mankind, and the peculiar priv- 
 ileges of Englishmen. Equally bound by its 
 laws, and equally participating of the constitu- 
 tion of this free country, the Americans are 
 the sons — not the bastards of England. Taxa- 
 tion is no part of the governing or legislative 
 power. The taxes are a voluntary gift and 
 grant of the Commons alone. In legislation 
 the three estates of the realm are alike con- 
 cerned ; but the concurrence of the peers and 
 the crown to a tax is only necessary to close 
 with the form of a law. The gift and grant 
 is of the Commons alone. 
 
 " In ancient days the crown, the barons, 
 and the clergy possessed the lands. In those 
 days the barons and clergy gave and granted 
 to the crown. They gave and granted what 
 was their own. At present, since the discov- 
 ery of America, and other circumstances 
 admitting, the Commons are become the pro- 
 prietors of the land. The crown has divested 
 itself of its great estates. The church (God 
 bless it) has but a pittance. The property oi 
 the Lords, compared with that of the Com- 
 mons, is as a drop of water in the ocean ; 
 and this House represents those Commons, 
 the proprietors of the lands ; and those pro- 
 
34 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 prietors virtually represent the rest of th^ 
 inhabitants. 
 
 " When, therefore, in this House we give 
 and grant, we give and grant what is our 
 own. But in an American tax what do we 
 do ? * We, your majesty's Commons of Great 
 Britain, give and grant to your majesty' — 
 Avhat ? — our own property ? — No ! We give 
 and grant to your majesty the property of 
 your majesty's Commons of America ! It is 
 an absurdity in terms." 
 
 " There is," said Mr. Pitt, towards the close 
 of his speech, " there is an idea in some, that 
 the colonies are virtually represented in this 
 House. I would fain know by whom an 
 American is represented here ? Is he repre- 
 sented by any knight of the shire in any coun- 
 ty in this kingdom ? Would to God that re- 
 spectable representation was augmented to a 
 greater number ! Or will you tell him that he 
 is represented by any representative of a 
 borough — a borough which, perhaps, no man 
 ever saw. This is what is called the rotten 
 part of the constitution. Is cannot continue 
 a century — if it does not drop it must be am- 
 putated. The idea of a virtual representation 
 of America in this House is the most con- 
 temptible idea that ever entered into the head 
 of a man." 
 
 Mr. Pitt concluded by declaring it as his 
 opinion, that while the Americans were pos- 
 sessed of the constitutional right to tax them- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 35 
 
 selves, Great Britain, as the supreme govern- 
 ing and legislative pov^^er, had always bound 
 the colonies by her laws, by her regulations 
 and restrictions in trade, in navigation, in 
 manufactures, in every thing except that of 
 taking their money out of their pokets with- 
 out their consent. 
 
 Of this broad assertion, of the extent of 
 British power over the colonies, Mr. Grenville, 
 the patron of the stamp-act, took advantage, 
 and maintained that there was no difference 
 in principle between the right to impose ex- 
 ternal and internal taxation. He asserted 
 that the protection from time to time afforded 
 to America by Britain was a just ground of 
 claim to obedience on the part of the latter 
 from the former, and asked when America 
 was emancipated from the allegiance which 
 she owed to the parent state ? 
 
 Provoked by Mr. Grenville's sophistry, and 
 irritated by his insolence of tone and manner, 
 Mr. Pitt gave utterance to the following de- 
 claration — a declaration, no doubt, well cal- 
 culated to animate the spirit of freedom on the 
 other side of the Atlantic. " The gentleman 
 tells us that America is obstinate ; America 
 is almost in open rebellion. I rejoice that 
 America has resisted. Three millions of peo- 
 ple, so dead to all the feelings of liberty, as 
 voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have 
 been fit instruments to make slaves of the 
 rest of their fellow-subjects." 
 
36 AMERICAN REVOLUTIQN. 
 
 Thus did Mr. Pitt plead the cause of the 
 colonies with all the fervor of commanding 
 eloquence. In the course of a few days the 
 same cause was maintained by Dr. Franklin, 
 on the plain and unadorned, but convincing 
 principles of common sense. In the month 
 of February, that celebrated philosopher was 
 examined at the bar of the House of Commons 
 touching the state of America, and the pro- 
 bable effect upon the inhabitants of that 
 country of the imposition of stamp duties. 
 
 In this exaraination he evinced an accurate 
 and extensive knowledge of facts — of facts 
 which were calculated to convince any reason- 
 able mind that it was morally impossible to 
 enforce the stamp-act in the colonies ; and 
 that an aftempt to effect that object would 
 be productive of the worst consequences to 
 the prosperity of Britain. The train of inter- 
 rogatories furnished, of course, by himself, af- 
 forded him an opportunity of stating his opin- 
 ons in his accustomed clear and simple man- 
 ner ; and the cross-examination which he un- 
 derwent on the part of members hostile to the 
 claims of the colonies, gave an occasion for 
 the display of that coolness of temper and 
 promptitude of perception by which he was 
 distinguished. 
 
 His examination concluded with the follow- 
 ing pithy questions and replies: — Q. AVhat 
 used to be the pride of the Americans ? A. To 
 indulge in the fashions and manufactures of 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 37 
 
 Great Britain. Q. What is now their pride ? 
 A. To wear their old clothes over again till 
 they can make new ones.* 
 
 The distresses of the commercial and manu- 
 facturing interest now co-operating with par- 
 liamentary arguments and eloquence, the new 
 ministers, who were not so deeply committed 
 as their predecessors on the subject of the 
 stamp-act, at length made up their mind to 
 give way. Before the examination of Dr. 
 Franklin, indeed, namely, on the 21st of Jan- 
 uary, 1766, a motion had, under their auspices, 
 been made in the Commons in a committee 
 of the whole House to the following effect : — 
 
 " That it is the opinion of the committee, 
 that the House be moved, that leave be given 
 to bring in a bill to repeal an act passed in 
 the last session of parliament, entitled, ' An 
 act for granting and applying certain stamp 
 duties, and other duties in the British colonies 
 and plantations in America towards further 
 defraying the expenses of defending, protect- 
 ing, and securing the same, and for amending 
 such parts of the several acts of parliament 
 relating to the trade and revenues of the said 
 Qolonies and plantations, as direct the manner 
 of determining and recovering the penalties 
 and forfeitures therein mentioned.'" 
 
 To this resolution the advocates of the ob- 
 noxious statute moved an amendment, by 
 
 * See note at the end of the Section. 
 4 
 
38 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 which it was proposed to leave out the word 
 " repeal," and insert " explain and amend." 
 But this amendment was rejected by a ma- 
 jority of one hundred and eighteen. 
 
 On the 24th of February, the above-men- 
 tioned proceedings were confirmed by the 
 passing a resolution similar to the foregoing 
 one, but with a view, no doubt, of saving the 
 dignity of the nation and of his majesty's 
 government ; this second resolution was ac- 
 companied by others, approving of the conduct 
 of such of the colonists as had used their best 
 exertions for the enforcement of the stamp- 
 act in America ; indemnifying those " who, by 
 reason of the tumults and outrages in North 
 America, had not been able to procure stamp- 
 ed paper since the passing of the act for lay- 
 ing certain duties on stamps in the colonies, 
 and had incurred penalties and forfeitures, by 
 writing, engrossing, or printing on paper, vel- 
 lum, or parchment, not duly stamped, as re- 
 quired by the said act." 
 
 A bill, founded on these resolutions, was 
 accordingly brought into the House. This 
 bill, after warm debates, passed both Houses 
 of Parliament, and received the. loval assent 
 on the 16th of March, 1766. The ostensible 
 grounds for the adoption of this measure, as 
 expressed by preamble to the act, was the inex- 
 pediency of the tax on stamps, and by way of 
 guardedly reserving the main point in ques- 
 tion, namely, the right of the British parlia- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 39 
 
 ment to impose internal taxes on the colonies, 
 the repeal act was accompanied by a declar- 
 atory act in which it was asserted, " that the 
 parliament had, and of right ought to have, 
 power to bind the colonies in all cases what- 
 soever." 
 
 ^This broad and unqualified claim on the 
 part of the British legislature, was little cal- 
 culated to satisfy, such of the American colo- 
 nists as had maintained the struggle against 
 the British ministry upon deep and well con- 
 sidered principle. These, no doubt, regarded 
 it with suspicion and dislike, as containing 
 the germ of future encroachments upon their 
 rights and privileges. But it seems to have 
 made little impression upon the minds of the 
 American public. In their joy for the repeal 
 of the stamp-act, and in their eagerness to 
 resume their ordinary occupations, the colonists 
 regarded it as a harmless sally of wounded 
 pride, and cheerfully renewed their commer- 
 cial intercourse with the mother country. 
 
 But the evil genius of Britain still fostered 
 in the cabinet the idea of raising a revenue 
 in America. Lord Rockingham having been 
 superseded by the Duke of Grafton, Charles 
 Townsend, the then chancellor of the exche- 
 quer, brought into the House of Commons, in 
 the year 1767, a bill which was quickly passed 
 into a law, for granting duties in the British 
 colonies on glass, paper, painters' colors, and 
 tea. This proceeding again kindled a blaze 
 
40 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 throughout the provinces. In their estima- 
 tion, it proved that the declaratory act was 
 not intended to be a dead letter, and it gave 
 rise to bold and acute discussions as to the 
 distinction between tax-bills and bills for the 
 regulation of trade. 
 
 To add to the alarm of the colonists,. a 
 board of commissioners of customs was estab- 
 lished at Boston ; which step convinced them 
 that the British government intended to harass 
 them with a multiplicity of fiscal oppressions. 
 They therefore again had recourse to petitions, 
 remonstrances, and non-importation agree- 
 ments. The seizure of the sloop Liberty, be- 
 longing to Mr. Hancock, a popular leader, 
 for an infringement of the revenue laws, in- 
 cited the populace of Boston to renewed acts 
 of violence, which drove the commissioners 
 of the customs to take shelter in Castle Wil- 
 liam. 
 
 To suppress this spirit of insubordination, 
 his majestj^'s ministers stationed some armed 
 vessels in the harbor, and quartered two regi- 
 ments of foot in the town of Boston. The in- 
 tention of the British government to send this 
 force to Boston having been announced, the 
 selectmen of ninety-six towns of the state of 
 Massachusetts met at Faneuil Hall, in that 
 town ; but this assembly, which had excited 
 great alarm among the friends of government, 
 merely recommended moderate measures, and 
 then dissolved itself The day after the break- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 41 
 
 ing up of this convention, the troops arrived, 
 and landed without opposition under the pro- 
 tection of the guns of the armed vessels in the 
 harbor. 
 
 The intelligence of the refractory spirit thus 
 manifested by the inhabitants of Boston, pro- 
 duced such irritation in the British parliament, 
 that in February, 1769, both Houses concur- 
 red in an address to his majesty, prompting 
 him to vigorous measures against all persons 
 guilty of what they w^ere pleased to denomi- 
 nate treasonable acts ; and beseeching him, 
 in pursuance of the powers contained in an 
 obsolete statute of the 35th of Henry VIIL, to 
 seize the offenders, and cause them to be tried 
 by a special commission within the realm of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 This imprudent suggestion was encounter- 
 ed by strong resolutions on the part of the 
 provincial assemblies ; and the colonists again 
 had recourse to non-importation agreements, 
 and, in some instances, sent back to Great 
 Britain cargoes of goods which had actually 
 arrived. Thus the distresses of the British 
 manufacturers were renewed ; and ministers 
 were induced, by their earnest remonstrances, 
 to repeal all the newly imposed duties, except 
 that on tea. This reservation being a practi- 
 cal assertion of the right of parliament to im- 
 pose internal taxes on the American states, 
 was very odious to the colonists, who, how- 
 ever, relaxed their associations so far as to 
 
 4* 
 
42 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 allow the importation of all articles except 
 tea, the use of which commodity they forbore, 
 or supplied themselves with it by smuggling. 
 
 Note. — On the 10th of November, 1776, on 
 motion of the Duke of Richmond, that Mr. 
 Penn, whom he saw below the bar, should be 
 examined, in order to establish the authentici- 
 ty of the petition presented by him, several 
 curious particulars, relative to much contro- 
 verted subjects, came out upon the examina- 
 tion of this gentleman. 
 
 He was personally acquainted with almost 
 all the members of Congress, had been gov- 
 ernor of the colony, and resided in the city in 
 which they assembled and held their delibera- 
 tions, and had every opportunity, from office, 
 family connection, locality of property, and an 
 extensive acquaintance, to obtain the fullest 
 information of the state of affairs in America, 
 as well as of the temper and disposition of the 
 people. 
 
 It was also evident, that his discernment 
 was equal to the forming a just estimate 
 of things ; and there could scarcely be a sus- 
 picion of partiality in favor of any measure 
 which could tend to American independence, 
 as the great fortune of his family, if not whol- 
 ly lost, must be much impaired by such an 
 event. Among the remarkable parts of his 
 testimony was an absolute negative to the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 43 
 
 supposition or charge, that any design of in- 
 dependence had been formed by the Congress. 
 He declared that the numbers composing 
 that body had been fairly elected ; that they were 
 men of character, capable of conveying the 
 sense of America ; and that they had actually 
 conveyed the sense of their constituents ; that 
 the different provinces would be governed by 
 their decisions in all events ; that the war 
 was levied and carried on by the colonists, 
 merely in 'defence of what they thought their 
 liberties ; that the spirit of resistance was 
 general, and they believed themselves able to 
 defend their liberties against the arms of Great 
 Britain ; that the colony of Pennsylvania con- 
 tained about sixty thousand men able to carry 
 arms — that of these, twenty thousand had 
 voluntarily enrolled themselves to serve with- 
 out pay, and were armed and embodied before 
 the governor's departure. Being questioned 
 as to the nature of that volunteer force, he said 
 that it included the men of best fortune and 
 character in the province, and that it was 
 generally composed of men who were pos- 
 sessed of property, either landed or otherwise ; 
 that an additional body of four thousand five 
 hundred minute-men had since been raised in 
 the province, who were to be paid when called 
 out upon service ; that they had the means 
 and material of casting iron cannon in great 
 plenty ; that they cast brass cannon in Phila- 
 delphia, and they made small-arms in great 
 
44 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 abundance and perfection ; that the colonies 
 had been dissatisfied with the reception of 
 their former petitions ; but that they had 
 founded great hopes upon the success of that 
 which he brought over, that it was styled the 
 Olive Branch, and that he had been congratu- 
 lated by his friends upon his being the bearer 
 of it ; that it was greatly to be feared, that if 
 conciliatory measures were not speedily pur- 
 sued, they w^ould form connections with foreign 
 powers, and that if such connections were 
 once formed, it would be found a matter of 
 great difficulty to dissolve them. Being asked, 
 " whether the people of the different provinces 
 were now in a state of freedom ?" he said that 
 they thought themselves so ; whether " the 
 most opulent inhabitants would not prefer 
 freedom under this country to what they now 
 enjoy ? he answered, that they would prefer 
 it to any other state of freedom ; and that, 
 notwithstanding their determination to sup- 
 port the measures of the Congress, they wish- 
 ed for a reconciliation with this country. He 
 denied its being an object of the Congress to 
 throw off the regulations of their trade, and 
 acknowledged that the most thinking men in 
 Pennsylvania were of opinion, that a refusal 
 of the present petition would be a bar to all 
 reconcilement. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 45 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 PETITION AND REMONSTRANCE, 1773. 
 
 Thus was tranquillity restored to most of 
 the colonies. But the presence of the troops 
 in the town of Boston was a perpetual source 
 of irritation in the province of Massachusetts. 
 The Bostonians regarded the soldiers with an 
 evil eye, as the instruments of tyranny design- 
 ed to be used for the destruction of their liber- 
 ties, and availed themselves of every opportu- 
 nity which occurred to annoy and insult them. 
 In resisting a violent act of aggression, a party 
 of the military were obliged to fire on the 
 populace. 
 
 This event occurred on the evening of 
 March 5th, 1770. The particulars are as fol- 
 lows. There was a regiment of British troops 
 quartered in barracks in Brattle-street, and 
 another regiment in Water-street. Frequent 
 altercations had taken place between the 
 soldiers and the inhabitants. On this evening 
 a sentinel who was stationed near the Custom- 
 house, was assailed by a number of persons, 
 and a sergeant's guard was sent to his relief, 
 followed immediately after by Captain Pres- 
 ton. A crowd soon assembled about the place, 
 and the soldiers were assaulted by missiles of 
 wood, and pieces of ice, and dared to fire. 
 
46 
 
 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 
 
 The soldiers, after standing their ground for 
 some time, fired, as stated above, upon their 
 assailants. Three men in the crowd were 
 immediately killed, and two others were mor- 
 tally wounded. 
 
 In times of public excitement, nothing is 
 more irritating to the populace, and nothing 
 more painful to men of cultivated minds, than 
 the interference of the military.. When that 
 interference is attended with fatal conse- 
 quences, the phrensy of the people rises to the 
 utmost height. Such was the case with the 
 inhabitants of Boston. On hearing of the 
 melancholy event, some obscure individuals 
 caused the drums to beat to arms, and the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 47 
 
 townsmen assembled to the amount of some 
 thousands. They were, however, happily ap- 
 peased by the intervention of several patriotic 
 leaders, w4iose zeal was allayed by prudence, 
 and in consequence of whose interference 
 with the lieutenant-governor the obnoxious 
 troops were sent out of the town. Artful 
 means were, however, resorted to for the 
 purpose of keeping alive their resentment. 
 
 On the morning of the day appointed for 
 the burial of the slain, most of the shops in 
 Boston were shut. The bells of that town, 
 of Charlestown, and Roxbury, rung out muf- 
 fled peals. Mournful processions moving from 
 the houses of the murdered dead, as they who 
 had fallen by the fire of the military were 
 denominated, united with the corpses at the 
 spot where they had met their fate. Here 
 forming into a body, they marched six abreast, 
 followed by the carriages of the gentry^ 
 through the main streets to the place of in- 
 terment. 
 
 Immediately after the affray, which was 
 productive of such sad consequences, Captain 
 Preston, the officer who commanded the party 
 who had fired upon the people, had been com- 
 mitted to prison, together with a number of 
 private soldiers who were implicated in that 
 act. The firing had taken place on the 5th 
 of March, and though the trial of the accused 
 did not take place till the following November, 
 there might have been reason to apprehend 
 
48 AMERICAN REVOLUTION'. 
 
 that, in appearing, for a decision on a case of 
 life and death, before a Boston jury, they 
 would run the greatest hazard of falling vic- 
 tims to infuriated prejudice. 
 
 But, in this instance, the Bostonians gave 
 evidence of their English descent. In capital 
 cases, Englishmen, in modern times at least, 
 have almost uniformly exercised an impartial 
 administration of the law. Such was the 
 temper which was manifested by the court 
 and jury on the trial of Captain Preston and 
 his comrades. After a patient investigation 
 of the case, all the prisoners were acquitted 
 of murder, and two, being found guilty of 
 manslaughter, were immediately burnt in the 
 hand and discharged. 
 
 It is a fact not to be omitted, that they were 
 defended, and zealously defended, by the cele- 
 brated John Adams and Josiah Quincy, than 
 whom there did not exist more ardent advo- 
 cates of the cause of American freedom.* 
 The former of these gentlemen, in warning 
 the jury against giving way to popular im- 
 pressions, expressed himself in the following 
 energetic terms : — " The law, in all vicissitudes 
 of government, fluctuations of the passions, 
 
 * It is also a fact worthy of notice, that the counsel for 
 the crown, Samuel Quincy, Esq., solicitor-general, was the 
 brother of Josiah Quincy, and on tlie termination of the 
 Biege of Boston, 1776, he left the country with other loya- 
 lists, and held the office of attorney for the crown in the 
 island of Antigua, until his death, in 1789. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 49 
 
 or fliglits of enthusiasm, will preserve a steady, 
 undeviating course ; it will not bend to the 
 uncertain wishes, imaginations, and wanton 
 tempers of men. To use the words of a great 
 and worthy man, a patriot and a hero, an en- 
 lightened friend to mankind, and a martyr to 
 liberty — I mean Algernon Sidney — who, from 
 his earliest infancy, sought a tranquil retire- 
 ment under the shadow of the tree of liberty, 
 with his tongue, his pen, and his sword — 
 
 " ' The law,' says he, ' no passion can dis- 
 turb. It is void of desire and fear, lust and 
 anger. It is mens sine affectu ; written reason ; 
 retaining some measure of the divine perfec- 
 tion. It does not enjoin that which pleases a 
 weak, frail man, but, without any regard to 
 persons, commands that which is good, and 
 punishes evil in all, whether rich or poor, 
 high or low. It is deaf, inexorable, inflexi- 
 ble.' Yes," said Mr. Adams, "on the one 
 hand, it is inexorable to the cries and lamen- 
 tations of the prisoners ; on the other, it is 
 deaf, deaf as an adder, to the clamors of the 
 populace." 
 
 Notwithstanding this firmness on the part 
 of the counsel for the prisoners, and notwith- 
 standing the impartiality of the jury and of 
 the judge, which latter, in his summing up on 
 the trial of Captain Preston, did not hesitate 
 to say, " I feel myself deeply affected that 
 this affair turns out so much to the shame of 
 the town in general," ministers took advantage 
 
 5 
 
50 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 of the disturbed state of the public mind, by 
 making it a pretext for rendering the governor 
 and judges of Massachusetts independent of 
 the province, by transferring the payment of 
 their salaries from the assembly to the crown. 
 
 In consequence of this proceeding, Governor 
 Hutchinson, who had never been popular, be- 
 came still more than ever an object of dislike. 
 Such being the disposition of the people of 
 Massachusetts towards their chief magistrate, 
 their indignation against him was raised to the 
 highest pitch in the year 1773 by an incident, 
 the consequences of which had a most unhap- 
 py aspect on the fortunes of Great Britain. 
 The servants of government naturally look 
 "with a jealous eye upon the bold assertors of 
 popular rights ; and as naturally imagine that 
 they shall most gratify their masters by the 
 recommendation of a steady and active resist- 
 ance against what they are apt to deem the 
 encroachments of popular claims. 
 
 In this spirit Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Oliver, 
 the former the governor and the latter lieu- 
 tenant-governor of the colony of Massachu- 
 setts, had addressed some letters to individuals 
 who had put them into the hands of his ma- 
 jesty's ministers, in which letters they vitupe- 
 rated the American patriots, called upon gov- 
 ernment to adopt more vigorous measures than 
 they had hitherto done in support of their au- 
 thority, recommended restraints upon liberty 
 and an infringement of charters, and even the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 51 
 
 " taking off" of the principal opponents to 
 British domination. 
 
 These letters having come into the posses- 
 sion of Dr. Franklin, he thought it his duty, 
 as agent of the House of Representatives of 
 Massachusetts, to send them to his constituents. 
 Their perusal excited, as might have been 
 expected, the indignation of the assembly, the 
 members of which unanimously resolved, 
 " That the tendency and design of the said 
 letters was to overthrow the constitution of 
 this government, and to introduce arbitrary 
 power into the province ;" and, moreover, 
 passed a vote, " that a petition should be im- 
 mediately sent to the king, to remove the 
 governor, Hutchinson, and the lieutenant- 
 governor, Oliver, for ever from the govern- 
 ment of the province." 
 
 Dr. Franklin, after having transmitted the 
 petition in question to Lord Dartmouth, the 
 then Colonial Secretary, appeared to support 
 it in person at the Council Chamber on the 
 llth of January, 1774; but, finding that he 
 was to be encountered by counsel employed 
 on behalf of the accused functionaries, he 
 prayed that the hearing of the case might be 
 adjourned for the space of three weeks, which 
 was granted him. In the mean time specula- 
 tion was all alive as to the means by which 
 Dr. Franklin had obtained possession of the 
 letters ; and a Mr. Whateley and a Mr. Tem- 
 ple, both connected with the colonial office, 
 
53 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 mutually suspecting each other of the unfaith- 
 ful communication of them, a correspondence 
 took place between those gentlemen, which 
 ended in a duel, in w^hich Mr. Whateley was 
 dangerously wounded. 
 
 For the prevention of further mischief of 
 this sort, Dr. Franklin published, in the " Pub- 
 lic Advertiser," a letter exonerating both the 
 combatants from blame in this case, and tak- 
 ing the whole responsibility of the procuring 
 the documents on himself. When the doctor 
 appeared again before the council in support 
 of the Massachusetts petition, he was assailed 
 by Mr. Wedderburne, who acted for the gov- 
 ernor and the lieutenant-governor, in terms of 
 most elaborate abuse. 
 
 " The letters," said the caustic advocate, 
 " could not have come to Dr. Franklin by fair 
 means. The writers did not give them to him, 
 nor yet did the deceased correspondent. No- 
 thing, then, will acquit Dr. Franklin of the 
 charge of obtaining them by fraudulent or 
 corrupt means, for the most malignant of pur- 
 poses ; unless he stole them from the person 
 that stole them. This argument is irrefraga- 
 ble. 
 
 " I hope, my lords, you will mark and 
 brand the man, for the honor of this country 
 of Europe, and of mankind. Private corres- 
 pondence has hitherto been held sacred in 
 times of the greatest party rage, not only in 
 politics, but religion. He has forfeited all the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 53 
 
 respect of societies and of men. Into what 
 companies v/iU he hereafter go with an un- 
 embarrassed face, or the honest intrepidity of 
 virtue ? Men will watch him with a jealous 
 eye — they will hide their papers from him, 
 and lock up their escritoirs. He will hence- 
 forth esteem it a libel to be called a man of 
 letters — liomo trium literarum* But he not 
 only took away the letters from one brother, 
 but kept himself concealed till he nearly oc- 
 casioned the murder of the other. 
 
 " It is impossible to read his account, ex- 
 pressive of the coolest and most deliberate 
 malice, without horror. Amidst these tragical 
 events, of one person nearly murdered, of an- 
 other answerable for the issue, of a worthy 
 governor hurt in his dearest interests, the fate 
 of America in suspense, — here is a man, who, 
 with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands 
 up and avows himself the author of all. I 
 can compare it only to Zanga in Dr. Young's 
 Revenge — 
 
 ' Know, then, 'twas — I ; 
 
 I forged the letter ; I disposed the picture. 
 I hated, I despised, and I destroy.' 
 
 I ask, my lords, whether the revengeful tem- 
 per attributed, by poetic fiction only, to the 
 bloody African, is not surpassed by the cool- 
 ness and apathy of the wily American ?" 
 
 Less fervid eloquence than this of Mr. 
 Wedderburne's would have been sufficient to 
 
 * Fur, thief. 
 5* 
 
54 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 sway the decision of the council, who declar- 
 ed the petition of the Massachusetts assembly 
 to be scandalous and vexatious. Franklin 
 was dismissed from the office which he held 
 of postmaster-general of the colonies. Wed- 
 derburne was afterwards advanced in his 
 profession, till he attained the chancellorship 
 and a peerage ; and George III. lost thirteen 
 provinces. 
 
 Till this moment Franklin had labored for 
 conciliation ; but though, during the time of 
 the hearing of the arguments before the 
 council, he preserved his countenance unmov- 
 ed, the insults of Wedderburne so exasperated 
 his feelings, that when he left the council- 
 room he declared to his friend Dr. Priestley, 
 who accompanied him on this memorable oc- 
 casion, that he would never again put on the 
 clothes which he then wore till he had receiv- 
 ed satisfaction. He dressed himself in this 
 " well-saved" suit Avhen he signed at Paris the 
 treaty which for ever deprived the crown of 
 Great Britain of its dominion over the United 
 States. It is only within these seven years 
 that it has been ascertained that governor 
 Hutchinson's letters were put into Franklin's 
 hands by a Dr. Williamson, who, without any 
 suggestion on his part, had procured them by 
 stratagem from the office where they had 
 been deposited.* 
 
 * This curious fact is stated, with many particulars, in a 
 Memoir of Dr. Williamson, by Dr. Hosack, of New York. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 55 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 BOSTON PORT-ACT, AND REPEAL OF THE CHARTER 
 OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The determination of the colonists to use 
 no tea which had paid duty was so generally 
 persevered in, that seventeen millions of 
 pounds of that commodity were accumulated 
 in the warehouses of the East India Company. 
 With a view of getting rid of this stock, and 
 at the same time of aiding ministers in their 
 project of taxing the North American colonies, 
 the company proposed that a law should be 
 passed authorizing them to receive a draw- 
 back of the full import duties on all teas which 
 they should export. To this proposal the 
 British government agreed, in hopes that, as 
 by this arrangement the colonists, on paying 
 the duty of three-pence per pound on the land- 
 ing of the tea in their harbors, would be able 
 to buy it at a cheaper rate than they could 
 do from the contraband dealers, their patriotic 
 scruples would be silenced by their love of 
 gain. 
 
 In this notion, however, ministers were mis- 
 taken. Strong resolutions were entered into 
 throughout the provinces, declaring, that 
 whosoever should aid or abet in landing or 
 vending the tea which was expected, ought 
 
56 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 to be regarded as an enemy to his country ; 
 and that committees should be appointed to 
 wait on the agents of the East India Compa- 
 ny, and to demand from them a resignation 
 of their appointments. 
 
 Terrified by these proceedings, a great ma- 
 jority of the consignees complied with this 
 requisition ; but in Massachusetts these agents 
 being the relatives and friends of the governor, 
 and expecting to be supported by the milita- 
 ry force stationed in Boston, were determined 
 to land and offer for sale the obnoxious com- 
 modity. As the tea ships were lying in the 
 harbor, ready to land their cargoes, the lead- 
 ing patriots, apprehensive that, if the tea were 
 once warehoused, the opposition of the peo- 
 ple to its sale might gradually give way, and 
 deeming decisive measures absolutely neces- 
 sary in the present circumstances, boarded 
 the vessels, and emptied the tea-chests into 
 the water. 
 
 The particulars of this adventure are these. 
 The ships alluded to were the Dartmouth and 
 Elenor, and the Brig Beaver, which arrived 
 in Boston about the first of December, 1773, 
 with tea shipped by the East India Company. 
 In anticipation of their arrival, a meeting had 
 been held, at which it was resolved that the 
 consignees of the tea should be required to 
 send it back, without permitting it to be landed. 
 This requisition not being complied with, sev- 
 eral meetings of the people of Boston and the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 57 
 
 neighboring towns were held, at the Old South 
 Church, for taking measures to enforce a 
 compliance. The last of these meetings was 
 held on the 14th of December, and was pro- 
 longed by debates to near six o'clock in the 
 evening. At a given signal, about thirty per- 
 sons, who were disguised as Indians, proceeded 
 in a body to the tea ships, which la}^ at anchor 
 
 near Griffin's wharf The meeting was im- 
 mediately dissolved, and the crowed followed 
 to the wharf. The disguised party having 
 boarded these ships, in less than two hours 
 took out all the tea, amounting to 240 chests, 
 and 100 half-chests, broke them to pieces, and 
 threw their contents into the sea. 
 
58 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 The British ministry rejoiced that this out- 
 rage had occurred, and that it had occurred 
 in the town of Boston, which they had long 
 regarded as the focus of sedition, from whence 
 a spirit of resistance to British authority was 
 diffused throughout the colonies. It now lay 
 at their mercy, as having been guilty of a 
 flagrant delinquency, and as meriting exemp- 
 lary punishment. Determined to chastise its 
 mutinous inhabitants for their numerous delin- 
 quencies, and to bend them to submission, 
 Lord North, then prime minister, on the 14th 
 of IMarch, made a motion in the House of Com- 
 mons, " That leave be given to bring in a bill 
 for the immediate removal of the officers con- 
 cerned in the collection and management of 
 his majesty's duties and customs from the town 
 of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts 
 Bay in North America ; and to discontinue 
 the landing and discharging, lading and ship- 
 ping of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the 
 said town of Boston, or within the harbor 
 thereof." 
 
 The deep silence which followed the annun- 
 ciation of this motion marked the sense of the 
 house as to the serious consequences which 
 it involved ; but it met with no opposition, 
 except on the part of Alderman Sawbridge 
 and Mr. Dowdswell. Even Colonel Barre, 
 the great advocate of the rights of the colo- 
 nies, spoke in favor of it, and it passed with- 
 out a division. No debate occurred on the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION 59 
 
 first reading of the bill on the 18th of March ; 
 and the second reading, which took place on 
 the 21st of the same month, was only inter- 
 rupted by a few adverse remarks made by 
 Mr. R. Fuller. On the 25th, a petition was 
 presented agaiast the bill, signed by several 
 natives of North America, at that time resi- 
 dent in London ; after the reading of which 
 the House discussed its provisions in commit- 
 tee. 
 
 Mr. Fuller availed himself of this occasion 
 to move, that instead of the closing of the port 
 of Boston, which measure, he argued, would 
 be detrimental, not only to American, but 
 also to British interests, a fine should be im- 
 posed on the offending community. This 
 amendment was opposed by the prime min- 
 ister, who said that he was no enemy to leni- 
 ent measures, but that it was evident that, 
 with respect to the inhabitants of Boston, re- 
 solutions of censure and warning would avail 
 nothing, — that it was then the time to stand 
 out, to defy them, to proceed with firmness 
 and without fear, and that they would never 
 reform till severe measures were adopted. 
 
 With a lamentable want of foresight his 
 lordship thus proceeded : " I hope that we 
 every one feel that this is the common cause 
 of us all ; and unanimity will go half way to 
 the obedience of the people of Boston to this 
 bill. The honorable gentleman l^lls us, that 
 the act will be a piece of waste paper, and 
 
60 
 
 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 that an army will be required to put it into 
 execution. The good of this act is, that four 
 or five frigates will do the business without 
 any military force." 
 
 With a similar blindness to futurity, Mr. 
 Charles Jenkinson exclaimed, " We have gone 
 into a very expensive war for the attainment 
 of America ; the struggle which we shall now 
 have to keep it will be of little expense." 
 Thus rash and short-sighted are statesmen 
 when their passions obtain the mastery over 
 their judgment ! After a lengthened debate, 
 in the course of which the bill was powerful- 
 ly opposed by Mr. Burke and Mr. Dowdswell, 
 it passed the Commons with but very few 
 negatives ; and having been hurried through 
 the House of Lords, it finally received the 
 royal assent, and was passed into a law. 
 
 The Boston port-act was speedily followed 
 by still more alarming measures. The free 
 constitutions of the American provinces had 
 presented strong impediments against the 
 views of his majesty and his ministers. Among 
 these, the charter of Massachusetts was pre- 
 eminent for the liberality of its principles. 
 Being well aware, that while this charter 
 subsisted he could never effectuate his designs, 
 Lord North determined to set it aside. When 
 Charles II. deemed it necessary for his pur- 
 poses to abrogate the franchises of the city of 
 London, and of other corporate towns in Eng- 
 land, he attacked their charters by quo war' 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 61 
 
 rantos ; but the process of law is tedious, and 
 in this case the issue of legal proceedings 
 might be uncertain. 
 
 The minister, therefore, decided upon bring- 
 ing the omnipotence of parliament to bear 
 upon the contumacious inhabitants of the of- 
 fending colony. Accordingly, on the 28th of 
 INIarch, 1774, on the allegation that an exec- 
 utive power was wanting in the province of 
 Massachusetts, and that it was highly neces- 
 sary to strengthen the hands of its magistracy, 
 he proposed to bring in a bill, authorizing the 
 governor for the time being to act as a justice 
 of the peace, and empowering him to appoint 
 at his will and pleasure the officers through- 
 out the whole civil authority, such as the 
 provost marshal and the sheriffs ; to which 
 latter officers was to be delegated the nomi- 
 nation of juries, who had formerly been elect- 
 ed by the freeholders and inhabitants of the 
 several towns of the province. 
 
 It was also his lordship's intention to vest 
 in the crown the appointment of the coancil, 
 which, under the provisions of the ancient 
 constitution, had heretofore been elected by 
 the general court. The latter provision was 
 introduced into the bill at the suggestion of 
 Lord George Germaine, who was pleased to 
 say, that " ho would not have men of a mer- 
 cantile cast every day collecting themselves 
 together and debating about political mat- 
 ters ; he would have them follow their occu- 
 
 6 
 
62 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 pations as merchants, and not consider them- 
 selves as ministers of that country." 
 
 In pursuance of this suggestion, which was 
 thankfully received by the premier, there 
 were added to the bill severe restrictions on 
 the holding of public town meetings. Leave 
 was given to bring in the bill without a single 
 objection, except on the part of Mr. Byng, 
 the member for Middlesex ; and though, in 
 its progress through the House of Commons, 
 many weighty arguments were urged against 
 it, especially by Governor Powmall and Mr. 
 Dowdswell, it was carried on the 2d of May, 
 by a majority of 239 against 64 voices. In 
 the House of Lords it was severely animad- 
 verted upon ; but a division of 92 to 20 evinced 
 that the majority of the peers of the realm 
 entered heartily into the views of the ministry 
 as to coercing the American colonies. 
 
 The Duke of Richmond, however, and 
 eleven other peers, protested against it for 
 the following reasons ; " Because, before the 
 rights of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 
 which they derive from their charter, are 
 taken away, the definite legal offence by 
 which a forfeiture of their charter is incurred 
 ought to have been clearly stated, and the 
 parties heard in their own defence ; and the 
 mere celerity of a decision against it will not 
 reconcile the minds of the people to that 
 mode of government which is to be establish- 
 ed upon its ruins. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 63 
 
 " On the general allegations of a declaratory 
 preamble, the rights of any public body may 
 be taken away, and any visionary scheme of 
 government substituted in their place. By 
 this bill, the governor and council are invested 
 with dangerous powers, unknown to the Brit- 
 ish constitution, and with which the king him- 
 self is not intrusted. By the appointment 
 and rernoval of the sheriff at pleasure, they 
 have the means of returning such 'juries as 
 may best suit with the gratification of their 
 passions and their interests ; the life, liberty, 
 and property of the subject are put into their 
 hands without control. 
 
 " The weak, inconsistent, and injudicious 
 measures of the ministry have given new 
 force to the distractions of America, which, on 
 the repeal of the stamp-act, were subsiding ; 
 have revived dangerous questions, and grad- 
 ually estranged the affections of the colonies 
 from the mother country. To render the col- 
 onies permanently advantageous, they must 
 be satisfied with their condition ; that satisfac- 
 tion there is no chance of restoring, but by 
 recurring to the principles on which the re- 
 peal of the stamp-act was founded." 
 
 The Boston port-act, and the act for re- 
 modelling the constitution of Massachusetts, 
 were strong and severe measures, — measures 
 which, it might have been conceived, would 
 have set at rest any common jealousy of pop- 
 ular rights, and satisfied any ordinary thirst for 
 
64 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 vengeance. But, while these acts were in 
 progress, the British prime minister held in 
 reserve another vial of wrath to pour on the 
 heads of the refractory colonists. On the 
 15th of April, he rose in his place and pro- 
 posed a third bill, which, he hoped, would ef- 
 fectually secure the province of Massachu- 
 setts Bay from future disturbances. The ten- 
 or of this bill, which bore the plausible title 
 of a bill " for the impartial administration of 
 justice," was, that "in case of any person 
 being indicted for murder or any other capi- 
 tal offence committed in the province of Mas- 
 sachusetts in aiding the magistracy, the gov- 
 ernor might send the person so indicted to 
 another colony or to Great Britain for trial ;" 
 the act to continue in force for four years. 
 
 It was observed, that while Lord North 
 was moving the House for leave to bring in 
 this bill, and was attempting, in a short speech, 
 to enforce its necessity, his voice faltered. 
 This is not matter of surprise. His lordship 
 was a good-tempered and humane man ; and 
 it must have been repugnant to his better 
 feelings to become the organ for the propos- 
 ing of such atrocious measures. 
 
 The introduction of this bill roused in op- 
 position to it the energies of Colonel Barre, 
 who had, however unwillingly, acquiesced in 
 the preceding laws of coercion. He saw 
 clearly the drift of the proposed statute, and 
 was well aware that the colonists wciuld not 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 05 
 
 submit to it. " You may," said he, " think 
 that a law founded on this motion wdll be a 
 protection to the soldier who imbrues his 
 hand in the blood of his fellow-subjects. I 
 am mistaken if it will. Who is to execute 
 it? He must be a bold man, indeed, who 
 will make the attempt. If the people are so 
 exasperated, that it is unsafe to bring the 
 man who has injured them to trial, let the 
 governor who withdraws him from justice 
 look to himself The people will not endure 
 it ; they would no longer deserve the reputa- 
 tion of being descended from the loins of 
 Englishmen if they did endure it." 
 
 Such was the bold language of an experi- 
 enced soldier, who knew America well. But 
 this warning voice was raised in vain. The 
 views of the Court were adopted by both 
 Houses of Parliament, and this last and most 
 unconstitutional measure of coercion was 
 passed into a law. 
 
 The Earl of Chatham was unable to attend 
 the House until the bills had been passed, 
 but he took occasion to raise a warning voice 
 against them on a subsequent agitation of the 
 matter. 
 
 " I condemn," said he, " in the severest 
 manner, the turbulent and unwarrantable 
 conduct of the Americans, in some instances, 
 particularly in the late riots at Boston ; but, 
 my lords, the mode which has been pursued 
 to bring them back to a sense of their duty, 
 
 G* 
 
66 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 is SO diametrically opposite to every princi- 
 pie of sound policy, as to excite my utmost 
 astonishment. You have involved the guilty 
 and the innocent in one common punishment, 
 and avenge the crime of a few lawless depre- 
 dators upon the whole body of the inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
 " My lords, it has always been my fixed and 
 unalterable opinion, and I will carry it with 
 me to the grave, that this country has no 
 right under heaven to tax America. It is 
 contrary to all the principles of justice and 
 civil policy ; it is contrary to that essential, 
 unalterable right in nature, ingrafted into the 
 British constitution as a fundamental law, 
 that Avhat a man has honestly acquired is ab- 
 solutely his own, which he may freely give, 
 but which cannot be taken away from him 
 without his consent." 
 
 It might seem just and equitable that com- 
 pensation should be made by a delinquent 
 community for property destroyed within its 
 precincts, and not unreasonable that a town 
 which had perpetrated an open violation of 
 fiscal law, should be deprived, till it was re- 
 duced to a better spirit, of the privileges of a 
 port. Nor is it improbable that, had the 
 British ministry proceeded no further in their 
 measures of vengeance, the other commercial 
 cities of the colonies would have regarded 
 the humiliation of the people of Boston with 
 indifference. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 6^ 
 
 But the attack upon the charter of Massa- 
 chusetts filled the bosom of every North 
 American with indignation and alarm. Char- 
 ters they had been accustomed to consider as 
 inviolable compacts between the king and 
 his people ; but if these could be annulled 
 and abrogated by parliament, what province 
 could deem its constitution safe from viola- 
 tion ? And in the provision for the trial in 
 Great Britain of individuals accused of mur- 
 ders committed in America, they saw an in- 
 demnity for every one who might avail him- 
 self of a plausible pretext to put to death any 
 person who might be obnoxious to govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Such were the feelings of the colonists. 
 But, on this side of the Atlantic, these in- 
 vasions of the liberties of fellow-subjects were 
 regarded with unconcern, and even with sat- 
 isfaction. The people of Great Britain gen- 
 erally care little about the internal state of 
 the distant possessions of the crown. They 
 at that time looked up to parliament with 
 awe, as a threefold body vested with the at- 
 tribute of omnipotence ; and they made them- 
 selves a party in the quarrel, reprobating the 
 refractory spirit of the colonies as a rebellion 
 against the sovereign authority, of which they 
 imagined that every individual Briton had a 
 share. 
 
68 AiMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 REMOVAL OF THE SEAT OP GOVERNMENT FROM 
 BOSTON. 
 
 When intelligence arrived at Boston of the 
 strong proceedings of tlie British parliament 
 and government, the patriots of Massachu- 
 setts cast an anxious eye on the sister colo- 
 nies. They were well aware that, if left to 
 themselves at this awful crisis, they must 
 succumb to the power of the mother country ; 
 but they entertained hopes that a union of the 
 provinces against what they regarded as min- 
 isterial oppression, would rescue their com- 
 mon liberties from destruction. To eifect 
 this union they used the utmost exertions of 
 activity, skill, and prudence. 
 
 The opposition to the stamp-act and to the 
 duty on tea, had been carried on by means of 
 committees of correspondence, which had es- 
 tablished links of connection throughout the 
 whole of the British dependencies in North 
 America. Of this organization they now 
 availed themselves with the utmost prompti- 
 tude ; and, by the mission of agents of consum- 
 mate ability, they roused the inhabitants of 
 every district of continental America to a 
 sense of their wrongs. Public meetings were 
 held in every township of every province. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 69 
 
 in which it was resolved to make common 
 cause with the people of Massachusetts, and 
 to resist the claim of the British parliament 
 to tax them without their consent. The steps 
 to be taken in pursuance of these resolutions, 
 they unanimously agreed to refer to a gene- 
 ral congress, the speedy summoning of which 
 they declared to be absolutely necessary to 
 the public safety. 
 
 Virginia came nobly to the succor of Mas- 
 sachusetts in her adversity. The house of 
 burgesses appointed the first day of June, 
 the day on which the Port Bill was to go into 
 effect, as a day of "fasting, humiliation, and 
 prayer," in consideration of the " hostile in- 
 vasion of the city of Boston, in our sister 
 colony of Massachusetts," — " devoutly to im- 
 plore the divine interposition for averting the 
 heavy calamity which threatens destruction 
 to our civil rights, and the evils of civil war ; 
 to give us one heart and one mind, firmly to 
 oppose, hy all just and proper means, every 
 injury to American rights." 
 
 In the mean time. General Gage had ar- 
 rived at Boston, invested with the united au- 
 thority of governor and commander-in-chief 
 of the forces. He was speedily followed by 
 two regiments of foot, and by various other 
 detachments, which gradually swelled his gar- 
 rison to a number which was deemed amply 
 sufficient to overawe the malcontents, and to 
 enforce the execution of the obnoxious acts. 
 
70 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 Soon after his arrival, he announced his 
 intention of holding the general court of the 
 colony at Salem after the 1st of June, the 
 day appointed by the statute for the com- 
 mencement of the operation of the Boston port- 
 act. The blow thus struck seemed to common 
 observers to be fatal to the inhabitants of that 
 devoted tov^^n. Property w^as instantly depreci- 
 ated to the lowest scale of value. Houses were 
 deserted by their tenants ; warehouses were 
 emptied and abandoned ; the quays were de- 
 serted ; silence reigned in the ship-yards, and 
 thousands of artificers wandered through the 
 streets destitute of employ. 
 
 But the sufferers bore their distresses with 
 a sullen resolution. Not a murmur was heard 
 against the democratic leaders, who might in 
 a certain sense be regarded as the authors of 
 their miseries ; but their execrations of the 
 British parliament were loud and violent. 
 Contributions poured in from all quarters for 
 their relief ; and they were comforted by let- 
 ters of condolence in their distresses, and of 
 thanks for their steadiness. The inhabitants 
 of Marblehead offered to accommodate the 
 merchants of Boston with their warehouses ; 
 and the people of Salem, in an address to the 
 governor, declared that they could not " in- 
 dulge one thought to seize on wealth, and 
 raise their fortunes on the ruin of their suffer- 
 ing neighbors." 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 71 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 FIRST ACTS OF THE ASSEMBLY AT CONCORD. 
 
 On the 7th of June, the governor held the 
 general court of Massachusetts, at Salem ; 
 but finding that the popular leaders were 
 prepared on the first day of its meeting to 
 carry some most obnoxious motions, he prompt- 
 ly dissolved the assembly. This, however, 
 he did not effect before it had nominated five 
 deputies to meet the committees of other 
 provinces at Philadelphia on the ensuing 1st 
 of September. 
 
 The circumstances attending this crisis 
 were rather amusing. Upon the very open- 
 ing of the assembly, it was resolved to send 
 deputies to the proposed general congress. 
 When General Gage learned what the House 
 of Representatives were doing on this occa- 
 sion, he sent to dissolve them ; but they, with 
 equal alertness, being informed of his design, 
 closed their doors. Samuel Adams secured 
 the key, and they finished their proceedings 
 while the proclamation of dissolution was 
 read upon the stairs. 
 
 The more, indeed, he exerted himself to 
 embarrass the proceedings of the patriots, the 
 more decidedly did he find himself baffled by 
 their vigilance and their ingenuity. When, 
 
73 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 according to the provisions of the coercive 
 statutes, he issued a proclamation prohibiting 
 the calling of any town meetings after the 1st 
 of August, 1774, an assembly of this kind 
 was, nevertheless, held ; and, on his sum- 
 moning the selectmen to aid him to disperse 
 it, he was encountered by the following no- 
 table specimen of special pleading, — that 
 the holding of the meeting to which he ob- 
 jected was no violation of the act of par- 
 liament, " for that only prohibited the calling 
 of town meetings, and that no such call had 
 been made ; a former legal meeting, before 
 the 1st of August, having only adjourned 
 themselves from time to time." 
 
 One consequence of these adjourned meet- 
 ings was a " solemn league and covenant," 
 whereby the parties who signed it bound 
 themselves " to suspend all commercial inter- 
 course with Great Britain until the late ob- 
 noxious laws were repealed, and the colony 
 of Massachusetts was restored to its chartered 
 rights." A proclamation by which the gov- 
 ernor denounced this association as " unlaw- 
 ful, hostile, and traitorous," was treated with 
 contempt. In another proclamation, publish- 
 ed about this time, " for the encouragement 
 of piety and virtue, and for the prevention 
 and punishing of vice, profaneness, and im- 
 morality," the governor made especial men- 
 tion of the vice of hypocrisy, as a failing 
 which the people were admonished to eschew. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTIOIC. 73 
 
 No doubt, the staff of General Gage thought 
 this an excellent satire upon the puritanism 
 of the Bostonians. But the joke was ill-timed, 
 and served only to add fuel to the popular 
 mind, which was already in a high state of 
 inflammation. When, in the month of Au- 
 gust, Gage attempted to organize the new 
 constitution of the colony, most of the coun- 
 sellors whom he appointed refused to act, and 
 the juries declined to serve under judges 
 nominated by the crown. 
 
 Dreading the most serious consequences 
 from the obstinacy thus manifested by the 
 people of Massachusetts, the governor thought 
 it prudent to fortify Boston Neck, and to seize 
 the powder deposited in the arsenal at Charles- 
 town, which is a kind of suburb to Boston.* 
 These measures produced a general rising 
 throughout the province, which was with 
 difliculty repressed by the prudence of the 
 leading patriots. This demonstration drove 
 the governor and his revenue officers from 
 the new seat of government to the proscribed 
 town of Boston. 
 
 While these transactions were going on, 
 the Congress, or union of the several com- 
 mittees, had assembled at Philadelphia, and, 
 as the first fruits of its deliberations, issued a 
 declaration, that it " most thoroughly approv- 
 ed the wisdom and fortitude with which op- 
 
 • To which it is now united by a bridge. 
 
 7 
 
74 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 position to wicked ministerial measures had 
 been hitherto established in Massachusetts ; 
 and recommended perseverance in the same 
 firm and temperate conduct, as expressed in 
 the resolutions of the delegates from the 
 county of Suffolk." 
 
 The tenor of these resolutions was, that 
 no obedience was due to the restraining stat- 
 utes. Emboldened by the approbation of 
 Congress to act up to the spirit of these reso- 
 lutions, a provincial assembly, held at Con- 
 cord, of which Mr. Hancock was president, 
 after having in vain solicited the governor to 
 desist from constructing a fortress at the en- 
 trance into Boston, in defiance of his excel- 
 lency's authority, appointed a committee to 
 draw up a plan for the arming of the prov- 
 ince. The members of this committee did not 
 shrink from the discharge of their perilous 
 duty. They gave instructions for the organ- 
 izing of a species of partisans, under the 
 name of minute-men, the command of whom 
 was conferred on Jedediah Preble, Artemas 
 Ward, and Seth Pomeroy, warriors whose pu- 
 ritanical names gave ominous foreboding of 
 a determination of purpose and of an obsti- 
 nacy of valor, which their future conduct did 
 not belie. 
 
 The assembling of the militia was delega- 
 ted to a committee of safety ; and a commit- 
 tee of supply was authorized to expend the 
 sum of £15,000 sterling, in provisions, mill- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 75 
 
 tary accoutrements, and stores, whicli were 
 accordingly provided, and deposited at Wor- 
 cester and Concord. At a later meeting of 
 the provincial congress, still bolder measures 
 were adopted. Resolutions were then passed 
 to raise an army of 12,000 men, and delegates 
 were sent to the adjacent colonies to urge 
 them to increase these forces to the number 
 of 20,000. 
 
 It was, moreover, determined that the Brit- 
 ish troops should be attacked if they marched 
 in field equipment beyond Boston Neck. A 
 circular letter was also issued requesting the 
 clergy to aid the common cause by their 
 prayers and exhortations. At this crisis the 
 situation of the governor was far from being 
 an enviable one. The reins of authority had 
 fallen from his hands, and had been seized by 
 the provincial congress, whose resolutions 
 had throughout the province the force of 
 laws. 
 
 At the approach of winter he experienced 
 the utmost difficulty in procuring materials or 
 w^orkmen to construct barracks for the shel- 
 tering of his troops. The straw which he 
 purchased in the vicinity of the town was set 
 on fire, and the timber which he had bought 
 for the king's stores was seized or destroyed. 
 Nor was the spirit of open resistance confined 
 to Boston. In Rhode Island the people seized 
 the public battery of forty pieces of cannon, 
 and stormed and took the castle of Ports- 
 
76 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 mouth, where they obtained a seasonable sup- 
 ply of powder. 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 OPENING OF THE CONGRESS AT PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 These active measures, which amounted to 
 a direct levying of war against the king, were 
 provoked by the rigor exercised against the 
 colony of Massachusetts. In the mean time, 
 the deputies of eleven provinces had assem- 
 bled in congress at Philadelphia, and were 
 soon joined by delegates from North Carolina. 
 Peyton Randolph was chosen president of this 
 assembly, and Charles Thomson was appoint- 
 ed its secretary. 
 
 After a slight controversy as to the mode 
 of voting, which was at length determined to 
 be taken by provinces, each province having 
 one vote, the members proceeded with the 
 utmost zeal and harmony to the arduous bu- 
 siness before them. In the first place, they 
 issued a declaration of rights, in which, while 
 they claimed a total exemption from any 
 species of internal taxation imposed by the 
 British parliament, they professed their wil- 
 lingness to obey all the laws which might be 
 enacted in the mother country for the regula- 
 tion of trade. They protested against the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 77 
 
 introduction of a standing army into the col- 
 onies without their consent, as also against 
 the violation of their chartered rights in the 
 infringement of their ancient constitutions. 
 
 Enumerating the several acts by which 
 they were aggrieved, they declared that till 
 these acts were repealed, they and their con- 
 stituents would hold no commercial inter- 
 course with Britain ; and with a view of 
 overawing the weak and the wavering, and 
 the partisans of royal authority among their 
 countrymen, they resolved that committees 
 should be chosen in eveiy county, city, and 
 town, to observe the conduct of all people 
 toucliing the suspension of trade with the 
 mother country, and to publish, in gazettes, 
 the names of those who violated this ordi- 
 nance, as foes to the rights of British Amer- 
 ica. 
 
 They also agreed upon an address to the 
 British people, vindicating their resistance to 
 oppression ; and two memorials to the West 
 India colonies and to the people of Canada, 
 exhorting them to unite with their persecuted 
 brethren in a steady opposition to the encroach- 
 ments of arbitrary power. In laying their 
 grievances before the throne, in a petition to 
 the king, they professed sentiments of loyalty 
 to his majesty's person and authority ; but 
 complained of the miseries which had been 
 brought upon them by the maladministration 
 
 of wicked ministers. 
 
 7* 
 
78 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 " We ask," said they, " but for peace, liber- 
 ty, and safety. We wish not a diminution of 
 the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant 
 of any new right in our favor. Your royal 
 authority over us, and our connection with 
 Great Britain, we shall always carefully and 
 zealously endeavor to support and maintain.** 
 This address to the sovereign concluded in 
 the following pathetic terms. " We implore 
 your majesty, for the honor pf Almighty God, 
 for your own glory, for the interest of your 
 family, for the safety of your kingdoms and 
 dominions, that, as the loving father of your 
 whole people, connected by the same bonds 
 of law, loyalt}^ faith, and blood, though 
 dwelling in various countries, you will not 
 suffer the transcendent relation formed by 
 these ties to be further violated by uncertain 
 expectation of effects, which, if attained, never 
 could compensate for the calamities through 
 which they must be gained." 
 
 These various documents were drawn up 
 with great judgment and ability ; and their 
 dissemination throughout the union produced 
 a powerful effect upon the feelings of the 
 people, preparing them for the most strenuous 
 exertions in what they deemed to be the 
 cause of justice and freedom. 
 
 Their framers, however, did not rel}^ upon 
 their eloquence alone, to produce an effect 
 favorable to their cause upon the people of 
 Britain. Their non-importation agreements 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 79 
 
 had produced the repeal of the stamp-act, and 
 they trusted that the annunciation of similar 
 resolutions would produce similar effects as 
 to the removal of their late parliamentary 
 grievances. 
 
 The event proved that they were mistaken. 
 The merchants trading to America composed 
 a small fraction of the British community. 
 A hostile ministry was all-powerful in parlia- 
 ment — the pride of the king was touched — 
 every individual Briton, in whose mouth the 
 phrase our colonies was familiar, deemed him- 
 self, in some sort, sovereign over the North 
 American plantations, and a cry almost unan- 
 imous was raised throughout the nation, that 
 the mutinous contemners of the omnipotence 
 of the legislature of the parent state, must 
 be reduced to obedience by the strong hand 
 of coercion. 
 
 The Congress, after a session of about eight 
 weeks, and after passing a resolution for the 
 calling of another assembly of the same na- 
 ture, if necessary, in the ensuing May, dis- 
 solved themselves ; and the members pro- 
 ceeded to further, in their respective prov 
 inces, the cause in which they were thus de- 
 cidedly embarked. By their influence, ope- 
 rating upon minds ready prepared by perpet- 
 ual discussions, both public and private, of 
 the wrongs of the colonies, the recommenda- 
 tions of an assembly, invested with no legal 
 authority, obtained the force of laws. The 
 
80 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 non-intercourse agreements were zealously , 
 adopted by the great mass of the people ; 
 and the few who ventured to dissent from 
 the general voice, were proscribed as ene- 
 mies to their country. 
 
 Lord Chatham, in the House of Lords, 
 passed upon the congress of Philadelphia 
 this noble eulogium. " For myself, I must de- 
 clare and avow, that in all my reading and 
 observation — and history has been my favor- 
 ite study — I have read Thucydides and have 
 studied and admired the master states of the 
 world — that for solidity of reasoning, force of 
 sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, no nation 
 or body of men can stand in preference to the 
 general congress of Philadelphia." 
 
 SECTION XI. 
 
 ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 9tH OP 
 FEBRUARY, 1775. 
 
 When the petition from Congress to the 
 king arrived in England, his majesty had just 
 met a new parliament, to which he had com- 
 municated information, in a speech from the 
 throne, " that a most daring spirit of resist- 
 ance and disobedience to the laws -unhappily 
 prevailed in the colony of Massachusetts ;" 
 and at the same time intimated that he had 
 taken the requisite steps to repress it. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 81 
 
 Notwithstanding this angry demonstration, 
 hopes were, for a short time, entertained by 
 the friends of America that ministers would 
 adopt measures of conciliation. The secre- 
 tary of state, after submitting the petition of 
 the general congress to the cabinet council, 
 presented it to the king, by whom, as he re- 
 ported, it was graciously received, and was 
 intended to be laid by him before his two 
 houses of parliament ; numerous petitions 
 from the merchants and manufacturers of the 
 principal towns in the kingdom, and from the 
 West India planters, prayed for the adoption 
 of a more lenient policy towards the North 
 American colonies ; all the eloquence of Lord 
 Chatham was exerted in the House of Peers 
 to effect the same object ; yet Lord North 
 was determined to proceed in the course of 
 coercion. 
 
 The Rubicon was passed on the 9th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1775, by the presentation by both 
 houses of a joint address to the king, in which 
 they stated it as their opinion, that " a rebel- 
 lion actually existed in the province of Mas- 
 sachusetts ;" and, in the usual style, offered to 
 hazard their lives and fortunes, " in the main- 
 tenance of the just rights of his majesty and 
 the two houses of parliament." In support 
 of this address, an addition was voted to the 
 military force, of 4,383 rank and file, and 
 2,000 seamen. 
 
 An act was also passed to restrain the com- 
 
82 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 merce of the eastern colonies to Great Britain 
 Ireland, and the British West Indies ; and to 
 prevent them from fishing on the Banks of 
 Newfoundland, under certain conditions, and 
 for a limited time. The provisions of this 
 act were soon afterwards extended to the 
 provinces of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary- 
 land, Virginia, and South Carolina. 
 
 It is to be remarked, that New York, Dele- 
 ware, and North Carolina, did not on this occa- 
 sion fall under the ban of ministerial interdic- 
 tion. New York, where the government had 
 more influence than in other colonies, had been 
 tardy in joining the union ; and Lord North 
 flattered himself that, by forbearing to include 
 that and the other two colonies abovemen- 
 tioned in the restraining act, he should sow 
 among the associated provinces jealousies 
 which would dissolve their connection ; but 
 in this he was disappointed. 
 
 So powerful was the spirit of patriotism in 
 America, that the inhabitants of the exempted 
 colonies disdained to avail themselves of the 
 privileges which were reserved to them, 
 and determined to share in the restrictions 
 imposed on their brethren ; and it was with 
 severe mortification that the premier soon af- 
 terwards witnessed the presentation to the 
 House of Commons of a* petition and remon- 
 strance from the assembly of New York, 
 claiming exemption from internal taxation, 
 and protesting against the dependence of 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 83 
 
 governors and judges on the crown for their 
 salaries and emohiments. 
 
 A hearing had been refused to the petition 
 of Congress, though it was individually sign- 
 ed, under the pretext that it emanated from 
 an illegal meeting. The remonstrance of the 
 New York assembly was not liable to this 
 objection ; but when a motion was made in 
 the House of Commons that it should be 
 brought up, it was lost by a stratagem of 
 Lord North. 
 
 On the 20th of February, 1775, some time 
 previously to the transaction which has just 
 been related, his lordship had manifested 
 some cunning, but little wisdom, in propos- 
 ing a resolution to the effect, that when any 
 of the colonies or provinces in America 
 should make provision for cc«tributing their 
 proportion to the common defence, and for 
 the support of their civil government, (such 
 proportion to be raised under the authority 
 of the general court or general assembly of 
 such province and colony,) " it will be proper 
 to forbear in respect of such colony or prov- 
 ince, to levy any duty or tax, except such du- 
 ties as may arise for the regulation of com- 
 merce, which duties are to be carried to the 
 account of such colony or province." 
 
 The bill founded on this resolution was vio- 
 lently opposed by certain of the prime minis- 
 ter's habitual partisans, who insisted oh it 
 that the colonies should be taxed directly by 
 
84 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 
 
 the British parliament. It was also attacked 
 by the opposition, who argued that as it re- 
 served to the British government the right of 
 apportioning the respective proportions which 
 the provinces should raise for the general 
 service, and left the disposal of the sums 
 raised to parliament, it mattered little that 
 the immediate application of the scourge of 
 taxation should be left to the colonial assem- 
 blies, who would regard the bill as an insult 
 and a wrong. 
 
 The opposition made a right estimate of 
 the feelings of the Americans. The bill pass- 
 ed into a law ; but it was received through- 
 out the Union with abhorrence and contempt. 
 
 It was in this session, viz. on the 22d of 
 March, 1775, that Mr. Burke made his cele- 
 brated speech for conciliation with America. 
 — a speech fraught with statesman-like views, 
 expressed in language at once temperate and 
 eloquent. At the commencement of this 
 deeply-studied oration, Mr. Burke, after ob- 
 serving that all former measures recommend- 
 ed by the ministry and adopted by parliament 
 had served to no other purpose but to keep 
 America in a state of agitation, intimated 
 that it had been observed to him by an intel- 
 ligent friend, that, instead of limiting himself 
 to criticisms on the plans of government, it 
 was highly expedient that he should produce 
 a plan of his own. 
 
 Though he was aware, said he, that it ar 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 85 
 
 gues little knowledge to hazard plans of gov- 
 ernment, except from a seat of authority, yet, 
 as public calamity was a migthy leveller, he 
 would now act upon his friend's suggestion. 
 " My proposition," proceeded he, " is peace ; 
 not peace through the medium of war ; nor 
 peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of 
 intricate and endless negotiations ; nor peace 
 to arise out of universal discord, fomented 
 from principle in all parts of the empire ; not 
 peace to depend upon the juridical determi- 
 nation of perplexing questions, or the precise 
 marking of the shadowy boundaries of a com- 
 plex government. It is simple peace, sought 
 in its natural course and in its ordinary 
 haunts, — it is peace sought in the spirit of 
 peace, and laid in principles purely pacific. 
 
 " I propose, by removing the ground of the 
 difference, and by restoring the former unsus- 
 pecting confidence of the colonies in the 
 mother country, to give permanent satisfac- 
 tion to your people, and, far from a scheme 
 of ruling by discord, to reconcile them to 
 each other in the same act, and by the bond 
 of the very same interest which reconciles 
 them to British government." 
 
 After laying down and enforcing the posi- 
 tion that the proposal for reconciliation ought, 
 in consideration of her strength, to come 
 from Great Britain, Mr. Burke asserted, that 
 the plan for conciliation ought to be guided, 
 not by abstract theory, but by a regard to 
 
 8 
 
86 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 circumstances. What, then, were the cir- 
 cumstances of the present case ? In the first 
 place, the discontented Americans amounted 
 in number to two millions, a number which, 
 considered in mass, could not be regarded "as 
 a paltry excrescence of the state, or a mean 
 dependant, who may be neglected with little 
 damage, and provoked with little danger." 
 But, with the consideration of the population 
 of America, it was requisite to combine ma- 
 ture reflection upon other circumstances ; as, 
 for instance, the commerce, the agriculture, 
 and the fisheries of the colonies. 
 
 As to commerce, Mr. Burke proved, by 
 documentary evidence, that, at the beginning 
 of the century, of six millions which consti- 
 tuted the whole mass of the export com- 
 merce of Great Britain, the colony trade was 
 but one twelfth part ; but that, by the last 
 returns submitted to parliament, it appeared 
 that, as a part of sixteen millions, it consti- 
 tuted considerably more than a third of the 
 whole. In agriculture, he asserted that Amer- 
 ica was so prosperous that she was enabled 
 to export vast quantities of grain for the sup- 
 ply of the mother country. 
 
 As to the third head of consideration, " no 
 sea," exclaimed the orator, " but is vexed by 
 the fisheries of the colonists, no climate that 
 is not witness to their toils. Neither the per- 
 severance of Holland, nor the activity of 
 France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 87 
 
 of English enterprise, ever carried this most 
 perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent 
 to which it has been pushed by this recent 
 people, — a people who are still, as it were, 
 but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into 
 the bone of manhood." 
 
 But, continued Mr. Burke, some persons 
 will say, such a country is worth fighting for, 
 — true, — but fighting will not retain it. Force 
 is uncertain, and, if successful, it will depre- 
 ciate the object gained. He warned the 
 House to consider the temper and character 
 of the people with whom many ill-advised 
 individuals seemed so eager to contend. The 
 North American colonists were jealous of 
 their liberties. Their jealousy as to their 
 rights they derived from their English origin ; 
 it was nursed by their popular legislatures, — 
 it w^as also nursed by their religion. The 
 great body of the colonists were dissenters, 
 and, the dissenting interests have sprung up 
 in direct opposition to all the ordinary powers 
 , of the world, and can justify that opposition 
 only on a strong claim to natural liberty. 
 
 " All protestantism," Mr. Burke acutely re- 
 marked, — " All protestantism, even the most 
 cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But 
 the religion most prevalent in our northern 
 colonies, is a refinement on the principle of 
 resistance ; it is the dissidence of dissent, and 
 the protestantism of the protestant religion." 
 
 The spirit of freedom was, moreover, nur- 
 
88 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 tured in the colonies, in general, by education ; 
 and in Virginia and the Carolinas by that 
 pride which uniformly actuates the holders 
 of slaves, " to whom freedom is not only an 
 enjoyment, but a kind of rank and privilege." 
 Their distance from the mother country like- 
 wise rendered the colonists less disposed to 
 submit to the dictation of the parent state. 
 This happens in all forms into which empire 
 can be thrown. In large bodies the circula- 
 tion of power must be less vigorous at the 
 extremities." A proud spirit of liberty hav- 
 ing from these various causes been infused 
 throughout the colonies, in consequence of 
 which they have not only disobeyed our au- 
 thority, but established an efficient authority 
 of their own, by means of which a vast prov- 
 ince has subsisted for near a twelvemonth, 
 without governor, without public council, 
 without judges, without executive magis- 
 trates, the question arises, how is this spirit 
 to be encountered ? 
 
 Some politicians have, in this emergency, 
 proposed to check the population of the colo- 
 nies by stopping the grant of more lands by 
 the crown. Others have advised that their 
 maritime enterprises should be checked by 
 the severity of restrictive laws; while a third 
 class of counsellors are sanguine in fheir ex- 
 pectations, that the Virginians and the plant- 
 ers of the Carolinas will speedily be reduced 
 to submission by the emancipation of their 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 89 
 
 slaves. Some, again, went so far as to talk 
 of prosecuting the refractory as criminals. 
 
 After demonstrating at length the futility 
 of these proposals, Mr. Burke affirmed, that 
 the only method left of putting an end to the 
 existing troubles, was that of conciliation. 
 The Americans, said he, complain of taxa- 
 tion, — I will not on this matter dispute the 
 point of right, but that of policy. " The 
 question is not whether you have a right to 
 render your people miserable, but whether it 
 is not your interest to make them happy. It 
 is not what a lawyer may tell you, you may 
 do, but what humanity, reason, and justice 
 declare you ought to do." 
 
 Having thus laid down the principle of his 
 plan, Mr. Burke began to open it by declar- 
 ing, that his main object was to admit the 
 people of the colonies to an interest in the 
 constitution. The fact was, that the Ameri- 
 cans did not object to the laws of trade ; nor 
 did they aim at any thing more than a re- 
 lease from taxation, imposed upon them by a 
 legislative body in which their interests are 
 not guarded by their representatives. Simi- 
 lar uneasiness was for a long time prevalent 
 in Ireland, in Wales, and in the counties pal- 
 atine of Chester and Durham. 
 
 Now the agitations of Ireland were quelled 
 by the establishment of a separate legislature 
 for that country, while the feuds which pre- 
 vailed in Chester and Durham were annihi- 
 
 8* 
 
90 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 lated by the admission of representatives of 
 those counties into the English parliament. 
 Let a similar policy then be exercised towards 
 America. In her case, let taxation and rep- 
 resentation go hand in hand. But the dis- 
 tance between the colonies and the mother 
 country precludes the Americans from send- 
 ing representatives to the British legisla- 
 ture. 
 
 What remains, then, but to recognise for 
 the theory the ancient constitution and policy 
 of this kingdom with regard to representation, 
 and as to the practice, to return to that mode 
 which a uniform experience has marked out 
 to you as best, and in which you walked with 
 security, advantage, and honor, until the year 
 1763. " My resolutions, therefore," continued 
 Mr. Burke, " mean to establish the equity and 
 justice of a taxation of America hy grant, and 
 not by imposition ; to mark the legal compe- 
 tency of the colony assemblies for the sup- 
 port of their government in peace, and for 
 the public aids in the time of war ; to ac- 
 knowledge that this legal competency has 
 had a dutiful and beneficial exercise, and 
 that experience has shown the benefit of their 
 grants, and the futility of parliamentary tax- 
 ation as a measure of supply." 
 
 After opening these points at considerable 
 length, and with transcendent ability, Mr. 
 Burke concluded by moving a series of reso- 
 lutions, in which their substance was embed- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 91 
 
 ied. This masterly speech, in the meditation 
 and composition of which Mr. Burke, in the 
 earnestness of his wish to point out to the 
 members of the House of Commons the true 
 line of colonial policy, seems to have chasten- 
 ed and checked the exuberance of his genius, 
 was spoken to the members alone, as during 
 the debate the standing orders for the exclu- 
 sion of strangers were strictly enforced. 
 
 It was answered by Mr. Jenkinson, who 
 professed serious alarm at the proposition, 
 that any public body, save parliament, was 
 entitled to make grants of money to the 
 crown. These constitutional scruples had 
 their due weight, and Mr. Burke's resolutions 
 were negatived by a majority of 270 to 78. 
 
 About this time, Dr. Franklin, in a kind of 
 demi-official communication with ministers, 
 endeavored to effect a reconciliation between 
 the colonies and the parent state. In the dis- 
 cussions which took place with this view be- 
 tween the doctor and the agents of the min- 
 istry, most of the points in dispute were set- 
 tled ; but the obstinate refusal of the cabinet 
 to restore the ancient constitution of Massa- 
 chusetts broke off* the conferences ; and Dr. 
 Franklin, despairing of the preservation of 
 peace, returned to his native land, determined 
 to share the fortunes of his countrymen, and, 
 at all hazards, to devote his talents to the 
 maintenance of their rights. 
 
 In America, the approaching conflict be- 
 
92 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 came daily more apparent. Boston, as the? 
 head-quarters of the army, was particularly 
 exposed to collisions with them ; and in anti- 
 cipation, every exertion was made to procure 
 arms and ammunition. Cannon, cannon balls 
 powder, muskets, and military stores, were 
 constantly introduced into the city by every 
 artifice, and in every disguise. In New 
 Hampshire a number of armed people seized 
 on the powder in the royal castle of William 
 and Mary. Colonel Leslie, who had been 
 dispatched by Governor Gage to seize some 
 cannon at Salem, was obstructed by the citi- 
 zens until the cannon were removed beyond 
 his reach, and he returned without succeed- 
 ing in his object ; and in New York a riotous 
 combat took place between the populace and 
 the troops, in which the latter were beaten. 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 
 AFFAIR AT LEXINGTON, 19tH OF APRIL, 1775. 
 
 It has already been stated, that the Mas- 
 sachusetts patriots had resolved to attack 
 the king's forces whenever they should march 
 out of Boston. On the 19th of April, 1775, 
 their adherence to this resolution was put to 
 the test. With a view of seizing the military 
 stores and provisions which the insurgents 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 93 
 
 had collected at Concord, General Gage, on 
 the night preceding that eventful day, de- 
 tached from his garrison 800 picked men, 
 under the command of Lieutenant-colonel 
 Smith. 
 
 These troops made a rapid march to the 
 place of their destination, in hopes of taking 
 the malcontents by surprise ; but notwith- 
 standing their precautions, the alarm was 
 given throughout the country, and the inhab- 
 itants flew to arms. Between four and five 
 o'clock on the morning of the 19th, the ad- 
 vanced guard of the royal troops arrived at 
 Lexington, where they found about 70 of the 
 American militia under arms, whom Major 
 Pitcairn ordered to disperse ; and on their 
 hesitating to obey his commands, that officer 
 discharged his pistol, and ordered his soldiers 
 to fire. 
 
 By the volley which ensued three or four of 
 the militia were killed, and the rest put to 
 flight. Lieutenant-colonel Smith then pro- 
 ceeded to Concord, where he destroyed the 
 stores of the insurgents, and then commenced 
 his retreat towards Boston. He was not, 
 however, permitted to make this retrograde 
 movement without molestation. Before he 
 left Concord he was attacked by the Ameri- 
 can militia and minute-men, who accumula- 
 ting by degrees, harassed his rear and flanks, 
 taking advantage of every inequality of 
 ground, and especially availing themselves of 
 
94 
 
 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 the stone walls which skirted the road, and 
 which served them as intrencLments. 
 
 Had not the detachment been met at Lex- 
 ington by a body of 900 men, which General 
 Gage had sent out to its support, under the 
 command of Lord Percy, it would certainly 
 have been cut off. The united British forces 
 arrived, wearied and exhausted, at Bunker 
 Hill, near Boston, a little after sunset, hav- 
 ing sustained a loss of 65 killed, 180 wound- 
 ed, and 28 prisoners.* 
 
 * The following is a copy of a hand-bill issued immedi 
 ately after the engagement at Concord and Lexington. 
 
 A List of the NaiJies of the Provincials who were killed 
 and wounded in the late engagement with his Majesty^s 
 troops at Concord, ^c. 
 
 KILLED. 
 
 Of Danvers. 
 
 Of Lexington. 
 Mr. Robert Munroe, 
 Mr. Jonas Parker, 
 Mr. Samuel Hadley, 
 Mr. Jonathan Harrington, 
 Mr. Caleb Harrington, 
 Mr. Isaac Muzzy, 
 Mr. John Brown, 
 Mr. John Raymond, 
 Mr. Nathaniel Wyman, 
 Mr. Jedediah Munroe. 
 
 Of Menotomy. 
 Mr. Jason Russel, 
 Mr. Jabez Wyman, 
 Mr. Jason Winship. 
 
 Of Sudbury. 
 Deacon Haynes, 
 Mr. Reed. 
 
 Mr. Henry Jacobs, 
 
 Mr. Samuel Cook, 
 
 Mr. Ebenezer Goldthwait, 
 
 Mr. George Southwick, 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Daland, jun. 
 
 Mr. Jotham Webb, 
 
 Mr. Perley Putnam. 
 
 Of Salem. 
 Mr. Benjamin Pierce. 
 
 Of Charlestown. 
 Mr. James Miller, 
 Capt. William Barber's s«*i. 
 
 Of Brookline. 
 Isaac Gardner, Esq. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 95 
 
 When Lord Percy, on his advance, was 
 marching through Roxbury, his military band, 
 
 * Of Concord. 
 Capt. James Miles. 
 
 Of Bedford. 
 Capt. Jonathan Willson. 
 
 Of Acton. 
 Capt. Davis, 
 
 Mr. Hosmer, 
 
 Mr. James Howard. 
 
 Of Wohurn. 
 * Mr. Azael Porter, 
 Mr. Daniel Thompson. 
 
 Of Cambridge. 
 Mr. John Hicks, 
 Mr. Moses Richardson, 
 Mr. William Massey. 
 
 Of Medford. 
 Mr. Henry Putnam. 
 
 Of Lynn. 
 Mr. Abednego Ramsdell, 
 Mr. Daniel Townsend, 
 Mr. William Flint, 
 Mr. Thomas Hadley. 
 
 WOUNDED. 
 
 Of Lexington. 
 Mr. John Robbins, 
 Mr. John Tidd, 
 Mr. Solomon Pierce, 
 Mr. Thomas Winship, 
 Mr. Nathaniel Farmer, 
 Mr. Joseph Comee, 
 Mr. Ebenezer Munroc, 
 Mr. Francis Brown, 
 Prince Easterbrooks, (a ne- 
 gro man.) 
 
 Of Framingham. 
 Mr. Hemenway. 
 
 Of Bedford. 
 Mr John Lane. 
 
 Of Wohurn. 
 Mr. George Reed, 
 Mr. Jacob Bacon. 
 
 Of Medford. 
 Mr. William Polly. 
 
 Of Lynn. 
 Mr. Joshua Felt, 
 Mr. Timothy Munroe. 
 
 Of Danvers. 
 Mr. Nathan Putnam, 
 Mr. Dennis WaUis. 
 
 Of Beverly. 
 Mr. Nathaniel Cleaves. 
 
 MISSING. 
 
 Of Menotomy. 
 Mr. Samuel Frost, 
 Mr. Seth Russel. 
 
 Those distinguished with this mark [*] were killed by the 
 first fire of the Regulars. 
 
96 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 in derision of the Americans, played the tune 
 of " Yankee Doodle." His lordship observed 
 a youth who appeared to be amused at this 
 circumstance, and asking him why he laugh- 
 ed, received this answer, — " To think how 
 you will dance by-and-by to the tune of 
 * Chevy Chase.' " It had been too much the 
 habit of the British to despise and insult the 
 Americans as cowards ; but the event of the 
 march to Concord convinced them that the 
 Massachusetts men were not deficient either 
 in personal courage or in individual skill in 
 the use of arms. 
 
 The results were of the greatest moment 
 The blow had been struck by which open 
 war was commenced, under circumstances 
 that aroused the universal indignation of the 
 Americans, while the issue invigorated their 
 spirits. They had rallied in great numbers 
 at the signal of strife, and driven the regu- 
 lars with loss, after baffling the object of their 
 expedition. 
 
 SECTION XIII. 
 
 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, 16tH OF JUNE, 1775. 
 
 Blood having been thus drawn, the whole 
 of the discontented colonies took prompt 
 measures to resist the royal authority by force 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 97 
 
 of arms. Volunteers enrolled themselves in 
 every province ; and throughout the whole 
 Union the king's stores were seized for the 
 use of the insurgents. The surprisal of Ti- 
 conderoga and Crown Point by a party from 
 Connecticut, under the command of Colonel 
 Allen, furnished them with upwards of 100 
 pieces of cannon, and a proportionable quan- 
 tity of ammunition. Troops were gradually 
 assembled in the towns and villages in the 
 vicinity of Boston, so as to hold that town in 
 a state of blockade. About the latter end 
 of May, General Gage was reinforced by the 
 troops which had been sent from Great Brit- 
 ain, and which were accompanied by Gene- 
 rals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton. 
 
 Finding himself thus strengthened, he pre- 
 pared for active operations ; but wishing to 
 temper justice with mercy, on the 12th of 
 June he issued a proclamation, offering par- 
 don to all who would lay down their arms, 
 with the exception of Samuel Adams and 
 John Hancock, " whose offences," he declared, 
 " were of too flagitious a nature to admit of 
 any other consideration than that of condign 
 punishment." 
 
 This proclamation produced no effect on 
 the Americans, save that of rousing them to 
 more vigorous exertions. On Charlestown 
 Neck, a peninsula situate*d to the north of 
 Boston, with which it now communicates by 
 a bridge, is a considerable eminence called 
 
 9 
 
98 AMERICAN REVOLUTIOX. 
 
 Bunker Hill. As this was deemed a post of 
 great importance, the Americans resolved to 
 occupy it, and orders were given by the pro- 
 vincial authorities that a detachment of 1,000 
 men should intrench themselves on the height 
 in question. 
 
 The party was accordingly moved forv^ard 
 from Cambridge on the night of the 16th of 
 June, but, by mistake, commenced their ope- 
 rations on Breed's Hill, an eminence nearer 
 to the town of Boston than the place of their 
 destination. Here they labored with such 
 activity, and at the same time with such si- 
 lence, that the appearance of their works at 
 daybreak, the next morning, was the first in- 
 dication of their presence. 
 
 The firing of guns from the Lively, man-of- 
 war, whence they were first seen, gave the 
 alarm to the British, whose commanders, on 
 reconnoitering the position of the enemy from 
 the steeples and heights of the city, perceived 
 that they had thrown up a redoubt about eight 
 rods square, from which lines extended to the 
 eastward nearly to the bottom of the hill. 
 To the westward the works were less perfect; 
 but the provincials were busily .employed in 
 carrying them on, notwithstanding they were 
 exposed to showers of shot and shells discharg- 
 ed from the vessels in the harbor. The necessi- 
 ty of driving the en^my from their position was 
 evident ; and for this purpose Gage put 3,000 
 men under the command of General Howe. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 99 
 
 On this occasion the British were not very 
 alert in their preparations, as it was noon be- 
 fore their troops were embarked in the boats 
 which were to convey them to Moreton's Point, 
 at the southern extremity of Charlestown 
 Neck. At this awful crisis every elevated 
 spot in the town of Boston was covered with 
 spectators, who anxiously awaited the event 
 of the expected contest. Their attention was 
 first arrested by a dense smoke, which an- 
 nounced that the British, fearing lest the 
 houses of Charlestown might afford shelter 
 to the provincials, had set that place on fire. 
 Proceeding to Moreton's Point, the king's^ 
 troops formed in two lines, and marched 
 slowly up the hill, while their artillery played 
 on the American works. 
 
 The provincials stood firm and steady ; they 
 reserved their fire till the British had advanced 
 within sixty or seventy yards of their lines ; 
 they then made a simultaneous discharge 
 with so cool an aim, and supported their fire 
 with so much steadiness, that the British gave 
 way, and fled to the water's edge. Here they 
 were rallied by their officers, and a second 
 time led to the charge. A second time they 
 retreated, and all seemed to be lost, when 
 General Howe, aided by General Clinton, 
 who, seeing his distress, had crossed over from 
 Boston to join him, with difficulty persuaded 
 them to make another onset, which was suc- 
 cessful. 
 
100 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 The Americans had expended their ammu- 
 nition, and were unable to procure a fresh 
 supply. Their redoubt being forced, they 
 were compelled to retreat ; but though the 
 road over Charlestown Neck, by which they 
 retired, was enfiladed by the Glasgow, man- 
 of-war, they withdrew with much less loss 
 than might have been expected ; they left 
 dead on the field 139 of their comrades, and 
 their wounded and missing amounted to 314. 
 
 Among the valuable lives which were sac- 
 rificed in this battle, the Americans were 
 sensibly affected by the loss of Dr. Warren, 
 who was slain while standing on the redoubt, 
 animating his fellow-soldiers to the most val- 
 orous exertions. Warren was a man of emi- 
 nent talents, and of most amiable manners in 
 private and domestic life. He excelled as an 
 orator, and he was wise and prudent in coun- 
 cil, and the circumstances of his death evinced 
 that he could act as well as speak, and that 
 the mildness of his character was united with 
 firm determination and undaunted courage. 
 
 The British purchased their victory dearly, 
 their loss amounting to 226 killed, and 828 
 wounded, including 79 officers ; at this cost 
 General Gage obtained little more than the 
 field of battle. At the conclusion of the en- 
 gagement he advanced to Bunker Hill, w hich 
 he fortified ; while the Americans intrenched 
 themselves on Prospect Hill, distant about a 
 mile and a half from his lines. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 101 
 
 Everywhere the tidings of the battles of 
 Lexington and Bunker Hill stirred up a like 
 determination to resist and annoy where they 
 could not expel the British authorities. The 
 militia were enrolled and armed in Maryland 
 and Virginia and the two Carolinas. In July, 
 Georgia had finally acceded to the confedera- 
 tion, which then took the name of " The 
 Thirteen United Colonies," and resistance be- 
 came popular there. The South proper sent 
 several companies of riflemen, at once, to the 
 army at Boston ; and Pennsylvania and New 
 Jersey contributed numerous recruits. In 
 New York, a party of patriots seized and car- 
 ried away the cannon from the battery, not- 
 withstanding the deadly opposition from the 
 British armed forces. And a kindred spirit 
 was developed in every section of the coun- 
 try. 
 
 SECTION XIV. 
 
 UNION OF THE THIRTEEN PROVINCES. HANCOCK AP- 
 POINTED PRESIDENT, AND WASHINGTON COMMAND- 
 ER-IN-CHIEF. 
 
 When Colonel Allen appeared at the gates 
 of Ticonderoga, on the 10th of May, he sum- 
 moned that fortress '' in the name of the Great 
 
 Jehovah and the continental Congress." On 
 
 9* 
 
102 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 the very day on which this summons was 
 given, that body assembk^d, and had the sat- 
 isfaction to find itself joined by delegates 
 from Georgia, — so that the union of the thir- 
 teen provinces was now completed. Peyton 
 Randolph, Esq., was appointed president ; but 
 urgent business soon after requiring his pres- 
 ence at home, he was succeeded by Mr. Han- 
 cock. 
 
 After mature deliberation, the Congress 
 agreed on addresses to the British nation, to 
 the Canadians, to Ireland, and to the Island 
 of Jamaica, in which they insisted upon the 
 topics upon which they had antecedently 
 dwelt in similar compositions. Fearful also 
 lest, in case of the continuance of hostilities 
 with the mother country, their frontier should 
 be devastated by the Indians, a talk was pre- 
 pared, in which the controversy between Great 
 Britain and her colonies was explained in a 
 familiar Indian style. They were told that 
 "they had no concern in the family quarrel, 
 and were urged by the ties of ancient friend • 
 ship and a common birthplace, to remain at 
 home, to keep their hatchet buried deep, and 
 to join neither side." 
 
 Such is the statement of Mr. Ramsay ; and 
 so far as Congress is concerned, no doubt that 
 respectable historian is correct. But had he 
 carefully examined the official correspondence 
 of General Washington, he would have found, 
 from a letter of his dated Ausust 4, 1 775, that 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 103 
 
 the American commander-in-cnief did not 
 limit his views to neutrality on the part of the 
 Indians, but that he took measures to secure 
 the co-operation of the Caghnewaga tribe, in 
 the event of any expedition being meditated 
 against Canada. 
 
 Still aiming, vi^itli however faint hopes, at 
 conciliation, the Congress drew up another 
 humble and pathetic petition to the king, 
 which was delivered on the ensuing Septem- 
 ber, by their agents, to Lord Dartmouth, the 
 colonial secretary of state, who informed 
 them that no answer would be returned to it. 
 They did not, however, confine themselves to 
 literary controversy, but took measures for 
 depriving the British troops of supplies. They 
 also resolved to raise an army sufficient to 
 enable them to cope with the enemy, and is- 
 sued, for its equipment and pay, bills of credit 
 to the value of two millions of dollars. With 
 a happy unanimity they appointed George 
 Washington commander-in-chief of their 
 forces. 
 
 Soon after he received his commission, the 
 general repaired to the head-quarters at 
 Cambridge, in the vicinity of Boston, where 
 he arrived on the 3d of July, and was receiv- 
 ed with joyful acclamations by the troops. 
 The army consisted of 14,500 men, and occu- 
 pied cantonments so disposed as closely to 
 beleaguer the enemy within Boston. The 
 goldiers were hardy, active, and zealous. 
 
104 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 But still, when the general had minutely 
 inspected the state of affairs, he found ample 
 matter for serious reflection. He was desti- 
 tute of a responsible commissariat to procure 
 and dispense the necessary supplies. Many 
 of the soldiers were ill-provided with arms. 
 On the 4th of August, he was apprized of the 
 alarming fact that his whole stock of powder 
 would afford little more than nine rounds a 
 man. 
 
 On the settling of the rank of officers, also, 
 he had to encounter the ill-humor of the am- 
 bitious, who conceived that they were not 
 promoted according to their merits. With 
 his characteristic patience and assiduity, how- 
 ever, he overcame these difficulties. By the 
 influence of the respect which his character 
 inspired, he reduced these jarring elements 
 to some degree of order. His encampments 
 were regularly supplied with provisions. By 
 extraordinary exertions he procured a suffi- 
 cient stock of ammunition and military stores ; 
 and though the well-dressed scouting parties 
 of the British who approached his lines could 
 not repress a smile on seeing his soldiers 
 equipped in hunting-shirts, the affair at 
 Breed's Hil had taught them that a hand- 
 some uniform is by no means essential to 
 bravery in battle. 
 
 On the 10th of October, General Gage re- 
 signed the command of the British army to 
 General Howe, and sailed for England in a 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 105 
 
 vessel of war. Had he made the voyage in 
 a transport, he would have rim some risk of 
 being taken prisoner ; for towards the close 
 of this year, (1775,) Congress fitted out seve- 
 ral privateers, which were eminently success- 
 ful in capturing the store-ships which had 
 been sent from Great Britain with supplies 
 for the royal army. These captures at once 
 crippled the enemy and furnished the Ameri- 
 cans with important requisites for carrying 
 on the war. 
 
 SECTION XV. 
 
 INVASION OF CANADA. DEATH OF MONTGOMERY 
 
 Nor were the offensive operations of the 
 provincials confined to the sea. Having, as 
 has been before related, obtained possession 
 oi' Ticonderoga, which is the key of Canada, 
 the Congress determined to invade that prov- 
 ince, in the hope that its inhabitants would 
 welcome the forces which they might send 
 against it, as their deliverers from the yoke 
 of oppression. They accordingly gave the 
 command of 1,000 men to Generals Schuyler 
 and Montgomery, with directions to march 
 into Canada. 
 
 When the expedition had advanced to the 
 town of St. John's, Schuyler, in consequence 
 
106 AMERICAN REVOLUTION 
 
 of the bad state of his health, resigned the 
 command to his associate, and returned home. 
 In attacking St. John's, the commander of 
 which made a brave defence, Montgomery 
 experienced considerable difficulties in conse- 
 quence of his want of the chief requisites for 
 conducting a siege ; but he vanquished them 
 all, and compelled the garrison, consisting of 
 500 regulars and 100 Canadians, to surrender. 
 During the progress of the siege, Sir Guy 
 Carleton, the governor of Canada, had col- 
 lected 800 men at Montreal, for the purpose 
 of attacking the besieging army ; but he was 
 driven back by a body of the Vermont militia, 
 commanded by General Warner. 
 
 Montgomery, therefore, proceeded to Mon- 
 treal, the garrison of which attempted to es- 
 cape down the river, but were intercepted 
 and captured by the American Colonel Eas- 
 ton : and Governor Carleton himself was so 
 hard pressed, that he was glad to escape to 
 Trois Rivieres, whence he proceeded to Que- 
 bec. To this place he was pursued by Mont- 
 gomery, who, in the course of his march, 
 adopted the wisest measures to gain over the 
 inhabitants of the province. With the peas- 
 ants he succeeded ; but upon the priests and 
 the seigneurs, or feudal lords, who foresaw 
 that a revolution would be detrimental to 
 their interests, he made little impression. 
 
 While Montgomery was penetrating into 
 Canada by the St. Lawrence General Arnold^ 
 
AMERICAN KEVOLUTION. 107 
 
 who afterwards rendered himself infamous by 
 his treachery, was advancing to co-operate 
 with him by the way of the Kennebeck river 
 and the Chaudiere. This route appears upon 
 the map to be a very direct one ; but it was 
 beset with formidable difficulties. In their 
 voyage up the Kennebeck, Arnold and his 
 comrades had to pull against a powerful 
 stream interrupted by rapids, over which they 
 were obliged to haul their boats with exces- 
 sive labor. The space which intervenes be- 
 tween the mouth of the Kennebeck and that 
 of the Chaudiere was a wild and pathless 
 forest, through a great part of which they 
 were compelled to cut their way with hatch- 
 ets ; and so scantily were they furnished with 
 provisions, that when they had eaten their last 
 morsel they had thirty miles to travel before 
 they could expect any further supplies. 
 
 In spite of these obstructions, Arnold per- 
 severed in his bold enterprise ; and on the 8th 
 of November he arrived at Point Levi, oppo- 
 site Quebec ; and had he possessed the means 
 of immediately passing the St. Lawrence, 
 such was the panic occasioned by his unex- 
 pected appearance, that it is probable that 
 the city, in the absence of the governor 
 would have surrendered to him. But while 
 he was collecting craft to effect his passage, 
 the inhabitants recovered from their conster- 
 nation, the governor arrived, and the place 
 was put in a posture of defence. 
 
108 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 On the 1st of December, Montgomery, hav- 
 ing effected a junction with Arnold, broke 
 ground before Quebec. But he labored un- 
 der insuperable disadvantages. His forces 
 ^vere inferior in number to those of the garri- 
 son. He was destitute of a proper battering 
 train. His soldiers were daily sinking under 
 the hardships of a Canadian winter ; and their 
 term of enlistment was soon to expire. 
 
 Seeing that no hopes were left, but that of 
 the success of a desperate effort, he attempted 
 to carry the city by assault, and had pene- 
 trated to the second barrier, when he fell by 
 a musket shot, leaving behind him the char- 
 acter of a brave soldier, an accomplished 
 gentleman, and an ardent friend of liberty. 
 Arnold was carried wounded from the field ; 
 but on the death of his friend he took the 
 command of the remnant of his forces, which 
 he encamped at the short distance of three 
 miles from the city. 
 
 SECTION XVI. 
 
 EVACUATION OF BOSTON, MARCH 17, 1776. 
 
 While these transactions were carrying on 
 to the northward of the American continent, 
 the inhabitants of the middle and southern 
 provinces were employed in preparing for 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 109 
 
 resistance against the demands of the British 
 government, and in general compelled such 
 of their governors as took any active meas- 
 ures for the support of royal author! l}', to con- 
 sult for their safety by taking refuge on board 
 of ships of war. In Virginia, the imprudence 
 of Lord Dunmore provoked open hostilities, 
 in the course of which he burned the town of 
 Norfolk. By this act, however, and by a pro- 
 clamation, in which he promised freedom to 
 such of the negroes as should join his stand- 
 ard, he only irritated the provincials, without 
 doing them any essential injury ; and being 
 finally driven from the colony,, he returned to 
 England. 
 
 Towards the close of this year, the com- 
 mander-in-chief of the American forces found 
 himself in circumstances of extreme embar- 
 rassment. " It gives me great distress," thus 
 he wrote in a letter to Congress of the date 
 of Sept. 21, 1775, "to be obliged to solicit the 
 attention of the honorable Congress to the 
 state of this army, in terms which imply the 
 slightest apprehension of being neglected. 
 But my situation is inexpressibly distressing, 
 to see the winter fast approaching upon a 
 naked army ; the time of their service within 
 a few weeks of expiring ; and no provision 
 yet made for such important events. 
 
 " Added to these, the military chest is total- 
 ly exhausted : the paymaster has not a single 
 dollar in hand ; the commissary-general as- 
 
 10 
 
110 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 sures me he has strained his credit, for the 
 subsistence of the army, to the utmost. The 
 quarter-master-general is precisely in the 
 same situation ; and the greater part of the 
 troops are in a state not far from mutiny upon 
 the deduction from their stated allowance." 
 The fact is, that the troops had engaged in 
 the service of their country with feelings of 
 ardent zeal ; but, with a mistaken idea that 
 the contest would be decided by a single 
 effort, they had limited the time of their ser- 
 vice to a short period, which was ready to 
 expire. 
 
 Congress had appointed a committee, con- 
 sisting of Dr. Franklin, and two other indivi- 
 duals, to organize an army for the year 1776. 
 But when these gentlemen repaired to head- 
 quarters, and sounded the dispositions of the 
 troops as to a second enlistment, they did not 
 find in them the alacrity which they expected. 
 The soldiers were, as they had evinced in all 
 services of danger, personally brave ; but they 
 w^ere unaccustomed to the alternate monoto- 
 ny and violent exertion of a military life, and 
 their independent spirit could ill brook the 
 necessary restraints of discipline. 
 
 From these causes so many quitted the 
 camp when the term of their service was ex- 
 pired, that on the last day of the year Wash- 
 ington's muster-roll contained the names of 
 only 9,650 men. By the exertions of the com- 
 mittee, however, these were speedily rein- 
 
, AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Ill 
 
 forced by a body of militia, who increased 
 their numbers to 17,000. Upon these circum- 
 stances, the commander-in-chief, in one of his 
 despatches to Congress, made the following 
 striking remarks. 
 
 " It is not in the pages of history, perhaps, 
 to furnish a case like ours — to maintain a 
 post within musket-shot of the enemy for six 
 months together without ammunition, and, at 
 the same time, to disband one army and re- 
 cruit another, within that distance of twenty 
 odd British regiments, is more, probably, than 
 ever was attempted. But if we succeed as 
 well in the last, as we have heretofore in the 
 first, I shall think it the most fortunate event 
 of my whole life." It may be permitted us to 
 conjecture that in these circumstances the 
 uneasiness of Washington was enhanced by 
 his consciousness of the risk which he ran in 
 thus communicating the secret of his difficul- 
 ties to so numerous a body as the Congress. 
 Had there been found one coward, one traitor, 
 or even one indiscreet individual in that as- 
 sembly, the British general would have been 
 apprized of the vast advantages which he had 
 over his antagonist ; he would have adopted 
 the offensive, and the cause of American in- 
 dependence would have been lost. But every 
 colonial senator M^as faithful to his trust. 
 Every one was silent as to the real Situation 
 of the army ; and the commander-in-chief still 
 confidently presented a bold front to the enemy. 
 
112 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 It was well known that the British troops 
 in Boston were much straitened for provi- 
 sions ; and the militia having joined the army 
 in expectation of immediate battle, were ea- 
 ger for the onset, and murmured at the delay 
 of the general in giving the signal for an 
 assault on the town. They were little aware 
 of the distresses by w^hich he was embar- 
 rassed. Notwithstanding the Congress had 
 even sent to the coast of Africa to purchase 
 gunpowder, his magazines still contained but 
 a scanty stock of that essential article, and 
 many of his troops were destitute of muskets. 
 But he kept to himself the important secret 
 of the deficiency of his stores, and patiently 
 submitted to the criticisms which were passed 
 on his procrastination, till he had made the 
 requisite preparations. He then proposed to 
 storm the British lines ; but Avas advised by 
 his council of war, in preference to this meas- 
 ure, to take possession of Dorchester heights,* 
 an eminence which from the southward com- 
 mands the harbor and city of Boston. 
 
 To this advice he acceded, and having di- 
 verted the attention of the British garrison by 
 a bombardment, vrhich was merely a feint, on 
 the night of the 4th of March he pushed for- 
 ward a working party of 1,200 men, under 
 the protection of a detachment of 800 troops. 
 The Americans were very expert in the use 
 
 * Now added to Boston and called South Boston 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 113 
 
 of the spade and pickaxe, and by daybreak 
 they had completed respectable lines of de- 
 fence. 
 
 The British admiral no sooner beheld these 
 preparations, than he sent word to General 
 Howe, that if the Americans were not dis- 
 lodged from their works he could not with 
 safety continue in the harbor. On the 6th, 
 Howe had completed his arrangements for 
 the attack of the enemy's lines, and a bloody 
 battle was expected ; but the transports in 
 which his troops were embarked for the pur- 
 pose of approaching the heights by water 
 were dispersed by a storm ; and the enemy 
 so industriousl}^ took advantage of the conse- 
 quent suspension of his operations to strength- 
 en their position, that when the storm sub- 
 sided he despaired of success in attacking it. 
 Finding the town no longer tenable, he evac- 
 uated it on the 17th of March, and sailed 
 with his garrison, which amounted to 7,000 
 men, to Halifax in Nova Scotia. 
 
 In consequence of an implied threat on the 
 part of General Howe, that if he was inter- 
 rupted by any hostile attack during the em- 
 barkation of his troops, he would set fire to 
 the town, the British were allowed to retire 
 without molestation, though their commander, 
 immediately before his departure, levied con- 
 siderable requisitions for the use of his army 
 upon the merchants, who were possessed of 
 woollen and linen goods; and though the 
 
 10* 
 
114 AMERICAN REVCLUTION. 
 
 soldiery, availing themselves of the relaxation 
 of military discipline which usually accom- 
 panies the precipitate movements of troops, 
 indulged themselves, in defiance of orders 
 issued to the contrary, in all the license of 
 plunder. 
 
 Previously to the evacuation of the place, 
 Howe spiked all the cannon and mortars which 
 he was obliged to leave behind him, and de- 
 molished the fortifications of Castle William. 
 Immediately on the withdrawing of the royal 
 forces, Washington, entering Boston in tri- 
 umph, was hailed as a deliverer by the ac- 
 clamations of the inhabitants. He also re- 
 ceived the thanks of the Congress and of the 
 legislature of Massachusetts ; and a medal 
 was struck in honor of his services in expel- 
 ling the invaders from his native land. 
 
 The exultation which the Americans felt 
 at the expulsion of the British from Boston 
 was tempered by the arrival of sinister intel- 
 ligence from Canada. In sending an expedi- 
 tion into that country, Congress had been in- 
 fluenced by two motives : they wished at 
 once to secure the junction of the inhabitants 
 of that province to their union, and to protect 
 their own northern frontier from invasion. 
 But the Canadians were little prepared for 
 the assertion of the principle of freedom ; and 
 the rapacity of the unprincipled Arnold, and 
 the misconduct of his troops, had alienated 
 their affections from the common cause. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 115 
 
 Congress, however, by extraordinary exer- 
 tions, sent to the camp before Quebec, rein- 
 forcements, which, by the 1st of May, increas- 
 ed Arnold's army to the number of 3,000 men. 
 But his forces were unfortunately weakened by 
 the ravages of the small-pox ; and reinforce- 
 ments from England having begun to arrive at 
 Quebec, he determined upon a retreat. In 
 this retrograde movement the American army 
 had to encounter difficulties, which to ordina- 
 ry minds would have seemed insurmountable. 
 
 On their march through almost impracti- 
 cable roads, they were closely followed, and 
 frequently brought to action, by an enemy 
 superior in number. In an ill-advised attack 
 on Trois Rivieres they sustained considerable 
 loss, and their forces were for a time sepa- 
 rated, and almost dispersed. But notwith- 
 standing these disasters. General Sullivan, 
 ^vho conducted the retreat, contrived to save 
 his baggage, stores, and sick, and led back a 
 respectable remnant of his army to Crown 
 Point, where he resolved to make a stand. 
 Being well aware of the necessity of guard- 
 ing this quarter of their frontier against the 
 incursions of the British, the Congress sent 
 thither an army of 12,000 men under the 
 command of General Gates, who cast up strong 
 works at Ticonderoga, and endeavored to re- 
 tain the command of Lake Champlain by 
 means of a flotilla, which was built and 
 equipped with a rapidity hitherto unheard of. 
 
116 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 General Carleton, however, w^as not behind- 
 hand with him in activity. He speedily fitted 
 out a superior armament, by means of which he 
 took or destroyed almost the whole of the Amer- 
 ican vessels. Having thus made himself mas- 
 ter of the lake, he advanced to the vicinity 
 of Ticonderoga ; but finding that port too 
 strongly fortified, and too well garrisoned to 
 be taken by assault, he returned to Quebec. 
 Valor and military skill were not the highest 
 characteristics of Sir Guy Carleton. The 
 kindness which he manifested to his prison- 
 ers, and especially to the sick and wounded 
 of the Americans who fell into his hands, en- 
 title him to the superior praise of humanity. 
 
 SECTION XVII. 
 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 4tH OF JULY, 
 
 1776. 
 
 When the British ministry took the resolu- 
 tion to coerce the discontented colonies by 
 force of arms, they were little aware of the 
 difficulty of their undertaking ; and, conse- 
 quently, the means which they adopted for 
 the execution of their designs, were by no 
 means commensurate with the object which 
 they had in view. But when they met the 
 parliament in October, 1775, they were oblig- 
 ed to confess that the spirit of resistance to 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 117 
 
 royal authority was widely diffused through- 
 out the North American provinces, that re- 
 bellion had assumed a bold front, and had 
 been alarmingly successful. 
 
 To supply them with the means of sup- 
 pressing it, parliament readily voted the raising 
 and equipment of 28,000 seamen, and 55,000 
 land forces. The bill which provided for this 
 powerful armament, also authorized his ma- 
 jesty to appoint commissioners, who were to 
 be empowered to grant pardons to individu- 
 als, to inquire into and redress grievances, 
 and to receive any colonies, upon their return 
 to obedience, into the king's peace. 
 
 When the colonists were apprized of the 
 bill having been passed into a law, they treat- 
 ed the offer of pardon with contempt, and 
 contemplated with anger, but not with dis- 
 may, the formidable preparations announced 
 by its provisions. Their irritation was ex- 
 cited to the highest pitch when they were in- 
 formed that Lord North had engaged 16,000 
 German mercenaries to assist in their subju- 
 gation. 
 
 Nor did this measure escape severe ani- 
 madversion in the British parliament. It was 
 warmly censured by many members of the 
 opposition, especially by Mr. Adair and Mr 
 Dunning, who maintained that, in engaging 
 the services of foreign mercenaries without 
 the previous consent of parliament, ministers 
 had violated the provision of the Bill of Rights, 
 
118 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 and that by this infringement of the constitu- 
 tion, they had set a precedent which might 
 be made available by some future arbitrary 
 monarch to the destruction of the liberties of 
 the country. 
 
 The command of the British forces was 
 given to General Howe, who, in arranging 
 the plan of the campaign, determined, first, 
 after driving the enemy from Canada, to in- 
 vade their country by the northwestern fron- 
 tier. 2dly, to subdue the southern colonies ; 
 and, 3dly, to strike at the centre of the Union 
 by conquering the province of Ncav York, 
 from which, by means of the Hudson river, 
 he should be able to co-operate with the royal 
 army in Canada. The latter province having 
 been already rescued from the invaders by 
 Sir Guy Carleton, General Howe committed 
 the execution of the second part of his plan 
 to General Clinton and Sir Peter Parker, who 
 having effected a junction at Cape Fear, re- 
 solved to make an attack upon Charleston. 
 
 They accordingly sailed up Ashley river, 
 on which that place is situated ; but they en- 
 countered so determined an opposition from 
 a fort hastily erected on Sullivan's Island, and 
 commanded by Colonel Moultrie, that, after 
 sustaining considerable loss of men, and much 
 damage to their shipping, they gave up their 
 enterprise and sailed to New York. The re- 
 sult of this attempt was highly favorable to 
 the Americans, as it consoled them for their 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUllOW. 119 
 
 losses in the North, inspired them with new 
 confidence, and, for the ensuing two years 
 and a half, preserved the southern colonies 
 from the presence of a hostile force. 
 
 The command of the principal British fleet, 
 destined to co-operate with General Howe, 
 had been bestowed upon his brother, Sir 
 William, who, when his equipment was 
 finished, sailed directly for Halifax. On his 
 arrival at that place, he found that the gene- 
 ral, impatient of his delay, had proceeded on 
 his voyage towards New York, whither he 
 immediately followed him, and joined him at 
 Staten Island. 
 
 On this junction of the two brothers, their 
 forces were found to amount to 30,000 men ; 
 and never, perhaps, was an army better 
 equipped, or more amply provided with artil- 
 lery, stores, and every requisite for the carry- 
 ing on of vigorous and active hostilities. Far 
 different was the condition of the American 
 commander-in-chief. His troops, enlisted for 
 short periods, had acquired little discipline. 
 They were scantily clothed and imperfectly 
 armed. They were frequently in want of 
 ammunition ; and they were ill-supplied with 
 provisions. Disaffection to the cause of their 
 country was also manifested by some of the 
 inhabitants of New York, who, at the insti- 
 gation of Governor Tryon, had entered into 
 a conspiracy to aid the king's troops on their 
 expected arrival. 
 
120 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 In this plot, even some of the army had 
 been engaged ; and a soldier of the command- 
 er-in-chief's own guard had, by the unani- 
 mous sentence of a court-martial, been sen- 
 tenced to die for enrolling himself among the 
 conspirators, and enlisting others in the same 
 traitorous cause. In these circumstances 
 Washington could not but regard the ap- 
 proaching contest with serious uneasiness ; 
 but he, as usual, concealed his uneasiness 
 within his own bosom, and determined to 
 fight to the last in the cause of his country. 
 His firmness was participated by the Con- 
 gress, who, while the storm seemed to be 
 gathering thick over their heads, beheld it 
 with eyes undismayed, and now proceeded 
 with a daring hand to strike the decisive 
 stroke which forever separated thirteen flour- 
 ishing colonies from their dependence on the 
 British crown. 
 
 It is possible, nay, it is probable, that from 
 the beginning of the disputes with the mother 
 country, there may have been some few specu- 
 lators among the American politicians, who 
 entertained some vague notions and some 
 uncertain hopes of independence. In every 
 age, and in every country, there are individ- 
 uals w^hose mental view extends to a wider 
 circle than that of the community at large, 
 and unhappy is their destiny if they attempt 
 to bring their notions into action, or even to 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 12 1 
 
 promulgate them, before the season is ripe 
 unto the harvest. 
 
 But no such precipitancy v^^as found among 
 the partisans of American liberty. Like 
 Franklin, for year after year, they limited 
 their wishes to an exemption from parliamen- 
 tary taxation, and to a preservation of their 
 chartered rights and privileges. But the vio- 
 lent measures of the British ministers altered 
 their sentiments, and the spectacle of their 
 countrymen mustering in arms to resist min- 
 isterial oppression, prompted them to bolder 
 daring. Finding that the British cabinet had 
 hired foreign troops to assist in their subjuga- 
 tion, they foresav^ that they might be reduced 
 to apply to foreign aid to help them in their 
 resistance against oppression. But what 
 power w^ould lend them aid while they re- 
 tained the character of subjects of his Britan- 
 nic majesty ? 
 
 Sentiments such as these, having been 
 industriously and successfully disseminated 
 throughout the Union, the Congress on the 
 4th of July, 1776, while the formidable array 
 of the British fleet was hovering on their 
 coasts, on the motion of Mr. Richard Henry 
 Lee, representative of Virginia, passed their 
 celebrated Declaration of Independence, by 
 which act they forever withdrew their alle- 
 giance from the king of Great Britain. This 
 important document is couched in the follow- 
 ing terms : — 
 
 11 
 
122 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 " When, in the course of human events, it 
 becomes necessar}^ for one people to dissolve 
 the political bands which have connected 
 them with another, and to assume among the 
 powers of the earth, the separate and equal 
 station to which the laws of nature and of 
 nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to 
 the opinions of mankind requires that they 
 should declare the causes which impel them 
 to the separation. 
 
 " We hold these truths to be self-evident, 
 that all men are created equal ; that they are 
 endowed by their Creator with certain un- 
 alienable rights, that among these are life, 
 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to 
 secure these rights, governments are instituted 
 among men, deriving their just powers from, 
 the consent of the governed ; that whenever 
 any form of government becomes destructive 
 of these ends, it is the right of the people to 
 alter or to abolish it, and to institute new 
 government, laying its foundation on such 
 principles, and organizing its power in such 
 form, as to them shall seem most likely to 
 effect their safety and happiness. 
 
 " Prudence, indeed, will dictate that gov- 
 ernments long established should not be 
 changed for light and transient causes ; and, 
 accordingly, all experience hath shown, that 
 mankind are more disposed to suffer, while 
 evils are sufferable, than to right themselves 
 by abolishing the forms to which they are ac- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 123 
 
 customed. But when a long train of abuses 
 and usurpations, pursuing invariably the 
 same object, evinces a design to reduce them 
 under absolute despotism, it is their right — it 
 is their duty, to throw off such government, 
 and to provide new guards for their future 
 security. 
 
 " Such has been the patient sufferance of 
 these colonies, and such is now the necessity 
 which constrains them to alter their former 
 system of government. The history of the 
 present king of Great Britain, is a history of 
 repeated injuries and usurpations, all having 
 in direct object, the establishment of an abso- 
 lute tjTanny over these states. To prove 
 this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 
 
 " He has refused his assent to laws the most 
 wholesome and necessary for the public good. 
 
 " He has forbidden his governors to pass 
 laws of immediate and pressing importance, 
 unless suspended in their operation till his as- 
 sent should be obtained ; and when so sus- 
 pended, he has utterly neglected to attend to 
 them. 
 
 " He has refused to pass other laws for the 
 accommodation of large districts of people, 
 unless those people would relinquish the right 
 of representation in the legislature — a right 
 inestimable to them, and formidable to ty- 
 rants only. 
 
 " He has called together legislative bodies 
 at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant 
 
124 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 from the depository of their public records, 
 for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into 
 compliance with his measures. 
 
 " He has dissolved representative houses 
 repeatedly, for opposing, vrith manly firm- 
 ness, his invasions on the rights of his people. 
 
 " He has refused, for a long time after such 
 dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, 
 whereby the legislative powers, incapable of 
 annihilation, have returned to the people at 
 large for their exercise ; the state remaining 
 in the mean time exposed to all the danger 
 of invasion from without, and convulsions 
 wdthin. 
 
 " He has endeavored to prevent the popu- 
 lation of these states, for that purpose ob- 
 structing the laws for naturalization of for- 
 eigners, refusing to pass others to encourage 
 their migration hither, and raising the condi- 
 tions of new appropriations of lands. 
 
 " He has obstructed the administration of 
 justice, by refusing his assent to laws for es- 
 tablishing judiciary powers. 
 
 " He has made judges dependent on his 
 will alone for the tenure of their offices, and 
 the amount and payment of their salaries. 
 
 " He has erected a multitude of new offices, 
 and sent hither swarms of officers to harass 
 our people, and eat out their substance. 
 
 " He has kept among us, in time of peace, 
 standing armies, without the consent of our 
 legislatures. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 125 
 
 " He has affected to render the military in- 
 dependent of, and superior to, the civil power. 
 
 " He has combined with others to subject 
 us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, 
 and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his 
 assent to their acts of pretended legislation ; 
 
 " For quartering large bodies of armed 
 troops among us ; 
 
 " For protecting them, by a mock trial, 
 from punishment for any murders which they 
 should commit on the inhabitants of these 
 states ; 
 
 "For cutting off our trade with all- parts 
 of the world ; 
 
 " For imposing taxes upon us without our 
 consent ; 
 
 " For depriving us, in many cases, of the 
 benefits of trial by jury ; 
 
 " For transporting us beyond the seas to be 
 tried for pretended offences ; 
 
 " For abolishing the free system of English 
 laws in a neighboring province, establishing 
 therein an arbitrary government, and enlarg- 
 ing its boundaries, so as to render it at once 
 an example and fit instrument for introdu- 
 cing the same absolute rule in these colonies ; 
 
 " For taking away our charters, abolishing 
 our most valuable laws, and altering funda- 
 mentally the form of our governments ; 
 
 " For suspending our own legislatures, and 
 declaring themselves invested with power to 
 legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 
 
 11* 
 
126 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 " He has abdicated government here, by 
 declaring us out of his protection, and waging 
 war against us. 
 
 " He has plundered our seas, ravaged our 
 coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the 
 lives of our people. 
 
 " He is, at this time, transporting large ar- 
 mies of foreign mercenaries to complete the 
 works of death, desolation, and tyranny, al 
 ready begun, with circumstances of cruelty 
 and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most 
 barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the 
 head of a civilized nation. 
 
 " He has constrained our fellow-citizens, 
 taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms 
 against their country, to become the execu- 
 tioners of their friends and brethren, or to 
 fall themselves by their hands. 
 
 " He has excited domestic insurrections 
 among us, and has endeavored to bring on 
 the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless 
 Indian savages ; whose known rule of war- 
 fare is an undistinguished destruction of all 
 ages, sexes, and conditions. 
 
 " In every stage of these oppressions we 
 have petitioned for redress in the most hum-' 
 ble terms ; our repeated petitions have been 
 answered only by repeated injury. A prince, 
 whose character is thus marked by every 
 act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be 
 the ruler of a free people. 
 
 " Nor have we been wanting in attention 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 127 
 
 to our British brethren. We have warned 
 them from time to time of attempts made by 
 their legislature to extend an unwarrantable 
 I'urisdiction over us. We have reminded them 
 of the circumstances of our emigration and 
 settlement here. We have appealed to their 
 native justice and magnanimity, and we have 
 conjured them by the ties of our common 
 kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which 
 would inevitably interrupt our connections 
 and correspondence. They too have been 
 deaf to the voice of justice and consanguini- 
 ty. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the ne- 
 cessity which denounces our separation, and 
 hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, 
 — enemies in war, in peace, friends. 
 
 " We, therefore, the representatives of the 
 United States of America, in general con- 
 gress assembled, appealing to the Supreme 
 Judge of the world for the rectitude of our 
 intentions, do in the name, and by authority 
 of the good people of these colonies, solemnly 
 publish and declare, that these united colonies 
 are, and of right ought to be. Free and Inde- 
 pendent States ; that they are absolved from 
 all allegiance to the British crown ; and that 
 all political connection between them and the 
 State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, 
 totally dissolved ; and that, as free and inde- 
 pendent states, they have full power to levy 
 war, conclude peace, contract alliances, es- 
 tablish commerce, and do all other acts and 
 
128 AMERICAN REVOLUTIOX. 
 
 tilings which independent states may, of right, 
 do. And, for the support of this declaration, 
 with a firm reliance on the protection of Di- 
 vine Providence, we mutually pledge to each 
 other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
 honor." 
 
 SECTION XVIII. 
 
 CAPTURE OF LONG ISLAND, 26tH OF AUGUST, 1776. 
 
 General Washington was well aware that 
 New York would be the first object of attack 
 on the part of the British ; and despairing of 
 being able to encounter them in the open 
 field, he resolved to protract the approaching 
 campaign by carrying on a war of posts. 
 With this view, after fortifying Long Island, 
 he threw up various intrenchments on New 
 York Island, which is bounded on the west 
 by the Hudson, and on the south and east by 
 the East river, while to the north it is sepa- 
 rated from the main land by a narrow chan- 
 nel which unites these two streams. 
 
 He also constructed two forts, the one on 
 the Hudson, named Fort Washington, by 
 which he proposed to maintain his communi 
 cation with Jersey, while the other, called 
 Fort Lee, connected his defence with the 
 province of New York. While he was mak- 
 ing these preparations, he received from 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 129 
 
 Pennsylvania a seasonable reinforcement of 
 10,000 men, raised for the express purpose of 
 forming a flying camp ; but he was disap- 
 pointed in his expectation of the aid of a 
 large body of militia. Independently of the 
 flying camp, his forces, at this moment of 
 peril, amounted only to 17,225 men. 
 
 Before commencing hostilities, the Howes, 
 with a view of conciliation, or of detaching 
 the wavering among the colonists from the 
 cause of the Congress, issued a proclamation, 
 offering a pardon to such of his majesty's re- 
 bellious subjects as would lay down their 
 arms, and announcing their powers, on the 
 fulfilment of certain conditions, to receive 
 any colony, district, or place, into the king's 
 peace. 
 
 This proclamation produced no effect be- 
 yond the districts from time to time occupied 
 by the royal army. General Howe also endeav- 
 ored to open a correspondence with Wash- 
 ington, for the purpose of laying a ground 
 for the amicable adjustment of all differences 
 between the colonies and the mother country ; 
 but as the British commander did not recog- 
 nise the official character of Washington in 
 the address of his letter, it was returned un- 
 opened, and thus this attempt at negotiation 
 failed. 
 
 The letter of General Howe was directed 
 simply to George Washington, Esq. The let- 
 ter was returned, not, as General Washington 
 
130 AMERICAN REVOLUTiON. 
 
 informed Congress, upon a mere point of per- 
 sonal punctilio, but because, in a "public 
 point of view," it was due to his " country 
 and appointment" to insist upon respect to 
 the commander-in-chief of the American 
 forces. Congress applauded his course, and 
 directed, by resolution, that no letter nor com- 
 munication from the enemy sljould be received 
 by any officer whatever, unless directed to 
 him properly in his official capacity. 
 
 A second letter, brought by Adjutant-gene- 
 ral Patterson, addressed to George Washing- 
 ton, &c., &c., &c., was in like manner de- 
 clined. To the remark that these et ceteras im- 
 plied every thing, and were not liable to the 
 previous objection. General Washington re- 
 plied that they implied any thing, and he 
 should in consequence refuse to receive all 
 communications not explicitly acknowledging 
 his public capacity. Gen. Patterson con- 
 cluded a long conference, managed on both 
 sides with great dignity and courtesy, by re- 
 marking that the commissioners had "great 
 powers," and would be happy to effect an 
 accommodation. " Their powers," rejoined 
 Washington, " are only to grant pardons. 
 They who have committed no fault, want no 
 pardon." 
 
 Those who are accustomed to the rapid 
 proceedings of more modern warfare, cannot 
 give to General Howe the praise due to ac- 
 tivity. Though he arrived at Staten Island 
 
AMERICAN KEVOLUTION. 131 
 
 on the 10th of June, it was not till the 26th 
 of August that he commenced activ^e opera- 
 tions against the enemy by an attack on Long 
 Island, on the northwestern part of which a 
 respectable force of Americans, commanded 
 by General Sulliv^an, occupied an intrenched 
 camp. Their position was protected in front 
 by a range of hills stretching across the Is- 
 land, from the Narrows, a strait which sepa- 
 rates it from Staten Island, to the town of 
 Jamaica, situated on the southern coast. 
 
 Over the hills in question pass three defen- 
 sible roads, each of which was guarcled by 
 800 men. The pass by the Narrows was at- 
 tacked and carried by General Grant ; the 
 second, by Flatbush, was cleared by General 
 de Heister, in retreating before whom the 
 Americans were encountered by General 
 Clinton, who with the right wing of the 
 British army, had made a detour by Jamaica. 
 Thus the provincials were driven into their 
 lines with the loss of upwards of 1,000 men, 
 while the British loss did not amount to more 
 than 450. 
 
 During the engagement Washington had 
 sent strong reinforcements into Long Island, 
 and, at its close, he repaired thither in per- 
 son, with the greater part of his army. 
 This movement had nearly occasioned his 
 ruin. He soon found himself cooped up in a 
 corner, with a superior force in front prepared 
 to attack his works, which were untenable. 
 
132 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 In these circumstances his only safety lay 
 in retreat. It was a difficult operation to 
 convey a whole army across a ferry in the 
 presence of an enemy, whose working parties 
 could be heard by his sentries. But favored 
 by the darkness of the night, and by a fog 
 which arose in the morning, he transported 
 the whole of his force to New York, leaving 
 nothing behind him but some heavy cannon. 
 
 SECTION XIX. 
 
 EVACUATION OP NEW YORK, IST OF SEPTEMEER, 
 
 1776. 
 
 Among the prisoners taken by the British 
 on Long Island was General Sullivan, whom 
 General Howe sent on his parole with a mes- 
 sage to Congress, renewing his offers to nego- 
 tiate for an amicable accommodation. The 
 Congress sent a committee of three of their 
 body, — Dr. Franklin, John Adams, and Ed- 
 ward Rutledge, to confer with him on the 
 subject of his communication. These depu- 
 ties were received with great politeness by 
 General Howe ; but, after a full discussion 
 with the British commander, they reported to 
 Congress that his proposals were unsatisfac- 
 tory, and his powers insufficient. Their re- 
 port concluded in the following terms : — 
 
I'lUir Li:' 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 133 
 
 " It did not appeaT to your committee, that 
 his lordship's commission contained any other 
 authority than that expressed by the act of 
 parliament, — namely, that of granting par- 
 dons, with such exceptions as the commission- 
 ers shall think proper to make, and of declar- 
 ing America or any part of it to be in the 
 king's peace on submission ; for, as to the 
 power of inquiring into the state of America, 
 which his lordship mentioned to us, and of 
 conferring and consulting with any persons 
 the commissioners might think proper, and 
 representing the result of such conversation 
 to the ministry, who, provided the colonies 
 would subject themselves, might, after all, or 
 might not, at their pleasure, make any alter- 
 ations in the former instructions to governors, 
 or propose in parliament any amendment of 
 the acts complained of; we apprehend any 
 expectation from the effect of such power 
 would have been too uncertain and precarious 
 to be relied on by America, had she still con- 
 tinued in her state of dependence." This at- 
 tempt at negotiation having thus fruitlessly 
 terminated, nothing was left but to decide the 
 dispute by arms. 
 
 The Congress embraced this alternative in 
 circumstances which would have reduced 
 men of less resolute spirits to despair. Their 
 army was so dispirited by the events which 
 had taken place in Long Island, that the mi- 
 litia began to desert, and the constancy of 
 
 12 
 
134 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 some of the regulars was shaken. They 
 were apprized, too, that Washington foresaw 
 the necessity of making a series of retrograde 
 movements, which were calculated to cloud 
 the public mind with despondency. 
 
 The prognostics of the general were soon 
 verified. On the 15th of September, General 
 Howe effected a landing on New York Island, 
 and compelled him to evacuate the city of New 
 York, and to retire to the north end of the island. 
 Here Howe* unaccountably suffered him to 
 remain unmolested for nearly four weeks, at 
 the end of which time he manoeuvred to 
 compel him to give him battle on the island. 
 Dreading the being reduced to this perilous 
 necessity, the American commander withdrew 
 to the White Plains, taking, however, every 
 opportunity to front the enemy, and engaging 
 in partial actions, which in some degree kept 
 the British in check. 
 
 At length he crossed the Hudson, and oc- 
 cupied some strong ground on the Jersey shore 
 of that river, in the neighborhood of Fort 
 Lee. He had no sooner evacuated New 
 York Island than General Howe attacked and 
 took Fort Washington, in which he made 
 2,700 men prisoners, at the cost, however, of 
 1,200 men on his side killed and wounded. 
 Fort Lee was shortly after evacuated by its 
 garrison, and taken possession of by Lord 
 Cornwallis. Following up these successes, 
 General Howe pursued the flying Americans 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 135 
 
 to Newark, and from Newark to Brunswick, 
 and from Brunswick successively to Prince- 
 ton and Trenton, till at length he drove them to 
 the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware. It fre- 
 quently happened that as the rear of the Amer- 
 icans left a village on one side, the advance 
 guard of the British entered it at the other. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the distress which 
 tli(3 American army suffered during this re- 
 treat through the Jerseys. They were desti- 
 tute of blankets and shoes, and their clothing 
 was reduced to rags. They were coldly 
 looked upon by the inhabitants, who gave 
 up the cause of America for lost, and hasten- 
 ed to make their peace with the victors. Had 
 General Howe been able to maintain disci- 
 pline in his army, Jersey would have been 
 severed from the Union. But, fortunately for 
 interests of the Congress, his troops indulged 
 in all the excesses of military violence, and 
 irritated the inhabitants of the country to 
 such a degree, that their new-born loyalty 
 was speedily extinct, and all their thoughts 
 were bent upon revenge. 
 
 SECTION XX. 
 
 BATTLE OF TRENTON, 28tH DECEMBER, 1776. 
 
 On the approach of the British to the Dela- 
 ware, Congress adjourned its sittings from 
 
l36 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 Philadelphia to Baltimore, and it was ex- 
 pected that General Howe would speedily 
 make his triumphal entry into the Pennsyl- 
 vanian capital. But a bold manoeuvre of 
 Washington suddenly turned the tide of suc- 
 cess. On his arrival at the Delaware, his 
 troops were dwindled down to the number of 
 3,000 ; but having received some reinforce- 
 ments of Pennsylvania militia, he determined 
 to endeavor to retrieve his fortunes by a de- 
 cisive stroke. The British troops were can- 
 toned in Burlington, Bordentown, and Tren- 
 ton, waiting for the formation of the ice to 
 cross into Pennsylvania. 
 
 Understanding that in the confidence pro 
 duced by a series of successes, they were by 
 no means vigilant, he conceived the possibili- 
 ty of taking them by surprise. He accord- 
 ingly, on the evening of Christmas day, con- 
 veyed the main body of his army over the 
 Delaware, and falling upon the troops quar- 
 tered in Trenton, killed and captured about 
 960 of them, and re-crossed into Pennsylvania 
 with his prisoners. 
 
 On the 28th of December, he again took 
 possession of Trenton, where he was soon 
 encountered by a superior force of British, 
 who drove in his advanced parties, and en- 
 tered the town in the evening, with the in- 
 tention of giving him battle the next morning. 
 The two armies were separated only by a 
 narrow creek, which runs through the town. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 137 
 
 In such a position it should seem to be im- 
 possible that any movement on the one side 
 or on the other could pass unobserved. The 
 situation of Washington w^as now exceedingly 
 critical ; with a superior army in front, he 
 knew defeat to be certain in a pitched battle ; 
 and to retreat over the Delaware encumbered 
 by floating ice, diflicult and dangerous. To 
 fight was to lose all the benefits of the late 
 victories upon the spirits, as well as upon the 
 fortunes, of the Americans ; and a retreat, 
 besides the peril, was little less disheartening. 
 With his usual sagacity and boldness, he 
 struck out another extraordinary scheme, 
 which was accomplished with consummate 
 skill, and followed by the happiest results. 
 
 In the darkness of the night, Washington, 
 leaving his fires lighted, and a few guards to 
 attract the attention of the enemy, quitted his 
 encampment, and, crossing a bridge over the 
 creek, which had been left unguarded, direct- 
 ed his march to Princeton, where, after a short 
 but brisk engagement, he killed 60 of the Brit- 
 ish, and took 300 prisoners. The rest of the 
 royal forces were dispersed, and fled in difler- 
 ent directions. Great was the surprise of 
 Lord Cornwallis, who commanded the British 
 army at Trenton, when the report of the ar- 
 tillery at Princeton, which he at first mistook 
 for thunder, and the arrival of breathless 
 messengers, apprized him that the enemy 
 was in his rear, 
 
 12* 
 
138 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 Alarmed by the clanger of his position, he 
 commenced a retreat ; and, being harassed 
 by the militia and the countrj'men who had 
 suffered from the outrages perpetrated by his 
 troops on their advance, he did not deem him- 
 self in safety till he arrived at Brunswick, 
 from whence, by means of the Raritan, he had 
 a communication with New York. 
 
 This splendid success inspired the Ameri- 
 cans with renewed spirits. Recruits were 
 readily raised for their arniy, which took up 
 its winter-quarters at Morristown, about 80 
 miles to the northward of Brunswick ; here 
 both the officers and soldiers were inoculated 
 for the small-pox. During this interval of 
 comparative leisure, Washington urgently re- 
 newed the representations which he had be- 
 fore frequently made to the Congress, of the 
 necessity of abandoning the system of enlist- 
 ing men for limited terms of service. The 
 dread justly entertained by that body of a 
 standing army had hitherto induced them to 
 listen coldly to his remonstrances on this point. 
 But the experience of the last campaign 
 corrected their views, and they resolved 
 to use their utmost exertion to raise an army 
 pledged to serve till the conclusion of the 
 war. 
 
 The free spirit of the Americans, however, 
 could not brook enlistment for a time so un- 
 defined, and the Congress therefore issued 
 proposals for a levy of soldiers to be engaged 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 139 
 
 for three years, at the same time offering a 
 bounty of 100 acres of land to those who 
 would accept their first proposals. Though 
 these measures in the end proved effectual, 
 their accomplishment was slow, and in the 
 spring of 1777, Washington's whole force did 
 not amount to more than 1,500 men; but 
 with these inconsiderable numbers he so dis- 
 posed his posts, that with the occasional as- 
 sistance of the New Jersey militia and volun- 
 teers, he for some weeks kept the British in 
 check at Brunswick. 
 
 At this period, the difficulties under which 
 he had so long labored from the want of arms 
 and military stores, were alleviated by the 
 arrival of upwards of 20,000 muskets, and 
 1,000 barrels of powder, which had been pro- 
 cured in France and Holland by the agency 
 of the celebrated dramatist, Carron de Beau- 
 marchais. 
 
 Late in the spring of 1777, however, the 
 utmost exertions of Congress in forwarding 
 the recruiting service could put no more than 
 7,272 effective men at the disposal of General 
 Washington. With this small force it was 
 manifestly his policy to gain time, and by 
 occup3dng advantageous ground, to avoid be- 
 ing forced to a .general engagement. With 
 a view, however, of inspiriting his country- 
 men, he took the field before the enemy had 
 quitted their winter-quarters, and towards the 
 end of May lie made a movement from Mor- 
 
140 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 ristown to Middlebrook, where he encamped 
 in a strong position. 
 
 General Howe no sooner heard that the 
 Americans were in motion, than he advanced 
 from Brunswick to Somerset courthouse, ap- 
 parently with an intention of pushing for the 
 Delaware ; but the country rising in arms 
 on every side of him, he was deterred from 
 prosecuting this design, and hastily measured 
 back his steps to his former position. On 
 their retreat, his troops committed great rav- 
 ages, and particularly incensed the inhabit- 
 ants by burning some of their places of wor- 
 ship. 
 
 After frequently tr^ang in vain to entice 
 Washington from his strong position, General 
 Howe at length retired to Amboy. There 
 learning that his adversary had descended to 
 Quibbletown, he hastened back to attack him ; 
 but had the mortification on his arrival at the 
 spot lately occupied by the Americans, to 
 learn that his vigilant foe had withdrawn 
 into his fastnesses. Despairing of being able 
 to penetrate into Pennsylvania by the way of 
 the Jerseys, he passed over into Staten Island, 
 from which point he resolved to prosecute 
 the future views of his campaign by the as- 
 sistance of his fleet. 
 
 What those views might be, it was difficult 
 for Washington to ascertain. The whole 
 coast of the United States was open to the 
 British commander-in-chief. He might at his 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 141 
 
 pleasure sail to the north or to the south. 
 General Washington was inclined to believe, 
 that his intention was to move up Hudson 
 river to co-operate with General Burgoyne,; 
 who was advancing with a large army on 
 the Canadian frontier; and, impressed wit}:> 
 this idea, he moved a part of his army td 
 Peekskill, while he posted another portion (d 
 Trenton, to be ready, if required, to march !• 
 the relief of Philadelphia. I 
 
 While he was in this state of uncertaint};. 
 he received intelligence that Howe had em 
 barked with 16,000 ^len, and had steered t- 
 the southward. Still apprehending that thi^ 
 might be a feint, he cast an anxious eye t(^ 
 the northward, till he was further informed 
 that the British General, after looking into 
 the Delaware, had proceeded to the Chesa- 
 peake. 
 
 The plans of the invaders were then clearly 
 developed. It was evident that they intended 
 to march through the northern part of the 
 state of Delaware, and take possession of 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 To meet the emergency, the Pennsylvanian 
 militia were called out to rendezvous at 
 Chester, and those of New Jersey were sum- 
 moned at Gloucester. 
 
 Much time was lost to the British by their 
 voyage, in consequence of unfavorable winds. 
 Though they set sail on the 23d of July, they 
 did not arrive at Elk-ferry, the place fixed 
 
142 AMERICAN DEVOLUTION. 
 
 upon for their landing, till the 25th of August. 
 
 General Howe had no sooner disembarked his 
 Toops, than he advanced through the country 
 oy forced marches, to within two miles of the 
 
 American army, which, having proceeded 
 
 japidly from Jersey to the present scene of 
 
 Lction, was stationed at Newport. 
 
 or 
 
 b ""^ 
 
 t SECTION XXI. 
 
 CAPTURE OF PHILADELPHIA, 26tH OF SEPTEMBER, 
 
 a j^^^ 
 
 Si 
 
 On the approach of the enemy. General 
 Washington resolved to dispute their passage 
 over the Brandywine creek. In taking this 
 step he appears to have acted contrary to his 
 better judgment. By throwing himself upon 
 the high ground to his right, he might have 
 brought on a war of posts, much better adapt- 
 ed to the capacities of his undisciplined forces, 
 than a battle fought on equal terms. But he 
 dreaded the impression which would be made 
 upon the public feeling, should he leave the 
 road to Philadelphia open, and yielded to the 
 general voice, which called upon him to fight 
 for the preservation of the seat of the Amer- 
 ican government. The action was fought at 
 Chadd's ford, on the Brandywine, on the 11th 
 of September. 
 
 The battle of the Brandywine was hence 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 143 
 
 hazarded by Washington, more in compliance . 
 with the public call for decisive action, and 
 the impatience of delay, than in accordance 
 with his own judgment. His army was infe- 
 rior in numbers and discipline, and he might 
 easily have assumed a position among the 
 hills, too strong to be forced, which would 
 hav^e retarded the royal troops, and forced 
 them to waste the season to little purpose. 
 But delay had dissatisfied both Congress and 
 the public expectation, and it was determined 
 to try the fortune of battle. 
 
 On this occasion Howe showed his gene- 
 ralship by the skilfulness of his combinations. 
 While a part of his army, under the command of 
 General Knyphausen, made a false attack at the 
 ford, a strong column, headed by Lord Corn wal- 
 lis, crossing the Brandywine at its fork, turned 
 the left of the Americans, and Knyphausen 
 forcing a passage at that moment of alarm 
 and confusion, the Americans gave way, and 
 retired to Chester, their retreat being covered 
 by Wooster's brigade, which preserved its 
 ranks unbroken. Their loss in killed and 
 wounded amounted to 1,200. 
 
 Among the latter was the Marquis de La- 
 fayette, who, inspired with zeal for the cause 
 of freedom, had, at the age of nineteen, quit- 
 ted his country at considerable hazard, and 
 entered into the American army, in which he 
 at once obtained the rank of major-general. 
 
 On this occasion, too, Count Pulaski, a noble 
 
144 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 Pole, who had distinguished himself at home, 
 led on the light horse with undaunted courage 
 and gallantry. As a reward for it, Congress 
 testified their sense of his merit, by promo- 
 ting him to the rank of brigadier, and giving 
 him the command of the cavalry. 
 
 By the event of the battle of the Brandy- 
 wine the country was in a great degree open 
 to the British. Washington in vain made one 
 or two attempts to impede their progress, and 
 on the 26th of September, General Howe 
 made his triumphant entry into Philadelphia. 
 On his approach the Congress, who had re- 
 turned thither from Baltimore, once more took 
 flight, and withdrew first to Lancaster and 
 afterwards to Yorktown. 
 
 General Howe, on marching to the Penn- 
 sylvanian capital, had left a considerable 
 number of troops at Germantow^n, a few 
 miles from that place. As these were unsup- 
 ported by the main body of his army. Gene- 
 ral Washington determined upon an attempt 
 to cut them oft". His. plan was well laid, and 
 the forces which he despatched on this expe- 
 dition took the enemy by surprise, and at first 
 drove all before them. But a check having 
 been given them by a small party of the 
 British who had thrown themselves into a 
 stone house, they were soon opposed by the 
 fugitives who had rallied in force, and obliged 
 to retreat with loss. 
 
 The American loss on this occasion was 
 
AMERECAN REVOLUTION. 145 
 
 about 200 killed, 600 wounded, and several 
 hundred prisoners. Among the killed was 
 General Nash, of North Carolina. Of the 
 British, the killed were about 100 in number 
 and the wounded 400. 
 
 General Howe immediately broke up his 
 encampment at Germantown, and removed 
 his whole force into the city. However, he- 
 found the result very different from what he 
 imagined. Provisions soon grew scarce : 
 and Washington, to cut off his supplies, pro- 
 claimed martial law, under the authority of 
 Congress, against all citizens who should at- 
 tempt to furnish the enemy with them. Thus 
 situated, General Howe found, as Franklin 
 sarcastically remarked, that, " instead of tak- 
 ing Philadelphia, Philadelphia had taken 
 him." 
 
 When General Howe quitted New York 
 for the purpose of gaining possession of Phil- 
 adelphia, he was deterred from making his 
 approaches by the Delaware, by the prepara- 
 tions made by the Americans to obstruct the 
 navigation of that river. The principal of 
 these consisted of a fort erected on Mud Is- 
 land, which is situated in the middle of the 
 river, about seven miles below the city. On 
 a height on the Jersey side of the river, called 
 Red Bank, they had erected a strong battery. 
 The channels on both sides of Mud Island 
 were closed by strong and heavy chevaux dc 
 frise, through which was left a single passage 
 / 13 
 
146 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 closed by a boom. As it was absolutely ne- 
 cessary to make himself master of these 
 works, ill order to open a communication 
 with his fleet, General Howe gave orders 
 that they should be forced. 
 
 In his first attack he was unsuccessful. In 
 storming the battery of Red Bank, Count 
 Donop was mortally wounded, and his troops 
 were repulsed with considerable loss. But 
 the bulk of the chevaux de frise having, by 
 diverting the current of the river, deepened 
 the channel on the Pennsylvania side of Mud 
 Island, a ship of war mounted with twenty- 
 four pounders was warped through it into a 
 position where she could enfilade the fort, 
 w^hich, being no longer tenable, the garrison 
 retired from it to Red Bank. By these oper- 
 ations General Howe obtained full command 
 of the Delaware, and by its means, every facil- 
 ity for the conveyance of supplies to his army. 
 
 Mr. Hancock having, on the 29th of Octo- 
 ber of this year, resigned the presidency of 
 Congress, on the 1st of November ensuing, 
 Mr. Henry Laurens was appointed to succeed 
 him. 
 
 SECTION XXII. 
 burgoyne's expedition. 
 
 When the news of General Howe's success 
 arrived in England, the great majority of the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 147 
 
 nation were transported with joy. In the de- 
 feat of Washington, the capture of Philadel- 
 phia, and the expulsion of Congress, the 
 members of which were represented as miser- 
 able fugitives, seeking in trembling anxiety 
 for a temporary shelter from the vengeance 
 of the law, they fondly saw an earnest of the 
 termination of the war by the submission of 
 the rebels. But their exultation was speedily 
 damped by the annunciation of the capture 
 by these very rebels of a whole British army. 
 
 A cursory inspection of the map of the 
 United States will suffice to show, that for 
 the purpose of their subjugation, it was. at 
 this period of high importance to the British 
 to form a communication with Canada by 
 means of Hudson river. This would have 
 intersected the insurgent provinces, and by 
 cutting off their intercourse with each other, 
 and by hemming in the eastern states, which 
 the British ministry regarded as the soul of the 
 rebellious confederacy, would have exposed 
 them to be overrun and conquered in detail. 
 
 General Burgoyne, who had served in Can- 
 ada in the campaign of 1776, under General 
 Carleton, arrived at Quebec in the beginning 
 of the month of May, 1777, and was followed 
 by a large regular force from England, de- 
 signed to make a descent upon the United 
 States through Lake Champlain, and effect 
 a junction with Sir William at New York. 
 This plan had always found favor with the 
 
148 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 ministry, and had been earnestly pressed upon 
 them by Burgoyne on his return from Ameri- 
 ca. It was hence determined to provide a 
 powerful army, well appointed in every re- 
 spect, to make success certain. 
 
 General Howe, therefore, was directed by 
 the ministry to operate with a part of his 
 army northwards from New York, while 
 General Burgoyne was instructed to enter 
 the state of New York by its northwestern 
 frontier, and to make his way good to Albany, 
 where it was intended that he should form a 
 junction with the forces which Howe should 
 send to co-operate with him. The expediency 
 of this plan was so obvious that it did not es- 
 cape the foresight of the Americans, who, in 
 order to obviate it, had strongly fortified Ti- 
 conderoga, and the adjacent height of Mount 
 Independence. They had also taken meas- 
 ures to obstruct the passage from Lake Cham- 
 plain, and had moreover strengthened the 
 defences of the Mohawk river. For garri- 
 soning these posts, and for conducting the 
 requisite operations in the field, they gave 
 orders to raise an army of 13,600 men. 
 
 The British army destined to act under 
 Burgoyne consisted of 7,000 regulars, fur- 
 nished with every requisite for war, espe- 
 cially with a fine train of artillery. These 
 were supported by a number of Canadians, 
 and a considerable body of Indians. It was 
 arranged, in the plan of the campaign, that 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 149 
 
 while Burgoyne, at the head of theSe forces 
 should pour into the state of New York, from 
 Lake Champlain, a detachment under the 
 command of Colonel St. Leger should march 
 towards Lake Ontario, and penetrate in the 
 direction of Albany, by the Mohawk river, 
 which falls into the Hudson a little above 
 that town. 
 
 General Burgoyne having arrived at Que- 
 bec, and immediately putting himself at the 
 head of his army, he proceeded up Lake 
 Champlain to Crown Point. Here he was 
 joined by the Indians, to whom he made a 
 speech, in which he inculcated upon them the 
 virtue of mildness, and strictly forbade them 
 to destroy any persons except in battle. An 
 ancient Iroquois chieftain, in the name of his 
 comrades, promised strict compliance with 
 the general's injunctions. 
 
 Having, however, fully secured the co-oper- 
 ation of the Indians, he endeavored to improve 
 the advantage their alliance gave him, in in- 
 timidating the Americans. On the 29th of 
 June, he issued a proclamation, with the de- 
 sign of spreading terror among them, magni- 
 fying the force of the armies and fleets pre- 
 pared to crush the revolted colonies, and 
 insisting upon the numbers and ferocity of 
 their Indian allies. Promises of favor and 
 support were held out to such as should aid 
 in est iblishing the government of the king, 
 and all the horrors of devastation threatened 
 
 13* 
 
150 AMERICAN REVOLUTION 
 
 against those who should persist in rebellion. 
 Thousands of Indians, he admonished them, 
 were ready, at his bidding, to be let loose 
 against " the hardened enemies of Great Bri- 
 tain and America." 
 
 This proclamation justly provoked some 
 animadversion in England, and was strongly 
 censured by both houses of parliament. In 
 the United States it kindled a general indig- 
 nation at the atrocity of its sentiments, min- 
 gled with derision at its pompous denuncia- 
 tions. The temper of the people was too 
 stern for such intimidations, and his grandilo- 
 quent threats of Indian massacres, served to 
 inflame resentment, and stimulate resistance. 
 
 From Crown Point the royal army directed 
 its march to Ticonderoga. Here Genera} 
 Burgoyne expected to encounter a powerful 
 opposition, as he well knew that the Ameri- 
 cans had flattered themselves that by the for- 
 tifications which they had erected on it, they 
 had rendered it almost impregnable. But the 
 forces which had been destined to its defence 
 had not arrived. General St. Glair had not 
 men enough to man his lines. He saw his 
 position nearly surrounded by the enemy, who 
 were erecting a battery on a hill which com- 
 manded his intrenchments. 
 
 In these circumstances, a council of war 
 unanimously reconamended to their command- 
 er the evacuation of Ticonderoga, which he 
 effected with such good order and secre- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 151 
 
 cy, that he was enabled to bring off a great 
 part of the public stores. He left behind him, 
 however, ninety-three pieces of ordnance, 
 which fell into the hands of the British. The 
 retreating Americans took the road to Skeens- 
 borough, which is situated at the southern 
 extremity of Lake George. 
 
 In their flight they were briskly pursued 
 by General Fraser by land, while Burgoyne 
 attacked and destroyed their flotilla on Lake 
 George ; and so closely were they pressed by 
 this combined movement, that they were com- 
 pelled to set fire to their stores and boats at 
 Skeensborough, and take refuge in Fort Anne, 
 a few miles to the southward of that place. 
 Here, however, they did not long find shelter. 
 Their rear-guard was attacked and routed by 
 Colonel Fraser, at Hubbardton ; and Lieu- 
 tenant-colonel Hill having been sent forward 
 from_ Skeensborough, by General Burgoyne, 
 with the 9th regiment of foot, to make an 
 assault on Fort Anne, the provincials, after a 
 short but brisk engagement, withdrew to 
 Fort Edward, which is situated on the Hud- 
 son river. Here their scattered forces being 
 collected, were found to amount to no more 
 than 4,400 men, who being unable to cope 
 with their victorious pursuers, soon found 
 themselves under the necessity of making 
 another retrograde movement in the direction 
 of Albany. 
 
 This long series of successes filled the 
 
152 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 minds of the British with exultation. They 
 had beaten the enemy in every encomiter ; 
 had forced them from their fastnesses, and 
 entertained sanguine hopes of driving them 
 before them till the co-operating force which 
 they presumed General Howe was sending 
 up the Hudson should intercept their retreat, 
 and put them between two fires. Burgoyne 
 issued proclamations in the style of a con- 
 queror, summoning the inhabitants of the dis- 
 trict in which he was operating to aid his 
 pursuit of the fugitive rebels. The assistance 
 which he called for was very necessary, not 
 for pursuit, but defence — his difficulties were 
 now commencing. 
 
 Instead of falling back from Skeensborough, 
 to Ticonderoga, and advancing from the lat- 
 ter place by Lake George, (a movement 
 which he declined, as having the appearance 
 of a retreat,) he determined to march across 
 the country from Skeensborough to Fort Ed- 
 ward ; but the road wa^ so broken up — it 
 was so intersected with creeks and rivulets, 
 the bridges over which had been broken 
 down, and so much embarrassed with trees 
 cut down on each side, and thrown across it 
 with entangled branches, that it was with 
 immense labor he could advance a mile a 
 day. When he had at length penetrated to 
 Fort Edward, which he reached on the 30th 
 of July, he found it abandoned by the enemy, 
 who by their retreat left free his communica- 
 
Fn^c^ 153 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 153 
 
 tion with Lake George, from which he ob- 
 tained supplies of stores and provisions con- 
 veyed by land from Fort George to Hudson 
 river, and thence floated down to his camp. 
 
 SECTION XXIII. 
 
 FAILURE OF BURGOYNe's EXPEDITION. 
 
 This delay gave the Americans time to 
 recover from the consternation into which 
 they had been thrown by the loss of Ticon- 
 deroga, and the subsequent misfortunes of 
 their army. Determined to make amends for 
 their previous dilatoriness by instant activity, 
 they flew to arms. The plundering of Jersey 
 had taught them that peaceable conduct and 
 submission afforded no protection against 
 British rapine ; and they were persuaded, 
 that whatever might be the wishes of General 
 Burgoyne, he had not power to restrain his 
 Indian auxiliaries from practising their ac- 
 customed savage mode of warfare. Looking 
 for safety, then, only to their swords, and 
 judging from their knowledge of the country, 
 that the further the British commander ad- 
 vanced, the greater would be his difficulties, 
 they hastened their reinforcements from every 
 town and hamlet in the vicinity of the seat 
 
154 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 
 
 of war, and soon increased the army of St. 
 Clair to the number of 13,000 men. 
 
 While General Burgoyne was making his 
 way to the Hudson, Lieutenant-colonel St. 
 Leger had arrived at the Mohawk river, and 
 was laying siege to Fort Schuyler. Receiv- 
 ing intelligence that General Herkimer was 
 hastening at the head of a body of troops to 
 the relief of the place, he sent a detachment 
 with instructions to lie in ambush on his line 
 of march, and to cut him off. These instruc- 
 tions were so well obeyed, that Herkimer fell 
 into the snare, his troops were dispersed, and 
 he himself was killed. St. Leger now enter- 
 tained sanguine hopes of speedily taking the 
 fort ; but the Indians who composed a con- 
 siderable part of his little army, taking alarm 
 at the news of the approach of General Ar- 
 nold, at the head of a detachment, whose 
 numbers were purposely exaggerated by an 
 American emissary in their camp, insisted on 
 an immediate retreat. This mutiny com- 
 pelled St. Leger to raise the siege, and to re- 
 tire to Canada, leaving behind him a great 
 part of his artillery and stores. 
 
 When General Burgoyne was informed of 
 the arrival of St. Leger before Fort Schuyler, 
 he thought it very expedient to make a for- 
 ward movement towards Albany, for the pur- 
 pose of co-operating with that officer, and 
 also with the British troops who were, as he 
 expected, advancing up the Hudson. The 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 155 
 
 principal objection to this step was, that it 
 would necessarily remove him to a perilous 
 distance from his supplies, which were col- 
 lected at Fort Edward. With a view, there- 
 fore, of procuring a plentiful stock of provi- 
 sions from a nearer point, he despatched 
 Lieutenant-colonel Baum with 600 men, of 
 whom 100 were Indians, with instructions to 
 seize and convey to his camp a considerable 
 magazine of flour and other supplies which 
 the Americans had established at Benning- 
 ton, in the district of Vermont. 
 
 Baum, being erroneously informed that the 
 inhabitants of that part of the country were 
 favorably disposed towards the British, march- 
 ed forwards without due precaution, till, on 
 approaching Bennington, he found the enemy 
 assembled in force in his front. In this exi- 
 gency he took possession of an advantageous 
 post, where he intrenched himself, and sent to 
 Burgoyne for succor. Colonel Breyman was 
 detached to reinforce him ; but before the ar- 
 rival of that officer, the fate of his country- 
 man was decided. Baum had been attacked 
 by the American General Stark, had lost his 
 field-pieces, and had witnessed the death or 
 capture of most of his detachment. On his 
 arrival at the scene of slaughter, Breyman 
 was also vigorously assailed, and compelled 
 to retreat with the loss of his artillery. The 
 royalists lost in these two battles about 700 
 
156 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 men, the greater part prisoners. The Amer- 
 ican loss was about 70. 
 
 The failure of this expedition was most 
 disastrous to the British commander-in-chief, 
 who, being disappointed of receiving the ex- 
 pected supplies from Vermont, was obliged 
 to await the arrival of provisions from Fort 
 George, by which he was delayed from the 
 15th of August to the 13th of September. 
 This interval of time was well improved by 
 the Americans, who, flushed with their suc- 
 cess against Baum and Breyman, pressed on 
 the British with increased numbers and in- 
 creased confidence. They were also cheered 
 to vigorous exertion by the arrival at this 
 critical moment of General Gates, who was 
 commissioned by Congress to take the com- 
 mand of the northern army. 
 
 After most anxious deliberation, Gene- 
 ral Burgoyne, having by extraordinary ex- 
 ertions collected provisions for thirty days, 
 crossed the Hudson river on the 13th of Sep- 
 tember, and advanced to within two miles of 
 General Gates's camp, which was situated 
 about three miles to the northward of Still- 
 water. Gates boldly advanced to meet him, 
 and a hard-fought battle ensued, which, though 
 not decisive, was very detrimental to the 
 British, as it shook the fidelity of their Indian 
 allies and of the Canadians, who now began 
 to desert in great numbers. 
 
 The desertion of the Indians was accele- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 157 
 
 rated by the following tragical incident. Miss 
 M'Rea, an American lady, who resided in the 
 vicinity of the British encampment, being en- 
 gaged to marry Captain Jones, an officer of 
 Burgoyne's army, her lover, being anxious for 
 her safety, as he understood that her attach- 
 ment to himself and the loyalty of her father 
 had rendered her an object of persecution to 
 her countrymen, engaged some Indians to es- 
 cort her within the British lines, promising to 
 reward the person who should bring her safe 
 to him, with a barrel of rum. Two of these 
 emissaries having found the destined bride, 
 and communicated to her their commission, 
 she, without hesitation, consented to accom- 
 pany them to the place of meeting appointed 
 by Captain Jones. But her guides unhappily 
 quarrelling on the way, as to which of them 
 should present her to Mr. Jones and receive 
 the promised recompense, one of them, to 
 terminate the dispute, cleft her skull with his 
 tomahawk, and laid her dead at his feet. 
 
 This transaction struck the whole British 
 army with horror. General Burgoyne, on 
 hearing of it, indignantly demanded that the 
 murderer should be given up to condign pun- 
 ishment. Prudential considerations, however, 
 prevented his being put to death, as he well 
 deserved. Burgoyne was of opinion, that his 
 pardon upon terms w^ould be more efficacious 
 in preventing further barbarities than his ex- 
 ecution : he, therefore, spared his life, upon 
 
 14 
 
158 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 condition that his countrymen would, from 
 that time forth, abstain from perpetrating any 
 cruelties on the unarmed inhabitants, or on 
 those whom they had vanquished in battle. 
 
 As the Earl of Harrington at a subsequent 
 period stated in his examination before the 
 House of Commons, he told their interpreter 
 " that he would lose every Indian rather than 
 connive at their enormities." The savages 
 at first seemed willing to comply with his re- 
 newed injunctions ; but resentment rankled in 
 their breasts at his interference with their 
 habits of warfare, the respect with which 
 they had once looked up to him was impaired 
 by their knowledge of the difficulties of his 
 situation, and they soon began to quit the 
 camp, loaded with their accumulated plun- 
 der. 
 
 Thus checked in his progress, and deserted 
 by his allies, Burgoyne sent urgent letters to 
 Sir Henry Clinton, who commanded at New 
 York, entreating him to hasten forwards the 
 co-operative forces on which he relied for 
 safety and success, and apprizing him that 
 want of provisions would preclude him from 
 remaining in his present position beyond 
 the 12th of October. This renewed delay 
 dispirited his own troops, and swelled the 
 numbers of the hostile army, which received 
 recruits from every quarter. 
 
 On the 7th of October, Burgoyne in person, 
 accompanied by Generals Phillips, Reidesel, 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 159 
 
 and Fraser, issued from his camp at the head 
 of 1,500 men, for the purpose of making a 
 reconnoissance and of foraging. This move- 
 ment brought on a general engagement, at 
 the close of which the British were driven 
 within their lines, and a part of tViem was 
 forced This circumstance compelled bur- 
 govne to change his position, which manceuyre 
 he performed in a masterly manner, and with- 
 out sustaining any loss. It was, indeed, trom 
 this time, the policy of the American general 
 to avoid a pitched battle, and to reduce his 
 enemy by harassing him and cutting ott his 
 retreat, and depriving him of supplies. 
 
 The situation of General Burgoyne was 
 most distressing. By extraordinary efforts he 
 had forced his way to within a few miles ot 
 Albany, the point of his destination, and had 
 he been seconded by correspondent exertions 
 on the part of the British southern army, he 
 would have effected the object of his cam- 
 paio-n. Sir Henry Clinton seems to have had 
 no precise or early instructions as to co-ope- 
 rating with him. Certain it is, that it was 
 not till the 3d of October that he moved up 
 the Hudson to his assistance. Sir Henry 
 easily surmounted every obstacle which pre- 
 sented itself on his route. He took tort 
 Montgomery by assault, and by removing a 
 boom and chain which was stretched Jrona 
 that fortress across the Hudson, he opened 
 the navigation of that river to his flotilla, 
 
160 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 which, with a fair wind, might have speedily 
 made its passage to Half Moon, within six- 
 teen miles of Gates's encampment. 
 
 But instead of hastening to the relief of 
 their countrymen, the several divisions of 
 Clinton's army employed themselves in plun- 
 dering and burning the towns and villages 
 situated on the banks of the river, and in the 
 adjacent country. Among those who dis- 
 tinguished themselves in this predatory war- 
 fare, General Vaughan rendered himself pre- 
 eminently conspicuous. Having been ordered 
 to advance up the river, by Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton, he landed at the town of ^sopus, or 
 Kingston, a fine and flourishing village on the 
 western bank of the Hudson, and finding it 
 evacuated by the American forces, to whom its 
 defence had been intrusted, though he did not 
 encounter the slightest opposition on the part 
 of the inhabitants, he permitted his troops to 
 plunder it, and afterwards so completely re- 
 duced it to ashes, that he did not leave a 
 single house standing. 
 
 This outrage excited a cry of indignation 
 throughout the United States, and drew from 
 General Gates a letter of severe remonstrance. 
 But the British had much more reason to in- 
 culpate Vaughan than the Americans. His 
 delay at ^sopus sealed the ruin of the royal 
 cause. Vaughan was at yEsopus on the 13th 
 of October. The tide of flood would have 
 borne him, in four hours, to Albany, where he 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 161 
 
 miglit have destroyed Gates's stores, and thus 
 have reduced the American general to the 
 necessity of liberating General Burgoyne, 
 who did not surrender till the 16th, and of 
 retreating into New England. Upon such 
 narrow turns of contingencies does the issue 
 of the combinations of warfare frequently 
 depend. 
 
 SECTION XXIV. 
 
 CONVENTION OF SARATOGA, 13tH OF OCTOBER, 
 
 1777. 
 
 In the mean time, the difficulties in which 
 Burgoyne was involved were hourly accumu- 
 lating. With a view of cutting off his re- 
 treat, Gates posted 1,400 men opposite the 
 fords of Saratoga, and 2,000 more on the 
 road from that place to Fort Edward. On 
 receiving intelligence of this, Burgoyne re- 
 treated to Saratoga, leaving his sick and 
 wounded to the humanity of the enemy. 
 Finding it impossible to force his way over 
 the fords of Saratoga, he attempted to open 
 to his army a passage to Lake George ; but 
 the artificers, whom he sent under a strong 
 escort to repair the bridges on the road thither, 
 were driven away by the American forces. 
 The road to Fort Edward, also, w^as found by 
 
 14* 
 
162 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 the scouts who had been sent to reconnoitre 
 in that direction, to be strongly guarded. 
 When the 13th of October arrived, Burgoyne 
 had received no satisfactory tidings from 
 Clinton's army. He saw himself in a man- 
 ner surrounded by the enemy, whose cannon- 
 shot flew in every direction through his camp. 
 Though he had for some time past put his 
 troops on short allowance, he found on in- 
 spection that he had only three days' rations 
 left in his stores. In these trying circum- 
 stances, with a heavy heart he summoned a 
 council of 'war, which came to a unanimous 
 resolution, that in their present position they 
 would be justified in accepting a capitulation 
 on honorable terms. 
 
 A negotiation was accordingly opened. 
 After discussion, a convention was at length 
 agreed upon, the principal conditions of which 
 were, " that the British troops were to march 
 out of their camp with the honors of war 
 and the artillery of the intrenchments to the 
 verge of the river, where the arms and the 
 artillery were to be left ; the arms to be piled 
 by word of command from their own officers ; 
 and that a free passage was to be granted to 
 the army to Great Britain, upon condition of 
 not serving again in North America during 
 the present contest.'' 
 
 These terms were honorable to the mod 
 eration and magnanimity of the American 
 general, especially as at the time he was in 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 163 
 
 possession of tidings of the atrocious conduct 
 of the British on the Hudson. 
 
 Though the first proposals of General Gates 
 were harsh, his subsequent conduct was 
 marked with the characteristics of concilia- 
 tion and delicacy. When the convention was 
 signed, he withdrew his troops into their lines, 
 to spare the British the pain of piling their 
 arms in the presence of a triumphant enemy. 
 He received the vanquished general with the 
 respect due to his valor and to his military 
 skill ; and in an entertainment which he gave 
 at his quarters to the principal British officers, 
 his urbanity and kindness soothed the morti- 
 fication which could not but embitter their 
 spirits. 
 
 By the convention of Saratoga, 5,790 men 
 surrendered as prisoners ; and besides the 
 muskets piled by these captives, thirty-five 
 brass field-pieces, and a variety of stores were 
 given up to the victors. The American army, 
 at this time, to which Burgoyne surrendered, 
 amounted to about fifteen thousand men, of 
 whom ten thousand were regulars. 
 
 The tidings of the capture of Burgoyne's 
 army circulated rapidly, and was received 
 with unbounded exultation. As a presage of 
 future victories, it was invaluable to the mili- 
 tary spirit of the people, and was hailed with 
 transports of joy as a certain pledge of the 
 speedy establishment of independence. It 
 was also justly esteemed as giving such an 
 
164 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 assurance of success, as would not fail to se- 
 cure foreign alliances and European acknow- 
 ledgments of the United States as an inde- 
 pendent power. 
 
 SECTION XXV. 
 
 TREATY WITH FRANCE, 6tH OF FEBRUARY, 1778. 
 
 Immediately after the surrender of Bur- 
 goyne, Gates moved down the Hudson to put 
 a stop to the devastation of the country by 
 Clinton's army, which, on his approach, re- 
 tired to New York. He then sent forward a 
 considerable reinforcement to General Wash- 
 ington, who soon after its arrival advanced 
 to White Marsh, within fourteen miles of 
 Philadelphia, where he encamped in a strong 
 position. When General Howe received in- 
 telligence of this movement, he marched out 
 of his quarters on the night of the 4th of De- 
 cember ; but after various manoeuvres, find- 
 ing that he could gain no advantage over his 
 vigilant adversary, he returned to Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 Washington then took up his winter-quar- 
 ters about sixteen miles from the city, at a 
 place called Valley Forge, where his men, 
 ill-supplied as they were with clothing, blank- 
 ets, and other comforts, cheerfully constructed 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 165 
 
 huts to shelter themselves from the inclemen- 
 cy of the season. By taking up this position 
 he protected the province of Pennsylvania 
 from the incursions of the enemy, and reduced 
 the fruits of Hov^e's various successes to the 
 occupation of a single additional city — an 
 advantage by no means calculated to console 
 the British for the loss of an able general 
 and a gallant army. 
 
 General Burgoyne had drunk deep of the 
 bitter cup of affliction at Saratoga ; but he 
 was doomed to suffer still further mortifica- 
 tion. As the British regarded the Americans 
 as rebels, they did not always in the course 
 of hostilities observe towards them those rules 
 which guide the conduct of nations engaged 
 in war against a foreign enemy. The truth 
 of history, indeed, cannot suppress the melan- 
 choly fact, that at the beginning of the con- 
 test, and, occasionally, during its progress, 
 the treatment of the American prisoners, on 
 the part of the British authorities, was ex- 
 tremely harsh and severe ; and that capitula- 
 tions made with such portions of the patriotic 
 army as had by the fortune of war been re- 
 duced to a surrender, had not always been 
 observed with courtesy, or even with a due 
 and strict regard to their essential provi- 
 sions. 
 
 The Congress, reflecting on these incidents, 
 felt no small apprehension that if the army 
 which had surrendered at Saratoga should be 
 
166 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 
 
 allowed to embark, instead of sailing for Eng- 
 land, according to the terms of the capitula- 
 tion, it would join the forces of General Howe. 
 They therefore studied to find a pretext for 
 breaking the convention. For this purpose 
 they addressed a number of queries to Gene- 
 ral Gates, as to the manner in which the 
 British had fulfilled the conditions of their 
 surrender, but he assured them that on the 
 part of the British the convention had been 
 exactly observed. 
 
 The pretext, however, which they could not 
 obtain from their gallant countryman, was 
 supplied by the imprudence of Burgoyne. 
 Among other articles of the convention, it 
 had been stipulated that the captive British 
 officers should, during their stay in America, 
 be accommodated with quarters correspond- 
 ent to their rank. This stipulation having 
 been but ill observed in the crowded bar- 
 racks at Cambridge, near Boston, where the 
 surrendered army was quartered, Burgoyne 
 addressed to Gates a letter of remonstrance 
 on this subject, in which he declared that by 
 the treatment which his officers had experi- 
 enced, " the public faith, plighted at Saratoga, 
 had been broken on the part of the United 
 States." 
 
 Gates, in the discharge of his duty, trans- 
 mitted this letter to Congress, who read it 
 with joy ; and affecting to find in the phrase 
 above quoted, a pretext set up by the British 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 167 
 
 general to vindicate a meditated violation of 
 the convention, they resolved that " the em- 
 barkation of General Burgoyne and the troops 
 under his command should be suspended till 
 a distinct and explicit ratification of the con- 
 vention of Saratoga should be properly noti- 
 fied by the court of Great Britain." 
 
 In vain did Burgoyne remonstrate against 
 this resolution — in vain did he explain his 
 phraseology, and offer to give any conceiva- 
 ble pledge of the sincerity of his intentions to 
 fulfil his engagements. The Congress wsls 
 inexorable — his troops remained as prisoners ; 
 and after wasting some time in vain endeav- 
 ors to procure them redress, he sailed on his 
 parole for England, where he was refused 
 admittance into the presence of his sovereign, 
 denied the justice of a court-martial on his 
 conduct, and subjected to a series of ministe- 
 rial persecutions — grievous, indeed, to a sen- 
 sitive mind, but, in effect, more disgraceful to 
 their inflictors than to their victim. 
 
 At the time when the American leaders 
 contemplated the declaration of independ- 
 ence, they entertained sanguine hopes that 
 the rivalry which had so long subsisted be- 
 tween France and England would induce the 
 former power to assist them in throwing off 
 the yoke of the mother country ; and early in 
 the year 1776, the congress sent Silas Deane 
 as their accredited agent to Paris, where he 
 was afterwards joined by Dr. Franklin and 
 
168 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 Arthur Lee, and instructed to solicit the 
 French court to enter into a treaty of alliance 
 and commerce with the United States. The 
 celebrity of Franklin gained him the respect, 
 and his personal qualities obtained him the 
 esteem of individuals of the highest rank in 
 the French capital. 
 
 But the Comte de Vergennes, then prime 
 minister, acted with caution. He gave the 
 Americans secret aid, and connived at various 
 measures which their agents took to further 
 their cause, by the procuring of arms and 
 military stores, and by annoying the British 
 commerce. The encouragement which Frank- 
 lin and his associates received, varied accord- 
 ing to the success or disasters of the American 
 forces. But the capture of Burgoyne's army 
 decided the hesitating counsels of France ; 
 and on the 6th of February, 1778, His Most 
 Christian Majesty acknowledged and guar- 
 antied the independence of the United States, 
 and entered into a treaty of alliance and com- 
 merce with the infant republic of North 
 America. 
 
 Of this circumstance the French ambassa- 
 dor, on the 13th of March, gave official notice 
 to his majesty's ministers in a rescript couched 
 in respectful terms, but concluding with an in- 
 timation, " that the French king, being deter- 
 mined effectually to protect the lawful com- 
 merce of his subjects, and to maintain the 
 dignity of his flag, had, in consequence, taken 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 169 
 
 effectual measures for these purposes, in con- 
 cert with the United States of America." 
 
 With whatever urbanity this communica- 
 tion mis^ht be made by the ambassador, the 
 British ministers regarded it, as it was in- 
 tended to be, as a declaration of war ; and 
 on th» 17th of March they notified its recep- 
 tion to the House of Commons. Their notifi- 
 cation was accompanied by a message from 
 the king, expressing the necessity he was 
 under to resent this unprovoked aggression, 
 and his firm reliance on the zealous and affec- 
 tionate support of his faithful people. To 
 this message the Commons returned a dutiful 
 answer, assuring his majesty that they would 
 stand by him in asserting the dignity of the 
 crown, and the honor of the nation. 
 
 SECTION XXVI. 
 
 REJECTION OF LORD NORTh's OVERTURES, JUNE, 
 
 1778. 
 
 The intelligence of the surrender of Gene- 
 ral Burgoyne and his army overwhelmed Lord 
 North with dismay ; and the annunciation of 
 the treaty between the United States and 
 France at once dissipated the feeble hope 
 which he might yet have entertained of sub- 
 duing the revolted colonies by force of arms. 
 
 15 
 
170 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 His only remaining resource, then, to prevent 
 that jewel from being forever torn from the 
 British crown, was to form, by an act of par- 
 liament, a kind of federal union with the 
 North American provinces, which, while it 
 reserved their allegiance to the British sove- 
 reign, should virtually concede to them the 
 entire management of their internal concerns. 
 
 With this view, on the 17th of February, 
 1778, he introduced into the House of Com- 
 mons two conciliatory bills, by which he pro- 
 posed to concede to the colonies every thing 
 which they had demanded before their decla- 
 ration of independence, viz., exemption from 
 internal parliamentary taxation, the appoint- 
 ment of their own governors and superior 
 magistrates ; and, moreover, an exemption 
 from the keeping up of any military force in 
 any of the colonies wdthout the consent of 
 their respective assemblies. It was provided, 
 that commissioners should be appointed by 
 the crown, to negotiate with Congress on the 
 basis of these propositions. 
 
 The speech in which his lordship introduced 
 these bills into the House of Commons was 
 marked by a curious mixture of humiliation 
 of tone, and affected confidence and courage. 
 The coercive acts, which under his influence 
 had been passed into laws, were, said he, such 
 as appeared to be necessary at the time, though 
 in the event they had produced effects which 
 he had never intended. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 171 
 
 As soon as he found that they had failed 
 in their object, before a sword was drawn 
 he brought forward a conciliatory propo- 
 sition, (meaning the act for admitting to 
 the king's peace any individual colonies 
 which might make the requisite concessions ;) 
 but that, in consequence of the proposition 
 having been made the subject of debate in 
 parliament, it went damned to America, so 
 that the Congress conceived, or took occasion to 
 represent it, as a scheme for sowing divisions, 
 and introducing taxation among them in a 
 worse mode than the former. Then, making 
 a fatal admission of the trifling nature of the 
 object which had produced so much ill blood 
 between the colonies and the mother country, 
 he confessed that his idea never had been to 
 draw any considerable revenue from Ameri- 
 ca ; that his wish was, that the colonists 
 should contribute in a very low proportion to 
 the expenses of Great Britain. 
 
 He was very well aware that American 
 taxation could never produce a beneficial 
 revenue, and that many taxes could not be 
 laid or collected in the colonies. The stamp- 
 act, however, seemed to be judiciously chosen 
 as a fiscal experiment, as it interested every 
 man who had any dealing or property to de- 
 fend or recover, in the collection of the tax 
 and the execution of the statute ; but this ex- 
 periment had failed, in consequence of the 
 obstinacy of the Americans in transacting all 
 
172 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 business without using the stamps prescribed 
 by law. 
 
 The act enabling the East India Company 
 to send tea to America on their own account, 
 and with the drawback of the whole duty 
 in England, was a relief instead of an oppres- 
 sion ; but this measure had been defeated by 
 contraband traders, who had too successfully 
 misrepresented it as an iuA^asion of colonial 
 rights. Having thus detailed the difficulties 
 with which ministers had been called to 
 struggle in legislating for so perverse a gen- 
 eration as the Americans had proved them- 
 selves to be, his lordship then proceeded to 
 open his plan, the outline of which has been 
 given above. And, in descanting on the 
 ample powers with which he proposed to in- 
 vest the commissioners, and foreseeing that 
 the Americans might refuse to treat with 
 these agents of the sovereign without a pre- 
 vious acknowledgment of their independence, 
 he humbled himself so far as to say, that he 
 would not insist on their renouncing their in- 
 dependence till the treaty should receive its 
 final ratification from the king and parlia- 
 ment of Great Britain. And then, in a man- 
 ner confessing that, instead of a sovereign as- 
 sembly, the parliament was reduced to the 
 condition of a supplicant to the mutinous col- 
 onies, he proposed that the commissioners 
 should be instructed to negotiate with them 
 for some reasonable and moderate contribu* 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 173 
 
 tion towards the common defence of the em- 
 pire when reunited ;* but, to take away all 
 pretence for not terminating this unhappy 
 difference, the contribution was not to be in- 
 sisted on as a sine qua non of the treaty ; but 
 that if the Americans should refuse so rea- 
 sonable and equitable a proposition, they 
 were not to look for support from that part 
 of the empire to whose expense they had re- 
 fused to contribute. 
 
 Weakly attempting to obviate the imputa- 
 tion that these pacific measures were the 
 fruit of fear, occasioned by the recent suc- 
 cesses of the insurgents, he called the House 
 to witness that he had declared for concilia- 
 tion at the beginning of the session, when he 
 thought that the victories of General Howe 
 had been more decisive, and when he knew 
 nothing of the misfortunes of Burgoyne. He 
 acknowledged that the events of the war had 
 turned out very differently from his expecta- 
 tion, but maintained that for the disappoint- 
 ment of the hopes of the public no blame was 
 imputable to himself; that he had promised 
 that a great army should be sent out, and a 
 great army, an army of upwards of 60,000 
 men, had been sent out ; that he had prom- 
 ised that a great fleet should be employed, 
 and a great fleet had been employed ; that 
 he had engaged that this army and this fleet 
 should be provided with every kind of supply, 
 and that they had been supplied most amply 
 
 15* 
 
174 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 and liberally, and might be so for years to 
 come ; and that if the House was deceived, 
 they had deceived themselves. 
 
 The prime minister, having thus by impli- 
 cation attributed the failure of his plans to 
 the commanders of the British forces em- 
 ployed to conduct the war, concluded his 
 speech by a boastful assertion, that the 
 strength of the nation was still entire ; that 
 its resources were ample, and that it was able, 
 if it were necessary, to carry on the w^ar 
 much longer. 
 
 The disavowal on the part of the prime 
 minister of any intention to raise a reve- 
 nue in America, seems to have given no little 
 umbrage to the country gentlemen, whose 
 organ, Mr. Baldwin, exclaimed, that he had 
 been deceived by the minister; that three 
 3^ears ago he had asked him whether a reve- 
 nue was meant by the measures he then pro- 
 posed to enforce ; that he was answered it 
 was, and that upon that ground alone he had 
 hitherto voted with the ministry. 
 
 The regular opposition were, upon the 
 whole, more moderate than the landed aris- 
 tocracy. Mr. Fox approved of Lord North's 
 propositions, which, he reminded him, were 
 in substance the same as those which were 
 in vain brought forward by Mr. Burke about 
 three years before. He did not, however, re- 
 strain himself from making some severe an- 
 imadversions on the policy of the premier, all 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 175 
 
 whose arguments, he asserted, might be col- 
 lected into one point, his excuses all reduced 
 to one apology — his total ignorance. 
 
 " He hoped," exclaimed the indignant ora- 
 tor, " he hoped, and was disappointed ; he ex- 
 pected a great deal, and found little to answer 
 his expectations. He thought the Americans 
 would have submitted to his laws, and they 
 resisted them. He thought they would have 
 submitted to his armies, and they were beaten 
 by inferior numbers. He made conciliatory 
 propositions, and he thought the)'" would suc- 
 ceed, but they were rejected. He appointed 
 commissioners to make peace, and he thought 
 they had powers; but he found they could 
 not make peace, and nobody believed they 
 had any powers. He had said many such 
 things as he had thought fit in his conciliatory 
 propositions ; he thought it a proper method 
 of quieting the Americans upon the affair of 
 taxation. 
 
 " If any person should give himself the 
 trouble of reading that proposition, he would 
 find not one word of it correspondent to the 
 representation made of it by its framer. The 
 short account of it was, that the noble lord in 
 the proposition assured the colonies, that 
 when Parliament had taxed them as much 
 as they thought proper, they would tax them 
 no more." In conclusion, however, Mr. Fox 
 said " that he would vote for the present pro- 
 position, because it was much more clear and 
 
176 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 satisfactory, for necessity had caused him to 
 speak plain." 
 
 The conciliatory bills, in their passage 
 through the two Houses, excited many ani- 
 mated debates, in the course of which Lord 
 North was exposed to much animadversion, 
 which he seems to have borne with great 
 equanimity. At length, all points relative to 
 them being settled by Parliament, they were 
 sanctioned by the royal assent. But the ur- 
 gency of danger would not allow ministers to 
 wait till they were passed into a law ; and 
 the same statesmen who had a little time 
 before treated the petitions of the colonies 
 with scorn and contempt, hastened to com- 
 municate their propositions, while yet in the 
 shape of bills, to the Congress, in hopes that 
 the adoption on their part of a milder policy 
 might be met with a similar spirit of concilia- 
 tion on the other side of the Atlantic. These 
 documents were despatched in such haste, 
 that they arrived at New York in time to be 
 presented by Sir William Howe to the Con- 
 gress, before that assembly had received in- 
 telligence of the signature of their treaty of 
 alliance with France. 
 
 The American legislators did not, however, 
 hesitate as to the line of conduct which in 
 these circumstances it became them to pur- 
 sue. They peremptorily rejected the propo- 
 sals of Lord North as insidious and unsatis- 
 factory. During the progress of the concilia- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 177 
 
 tory bills, and after their passing, frequent 
 and animated debates took place in both 
 Houses of Parliament, relative to the foreign 
 and domestic policy of the country. 
 
 In the House of Lords, the Duke of Rich- 
 mond took the lead in discussing these subjects, 
 and on the 7th of April, he made an impres- 
 sive speech on the state of the nation, in 
 which he maintained, that the salvation of 
 the country required the ^withdrawing of the 
 British troops from North America, and even 
 not obscurely hinted that for the acquisition 
 of peace, it would be politic to agree to the 
 independence of the colonies. As his grace's 
 sentiments on the latter point were no secret, 
 and as it was to be expected that he would 
 propound them on this occasion. Lord Chat- 
 ham, now laboring under the weight of seventy 
 years, rendered more heavy by acute bodily 
 suffering, regardless of his infirmities, attend- 
 ed in his place for the purpose of raising his 
 voice against the duke's proposition. 
 
 *' My lords," exclaimed the venerable ora- 
 tor, " I rejoice that the grave has not closed 
 upon me, and that I am still alive to lift up 
 ■my voice against the dismemberment of this 
 ancient and most noble monarchy." He then 
 proceeded, in the most energetic terms, to 
 urge his auditors to the most vigorous efforts 
 against their new enemy, the House of Bour- 
 bon ; and concluded by calling upon them, if 
 they must fall, to fall like men. 
 
178 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 The Duke of Richmo'^.d having replied to 
 this speech, Lord Chatham attempted to rise 
 for the purpose of rebutting his grace's argu- 
 ments, and of proposing his own plan for put- 
 ting an end to the contest with America, 
 which is understood to have been the estab- 
 lishment with the colonies, upon the most 
 liberal terms, of a kind of federal union under 
 one common monarch. But the powers of 
 nature within him were exhausted ; he fainted 
 under the effort which he made to give utter- 
 ance to his sentiments, and being conveyed 
 to his favorite seat of Haynes, in Kent, he 
 expired on the 11th of May. 
 
 This firmness on the part of Congress au- 
 gured ill for the success of the British com- 
 missioners, Lord Carlisle, Mr. Eden, and 
 Governor Johnstone, who arrived at New 
 York on the 9th of June, and without loss of 
 time attempted to open a negotiation with 
 the Congress. Their overtures were officially 
 answered by President Laurens in a letter, by 
 which he apprized them that the American go- 
 vernment were determined to maintain their 
 independence ; but were willing to treat for 
 peace with his Britannic Majesty on condi-. 
 tion of his withdrawing his fleets and armies 
 from their country. 
 
 Thus foiled in their attempt at public ne- 
 gotiation, the commissioners had recourse to 
 private intrigue. Governor Johnstone, from 
 his long residence in America, was personally 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 179 
 
 acquainted with many of the leading mem- 
 bers of Congress, to some of whom he ad- 
 dressed letters; vaguely intimating the great ^ 
 rewards and honors which awaited those 
 who would lend their aid in putting an end 
 to the present troubles ; and in one instance, 
 he privately offered to an individual, for his 
 services on this behalf, the sum of 10,000/. 
 sterling, and any place in the colonies in his 
 majesty's gift. 
 
 These clandestine overtures of the governor 
 were uniformly rejected with contempt, and 
 the Congress having been apprized of them, 
 declared them direct attempts at corruption ; 
 and resolved that it was incompatible with 
 their honor to hold any correspondence or in- 
 tercourse with him. This resolution, which 
 was adhered to, notwithstanding the explana- 
 tions and denials of Johnstone, and the dis- 
 avowal of his proceedings by his brother com- 
 missioners, drew forth from these pacificators 
 an angry manifesto, in which they virtually 
 threatened the Union with a war of devasta- 
 tion, declaring that "if the British colonies 
 were to become an accession to France, the 
 laws of self-pre*=^" ration would direct Great 
 Britain to ^ ^r the accession of as little 
 avail as possible to the enemy." 
 
 While Congress gave notice that the bear- 
 ers of the copies of this manifesto were not 
 entitled" to the protection of a flag, they 
 showed how little they dreaded the impres- 
 
180 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 sion which it might make, by giving it an ex- 
 tensive circulation in their newspapers. 
 
 SECTION XXVII. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE FRENCH FLEET. 
 
 General Howe spent the spring of the year 
 1778 nearly in a state of inaction, confining 
 his operations to the sending out of foraging 
 and predatory parties, which did some mis- 
 chief to the country, but little service to the 
 royal cause. From this lethargy he was 
 roused by the receipt of orders from the Brit- 
 ish ministry, to evacuate Philadelphia with- 
 out delay. These orders were sent under the 
 apprehension, that if a French fleet should 
 block up his squadron in the Delaware, while 
 Washington enclosed him on the land side, 
 he would share the fate of Burgoyne. On 
 the 18th of June, therefore, he quitted the 
 Pennsylvanian capital, and crossed into New 
 Jersey, whither he was speedily followed by 
 Washington, who, keeping a strict watch on 
 his movements, had taken measures to harass 
 him on his march, which was encumbered 
 with baggage. 
 
 The American commander, on his arrival 
 at Princeton, hearing that General Clinton, 
 with a large division of the British forces, 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 181 
 
 had quitted the direct road to Staten Island, 
 the place of rendezvous appointed for Gene- 
 ral Howe's army, and was marching for 
 Sandy Hook, sent a detachment in pursuit of 
 him, and followed with his whole army to 
 support it ; and as Clinton made preparations 
 to meet the meditated attack, he sent forward 
 reinforcements to keep the British in check. 
 
 These reinforcements were commanded by 
 General Lee, whom Washington, on his ad- 
 vancing in person, met in full retreat. After 
 a short and angry parley, Lee again advan- 
 ced, and was driven back ; but Clinton's forces 
 next encountering the main body of the 
 American army, were repulsed in their turn, 
 and taking advantage of the night, the ap- 
 proach of which, in all probability^ saved 
 them from utter discomfiture, they withdrew 
 to Sandy Hook, leaving behind them such of 
 their wounded as could not with safety be re- 
 moved. 
 
 For his conduct on this occasion, Lee was 
 brought to a court-martial, and sentenced to 
 De suspended from any command in the ar- 
 mies of the United States for the term of one 
 year. After this engagement Washington 
 marched to White Plains, which are situated 
 a few miles to the northeastward of New 
 York Island. Here he continued unmolested 
 by the neighboring enemy, from the begin- 
 ning of July till the latter end of autumn, 
 when he retired to take up his winter-quar- 
 
 16 
 
182 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 ters in huts which he had caused to be coH' 
 structed at Middlebrook, rii Jersey. 
 
 According to the prognostic of the British 
 ministry, the Count d'Estaing, with a fleet of 
 twelve ships of the line and three frigates, 
 arrived off the mouth of the Delaware in the 
 month of July ; but found, to his mortifica- 
 tion, that eleven days before that period Lord 
 Howe had withdrawn from that river to the 
 harbor of New York. D'Estaing immed'iately 
 sailed for Sandy Hook ; but after continuing 
 at anchor there eleven days, during which 
 time he captured about twenty English iPxCr- 
 chantmen, finding that he could not work his 
 line-of-battle ships over the bar, by the advice 
 of General Washington he sailed for New- 
 port, with a view of co-operating with the 
 Americans in driving the British from Rhode 
 Island, of which province they had been in 
 possession for upwards of a year and a half. 
 
 This project, however, completely failed. 
 Lord Howe appearing with his fleet off* New- 
 port, the French admiral came out of the 
 harbor to give him battle ; but, before the 
 hostile armaments could encounter, a violent 
 storm arose, which damaged both fleets so 
 much, that the British were compelled to re- 
 turn to New York, while D'Estaing withdrew 
 to reflt in Boston harbor. His retirement 
 subjected the American army, which had en- 
 tered Rhode Island, under General Sullivan, 
 to great peril ; but by the skill of its com- 
 
AMEEICAN REVOLUTION. 183 
 
 mander, it was withdrawn from the province 
 with little loss. Towards the latter end of 
 this year the British arms were signally suc- 
 cessful in Georgia, the capital of which province 
 was taken by Lieutenant-colonel Campbell, 
 who conducted himself with such prudence, 
 and manifested so conciliatory a spirit, that 
 lie made no small advances in reconciling the 
 people of Georgia to their ancient govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The arrival of the French fleet had filled 
 the Americans with sanguine expectations 
 that they should now be able to put an end 
 to the war by some decisive stroke ; and in 
 proportion to the elevation of their hopes 
 was the bitterness of their mortification, that 
 the only result of the co-operation of their 
 ally was the recovery of Philadelphia. On the 
 other hand, the British miinistry were grievous- 
 ly disappointed on learning that the issue of this 
 campaign, as far as regarded their main army, 
 was the exchange by General Howe of his 
 narrow quarters in the Pennsylvanian capital 
 for the not much more extended ones of New 
 York Island. Hitherto they seem to have 
 carried on the war under the idea that the 
 majority of the inhabitants of the colonies 
 were favorably disposed towards the royal 
 government, and were only restrained from 
 manifesting their loyalty by a faction whom 
 it would be easy with their assistance to sub- 
 due, but from this period they appear to have 
 
184 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 conducted their hostilities in a spirit of des- 
 peration and revenge. 
 
 Thus terminated the second campaign of 
 Great Britain against her revolted colonies. 
 Two powerful armies, commanded by expe- 
 rienced generals, and abundantly provided 
 with every thing, had succeeded in nothing 
 but capturing the cities of Philadelphia and 
 New York, and ravaging the property of pri- 
 vate individuals throughout the country. One 
 army had been lost totally, and the other, 
 though master of the capital of the country, 
 was in effect straitened within very nar- 
 row limits, and exercised no power over the 
 people. The country was not only not sub- 
 dued, but unterrified, and more sanguine of 
 their ability to maintain their independence, 
 and warmed with sterner and more unani- 
 mous determinations to yield nothing to the 
 invader. Besides their own higher hopes and 
 confidence in themselves, supported by the 
 issue of two years' battles, they were now 
 strengthened with foreign aid. 
 
 SECTION XXVIII. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1779. 
 
 With a view of alarming the insurgent 
 colonies by subjecting them to the unmitiga- 
 ted horrors of war. Sir Henry Clinton, on the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 185 
 
 10th of May, 1779, sent an expedition into 
 Virginia, under the command of Sir George 
 Collier and General Matthews, who, landing 
 at Portsmouth, proceeded to Suffolk, which 
 tow^n they reduced to ashes, and after burning 
 and capturing upwards of 130 vessels of dif- 
 ferent sizes, and devastating the country in 
 their line of march, sailed back loaded with 
 booty to New York. 
 
 About five weeks after their return. Gover- 
 nor Tryon, having received orders to attack 
 the coast of Connecticut, landed at East 
 Haven, which he devoted to the flames, in 
 violation of his promise of protection to all 
 the inhabitants who should remain in their 
 homes. Thence he proceeded to Fairfield 
 and Nor walk, which were given up to plun- 
 der, and then destroyed. He effected this 
 mischief with little loss in the space of ten 
 days, at the end of which time he returned to 
 the British head-quarters to make a report of 
 his proceedings to the commander-in-chief. 
 
 Besides the vessels destroyed, there were 
 burned at Norwalk two places of public 
 worship, eighty dwelling-houses, sixty-seven 
 barns, twenty-two stores, seventeen shops, 
 and four mills ; and at Fairfield, two houses 
 of public worship, eighty-two dwelling-houses, 
 fifty-five barns, and thirty stores. So far was 
 Governor Tryon from feeling compunction at 
 these barbarities, that he boasted of his clem- 
 ency, and maintained tha,t the existence of a 
 
 16* 
 
186 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 single house on the coast was a monument 
 of the king's mercy. 
 
 While this mode of warfare was carrying 
 on, Washington could spare very few men for 
 the defence of the invaded districts. His at- 
 tention was engrossed by the main army of 
 the British, to keep which in check he posted 
 his forces at West Point, and on the opposite 
 bank of the Hudson, pushing his patrols to 
 the vicinity of his adversary's lines. As the 
 British occupied with a strong garrison Stony 
 Point, some miles to the south of his position, 
 he, on the 15th of July, despatched General 
 Wayne with a competent force to dislodge 
 them from that important post. 
 
 This attempt was crowned with success. 
 Wayne took the British w^orks by storm, and 
 brought off 543 prisoners, fifteen pieces of 
 cannon, and a considerable quantity of mili- 
 tary stores. Washington did not, however, 
 think it prudent for the present to attempt to 
 establish himself at Stony Point, and it was 
 speedily re-occupied by the British. 
 
 Another instance of the enterprising bold- 
 ness of the Americans, soon after occurred in 
 the surprise of the British garrison at Powles- 
 Hook, opposite to New York, which was at- 
 tacked on the 19th of July, by Major Lee 
 who stormed the works and took 160 prison- 
 ers, whom he brought safely to the American 
 lines. The joy which the Americans felt at 
 the success of these daring enterprises was, 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 187 
 
 however, damped by the failure of an expe- 
 dition undertaken by the state of Massachu- 
 setts to dispossess the British of a fort which 
 they had erected at Penobscot in the district 
 of Maine. They here lost the whole of their 
 flotilla, which was destroyed or captured by 
 Sir George Collier, while their land forces 
 were compelled to seek for safety by retreat- 
 ing through the woods. 
 
 Spain having now declared war against 
 Great Britain, it was hoped by sanguine poli- 
 ticians, favorable to the cause of the new 
 republic, that this additional pressure of for- 
 eign foes would compel the British ministry 
 to withdraw their forces from North America. 
 But the energies of the mother country were 
 roused in proportion to the increase of her 
 peril. Her fleets maintained their wonted 
 sovereignty over the ocean, and her monarch 
 was determined to strain eveiy nerve to re- 
 duce his revolted colonies to obedience ; and 
 at this period the ease with which the reduc- 
 tion of Georgia had been efl?ected, and the 
 advantages which it might afford in making 
 an attack upon the rest of the southern states, 
 induced his ministers to renew their efforts in 
 that quarter. 
 
 The back settlements, as well as those of 
 the Carolinas, abounded with enterprising 
 men of desperate fortunes, as also with tories, 
 who had been compelled, by the persecution 
 which they sustained ^rom the more ardent 
 
188 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 republicans, to withdraw into these wilds 
 from the more settled part of the country. 
 These adventurers and loyalists having joined 
 the royal forces under the command of Major- 
 general Prescot, which had also received re- 
 inforcements from Florida, that officer found 
 himself in a condition to commence active 
 operations. His preparations filled the neigh- 
 boring states with alarm. 
 
 The American regular troops had, with few 
 exceptions, been sent from the Carolinas to 
 reinforce the army of General Washington ; 
 and the only reliance of the republicans in 
 this portion of the Union rested on the militia, 
 the command of which was delegated by 
 Congress to General Lincoln. On inspecting 
 his forces, Lincoln found them ill equipped 
 and very deficient in discipline. In these 
 circumstances, the activity of the enemy did 
 not allow him any time to improve their dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 Soon after his arrival at head-quarters, a 
 division of the royal army advanced, under 
 the command of Major Gardiner, to take pos- 
 session of Port Royal, in South Carolina, but 
 was driven back with loss by General Moul- 
 trie. This repulse for a while suspended the 
 enterprise of the British, who took post at 
 Augusta and Ebenezer, situated on the Sa- 
 vannah river, which forms the boundary be- 
 tween Georgia and South Carolina. Here 
 they waited in expectation of being joined 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 189 
 
 by a body of tories, who had been collected 
 in the upper parts of the latter province. 
 
 But these obnoxious allies, giving way to 
 long-smothered resentment, were guilty of 
 such atrocities on their march, that the coun- 
 try rose upon them, and they fell an easy 
 prey to a detachment commanded by Colonel 
 Pickens, sent to intercept them at Kettle 
 Creek. Five of the prisoners taken on this 
 occasion, were tried and executed for bearing 
 arms against the government of the United 
 States. This proceeding led to acts of retali- 
 ation on the part of the tories and the king's 
 troops, which for a long time gave in the 
 southern states additional horror to the mise- 
 ries of war. 
 
 Imboldened by his success, Lincoln sent an 
 expedition into Georgia, with a view of re- 
 pressing the incursions of the enemy, but his 
 forces v^ere surprised by General Prevost, 
 from whom they sustained so signal a defeat, 
 that, of 1,500 men, of which the expedition 
 consisted, only 450 returned to his camp. In 
 this emergency, the legislative body of South 
 Carolina invested their governor, John Rut- 
 ledge, and his council, with an almost abso- 
 lute authority, by virtue of which, a consider- 
 able force of militia was embodied and sta- 
 tioned in the centre of the state, to act as 
 necessity might require. 
 
 Putting himself at the head of these new 
 levies, Lincoln again determined to carry the 
 
190 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 war into the enemy's quarters ; and, crossing 
 the Savannah, near Augusta, marched into 
 Georgia, and proceeded towards the capital 
 of that province. Prevost instantly took ad- 
 vantage of this movement to invade South 
 Carolina, at the head of 2,400 men ; and, 
 driving Moultrie before him, pushed forward 
 towards Charleston. At this time, his supe- 
 riority appeared to be so decisive, that 
 Moultrie's troops began to desert in great 
 numbers, and many of the inhabitants, with 
 real or affected, zeal, embraced the royal 
 cause. 
 
 On his appearance before Charleston, the 
 garrison of that place, which consisted of 
 3,300 men, sent commissioners to propose a 
 neutrality on their part during the remainder 
 of the war. This proposal he rejected, and 
 made preparations to attack the town, which 
 was respectably fortified. But, while he was 
 wasting time in negotiations, Lincoln was 
 hastening from Georgia to the relief of the 
 place ; and on the near approach of the 
 American army, fearing to be exposed to two 
 fires, he withdrew his forces across Ashley 
 river, and encamped on some small islands 
 bordering on the sea-coast. 
 
 Here he was attacked by Lincoln, who 
 was, however, repulsed with loss, in conse- 
 quence of the failure of a part of his combi- 
 nations. Notwithstanding this success, the 
 British general did not think it advisable to 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 191 
 
 maintain his present position, but retreated 
 to Port Royal, and thence to Savannah. 
 
 The Americans retired to Sheldon, in the 
 vicinity of Beaufort, which is situated at 
 about an equal distance from Charleston and 
 Savannah. Here they remained in a state 
 of tranquillity till the beginning of September, 
 when they were roused from their inaction 
 by the appearance off the coast of the fleet 
 of D'Estaing, who had proceeded towards 
 the close of the preceding yea,Y from Boston 
 to the West Indies, whence, after capturing 
 St. Vincent's and Granada, he had returned 
 to the assistance of the allies of his sovereign. 
 
 At the sight of this armament, which con- 
 sisted of 20 sail of the line, and 13 frigates, 
 the republicans exulted in the sanguine hope 
 of capturing their enemies, or of expelling 
 them from their country. The militia mus- 
 tered with alacrity in considerable force, and 
 marched under the command of General Lin- 
 coln to the vicinity of Savannah. Before 
 their arrival, D'Estaing had summoned the 
 town, and had granted to General Prevost a 
 suspension of hostilities for 24 hours, for the 
 purpose of settling the terms of a capitula- 
 tion. But during that interval, the British 
 commander received a reinforcement of sev- 
 eral hundred men, who had forced their way 
 from Beaufort ; encouraged by which seasona- 
 ble aid, he determined to hold out to the last 
 extremity. 
 
192 AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 
 
 The allied forces, therefore, commenced the 
 siege of the place in form ; but D'Estaing, 
 finding that much time would be consumed 
 in regular approaches, and dreading the hur- 
 ricanes which prevail on the southern coast 
 of America at that season, resolved on an as- 
 sault. In conjunction with Lincoln, he led 
 his troops to the attack with great gallantry ; 
 but, after having received two slight wounds, 
 he was driven back with the loss of 637 of 
 his countrymen, and 200 of the Americans, 
 killed and wounded. 
 
 At the close of the engagement, D'Estaing 
 retired to his ships, and departed from the 
 coast, while Lincoln crossed the Savannah 
 river, and returned with his forces, daily di- 
 minishing by desertion, to South Carolina. 
 In proportion to the joy of the inhabitants of 
 the southern states at the arrival of the 
 French fleet, was their mortification at the 
 failure of their joint endeavors to rid their 
 provinces of an active enemy. The brave 
 were dispirited by defeat, and the sanguine 
 began to despair of the fortunes of their 
 country. Those, however, who thought more 
 deeply, took comfort from the consideration 
 that the enemy had efi'ected little in the 
 course of the campaign, except the overrun- 
 ning and plundering of an extensive tract of 
 territory, and that they had been compelled 
 to terminate their excursions by again con- 
 centrating themselves in Savannah. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 193 
 
 SECTION XXIX. 
 
 BIEGE AND CAPITULATION OF CHARLESTON, 12tH OF 
 MAY, 1780. 
 
 The events which had occurred in South 
 Carolina, having persuaded Sir Henry Clin- 
 ton that the cause of independence was less 
 firmly supported there than in the northern 
 states, he determined to make that province 
 the principal theatre of the war during the 
 ensuing campaign. Leaving, therefore, the 
 command of the royal army in New York to 
 General Knyphausen, on the 26th of Decem- 
 ber, 1779, he sailed from that city with a con- 
 siderable force, and, after a stormy passage, 
 on the 11th of the ensuing month, he arrived 
 at Tybee, in Georgia, at the mouth of Savan- 
 nah river. Hence he proceeded to Ashley riv- 
 er, and encamped opposite to Charleston. 
 
 On his arrival, the assembly of the state of 
 South Carolina broke up its sitting, after hav- 
 ing once more delegated a dictatorial author- 
 ity to Governor Rutledge, who immediately 
 issued orders for the assembling of the mili- 
 tia. These commands were ill obeyed. The 
 disasters of the last campaign had almost ex- 
 tinguished the flame of patriotism ; and each 
 man seemed to look to his neighbors for those 
 exertions which might have justly been ex- 
 pected from himself. 
 
 17 
 
194 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 He next issued his proclamation, requiring 
 every enrolled inhabitant of the town to re- 
 pair to the garrison to do military duty, un- 
 der a penalty of having his property confis- 
 cated. This had no better effect than solici- 
 tation. With all the exertions of Lincoln and 
 Rutledge, the w^hole strength of the tov^n, 
 when Clinton crossed the Ashley, was less 
 than three thousand, of whom, a thousand 
 were North Carolina militia, and the rest con- 
 tinental regulars. Lincoln was indefatigable 
 in fortifying the works. The lines were ex- 
 tended, and every possible preparation was 
 made for a vigorous and determined, though 
 a hopeless, resistance. 
 
 On reconnoitring the works of* Charleston, 
 Sir Henry Clinton did not think it expedient 
 to attack them till he had received reinforce- 
 ments from New York and Savannah, on the 
 arrival of which he opened the siege in form. 
 Charleston is situated on a tongue of land, 
 bounded on the west by Ashley, and on the 
 east by Cooper's rivers. The approach to 
 Ashley river was defended by Fort Moultrie, 
 erected on Sullivan's island ; and the passage 
 up Cooper's river was impeded by a number 
 of vessels, connected by cables and chains, 
 and sunk in the channel opposite the town. 
 On the land side, the place was defended by 
 a citadel and strong lines, extending from one 
 of the above-mentioned rivers to the other. 
 
 Before these lines, Clinton broke ground on 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 195 
 
 the 29tli of March, and on the 10th of April, 
 he had completed his first parallel. On the 
 preceding day, Admiral Arbuthnot, who com- 
 manded the British fleet, had passed Fort 
 Moultrie with little loss, and had anchored 
 near the town. About the 20th of April, the 
 British commander received a second rein- 
 forcement of 3,000 men ; and the place was 
 soon completely invested by land and sea — 
 his third parallel being advanced to the very 
 edge of the American works. 
 
 Gen. Lincoln, who commanded in Charles- 
 ton, would not have shut himself up in the 
 town, had he not confidently expected relief 
 from the militia, who had been called out by 
 Governor Rutledge, and by whose assistance 
 he imagined that he could, if reduced to ex- 
 tremity, have effected a retreat, by crossing 
 Cooper's river. But the few, who, in this 
 hour of difficulty, advanced to his aid, were 
 cut off or kept in check ; and the river was 
 possessed by the enemy. 
 
 In these distressful circumstances, after sus- 
 taining a bombardment which set the town 
 on fire in different places, on the 12th of May, 
 he surrendered on a capitulation, the princi- 
 pal terms of which were, that " the militia 
 were to be permitted to return to their re- 
 spective homes, as prisoners on parole, and 
 while they adhered to their parole, were not 
 to be molested in person or property." The 
 same conditions were also imposed on all the 
 
il96 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 inhabitants of the town, civil as well as mil- 
 itary. 
 
 The American loss during the siege was 
 102 killed and 157 wounded ; that of the loy- 
 alists, 70 killed and 189 wounded. The num- 
 ber of prisoners, including adult citizens and 
 militia, was about 5,000, but the regular force 
 did not exceed 2,500. The proportion of offi- 
 cers was unusually large — men who came to 
 the defence of the city without being able to 
 bring the troops with them. There were in- 
 cluded in the capitulation, one major-general, 
 six brigadier-generals, twenty-three colonels 
 and lieutenant-colonels, and one hundred and 
 sixty-eight captains and lieutenants, besides 
 ensigns. No less than four hundred pieces 
 of artillery, of which three hundred and elev- 
 en were in the city, fell into the hands of the 
 British. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton now addressed himself to 
 the important work of re-establishing the royal 
 authority in the province ; as a preliminary step 
 to which, on the 1st of June, he issued a pro- 
 clamation, offering to the inhabitants at large, 
 on condition of their submission, pardon for 
 their past offences, a reinstatement in their 
 rights, and, what was of the most weighty 
 importance, exemption from taxation, except 
 from their own legislature. 
 
 This proclamation was followed up by th^ 
 posting of garrisons in different parts of the 
 country, to protect the loyal and to aWe the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 197 
 
 disaffected, and by the march of 2,000 men 
 towards North Carolina, on whose advance 
 the American forces, who had tardily march- 
 ed from that province to the relief of Charles- 
 ton, retreated with loss. 
 
 Col. Tarlton was detached by Cornwallis, 
 with a strong corps of cavalry and mounted 
 infantry in pursuit. By pushing on with un- 
 exampled celerity, Tarlton overtook the Amer- 
 icans at Waxsaw, and after a short encounter, 
 routed the party, and captured the artillery, 
 baggage, colors, indeed every thing. The 
 carnage was terrible. The Americans, infe- 
 rior in number, made but feeble resistance 
 and cried for quarter. This was refused, and 
 the infuriated enemy continued to cut down 
 and massacre without mercy, until tired with 
 slaughter. One hundred and eight were kill- 
 ed, and one hundred and fifty wounded, and 
 fifty-three prisoners ; the loss of the victors 
 was only seven killed and twelve wounded. 
 *' Tarlton's quarter" became afterwards a by- 
 word, to express deliberate cruelty. 
 
 Thus crowned with success, Clinton, early 
 in June, embarked, with the principal part of 
 his forces, for New York, having delegated 
 the completion of the subjugation of South 
 Carolina to Lord Cornwallis, to whom he ap- 
 portioned, for that purpose, an army of 4,000 
 men. 
 
198 AMERICAN EEVOLI^TION. 
 
 SECTION XXX. 
 
 DEFEAT OF GATEs's ARMY, BY LORD CORNWALLIS, 
 15th OF AUGUST, 1780. 
 
 When Lord Cornwallis took the command 
 in South Carolina, the insurgents had no ar- 
 my in the field within 400 miles of that prov- 
 ince, and the great body of the inhabitants 
 had submitted either as prisoners or as sub- 
 jects ; and had they been suffered to remain 
 in this state of quiet neutrality, they would 
 have been happy to abide in peace the issue 
 of the contest in the northern states. But 
 his lordship's instructions did not permit him 
 to be contented with this passive obedience, 
 and he proceeded to take measures to compel 
 the South Carolinians to take up arms against 
 their countrymen. 
 
 With this view, he issued a proclamation, 
 absolving from their parole all the inhabit- 
 ants who had bound themselves by that ob- 
 ligation, and restoring them "to all the rights 
 and duties belonging to citizens." What was 
 meant by the ominous word " duties" was ex- 
 plained by another part of the proclamation, 
 whereby it was declared, " that it was proper 
 for all persons to take an active part in set- 
 tling and securing his majesty's government," 
 and that " whoever should neglect so to do 
 should be treated as rebels." 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 199 
 
 The Carolinians were indignant at this vio- 
 lation of the terms of their submission. Ma- 
 ny of them resumed their arms ; and though 
 more, under the impression of fear, enrolled 
 themselves as subjects, they brought to the 
 royal cause a hollow allegiance, which could 
 not be trusted in the day of trial. A consid- 
 erable number quitted the province, and has- 
 tened to join the army which Congress was 
 raising for the purpose of wresting it out of 
 the hands of the enemy. 
 
 In organizing this force. Congress had to 
 struggle with the greatest difficulties. Their 
 treasury was exhausted, and they were at 
 this time occupied in making an equitable 
 adjustment as to their paper money, on the 
 strength of which they had undertaken the 
 war, and which was now depreciated to the 
 amount of forty for one — that is, one silver 
 dollar was worth forty American paper dol- 
 lars. While their currency was in this state 
 they were perpetually embarrassed in their 
 purchases of arms, clothing, and stores ; and 
 when they had raised the men for the south- 
 ern army, some time elapsed before they could 
 procure the necessary funds to put them in 
 motion. 
 
 These difficulties being at length overcome, 
 the Maryland and Delaware troops were sent 
 forward, and began their march in high spir- 
 its on learning that the expedition of which 
 they formed a part, was to be commanded by 
 
200 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 General Gates. The hero of Saratoga, on 
 joining the army in North Carolina, was ad- 
 vised to proceed to the southward by a cir- 
 cuitous route, where he would find plenty of 
 provisions ; but, conceiving it to be his duty 
 to hasten with all speed to the scene of ac- 
 tion, he preferred the straightforward road to 
 Camden, which led through a desert pine 
 barren. 
 
 In traversing this dreary tract of country, 
 his forces were worn out with fatigue and 
 extenuated with hunger. The few cattle 
 which his commissariat had provided having 
 been consumed, his only resource for meat 
 was the lean beasts which were accidentally 
 picked up in the woods. Meal and grain 
 were also very scarce ; and as substitutes for 
 bread, the soldiers were obliged to have re- 
 course to the green corn and to the fruits 
 wdiich they met with on their line of march. 
 The consequence of this unwonted diet was, 
 that the army was thinned by dysentery and 
 other diseases usually caused by the heat of 
 the w^eather and by unwholesome food. 
 
 The soldiers at first bore these hardships 
 with impatience, and symptoms of dissatis- 
 faction and even of mutiny began to appear 
 among them. But by the conciliatory exer- 
 tions of the officers, who shared in all the 
 privations of the common men, the spirit of 
 murmuring was repressed, and the troops 
 pursued their weary way with patience and 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 201 
 
 even with cheerfulness. On their arrival at 
 a place called Deep creek, their distresses 
 were alleviated by a supply of good beef, ac- 
 companied by the distribution of half a pound 
 of Indian corn meal to each man. 
 
 Invigorated by this welcome refreshment, 
 they proceeded to the cross-roads, where they 
 were joined by a respectable body of militia 
 under the command of General Caswell. 
 Though Gates was aware that another body 
 of militia were hastening to his assistance from 
 the state of Virginia, he was prevented from 
 waiting for their arrival by want of provi- 
 sions, and, after staying for one day only at 
 the cross-roads, findiug that the enemy in- 
 tended to dispute his passage by Lynch's 
 creek, he marched to the right towards Cler 
 mont, where the British had established a de 
 fensible post. 
 
 On his approach to the latter place, how- 
 ever, Lord Rawdon, who commanded the ad- 
 vance of the British, concentrated all his 
 forces at Camden, while Gates mustered the 
 whole of his army at Clermont, which is dis- 
 tant from Camden about thirteen miles. 
 These events occurred on the 13th of August, 
 and on the next day the American troops 
 were reinforced by a body of 700 of the Vir- 
 ginia militia. At the same time Gates re- 
 ceived an express from Colonel Sumpter, who 
 reported to him that he had been joined by a 
 number of the South Carolina militia, at his 
 
202 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 encampment on the west side of the Wateree, 
 and that an escort of clothing, ammunition, 
 and other stores, was on its way from Charles- 
 ton to Camden, and must, of necessity, on its 
 way to its destination, cross the Wateree at a 
 ferry about a mile from that place. 
 
 On receiving this intelligence. Gates sent 
 forward a detachment of the Maryland line, 
 consisting of 100 regular infantry and a com- 
 pany of artillery, with two brass field-pieces, 
 and 300 North Carolina militia, all under the 
 command of Lieutenant-colonel Woodford, 
 who was instructed to join General Sampter, 
 and assist him in intercepting the convoy. At 
 the same time General Gates made prepara- 
 tions for advancing still nearer Camden, in 
 the expectation that if Lord Rawdon did not 
 abandon that post as he had done that of 
 Clermont, his supplies would be cut off by 
 the bodies of militia which were expected to 
 pour forth from the upper counties, and he 
 would thus be compelled to a surrender. 
 
 On reaching the frontier of South Carolina, 
 Gates had issued a proclamation, inviting the 
 inhabitants to join his standard, and offering 
 an amnesty to such of them as, under the 
 pressure of circumstances, had promised alle- 
 giance to the British government. Though 
 this proclamation had not been without effect, 
 it had not called forth the numbers upon 
 which the American general had been led to 
 calculate ; and, after the departure of Lieu- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 203 
 
 tenant-colonel Woodford's detachment, the ab- 
 stract of the field-returns submitted to him 
 by his deputy adjutant-general indicated no 
 more than between 4,000 or 5,000 men as 
 constituting his disposable force. 
 
 Gates, disappointed as he was by the scan- 
 tiness of these returns, determined to perse- 
 vere in his plan of offensive operations, and 
 marched about ten at night on the 15th of 
 August to within half a mile of Sander's 
 creek, about half way between his encamp- 
 ment and Camden. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis, who the day before had 
 repaired to his head-quarters at Camden, and 
 had taken command of the British army, was 
 also resolved, though his forces amounted 
 only to 2,000 men, of whom 1,700 were in- 
 fantry and 300 cavalry, to attack the enemy 
 in their camp, and advancing for that pur- 
 pose, at half past two in the morning, en- 
 countered their advanced parties near San- 
 der's creek. Here some firing took place 
 with various success ; but on the whole the 
 British had the advantage in this night ren- 
 contre. 
 
 Early on the ensuing morning both armies 
 prepared for battle. On the side of the 
 Americans, the second Maryland brigade, un- 
 der the command of General Gist, occupied 
 the right, which was flanked by a morass ; 
 the Virginia militia and the North Carolina 
 infantry, also covered by some boggy ground, 
 
204 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 were posted on the left, while General Cas- 
 well, with the North Carolina division and 
 the artillery, appeared in the centre. A corpa 
 de reserve^ under the orders of General Small- 
 wood, was posted about three hundred yards 
 in the rear of the American line. 
 
 In arranging the British forces, Lord Corn- 
 wallis delegated the command of the right to 
 Lieutenant-colonel Webster, who had at his 
 disposal the 23d and the 33d regiments of 
 foot. The left was guarded by some Irish 
 volunteers, the infantry of the legion, and 
 part of Lieutenant- colonel Hamilton's North 
 Carolina regiment, under the command of 
 Lord Rawdon. The cavalry of the legion 
 was stationed in the rear, where also the 71st 
 regiment was stationed as a reserve. 
 
 The respective armies being thus disposed, 
 the action began by the advance of 200 of 
 the British in front of the American artillery, 
 which received them with a steady fire. 
 Gates then commanded the Virginia militia 
 to advance under the command of Colonel 
 Stevens, who cheerfully obeyed the orders of 
 his commander-in-chief, and, when he had 
 led his men within firing distance, urged them 
 to charge the enemy with their bayonets. 
 This portion of the American army did not, 
 however emulate the gallantry of their lead- 
 er. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis, observing their movement, 
 gave orders to Lieutenant-colonel Webster to 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 205 
 
 attack them. The British infantry obeyed 
 his lordship's commands with a loud cheer. 
 The American militia, intimidated by this in- 
 dication of determined daring, were panic- 
 struck, and the Virginians and the Carolini- 
 ans threw down their arms and hastened 
 from the field. The right wing and the corps 
 de reserve, however, maintained their position, 
 and even gained ground upon the enemy; 
 but Lord Cornwallis, taking advantage of a 
 favorable moment, charged them with his 
 cavalry, and put them completely to the rout. 
 
 The victors captured the whole of the bag- 
 gage and artillery of the Americans, who 
 were pursued by the British cavalry for the 
 space of twenty miles ; and so complete 
 was their discomfiture, that on the second 
 day after the engagement Gates could only 
 muster 150 of his fugitive soldiers at Charles- 
 ton, a town in the south of North Carolina, 
 from whence he retreated still further north 
 to Salisbury, and thence to Hillsborough. 
 The sickliness of the season prevented Lord 
 Cornwallis from pursuing the broken remains 
 of the enemy's army ; but he employed the 
 leisure now afforded him in inflicting ven- 
 geance on such of the inhabitants of South 
 Carolina as had been induced, by the pres- 
 ence of Gates's army, to declare in his favor. 
 
 The militiamen who had joined the repub- 
 lican standard, and had fallen into his hands 
 as prisoners, he doomed to the gallows. The 
 
 18 
 
206 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 property of the fugitives, and of the declared 
 friends of independence, he confiscated. These 
 acts, though severe, were perhaps justifiable 
 by the strictness of the laAV. But neither in 
 law nor in honor could his lordship justify the 
 seizure of a number of the principal citizens 
 of Charleston, and most of the military offi- 
 cers residing there under the faith of the late 
 capitulation, and sending them to St. Augus- 
 tine. 
 
 Reduced to desperation by these injudicious 
 severities, the bold and active among the dis- 
 affected formed themselves into independent 
 bands, under different chieftains, among whom 
 Marion and Sumpter were distinguished by 
 their spirit of enterprise. These harassed 
 the scattered parties of the British, several 
 of which they cut off; and by their move- 
 ments the loyalists to the north of the Caro- 
 linas were kept in check. Eight of these 
 chieftains having united their forces, attacked 
 Major Ferguson, who had been sent to the 
 confines of the two provinces to assemble the 
 friends of the British government, and killed 
 or wounded 250 of his new levies, and took 
 800 prisoners, Ferguson himself being among 
 the slain. The American loss was about 
 twenty. 
 
 This success was followed by important 
 results : Lord Cornwallis had marched into 
 North Carolina in the direction of Salisbury ; 
 but when he heard of the defeat and death 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 207 
 
 of Ferguson, he retreated to Winnsborough 
 in the southern province, being severely har- 
 assed in his retrograde movement by the mi- 
 litia and the inhabitants ; and when he re- 
 tired into winter-quarters Sumpter still kept 
 the field. 
 
 In the mean time General Gates had col- 
 lected another army, with which he advanced 
 to Charlotte. Here he received intelligence 
 that Congress had resolved to supersede him 
 and to submit his conduct to a court of in- 
 quiry. Mortified as he was by the ingrati- 
 tude of his country, on the notification of this 
 resolve of the supreme power he dutifully 
 resigned his command. But on his way home 
 from Carolina, his feelings were soothed by 
 an address from the legislature of Virginia, 
 assuring him that " the remembrance of his 
 former glorious services could not be obliter- 
 ated by any reverse of fortune." 
 
 General Greene was now appointed to the 
 command of the southern army. Gates, on 
 receiving the intelligence, conducted with 
 true philosophy and gallantry. He redoubled 
 his efforts to improve the discipline and con- 
 dition of the army, and on the arrival of 
 Greene, in December, received him with cor- 
 diality and friendship. 
 
208 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 SECTION XXXI. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE FRENCH AUXILIARIES UNDER RO- 
 CHAMBEAU, IOtH OF JULY, 1780. 
 
 While these events were occurring in the 
 southern states, General Washington was 
 obliged to confine himself to the irksome and 
 inglorious task of watching, from his encamp- 
 ment at Morristown, the motions of the Brit- 
 ish on New York island, and of restraining 
 their incursions into the adjacent country. 
 Though the army opposed to him was les- 
 sened by the detachment which Sir Henry 
 Clinton led into South Carolina, his own forces 
 were proportionably weakened by the rein- 
 forcements which it was necessary for him to 
 send to the American army in the same quar- 
 ter ; and never did distress press more heavily 
 upon him. 
 
 The depreciation of the currency was at 
 that time so great, that four months' pay of a 
 private would not purchase a single bushel 
 of wheat. His camp was sometimes desti- 
 tute of meat, and sometimes of bread. As 
 each state provided for its own quota of 
 troops, no uniformity could be established in 
 the distribution of provisions. This circum- 
 stance aggravated the general discontent, 
 and a spirit of mutiny began to display itself 
 in two of the Connecticut regiments, which 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 209 
 
 were witli difficulty restrained from forcing 
 their way home at the point of the bayonet. 
 
 Of these discontents the enemy endeavored 
 to take advantage, by circulating in the 
 American camp proclamations offering the 
 most tempting gratifications to such of the 
 continental troops as should desert the repub- 
 lican colors and embrace the royal cause. 
 But these offers were unavailing ; mutinous 
 a,s they were, the malcontents abhorred the 
 thought of joining the enemies of their coun- 
 try ; and on the seasonable arrival of a fresh 
 supply of provisions, they cheerfully returned 
 to their duty. 
 
 Soon after this, when General Knyphausen, 
 who commanded the British forces in the ab- 
 sence of Sir Henry Clinton, made an irrup- 
 tion into Jersey, on the IGth of June, the 
 whole American army marched out to oppose 
 him ; and though he was reinforced by Sir 
 Henry Clinton, who during this expedition 
 had arrived from Charleston, he was compel- 
 led to measure back his steps. Both the ad- 
 vance and retreat of the German were mark 
 ed b}^ the devastation committed by his troops, 
 who burnt the town of Springfield, and most 
 of the houses on their line of march. 
 
 Alarmed by the representations made by 
 General Washington of the destitute condi- 
 tion of his army. Congress sent three mem- 
 bers of their body with instructions to inquire 
 into the condition of their forces, and with 
 
210 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 authority to reform abuses. These gentle- 
 men fully verified the statement? of the com- 
 mander-in-chief. No sooner was this fact 
 known in the city of Philadelphia, than a 
 subscription was set on foot for the relief of 
 the suffering soldiers, which soon amounted 
 to 300,000 dollars. Even the ladies of Phil- 
 adelphia associated themselves for the pur- 
 pose of administering to the necessities of the 
 army, and, after subscribing with generous 
 profusion from their own means, personally 
 solicited the aid of others with rtiuch success. 
 
 The above sum was intrusted to the dis- 
 cretion of a well-chosen committee, who ap- 
 propriated it to the purchase of provisions for 
 the troops. The three commissioners also 
 applied themselves diligently to the task of 
 recruiting and re-organizing the army. They 
 prescribed to each state the quota of forces 
 which it was to contribute towards the rais- 
 ing of 35,000 men, their deficiency in regulars 
 being to be supplied by drafts from their re- 
 spective militia. 
 
 The states of New England, Pennsylvania, 
 and Virginia, promptly listened to the call of 
 their country, and made extraordinary efforts 
 to furnish their several quotas of recruits. 
 TJie other members of the Union exerted 
 themselves to the best of their ability ; and 
 though the general result of these exertions 
 did not produce the number of troops which 
 was deemed requisite for the public service, 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 211 
 
 more could not, in such circumstances, have 
 been vvrell expected. 
 
 The Congress were the more earnest in 
 their wishes to put their army on a respecta- 
 ble footing, as they were in expectation of 
 the arrival of a body of auxiliary forces from 
 France. This welcome aid appeared off 
 Rhode Island on the 10th of July, 1780, on 
 which day. Monsieur Ternay sailed into the 
 harbor of Newport with a squadron of seven 
 sail of the line, five frigates, and five schoon- 
 ers, convoying a fleet of transports, having on 
 board 6,000 men, under the command of the 
 Count de Rochambeau. 
 
 Admiral Arbuthnot, who had under his 
 command, at New York, only four sail of the 
 line, on hearing of the arrival of the French 
 at Rhode Island, was apprehensive of being 
 attacked by their superior force. But he was 
 soon relieved from his fears by the vigilance 
 of the British ministry, who, on the sailing of 
 the French fleet from Europe, had sent to his 
 assistance Admiral Graves, with six ships of 
 the line. 
 
 On receiving this reinforcement, he sailed 
 for Rhode Island, for the purpose of encoun- 
 tering the French squadron, while Sir Henry 
 Clinton proceeded with 8,000 men to the 
 north of Long Island, for the purpose of land- 
 ing on the opposite part of the continent, and 
 attacking their land forces. But the British 
 Admiral found the enemy's ships so well se- 
 
212 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 cured by batteries and other land fortifica- 
 tions, that he was obliged to content himself 
 with blocking them up in their harbor ; and 
 Clinton, receiving intelligence that General 
 Washington was preparing to take advantage 
 of his absence by making an attack upon 
 New York, hastened back to the relief of 
 that place. 
 
 SECTION XXXII. 
 
 TREASON OF ARNOLD, AND DEATH OF ANDBE 
 
 Washington, on the retreat of General 
 Clinton, withdrew to West Point, an almost 
 impregnable position, situated about fifty 
 miles to the northward of New York, on the 
 Hudson river, by means of which he kept up 
 a communication between the eastern and 
 southern states ; and having occasion, to- 
 wards the end of the month of September, 
 to go to Rhode Island to hold a conference 
 with the French admiral and Count Rocham- 
 beau, he left the command of this important 
 post to General Arnold, unconscious that in 
 so doing, he intrusted the fortunes of the in- 
 fant republic to a traitor. 
 
 West Point was the most important post in 
 the possession of the Americans. It had ac- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 213 
 
 cordingly been fortified with great care and 
 expense, and was the repository of the most 
 valuable stores of the army; and at the time 
 of Arnold's defection, it was the resting point 
 upon which the fate of the American army 
 turned. Had it fallen into the hands of the 
 British, no sagacity nor courage could have 
 saved the whole army in the middle states 
 from being cut to pieces or captured in de- 
 tail. 
 
 The possession of the states of New York 
 and New Jersey, the command of the great 
 channels of intercourse between the states, a 
 complete division of the remnants of the re- 
 publican forces, and an efficient concentra- 
 tion of those of Great Britain, must have 
 been the frijiits of this treason, had it been 
 successful. What might have been the ef- 
 fects upon the progress of the war it is diffi- 
 cult to imagine. The blow would have been 
 disastrous. The value of the prize to the 
 British induced them to enter eagerly into 
 negotiation with the traitor, and offer a mu- 
 nificent price for the treachery. 
 
 Arnold was brave and hardy, but dissipated 
 and profligate. Extravagant in his expenses, 
 he had involved himself in debts, and having 
 had, on frequent occasions, the administration 
 of considerable sums of the public money, his 
 accounts were so unsatisfactory, that he was 
 liable to an impeachment on charges of pec- 
 ulation. Much had been forgiven indeed, 
 
21^ AMEB^eAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 and morL would probaby have been forgiven 
 to his valor and military skill. But alarmed 
 by the terrors of a guilty conscience, he de- 
 termined to get rid of pecuniary responsibility 
 by betraying his country ; and accordingly 
 entered into a negotiation with Sir Henry 
 Clinton, in which he engaged, when a proper 
 opportunity should present itself, to make 
 such a disposition of his troops as would en- 
 able the British to make themselves masters* 
 of West Point. 
 
 The details of this negotiation were con- 
 ducted by Major Andre, the adjutant-general 
 of the British army, with whom Arnold car- 
 ried on a clandestine correspondence, address- 
 ing him under the name of Anderson, whilf 
 he himself assumed that of Gustavus. T6 
 facilitate their communications, the Vulture 
 sloop of war was moved near to West Point ; 
 and the absence of Washington seeming to 
 present a fit opportunity for the final arrange- 
 ment of their plans, on the night of the 21st 
 of September, Arnold sent a boat to the Vul- 
 ture to bring Andre on shore. 
 
 That officer landed in his uniform between 
 the posts of the two armies, and was met by 
 Arnold, with whom he held a conference 
 which lasted till daybreak, when it was too 
 late for him to return to the vessel. In this 
 extremity, unfortunately for himself, he al- 
 lowed Arnold to conduct him within one of 
 the American posts, where he lay concealed 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 215 
 
 till the next night. In the mean time, the 
 Vulture, having been incommoded by an 
 American batter}^ had moved lower dovi^n 
 the river, and the boatmen now refused to 
 convey the stranger on board her. 
 
 Being cut off from this way of escape, An- 
 dre was advised to make for New York by 
 land ; and, for this purpose, he was furnished 
 with a disguise, and a passport signed by 
 Arnold, designating him as John Anderson. 
 He had advanced in safety near the British 
 lines, when he was stopped by three New 
 York militiamen. Instead of shov^^ing his 
 pass to these scouts, he asked them " where 
 they belonged to ?" and, on their answering 
 " to below," meaning to New York, with sin- 
 gular want of judgment, he stated that he 
 was a British officer, and begged them to let 
 him proceed without delay. 
 
 The men, now throwing off the mask, 
 seized him ; and, notwithstanding his offers 
 of a considerable bribe if they would release 
 him, they proceeded to search him, and found 
 upon his person, papers which gave fatal evi- 
 dence of his own culpability and of Arnold's 
 treachery. These papers were in Arnold's 
 handwriting, and contained exact and de- 
 tailed returns of the state of the forces, ord- 
 nance, and defences of West Point and its 
 dependencies, with the artillery orders, criti- 
 cal remarks on the works, an estimate of the 
 number of men that were ordinarily on duty 
 
216 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 to man them, and the copy of a state of mat- 
 ters that had, on the sixth of the month, been 
 laid before a comicil of war by the command- 
 er-in-chief. 
 
 When Andre was conducted by his captors 
 to the quarters of the commander of the 
 scouting parties, still assuming the name of 
 Anderson, he requested permission to write 
 to Arnold, to inform him of his detention. 
 This request was inconsiderately granted ; 
 and the traitor, being thus apprized of his 
 peril, instantly made his escape. At this mo- 
 ment, Washington arriving at West Point, 
 was made acquainted with the whole affair. 
 Having taken the necessary precautions for 
 the security of his post, he referred the case 
 of the prisoner to a court-martial, consisting 
 of fourteen general officers. 
 
 Before this tribunal, Andre appeared with 
 steady composure of mind. He voluntarily 
 confessed all the facts of his case. Being 
 interrogated by the board with respect to his 
 conception of his coming on shore under the 
 sanction of a flag, he ingenuously replied, 
 that " if he had landed under that protection, 
 he might have returned under it." The court, 
 having taken all the circumstances of his 
 case into consideration, unanimously concur- 
 red in opinion, " that he ought to be considered 
 as a spy ; and that, agreeably to the laws 
 and usages of nations, he ought Xo suiFer 
 death." 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 217 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton, first by amicable nego- 
 tiation, and afterwards by threats, endeavored 
 to induce the American commander to spare 
 the life of his friend ; but Washington did 
 not think this act of mercy compatible with 
 his duty to his country, and Andre was ordered 
 for execution. He had petitioned to be al- 
 lowed to die a soldier's death ; but this re- 
 quest could not be granted. Of this circum- 
 stance, however, he was kept in ignorance, 
 till he saw the preparations for his final ca- 
 tastrophe, when finding that the bitterness of 
 his destiny was not to be alleviated as he 
 wished, he exclaimed, " It is but a momen- 
 tary pang !" and calmly submitted to his 
 fate. 
 
 Soon after this sad occurrence, Washing- 
 ton, in writing to a friend, expressed himself 
 in the following tenris : — " Andre has met his 
 fate, and with that fortitude which was to be 
 expected from an accomplished gentleman 
 and a gallant officer ; but I am mistaken if 
 Arnold is not undergoing, at this time, the 
 torments of a mental hell." Whatever might 
 be the feelings of the traitor, his treason had 
 its reward. He was immediately appointed 
 brigadier-general in the service of the king 
 of Great Britain ; and, on his promotion, he 
 had the folly and presumption to publish an 
 address, in which he avowed, that, being dis- 
 satisfied with the alliance between the United 
 States and France, " he had retained his arms 
 
 19 
 
218 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 and command for an opportunity to surrender 
 them to Great Britain." 
 
 This address was exceeded in meanness 
 and insolence by another, in which he invited 
 his late companions in arms to follow his ex- 
 ample. The American soldiers read these 
 manifestoes with scorn; and so odious did the 
 character of a traitor, as exemplified in the 
 conduct of Arnold, become in their estimation, 
 that " desertion totally ceased among them at 
 this remarkable period of the war."*' 
 
 Circumstances, however, took place soon 
 after the discovery of Arnold's treachery, 
 which led that renegade to entertain delusive 
 hopes that the army of Washington would 
 disband itself The Pennsylvanian troops 
 now serving on the Hudson, had been enlisted 
 on the ambiguous terms of " serving three 
 years, or during the continuance of the war." 
 As the three years from the date of their en- 
 rolment were expired, they claimed their dis- 
 charge, which was refused by their officers, 
 who maintained that the option of the two 
 above-mentioned conditions rested with the 
 state. 
 
 Wearied out with privations, and indignant 
 at what they deemed an attempt to impose 
 upon them, the soldiers flew to arms, deposed 
 their officers, and under the guidance of others 
 whom they elected in their place, they quitted 
 
 * Ramsay. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 219 
 
 Morristown and marched to Princeton. Here 
 they were solicited by the most tempting of- 
 fers on the part of some emissaries sent to 
 them by Sir Henry Clinton, to put themselves 
 under the protection of the British govern- 
 ment. But they were so far from listening 
 to these overtures, that they arrested Sir 
 Henry's agents, and their grievances having 
 been redressed by the interposition of a com- 
 mittee of Congress, they returned to their du- 
 ty, and the British spies, having been tried 
 by a board of officers, were condemned to 
 death and executed. 
 
 A similar revolt of a small body of the 
 Jersey line was quelled by the capital pun- 
 ishment of two of the ringleaders of the mu- 
 tineers. The distresses which were the chief 
 cause of this misconduct of the American 
 soldiery, were principally occasioned by the 
 depreciation of the continental currency ; 
 which evil, at this period, effected its own 
 cure, as the depreciated paper was by com- 
 mon consent, and without any act of the legis- 
 lature, put out of use ; and by a seasonable 
 loan from France, and by the revival of trade 
 with the French and Spanish West Indies, its 
 place was speedily supplied by hard money. 
 
 The principal cause of delusion on the sub- 
 ject in the mind of Arnold was the singular 
 fact, that Sergeant Champe, a high-minded 
 patriot, was induced to feign a desertion from 
 the army at West Point to join the British in 
 
220 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 New York, and then to seize Arnold and de- 
 liver him over to Washington for merited 
 punishment. No one save Lee, the com- 
 manding officer at the post, and Washington 
 was admitted into the secret ; and of course 
 all others, Arnold and the patriots, looked up- 
 on the affair as a sober reality. 
 
 The preh'minaries were all adjusted in due 
 order. The hour named for the desertion, 
 eleven at night, arrived. The sergeant re- 
 turned to the camp, and taking his cloak, va- 
 lise, and orderly book, drew his horse from the 
 picket, and mounting him, put himself upon 
 a perilous adventure. The alarm was speed- 
 ily given ; and within an hour or a little 
 more, an organized party was in full pursuit 
 of the supposed traitor. The chase was a 
 vigorous one. At last, he abandoned his 
 horse, cloak, and other equipments, and with 
 great exertions ran for the river, into which 
 he plunged, and then swam for the British 
 galleys. 
 
 His pursuers fired on him, but without ef- 
 fect ; and he was received on board with 
 great exultation. Forthwith he was convey- 
 ed to New York, where he was admitted to 
 the society and confidence of Arnold ; to 
 whom, for the purpose of accomplishing his 
 object, he made such representations, that 
 Arnold might have imagined the whole patriot 
 army was ready for desertion. Champe next 
 enlisted in the British service, carrying on. 
 
AMERICAN E EVOLUTION. 221 
 
 nowever, at the same time, a secret corres- 
 pondence with the American commanding 
 officer. The plan was matured for the res- 
 toration of Arnold. The very night was fixed 
 on for its consummation, and not a doubt ex- 
 isted it would have succeeded, had not Arnold, 
 on the very day previous, been ordered to a 
 different part of the city. 
 
 SECTION xxxiir. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1781 DEFEAT OF GREENE, BY LORD 
 
 CORNWALLIS. 
 
 Though the Spaniards and the Dutch had 
 united with France in hostility against Brit- 
 ain, she, with dauntless spirit, everywhere 
 made head against her foreign enemies ; and 
 his majesty's ministers were now, still more 
 than ever, determined, by an extension of 
 combined measures, to reduce the North 
 American provinces to submission. The plan 
 of the campaign of 1781, accordingly, com- 
 prehended active operations in the states of 
 New York, Georgia, South Carolina, and Vir- 
 ginia. The invasion of the last-mentioned 
 province was intrusted to Arnold, who, taking 
 with him a force of about 1,600 men, and a 
 number of armed vessels, sailed up the Ches- 
 apeake, spreading terror and devastation 
 wherever he came. 
 
 • IJH 
 
222 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 An attempt to intercept him was made by 
 the French fleet, which sailed from Rhode 
 Island for that purpose ; but after an indeci- 
 sive engagement with the squadron of Admi- 
 ral Arbuthnot, off the capes of Virginia, was 
 obliged to return to Newport, leaving the in- 
 vaded province open to the incursions of the 
 British, who, making occasional advances in- 
 to the country, destroyed an immense quantity 
 of public stores, and enriched themselves with 
 an extensive plunder of private property, at 
 the same time burning all the shipping in the 
 Chesapeake and its tributary streams, which 
 they could not conveniently carry away as 
 prizes. 
 
 The Carolinas also suffered severely by the 
 scourge of war. When Gates was superseded 
 in the command of the American forces i 
 that district, he was succeeded by General 
 Greene, to whose charge he transferred the 
 poor remains of his army, which were col- 
 lected at Charlotte, in North Carolina, and 
 which amounted only to 2,000 men. These 
 troops were imperfectly armed and badly 
 clothed ; and such was the poverty of their 
 military chest, that they were obliged to sup- 
 ply themselves with provisions by forced re- 
 quisitions made upon the inhabitants of the 
 adjacent country. 
 
 In these circumstances, to encounter the 
 superior numbers of the enemy in pitched 
 battle would have been madness. Greene. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 223 
 
 therefore, resolved to carry on the war as a 
 partisan officer, and to avail himself of every 
 opportunity of harassing the British in detail. 
 The first enterprise v^hich he undertook in 
 prosecution of this system was eminently suc- 
 cessful. Understanding that the inhabitants 
 of the district of Ninety-six, who had submit- 
 ted to the royal authority, were severely ha- 
 rassed b3^ the licensed acts of plunder com- 
 mitted by the king's troops and the loyalists, 
 he sent General Morgan into that quarter 
 with a small detachment, which was, on its 
 arrival, speedily increased by the oppressed 
 countrymen, who were burning for revenge. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis, who was, at this moment, 
 on the point of invading North Carolina, no 
 sooner heard of this movement, than he sent 
 Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton with 1,100 men, 
 to drive Morgan out of the district. Tarleton 
 was an excellent partisan officer, and had 
 gained great reputation by his superior activ- 
 ity, and by his success in various rencoun- 
 ters with detached parties of the republican 
 troops. 
 
 This success, however, and the superiority 
 of his numbers to those of Morgan's forces, 
 caused him too much to despise the enemj^ 
 In pursuance of Lord Cornwallis's orders, he 
 marched in quest of his antagonist, and, on 
 the evening of the 16th of January, 1781, he 
 arrived at the ground which General Morgan 
 had quitted but a few hours before. At two 
 
224 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 o'clock the next morning he recommenced his 
 pursuit of the enemy, marching with extra- 
 ordinary rapidity through a very difficult 
 country, and at daylight he discovered the 
 enemy in his Iront. From the intelligence 
 obtained from prisoners who were taken by 
 his scouting parties, he learned that Morgan 
 awaited his attack at a place called the Cow- 
 pens, near Pacolet river. 
 
 Here the American commander had drawn 
 up his little army, two thirds of which con- 
 sisted of militia, in two lines, the first of 
 which was advanced about two hundred yards 
 before the second, with orders to form on the 
 right of the second in case the onset of the 
 enemy should oblige them to retire. The rear 
 was closed by a small body of regular caval- 
 ry, and about forty-five mounted militiamen. 
 On the sight of this array, Tarleton ordered 
 his troops to form in line. But before this 
 arrangement was effected, that officer, obey- 
 ing the dictates of valor rather than those of 
 prudence, commenced the attack, heading his 
 squadron in person. The British advanced 
 with a shout, and assailed the enemy with a 
 well-directed discharge of musketr}^ The 
 Americans reserved their fire till the British 
 were within forty or fifty yards of their ranks, 
 and then poured among them a volley which 
 did considerable execution. 
 
 The British, however, undauntedly pushed 
 on and swept the militia off the field. They 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 225 
 
 then assailed the second line, and compelled 
 it to fall back on the cavalry. Here the 
 Americans rallied, and renew^ed the fight w^ith 
 desperate valor : charging the enemy with 
 fixed bayonets, they drove back the advance, 
 and following up their success, overthrew the 
 masses of their opponents as they presented 
 themselves in succession, and finally won a 
 complete and decisive victory. 
 
 Tarleton fled from the bloody field, leaving 
 his artillery and baggage in the possession of 
 the enemy. His loss amounted to 300 killed 
 and wounded, and 500 prisoners, while that 
 of the Americans was only 12 killed and 60 
 wounded. Immediately after the action. Gen- 
 eral Greene sent off his prisoners, under a 
 proper guard, in the direction of Virginia ; 
 and as soon as he had made the requisite ar- 
 rangements, he followed them with his little 
 army. 
 
 On receiving intelligence of Tarleton's dis- 
 aster, Lord Cornwallis hastened in pursuit of 
 the retreating enemy, and forced his marche?' 
 with such effect, that he reached the Catawba 
 river on the evening of the day on which 
 Morgan had crossed it ; but here his progress 
 was for a short while impeded, as a heavy 
 fall of rain had rendered the stream impassa- 
 ble. When the waters subsided, he hurried 
 on, hoping to overtake the fugitives before 
 they had passed the Yadkin ; but when he 
 had arrived at the river, he found to his mor- 
 
226 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 tification that they had crossed it, and had 
 secured the craft and boats which they had 
 used for that purpose on the eastern bank. 
 
 He therefore marched higher up the stream, 
 till he found the river fordable. While he 
 was employed in this circuitous movement, 
 General Greene had united his forces with 
 those of Morgan, at Guildford Court-house. 
 Still, however, the forces of the American 
 commander were so inferior to those of his 
 pursuers, that, not daring to risk an engage- 
 ment, he hastened straight onwards to the 
 river Dan ; while Lord Cornwallis, travers- 
 ing the upper country, where the streams are 
 fordable, proceeded, in the hope that he might 
 gain upon the enemy, so as to overtake them, 
 in consequence of their being obstructed in 
 their progress by the deep water below. But 
 so active was Greene, and so fortunate in 
 finding the means of conveyance, that he 
 crossed the Dan into Virginia, with his whole 
 army, artillery, and baggage. So narrow, 
 however, was his escape, that the van of 
 Cornwallis's army arrived in time to witness 
 the ferrying over of his rear. 
 
 Mortified as Lord Cornwallis was by being 
 thus disappointed of the fruits of this toilsome 
 march, he consoled himself by the i-eflection 
 that the American army being thus driven 
 out of North Carolina, he was master of that 
 province, and was in a condition to recruit 
 hlis forces by the accession of the loyalists, 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTIO-N. 227 
 
 with whom he had been led to believe that it 
 abounded. 
 
 He therefore summoned all true subjects 
 of his majesty to repair to the royal standard, 
 which he had erected at Hillsborough. This 
 experiment had little success. The friends of 
 government were in general timid, and diffi- 
 dent of his lordship's power ultimately to pro- 
 tect them. Their terrors were confirmed, 
 when they learned that the indefatigable 
 Greene had recrossed the Dan, and had cut 
 oiT a body of Tories who were on their march 
 to join the royal forces, and that he had com- 
 pelled Tarleton to retreat from the frontier 
 of. the province to Hillsborough. For seven 
 days, the American commander manoeuvred 
 wdthin ten miles of the British camp ; and at 
 the end of that time, having received rein- 
 forcements from Virginia, he resolved to give 
 Lord Cornwallis battle. 
 
 The engagement took place on the 15th of 
 March, at Guildford. The American army 
 consisted of 4,400 men, and the British of 
 only 2,400 ; but notwithstanding this disparity 
 of numbers, disciplined valor prevailed. The 
 American militia gave way with precipita- 
 tion, and though the regulars fought with 
 spirit, they were obliged to retreat, but only 
 to the distance of three miles. Lord Corn- 
 wallis kept the field, but he had suftered such 
 loss in the action, that he was unable to fol- 
 low up his victory, and soon afterwards 
 
228 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 marched towards Wilmington, leaving behind 
 him his sick and wounded. On this march 
 he was pursued by Greene as far as Deep 
 river. 
 
 SECTION XXXIV. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1781 CONTINUED DEFEAT OF LORD 
 
 EAWDON, BY GENERAL GREENE. 
 
 At Wilmington, Lord Cornwallis made a 
 halt for three days for the purpose of gi^^ii'^g 
 his troops some rest ; and at the end ol that 
 time, resolving to carry the war into Virgi- 
 nia, he marched to Petersburgh, an inland 
 town of that province, situated on James 
 river. Hither it was expected that he would 
 have been followed by the enemy; but Greene 
 being aware that his lordship had by this 
 movement approached nearer to the main 
 army of the Americans, and confident that 
 his motions would be closely watched by the 
 Virginia militia, after mature consideration 
 adopted the bold measure of again penetrating 
 into South Carolina. 
 
 That province was in the military occupa- 
 tion of the British,who were, indeed, harassed 
 by the partisan troops of Marion and Sumpter, 
 but were in such apparent strength, that there 
 was reason to fear that the republicans, if not 
 aided by further support^ would abandon the 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 229 
 
 cause of their country in despair. The Brit- 
 ish had formed chains of posts, which, extend- 
 ing from the sea to the western extremity of 
 the province, maintained a mutual communi- 
 cation by strong patrols and bodies of horse. 
 The first of these lines of defence was estab- 
 lished on the Wateree, on the banks of which 
 river the British occupied the well-fortified 
 town of Camden, and Fort Watson, situated 
 between that place and Charleston. 
 
 The attack of the fort, Greene intrusted to 
 Marion, who soon compelled its garrison to 
 surrender on capitulation. In encountering 
 Lord Rawdon, near Camden, Greene w^as not 
 so fortunate. In consequence of the unsteadi- 
 ness of a few of his troops, he was defeated, 
 but moved off the ground in such good oder, 
 that he saved his artillery, and though wound- 
 ed, he took up a position, at the distance of 
 about five miles from Camden, from which 
 he sent out parties to intercept the supplies, 
 of which he was apprized that his antagonist 
 was in the utmost need. 
 
 In consequence of the vigilance of Greene, 
 in cutting off his resources, and of the loss of 
 Fort Watson, which had been the link of his 
 communication with Charleston, Lord Raw- 
 don, after having in vain endeavored to bring 
 on a second general engagement with the 
 Americans, was reduced to the necessity of 
 destroying apart of his baggage, and retreating 
 to the south side of the river Santee. This ret- 
 
 30 
 
230 AMERICAN REVDLUTION. 
 
 rograde movement encouraged the friends of 
 Congress to resume their arms, and hasten to 
 reinforce the corps of Marion, who speedily 
 made himself master of the British posts on 
 the Congaree, the garrisons of which were in 
 general made prisoners, while those which 
 escaped that fate by a timely evacuation of 
 their positions, made good their retreat to the 
 capital of the province. 
 
 Savannah river now presented the last line 
 of defence held by the British, who there pos- 
 sessed the town of Augusta and the post of 
 Ninety-six. The former of those places was 
 attacked by Lieutenant-colonel Lee, and after 
 a defence of unprecedented obstinacy on the 
 part of its commander. Colonel Brown, it sur- 
 rendered on honorable terms. The important 
 post of Ninety-six, commanded by Lieutenant- 
 colonel Cruger, was strongly fortified, and de- 
 fended by 500 men. 
 
 On reconnoitering the place. General Greene, 
 whose army was not much more numerous 
 than the garrison, determined to besiege it in 
 form. He accordingly broke ground on the 
 25th of May, and pushed his works with such 
 vigor, that he had approached within six yards 
 of the ditch, and had erected a mound thirty 
 feet high, from which his riflemen poured their 
 shot with fatal aim upon the opposite parapet 
 of the enemy, who were hourly expected to 
 beat a parley. But this bright prospect of 
 success was at once overclouded by the arri- 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 231 
 
 val of intelligence that Lord Rawdon, having 
 received reinlbrcements from Ireland, was 
 hastening to the relief of his countrymen, at 
 the head of 2,000 men. 
 
 In this extremity, Greene made a desperate 
 effort to carry the place by assault, but was 
 repulsed, and evacuating the works which he 
 had constructed with so much labor, he re- 
 treated to the northward across the Saluda, 
 from whence he was chased by Lord Rawdon 
 beyond the Eimoree. 
 
 The feelings of the American commander 
 on seeing the fruit of his toils thus suddenly 
 and unexpectedly torn from his grasp, must 
 have been of a most agonizing nature. But 
 Greene was gifted with an elasticity of spirit 
 which prevented him from yielding to the 
 pressure of misfortune, and his opponents 
 seldom found him more dangerous than im- 
 mediately after suffering a defeat. On the 
 present occasion, when some of his counsel- 
 lors, in the moment of despondency, advised 
 him to retreat mto Virginia, he firmly replied, 
 that " he would save South Carolina, or perish 
 in the attempt." 
 
 On maturely deliberating on the object of 
 the campaign, and on the relative situation 
 of himself and the enemy, he was well aware 
 that though Lord Rawdon was superior to 
 him in the number as well as the discipline 
 of his troops ; yet, if his lordship kept his ar- 
 my concentrated, he could afford no encour- 
 
23S AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 agement, or even protection, to the royalists, 
 and that if it were divided, it might be beaten 
 in detail. As he expected, the British com- 
 mander, finding that he could not bring him 
 to an engagement, took the latter com^se, and 
 withdrawing a detachment from Ninety-six, 
 re-established himself on the line of the Con- 
 garee. 
 
 Within two days, however, after his arrival 
 at the banks of that river, he was astonished 
 to find his indefatigable enemy in his front, 
 with numbers so recruited, that he thought it 
 prudent to decline the battle which was offer- 
 ed him, and retreated to Orangeburgh, where 
 he was joined by Lieutenant-colonel Cruger, 
 who, in the present circumstances, had thought 
 it expedient to evacuate his post at Ninety- 
 six. On the junction of the forces of these 
 two commanders, Greene retired to the heights 
 above Santee, from v/hence he sent his active 
 coadjutors, Marion and Sumpter, with strong 
 scouting parties, to interrupt the commu- 
 nication between Orangeburgh and Charles- 
 ton. 
 
 As a last effort to maintain their influence 
 in the centre of the province, the British took 
 post in force near the confluence of the Wa- 
 teree and the Congaree ; but on the approach 
 of Greene, they retreated for the space of 
 forty miles, and waited his threatened attack 
 at the Eutaw Springs. Here an obstinate 
 engagement took place, in which the British 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 233 
 
 were defeated with the loss of 1,100 men, 
 and were compelled to abandon the province 
 to the republicans, and take shelter in Charles- 
 ton. 
 
 Of all the incidents of the American revo- 
 lutionary war, the most brilliant is this cam- 
 paign of General Greene. At the head of a 
 beaten army, undisciplined, and badly equip- 
 ped, he entered the province of South Caro- 
 lina, which was occupied, from its eastern to 
 its western extremity, by an enemy much su- 
 perior to him in numbers, in appointments, 
 and in military experience. But by his genius, 
 his courage, and his perseverance, he broke 
 through their lines of operation, drove them 
 from post to post, and though defeated in the 
 field, he did not cease to harass them in de- 
 tail, till he had driven them within the fortifi- 
 cations of the capital. Well did he merit the 
 gold medal and the British standard bestowed 
 upon him by a vote of Congress, for his ser- 
 vices on this occasion. By his successes he 
 revived the drooping spirits of the friends of 
 independence in the southern states, and pre- 
 pared the way for the final victories which 
 awaited the arms of his country in Virginia, 
 and which led to the happy termination of 
 the war. 
 
 While the American commander was en- 
 joying the honors bestowed upon him by his 
 grateful countrymen, as the just meed of his 
 valor and skill in arms, Lord Rawdon, soon 
 
 20 
 
234 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 after his return to Charleston, by an example 
 of severity, brought odium on the British 
 cause, and fired the breasts of the continen- 
 tals with indignation. Among the American 
 officers, who distinguished themselves in the 
 defence of South Carolina, was Col. Haynes, 
 a gentleman of fortune, and of considerable 
 influence in his neighborhood. 
 
 After the capitulation of Charleston, Haynes 
 voluntarily surrendered himself to the British 
 authorities, requesting to be allowed his per- 
 sonal liberty on his parole. This indulgence, 
 usually granted to officers of rank, he could 
 not obtain ; and was told that he must either 
 take the oath of allegiance to his Britannic 
 majesty, or submit to close confinement. In 
 an evil hour, induced by family considera- 
 tions, he chose the former alternative, and 
 signed a declaration of fealty to George III., 
 protesting, however, against the clause which 
 required him to support the royal government 
 with arms ; which clause, the officer who re- 
 ceived his submission assured him it was not 
 intended to enforce. The officer in question, 
 no doubt in this assurance exceeded his au- 
 thority, and Haynes was time after time sum- 
 moned to join the royal standard. 
 
 Regarding this as a breach of the contract 
 into which he had entered with the British, he 
 again took up arms on the side of indepen- 
 dence, and having been taken prisoner in a 
 skirmish with part of the royal forces, he 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 235 
 
 was, without the formality of a trial, ordered 
 for execution by Lord Rawdon. To the peti- 
 tions of this unfortunate officer's children, as 
 well as those of the inhabitants of Charles- 
 ton, his lordship turned a deaf ear, and Haynes 
 suffered death as a rebel and a traitor. 
 Though the death of this gallant soldier may 
 be vindicated by the strictness of the law, its 
 policy was, in the existing circumstances, ex- 
 tremely questionable. 
 
 SECTION XXXV. 
 
 FURTHER EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN PREPARATIONS 
 
 FOR THE SIEGE OF NEW YORK. 
 
 It has already been related that, after de- 
 feating General Greene at Guildford, Lord 
 Cornwallis marched to Petersburgh, in Vir- 
 ginia. His lordship did not take this step 
 without hesitation. He well knew the enter- 
 prising character of his opponent, and was 
 aware of the probability of his making an 
 incursion into South Carolina. He flattered 
 himself, however, that the forces which he 
 had left in that province, under the command 
 of Lord Rawdon, would suffice to keep the 
 enemy in check. In this idea he was con- 
 firmed by the result of the battle of Camden, 
 and by the receipt of intelligence that three 
 
236 AMERICAN revolt: TION. 
 
 British regiments, which had sailed from Cork, 
 might be expected speedily to arrive at 
 Charleston. 
 
 No longer anxious, therefore, for the fate 
 of South Carolina, he determined to march 
 forward, in the confident hope of increasing 
 his military renown by the conquest of Vir- 
 ginia. He accordingly advanced with rapid- 
 ity from Petersburgh to Manchester, on James 
 river, with a view of crossing over from that 
 place to Richmond, for the purpose of seizing 
 a large quantity of stores and provisions, 
 which had been deposited there by the Ameri- 
 cans. But on his arrival at Manchester, he 
 had the mortification to find that, on the day 
 before, this depot had been removed by the 
 Marquis de Lafayette, who, at the command 
 of Congress, had hastened from the head of 
 Elk to oppose him. 
 
 Having crossed James river, at Westown, 
 his lordship marched through Hanover coun- 
 ty to the South Anna river, followed at a 
 guarded distance by the marquis, wdio, in this 
 critical contingency, finding his forces inferior 
 to those of the e»nemy, wisely restrained the 
 vivacity which is the usual characteristic of 
 his age and country. But having effected a 
 junction with General Wayne, which brought 
 his numbers nearly to an equality with those 
 of the British, and having once more, by a 
 skilful mancEuvre, saved his stores, which had 
 been removed to Albemarle old court-house, 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 237 
 
 he displayed so bold a front, that the British 
 commander fell back to Richmond, and thence 
 to Williamsburg. 
 
 On his arrival at the latter place, Lord 
 Cornwallis received dispatches from Sir Hen- 
 ry Clinton, requiring him instantly to send 
 from his army a detachment to the relief of 
 New York, which was threatened with a 
 combined attack by the French and the 
 Americans. The consequent diminution of 
 his force induced his lordship to cross James 
 river, and to march in the direction of Ports- 
 mouth. Before, however, the reinforcements 
 destined for New York had sailed, he received 
 counter-orders and instructions from Sir Hen- 
 ry Clinton, in pursuance of which he convey- 
 ed his army, amounting to 7,000 men, to York- 
 town, which place he proceeded to fortify with 
 the utmost skill and industry. 
 
 The object of Lord Cornwallis in thus post- 
 ing himself at Yorktown, was to co-operate 
 in the subjugation of Virginia with a fleet 
 which he was led to expect would about this 
 time proceed from the West Indies to the 
 Chesapeake. While his lordship was anx- 
 iously looking out for the British pennants, he 
 had the mortification, on the 30th of August, 
 to see the Count de Grasse sailing up the bay 
 with twenty-eight sail of the line, three of 
 which, accompanied by a proper number of 
 frigates, were immediately dispatched to block 
 up York river. 
 
238 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 The French vessels had no sooner anchor- 
 ed,^ than they landed a force of 3,200 men, 
 who, under the command of the Marquis de 
 St. Simon, effected a junction with the army 
 of Lafayette, and took post at Williamsburg. 
 Soon after this operation, the hopes of the 
 British were revived by the appearance off 
 the Capes of Virginia, of Admiral Graves, 
 with twenty sail of the line — a force which 
 seemed to be competent to extricate Lord 
 Cornwallis from his difficult position. 
 
 These hopes, however, proved delusive. 
 On the 7th of Septem^ber, M. de Grasse en- 
 countered the British fleet, and a distant fight 
 took place, in which the French seemed to 
 rely more on their manoeuvring than on their 
 valor. The reason of this was soon apparent. 
 In the course of the night which followed the 
 action, a squadron of eight line-of-battle ships 
 safely passed the British, and joined De Grasse, 
 in consequence of which accession of strength 
 to the enemy. Admiral Graves thought it pru- 
 dent to quit that part of the coast, and retire 
 to New York. This impediment to their op- 
 erations having been removed, the Americans 
 and French directed the whole of their united 
 efforts to the capture of Yorktown. 
 
 This had not, however, been the original 
 design of General Washington at the com- 
 mencement of the campaign. Early in the 
 spring he had agreed with Count Rocham- 
 beau to lay siege to New York, in concert 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 239 
 
 with a French fleet which was expected to 
 reach the neighborhood of Staten Island in 
 the month of August. He had accordingly- 
 issued orders for considerable reinforcements, 
 especially of militia, to join his army in proper 
 time to commence the projected operations. 
 
 The French troops under Rochambeau 
 having arrived punctually at his encampment 
 near Peekskill, General Washington advanced 
 to King's bridge, and hemmed in the British 
 in ISew York island. Every preparation 
 seemed to be now in forwardness for the 
 commencement of the siege ; but the militia 
 came in tardily. The adjacent states were 
 dilatory in sending in their quotas of troops ; 
 and while he was impatiently awaiting their 
 arrival, Washington had the mortification to 
 receive intelligence that Clinton had received 
 a reinforcement of 3,000 Germans. 
 
 While his mind was agitated by disappoint- 
 ment, and chagrined by that want of zeal on 
 the part of the middle states which he ap- 
 
 Erehended could not but bring discredit on 
 is country, in the estimation of his allies, he 
 was relieved from his distress by the news of 
 the success of Greene in driving Lord Corn- 
 wallis into Yorktown ; and at the same time 
 learning that the destination of Count de 
 Grasse was the Chesapeake, and not Staten 
 Island, he resolved to transfer his operations 
 to the state of Virginia. 
 Still, however, he kept up an appearance 
 
240 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 of persevering in his original intention of 
 making an attack upon New York, and in 
 this feint he WdiS aided by the circumstance, 
 that when this was in reality his design, a 
 letter, in which he had detailed his plans for 
 its prosecution, had been intercepted, and 
 read by Sir Henry Clinton. When, therefore, 
 in the latter end of August, he broke up his 
 encampment at Peekskill, and directed his 
 march to the south, the British commander, 
 imagining that this movement was only a 
 stratagem calculated to throw him off his 
 guard, and that the enemy would speedily re- 
 turn to take advantage of his expected neg- 
 ligence, remained in his quarters, and re- 
 doubled his exertions to strengthen his position. 
 In consequence of this error, he lost the 
 opportunity of impeding the march of the 
 allied army, and of availing himself of the 
 occasions which might have presented them- 
 selves of bringing it to action before it could 
 effect a junction with the troops already as- 
 sembled in the vicinity of Yorktown. Thus 
 marching onwards without molestation. Gen- 
 eral Washington reached Williamsburg on 
 the 14th of September, and immediately on 
 his arrival, visiting the Count de Grasse on 
 board his flag-ship, the Ville de Paris, settled 
 with him the plan of their future operations. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 241 
 
 SECTION XXXVI. 
 
 SIEGE OF YORKTOWN, SURRENDER OF LORD CORN- 
 
 WALLIS. 
 
 In pursuance of this arrangement, the com- 
 bined forces, to the amount of 12,000 men, 
 assembled at Williamsburg on the 25th of 
 September ; and on the 30th of the same 
 month marched forward to invest Yorktow^n, 
 while the French fleet, moving to the mouth 
 of York river, cut off Lord Cornwallis from 
 any communication with a friendly force by 
 water. His lordship's garrison amounted to 
 7,000 men, and the place was strongly forti- 
 fied. On the right it was secured by a marshy 
 ravine, extending to such a distance along 
 the front of the defences as to leave them ac- 
 cessible only to the extent of about 1,500 
 yards. 
 
 This space was defended by strong lines, 
 beyond which, on the extreme left, were ad- 
 vanced a redoubt and a bastion, which enfi- 
 laded their approach to Gloucester Point, on 
 the other side of York river, the channel of 
 which is here narrowed to the breadth of a 
 mile, which post was also sufficiently gar- 
 risoned, and strongly fortified. Thus secured 
 in his position. Lord Cornwallis beheld the 
 approach of the enemy with firmness, espe- 
 cially as he had received dispatches from Sir 
 
 21 
 
242 AMERICAN REVOLUTIOIf. 
 
 Henry Clinton, announcing his intention of 
 sending 5,000 men in a fleet of 23 ships of the 
 line to his relief 
 
 The allied forces on their arrival from 
 Williamsburg immediately commenced the 
 investure both of Yorktown and of Glouces- 
 ter Point ; and on the 10th of October they 
 opened their batteries with such effect, that 
 their shells, flying over the town, reached the 
 shipping in the harbor, and set fire to the 
 Charon frigate, and to a transport. On this 
 inauspicious day, too. Lord Cornwallis re- 
 ceived a communication from Sir Henry 
 Clinton, conveying to him the unwelcome in- 
 telligence that he doubted whether it would 
 be in his power to send him the aid which he 
 had promised. 
 
 On the following morning the enemy com- 
 menced their second parallel, and finding 
 themselves, in this advanced position, severe- 
 ly annoyed by the bastion and redoubt which 
 have been mentioned above, they resolved to 
 storm them. The reduction of the former of 
 these works was committed to the French, 
 while the attack of the latter was intrusted 
 to the Americans. Both parties rushing to 
 the assault with the spirit of emulation which 
 this arrangement was calculated to inspire, 
 the works in question were speedily carried 
 at the point of the bayonet. 
 
 It must be mentioned to the honor of the 
 American soldiers, that though in revenge for 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 243 
 
 a massacre recently committed at New Lon- 
 don, in Connecticut, by a body of troops un- 
 der the command of the renegade Arnold, 
 they had been ordered to take no prisoners, 
 they forebore to compl}^ with this requisition, 
 and when they had penetrated into the re- 
 doubt, spared every man who ceased to resist. 
 On the 16th of (Sctober, a sally was made 
 from the garrison, but with indifferent suc- 
 cess ; and Lord Cornwallis was now convin- 
 ced that he could avoid surrender, only by ef- 
 fecting his escape by Gloucester Point. 
 
 Seeing himself, therefore, reduced to the 
 necessity of trying this desperate expedient, 
 he prepared as many boats as he could pro- 
 cure, and on the night of the 16th of October 
 attempted to convey his army over York 
 river to the opposite promontory. But the 
 elements were adverse to his operations. 
 The first division of his troops was disem- 
 barked in safety ; but when the second was 
 on its passage, a storm of wind and rain arose, 
 and drove it down the river. 
 
 Though this second embarkation worked 
 its way back to Yorktown on the morning of 
 the 17th, Lord CornwalHs was convinced, 
 however unwillingly, that protracted resist- 
 ance was vain. No aid appeared from New 
 York — his works were ruined — the fire from 
 the enemy's batteries swept the town ; and 
 sickness had diminished the efiective force of 
 the garrison. In these painful circumstances, 
 
244 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 nothing remained for him but to negotiate 
 terms of capitulation. He accordingly sent 
 a flag of truce, and having agreed to give up 
 his troops as prisoners of war to Congress, 
 and the naval force to France, he, on the 19th 
 of October, marched out of his lines with 
 folded calors ; and proceeding to a field at a 
 short distance from the t(5wn, he surrendered 
 to General Lincoln, with the same formalities 
 which had been prescribed to that officer at 
 Charleston, eighteen months before. 
 
 Another coincidence was remarked on this 
 occasion. The capitulation under which Lord 
 Cornwallis surrendered was drawn up by 
 Lieutenant-colonel Laurens, whose father had 
 filled the office of President of Congress, and 
 having been taken prisoner when on his voy- 
 age to Holland, in quality of ambassador from 
 the United States to the Dutch republic, had 
 been consigned, under a charge of high trea- 
 son, to a rigorous custody in the Tower of 
 London, of which fortress his lordship was 
 constable. 
 
 Had Lord Cornwallis been able to hold out 
 five days longer than he did, he might possi- 
 bly have been relieved ; for, on the 24th of 
 October, a British fleet, conveying an army 
 of 7,000 men, arrived off" the Chesapeake ; 
 but finding that his lordship had already sur- 
 rendered, this armament returned to New 
 York and Sandy Hook. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 245 
 
 SECTION XXXVII. 
 
 PROVISIONAL TREATY OF PEACE, 30tH OF NOVEM- 
 BER, 1782. 
 
 It was with reason that the Congress passed 
 a vote of thanks to the captors of Yorktown, 
 and that they went in procession, on the 24th 
 of October, to celebrate the triumph of their 
 arms, by expressing, in the solemnities of a 
 religious service, their gratitude to Almighty 
 God for this signal success. The surrender 
 of Lord Cornwallis was the virtual termina- 
 tion of the war. From this time forward, to 
 the signature of the treaty of peace, the Brit- 
 ish were cooped up in New York, Charleston, 
 and Savannah. From these posts they now 
 and then, indeed, made excursions for the 
 purpose of foraging and plunder ; but being 
 utterly unable to appear in force in the inte- 
 rior of the country, they found themselves in- 
 competent to carry on any operations calcu- 
 lated to promote the main object of the war — ■ 
 the subjugation of the United States. 
 
 Perseverance, however, still seemed a vir- 
 tue to the British cabinet. Immediately after 
 the arrival of the intelligence of the capture 
 by the Americans of a second British army, 
 George III. declared, in a speech to parlia- 
 ment, " that he should not answer the trust 
 committed to the sovereign of a free people, 
 
 21* 
 
246 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 if he consented to sacrifice, either to his own 
 desire of peace, or to their temporary ease 
 and relief, those essential rights and perma- 
 nent interests, upon the maintenance and 
 preservation of which the future strength and 
 security of the country must forever depend." 
 
 When called upon in the House of Com- 
 mons for an explanation of this vague and 
 assuming language, Lord North avowed that 
 it was the intention of ministers to carry on 
 in North America " a war of posts ;" and such 
 was, at that moment,* the state of the house, 
 that, in despite of the eloquence of Mr. Fox, 
 who labored to demonstrate the absurdity of 
 this new plan, a majority of 218 to 129 con- 
 curred in an address which was an echo of 
 his majesty's speech. 
 
 But the loud murmurs of the people, groan- 
 ing beneath the weight of taxation, and indig- 
 nant under a sense of national misrule, at 
 length penetrated the walls of the senate- 
 house. Early in the j^ear 1 782, motion after 
 motion was made in the House of Commons, 
 expressive of the general wish for the termi- 
 nation of hostilities with the United States. 
 The minister held out with obstinacy, though 
 on each renewal of the debate, he saw his 
 majority diminish ; till at length, on the 27th 
 of February, on a motion of General Conway, 
 expressly directed against the further prose- 
 
 * Nov. 27, 1781. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 247 
 
 cutioii of offensive war on the continent of 
 North America, he was left in a minority of 
 nineteen. 
 
 This victory was followed up by an address 
 from the house to his majesty, according to 
 the tenor of General Conway's motion. To 
 this address, so equivocal an answer was re- 
 turned by the crown, that the friends of paci- 
 fication deemed it necessary to speak in still 
 plainer terms ; and on the 4th of March, the 
 House of Commons declared that whosoever 
 should advise his majesty to any further pro- 
 secution of offensive war against the colonies 
 of North America, should be considered as a 
 public enemy. 
 
 This was the death-blow to Lord North^s 
 administration. His lordship retired from 
 office early in the month of March, and was 
 succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham, 
 the efforts of whose ministry w^ere as much 
 and as cordially directed to peace as those of 
 Lord Shelburne's- On the death of the mar- 
 quis, which took place soon ai'ter he had as- 
 sumed the reins of government, the Earl of 
 Shelburne was called on to preside over his 
 majesty's councils, which, under his auspices, 
 were directed to the great object of pacifica- 
 tion. To this all the parties interested were 
 well inclined. The English nation was weary 
 of a civil war in which it had sustained so 
 many discomfitures. The king of France, 
 who had reluctantly consented to aid the in- 
 
248 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 fant republic of North America, was mortified 
 by the destruction of the fleet of De Grasse, in 
 the West Indies, and found the expenses of 
 the war press heavily on his finances. The 
 Spaniards were disheartened by the faikire 
 of their efforts to repossess themselves of Gib- 
 raltar ; and the Dutch were impatient under 
 the suspension of their commerce. 
 
 Such being the feelings of the belligerents, 
 the negotiations for a peace between Great 
 Britain and the United States were opened 
 at Paris, by Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Oswald 
 on the part of the former power, and by John 
 Adams, Doctor Franklin, John Jay, and Henry 
 Laurens, on behalf of the latter. These ne- 
 gotiations terminated in provisional articles 
 of peace, which were signed on the 30th of 
 November, 1782. By this important instru- 
 ment, the independence of the thirteen prov- 
 inces was unreservedly acknowledged by his 
 Bri-tannic majesty, who moreover conceded to 
 them an unlimited right of fishing on the 
 Banks of Newfoundland and the river St. 
 Lawrence, and all other places where they 
 had been accustomed to fish. All that the 
 British plenipotentiaries could obtain for the 
 American loyalists was, a provision that Con- 
 gress should earnestly recommend to the 
 legislatures of the respective states the most 
 lenient consideration of their case, and a res- 
 titution of their confiscated property. 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 249 
 
 SECTION XXXVIIL 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Thus terminated the American revolution- 
 ary war — a war which might have been pre- 
 vented by the timely concession of freedom 
 from internal taxation, as imposed by the 
 British parliament, and by an abstinence on 
 the part of the British government from a 
 violation in this important particular of char- 
 tered rights. The confidential letters of Dr. 
 Franklin evince that it was with extreme re- 
 luctance thg American patriots adopted the 
 measure of severing the colonies from the 
 mother country. But when they had taken 
 this decisive step, by the declaration of inde- 
 pendence, they firmly resolved to abide by 
 the consequences of their own act ; and, with 
 the single exception of Georgia, never, even 
 in the most distressful contingencies of the 
 war, did any public body of the provinces 
 show any disposition to resume their allegi- 
 ance to the king of Great Britain- 
 Still, it may be a matter of doubt if, when we 
 consider the conduct of the inhabitants of the 
 Jerseys, when Washington was flying before 
 General Howe, whether, had the British officers 
 restrained their troops with the strictness of 
 discipline, and exercised towards the Ameri- 
 cans the kind spirit evinced in Canada by 
 
250 AMERICAN REVOLUTfON. 
 
 Sir Guy Carleton, the fervor oi' resistance i 
 might not have been abated anr* subdued. , 
 But civil wars are always conducted with i 
 cruelty and rancor. The Americans were i 
 treated by the British soldiery, not as enemies ■ 
 entitled to the courtesies of war, but as rebels, 
 whose lives and property lay at the mercy of 
 the victors. Hence devastation marked the 
 track of the invading forces, while the inhab- ■ 
 itants found their truest safety in resistance, 
 and their best shelter in the republican camp. 
 
 Nor will he who reads with attention the 
 minute details of this eventful contest, be sur- 
 prised that the British ministry persevered in 
 the war when success might have appeared 
 to be hopeless. It is now well- known that 
 George III. revolted from the idea of conces- 
 sion to his disobedient subjects, and was de- 
 termined to put all to the hazard rather than 
 acknowledge their independence. Lord North, 
 at an early period of the war, had misgivings ^ 
 as to its ultimate success, but he had not firm- 
 ness enough to give his sovereign unwelcome 
 advice ; while Lord George Germaine and the 
 other ministers fully sympathized with the 
 royal feelings, and entered heartily into the 
 views of their master. 
 
 They were apprised, from time to time, of 
 the destitute condition of the American army, , 
 but living as they did in luxury, and familiar- 
 ized as they were with the selfishness and 
 venality of courts and political parties, they 
 
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 251 
 
 could not conceive the idea of men sacrificing 
 health, property, and life, for their couAtry's 
 good. When Washin^o'ton was beaten in the 
 field, such men imagiiuvl that the affairs of 
 the Congress were de^rperate, and flattered 
 themselves that the great body of the colonists, 
 wearied and disheartened by successive de- 
 feats, would be glad to accept the royal mer- 
 cy, and to return to their allegiance. 
 
 In these notions they were confirmed by the 
 loyalists, who, giving utterance to their wishes, 
 rather than stating the truth, afforded the 
 most incorrect representations of the feelings 
 and temper of their countrymen. Some of 
 these coming over to England were received 
 with favor in high circles, and by their insin- 
 uations kept up to the last a fatal delusion. 
 These individuals at length fell the victims of 
 their own error. Traitors to their country, 
 they lost their property by acts of confiscation, 
 and while they lived on the bounty of the 
 British crown, they had the mortification to 
 see the country which they had deserted, rise 
 to an exalted rank among the nations of the 
 earth. 
 
 It must also be admitted that the people of 
 England sympathized with their government 
 up to a late period, in the feelings which 
 prompted perseverance in this iniquitous war. 
 Excessive loyalty to the crown ; a certain 
 undefined appetite for military achievements ; 
 resentment against the Americans for ques- 
 
252 AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 tioning British supremacy, strongly impressed 
 the public mind, and rendered the war dis- 
 gracefully popular in many quarters. Such 
 sentiments were fostered and encouraged by 
 the accession of France, Spain, and Holland 
 to the cause of her revolted states, and the 
 prospect of naval victories. We may reason- 
 ably indulge the hope that the lesson then, 
 and during the French revolutionary war, 
 taught by experience, and the subsequent 
 improvement of the public mind, will prevent 
 it from ever again joining its government in 
 such a conspiracy against freedom and justice. 
 When the ministers of the king of France 
 incited their master to enter into an alliance 
 with the revolted colonies, they did so under 
 the idea that the separation of those provin- 
 ces from the parent state would ruin the re- 
 sources of Great Britain. Events have proved 
 how erroneous was their calculation. From 
 her commercial intercourse with independent 
 America, Great Britain has derived more 
 profit than she could have gained had her 
 growth been stunted by the operation of re- 
 strictive laws. 
 
 THE END 
 

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