ajlt2s3i i:I a .:i:: ii:i 188:"' "~' S: a:s8: 4i'A:-S pajL*i:-::.::..-:-: —-iiiiii:iii:.iii:Tjj -a:e:i:z i a:::::::1 ~~~:::::._9 ~~ Pi" u:::~::*i:I I:i::j: -::::u:::,r bn: :::: ~: F:ci;~::.:::i i~ .:: j,fra,! 881 j:::;~: IjCii (fj I: 1::::::-, i -,:iiijiiT irE i":"i:iai8i;z i-:: 8:d :: a:: bl j.~,8k: rCa iii:,i i; -—.: jf(; in favor of the people more than a dozen years before. "We have sixty thousand fighting men in this colony alone," he said. Twelve days afterward, at night, another mob burned all the records of the admiralty court, ravaged the house of the comptroller of the customs, and splitting open the doors of Chief-Justice Hutchinson, whom they regarded as a secret public enemy, they broke his furniture, scattered his plate and the contents of his valuable library, and left his house a wreck. He and his family had barely time to escape. The better class of citizens frowned upon -- these proceedings, and the officers of the i ~ crown, terror-stricken, were very quiet.. The mob spirit was manifested in sevAN EFFIGY. eral colonies, for the people were much exasperated against those who had accepted the office of stamp-distributors. In Providence, Rhode Island, after destroying the house and furniture of an obnoxious citizen, a mob compelled the stamp-officer to resign. At New Haven, in Connecticut, Ingersoll was denounced as a traitor; and the fact that the initials of his name were those of Judas Iscariot Was publicly pointed out, and he was compelled to promise that he would not sell stamps or stamped paper. He was finally forced to resign by a multitude who threatened him with personal violence. Cadwallader Colden, a venerable Scotchman, then eighty years of age, 622 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. was acting-governor of New York. He was a liberal-minded man, but duty to his sovereign and his own political convictions compelled him to oppose the popular movements. James McEvers was appointed stamp-distributor for New York. The Sons of Liberty demanded his resignation. The governor protected him. When, late in October, stamps arrived, McEvers, alarmed, refused to receive them, and they were taken to the fort at the foot of Broadway for safety. The garrison was strong, and the governor had strengthened the works. This covert menace exasperated the people. Although armed British ships were riding in the harbor, and the guns of the fort were pointed toward the town, the Sons of Liberty were not afraid. They appeared in large numbers before the fort, and demanded the stamps. A refusal was answered by defiant shouts. An orderly procession soon becarme a roaring mob. Half an hour after the refusal, the governor was hung in effigy on the spot where Leisler, the democrat, was executed seventy-five years before. Then the mob went back to the fort, dragged Colden's fine coach to the open space in front of it, and tearing down the wooden railing that surrounded the Bowling Green, piled it upon the vehicle, and made a bonfire of the whole. Then they rushed out of town to the beautiful dwelling-place of Major James, of the artillery (at the present intersection of Worth street and West Broadway), where they destroyed his fine library, works of art and furniture, and desolated his beautiful garden, leaving his seat, called Ranelagh, a ruin. After parading the streets with the stamp act printed on large sheets and raised upon poles, with the words, " England's Folly and America's Ruin," the populace dispersed to their homes. In New Jersey, Coxe, the stamp-officer, fearing violence, resigned. At Annapolis, in Maryland, the excited populace pulled down a house that Zachariah Hood, a stamp-officer, was repairing for the purpose, they thought, of selling stamps in it, and the governor dared not interfere. General alarm prevailed among the officers of the crown. They saw that the Americans were thoroughly aroused and very strong. In other colonies not here named, there was equal firmness, but less violence, in preventing the sale of stamps; and when the first of November arrived, the law, so far as its enforcement was concerned, was a nullity. The invitation of Massachusetts for the colonies to meet in a representative convention in New York was promptly responded to favorably, and the famous "Stamp Act Congress," so called, assembled at New York on the 7th of October. Twenty-seven delegates were present, representing nine colonies, namely, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina. Timo CHAP. II. THE STAMP ACT CONGRESS. 623 thy Ruggles of Massachusetts, a rank tory at heart, was chosen to preside, and John Cotton was appointed secretary. Communications were received from the assemblies of New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, saying they would agree to whatever might be done by the Congress. That body continued in session fourteen days, and the whole subject of the rights and grievances of the colonies was fully discussed. John Cruger of New York, was deputed to write a Declaration of Rights, Robert R. Livingston of New York, prepared a Petition to the King; and James Otis of Massachusetts, wrote a Memorial to both Houses of Parliament. These were adopted, and have ever been regarded as able state papers. They embodied the prin-'XK.,,:, - \_..._4. BONFIRE AT THE BOWLING-GREEN. ciples that governed the men of the Revolution that broke out ten years afterward. The proceedings were signed by all but the President and Robert Ogden of New Jersey, both of whom thus early manifested their defection from a cause which they afterward openly opposed. Ruggles was censured for his conduct by a vote of the Massachusetts Assembly, and was reprimanded, in his place, by the Speaker. He afterward became a bitter Tory, and took up arms for the king. In Mrs. Mercy Warren's drama called The Group, Ruggles figures as Brigadier Hate-all. Ogden was also publicly censured for his conduct; was burned in effigy, and at the next meeting of the New Jersey Assembly was dismissed from the Speaker's chair, which honorable post he held at the time of the Congress. These men had insisted in that body that resistance to the act was treason, and they, in turn, were denounced as traitors to the rights of man. 624 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. On the first of November, 1765, the stamp act became a law in America. It had been ably discussed by the brightest intellects in the land, and generally denounced, sometimes with calmness, sometimes with turbulence. It was manifest to all that its enforcement was an impossibility; yet its existence was a perplexity. No legal instrument of writing was thereafter valid without a stamp, by a law of the British realm. But on that day there remained not one person commissioned to sell a stamp, for they had all resigned. The royal governors had taken an oath that they would see that the law was executed, but they were powerless. The people were their masters, and were simply holding their own power in abeyance. The first of November was Friday. It was a " black Friday " in America. The morning was ushered by the tolling of bells. A funeral solemnity overspread the land. Minute-guns were fired as if a funeral procession was passing. Flags were hoisted at half-mast as if there had been a national bereavement. There were orations and sermons appropriate to the occasion. The press spoke out boldly. " The press is the test of truth; the bulwark of public safety; the guardian of freedom, and the people ought not to sacrifice it," said Benjamin Mecom, of New Haven, in his Connecticut Gazette, printed that morning, and filled with patriotic appeals. This was the spirit of most of the newspapers. Such, also, was the spirit of most of the Congregational pulpits. Patriots everywhere encouraged each other; and a yearning for union was universally felt. " Nothing will now save us but acting together," wrote the sturdy Gadsden of South Carolina. "The province that endeavors to act separately must fall with the rest, and be branded besides with everlasting infamy." As none but stamped paper was legal, and as the people had determined not to use it, all business was suspended. The courts were closed; marriages ceased; vessels lay idle in the harbors, and the social and commercial operations in America were paralyzed. Few dared to think of positive rebellion. The sword of British power was ready to leap from its scabbard in wrath; and a general gloom overspread society. Yet the Americans did not despair nor even despond. They held in their hands a power which might compel the British Parliament to repeal the obnoxious act. The commerce between Great Britain and the colonies had become very important, and any measure that might interrupt its course would be keenly felt by a large and powerful class in England, whose influence was felt in Parliament. The expediency of striking a deadly blow at that trade occurred to some New York merchants, and on the 3Ist of October-the day before the obnoxious act went into operation-a meeting was held in that city, and an agreement entered into not to import from England certain enumerated CHAP. II. DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 625 articles after the first of January next ensuing. The merchants of Philadelphia and Boston readily entered into a similar agreement. So also did retail merchants agree not to buy or sell goods shipped from England after the first of January. In this way was begun that system of non-importation agreements which hurled back upon England, with great force, the commercial miseries she had inflicted upon the colonies. The patriotic people co-operated with the merchants. Domestic manufactures were commenced inr almost every family. Forty or fifty young ladies, calling themselves " Daughters of Liberty," met at the house of Rev. Dr. Morehead, in Boston, with their spinning-wheels, and spun two hundred and thirty-two skeins of yarn during a day and presented them to the pastor. There were upwards of one hundred spinners in Mr. Morehead's society. "Within a month," wrote a gentleman from Newport, Rhode Island, some time afterward, "four hundred and eighty-seven yards of cloth and thirty-six pairs of stockings have been spun and knit in the family of James Nixon, of this town." Other families were mentioned in which several hundred yards of cloth were made. Another from Newport said: "A lady of this town, though in the bloom of youth, and possessed of virtues and accomplishments, engaging, and sufficient to excite the most pleasing expectations of happiness in the married state, has declared that she should rather be an old maid than that the operations of the stamp act should commence in these colonies." The wealthiest vied with the middling classes in economy, and wore clothing of their own manufacture. That wool might not be scarce, the use of sheep flesh for food was discouraged. One source of British prosperity was thus dried up. When firm but respectful appeals went to the ears of the British ministry from America, the merchants and manufacturers of England seconded them, and their potential voices were heeded. CHAPTER III. PITT ATTEMPTS TO FORM A NEW CABINET-DUKE OF.CUMBERLAND'S MINISTRY-AMERICAN AFFAIRS IN PARLIAMENT-PITT'S GREAT SPEECH-REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT-THE DECLARATORY ACT-PITT CARICATURED-J OYFUL PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND AND AMERICAPITT MADE A PEER AND BECOMES UNPOPULAR-PITT'S CABINET-BRITISH TROOPS IN NEW YORK-THE LIBERTY-POLE-TAXATION MEASURES ADOPTED BY PARLIAMENT -INDIGNATION OF THE AMERICANS —-HOPES OF THE FRENCH —THEY SEND AN EMISSARY TO AMERICAPREPARATIONS FOR RESISTANCE. N the early summer of I765, Grenville found his administration embarrassed by conflicting political interests, and the king was dissatisfied with what his minister failed to accomplish. The monarch, influenced by men of greater minds than his own, had resolved on a change. The public were loudly clamoring for the restoration of Pitt to the premiership. The king was not unwilling, and in June he summoned that statesman to an audience. Pitt was shy; he would not commit himself until he knew what lines of policy were to be pursued. The king yielded much. Among other things he agreed to a repeal of the English cider tax and a change in the American stamp tax, and then Pitt consented to form a new ministry. He sent for his brother-in-law, Lord Temple, to whom he offered the seals of the treasury. Temple declined. He was influenced by Grenville, and Pitt was thwarted. Then the Duke of Cumberland attempted to form a ministry. He well knew the value of Pitt, and the importance of having him a leading spirit in the cabinet. To accomplish this end, he visited the great commoner in person, at Hayes, where Pitt was laid up with the gout, but he failed in his mission, And made up an incongruous cabinet. This visit to Hayes drew forth a caricature that was inspired by the ministers out of office. The Duke of Cumberland is seen as a courier riding in hot haste to consult the gouty foot of the statesman, which is seen projecting from the door of a country inn, and swathed in flannels. On a sign-board over the door is an inflated bladder inscribed " Popularity," and under it the initials of Pitt-W. P. In the new cabinet, the Marquis of Rockingham, a friend of the Americans, took the place of Grenville; General Conway, another friend, was appointed Secretary of State with the management of the House of Com CHAP. III. NEWS FROM AMERICA IN PARLIAMENT. 627 mons, assisted by the Duke of Grafton. This office concerned the Americans more than any other, for its incumbent dealt directly with them. These, with other members of the cabinet, formed such a motley group of men of conflicting political views, that its early dissolution seemed inevitable. Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son: " It will either require repairs or a keystone next winter; and that keystone will and must necessarily be Mr. Pitt." Such was the tendency and such was the expectation all the autumn-that memorable autumn when the tempest of opposition to the stamp tax raged in America. At the same time Mr. Pitt's health gradually improved. At the close of November, he wrote to his wife from Bath: " I have been airing in the coach to-day for the -- second time, nearly three hours, /.... and come untired, wanting nothing but dinner, and the sight of. my love and of my children. I can stand with the help of crutch- es, and hope soon to discard one of them. Who knows, in time, what may become of his companion? My left hand holds a, fork at dinner with some gentile- nesse, and my right, as you see, a pen." The statesman's health continued to improve, and when {' / I \ <" Parliament assembled after the i, -....Christmas holidays, he was in his - place, and indulged a feeling, of PITT WRITING. confidence in Rockingham. Meanwhile public sentiment had been deeply stirred in England by events in America, while strange apathy marked the conduct of the king and Parliament. In his speech, when the latter assembled at the middle of December, and when the conduct of the Americans and their petitions and remonstrances were made known, the monarch barely alluded to unpleasant occurrences in the colonies that might demand the attention of the legislature. That body seemed quite as indifferent to the news from beyond the sea as the king, and almost immediately adjourned. But when they reassembled in January, 1766, the ministry were fully alive to the necessity of prompt and vigorous action. The king, after alluding to the disturbances in the colonies, assured the 628 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. legislature that no time had been lost in issuing orders to his governors in America, and to the commander of his military forces there, " for the exertion of all the powers of government in suppressing riots and tumults, and in the effectual support of lawful authority." The rest he left to the wisdom of Parliament. The debate on American affairs opened with a discussion of the speech of the king, which, by Grenville and others, was considered altogether too lenient toward the rebellious Americans. Pitt, who was in his place in the House, with his legs swathed in flannels, arose, and leaning upon his crutches, made one of the most remarkable speeches ever heard in the House of Commons. After a brief review of his own career as premier, he animadverted upon the tardiness of the ministry in laying an account of the disturbances in America before Parliament, and declared that, in his opinion, the government of Great Britain had no right to tax the colonists. "They are subjects of this kingdom," he said, "equally entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of mankind and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen; equally bound by its laws, and equally participating in the constitution of this free country. The Americans are the sons, not the bastards of England. Taxation is no part of the governing or legislative powers. Taxes are the voluntary gift or grant of the Commons alone. 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 for Great Britain, give and grant to your majesty, what? 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," he continued, "an idea that the colonies are virtually represented in this House. I would fain know by whom an American is represented here. Is he represented here by any knight of the shire, in any county of this kingdom? Would to God that respectable representation was augmented to a greater number! Or will you tell him that he is represented by any representation of a borough-a borough which, perhaps, its own representative never saw? " Then, with a prophetic glance at future parliamentary reform, he said: " This is what is called the rotten part of the constitution. It cannot continue a century; if it does not drop, it must be amputated." When Pitt sat down, the House, awed into silence by his brilliant declamation, remained so for a few minutes, when General Conway, of the cabinet, arose and declared that his sentiments were consonant with those of the orator. Grenville took the floor and defended his measure as right in itself. He complained of the delay of ministers in giving notice of the dis CHAP. III. PITT AND GRENVILLE. 629 turbances in America. "They began," he said, "in July, and now we are in the middle of January. Lately they were only'occurrences,' they are now grown to'disturbances,' to'tumults,' and to'riots.' I doubt they border on open rebellion; and if the doctrines of this day be confirmed, that name will be lost in revolution." Then fixing his eyes sharply on Pitt, he exclaimed with emphasis: " The seditious spirit of tIe colonies owes its birth in this House. Gentlemen are careless of the consequences of what they say, provided it answers the purpose of opposition." This thrust from his brother-in-law brought Pitt and others to their feet. There was a cry, " Mr. Pitt! Mr. Pitt! " when all but the great orator sat down. He then fell upon Grenville, and told him that since he had challenged him to the field, he would fight him on every foot of it. "He tells us that America is obstinate-America is in open rebellion," said Pitt. " I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as to voluntarily submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest." Alluding to the alleged strength of Great Britain and the weakness of America, he said: " It is true that in a good cause, on a good ground, the force of this country could crush America to atoms; but on this ground, on this stamp act, many here will think it a crying injustice, and I am one who will lift up my.hands against it. In such a cause your success would be hazardous. America, if she fall, would fall like the strong man; she would embrace the pillars of the state, and pull down the constitution along with her." Pitt then proposed'an absolute, total and immediate repeal of the stamp act, at the same time declaring the absolute sovereignty of Great Britain over the colonies. His proposition was warmly seconded, and Edmund Burke, then thirty-six years of age and who was sitting in Parliament for the first time, made two remarkable speeches in favor of repeal. They were so logical and brilliant in expression, that he immediately took a front rank among the orators of the House of Commons. A repeal bill was introduced, and on the I8th of March it was passed by the House by a large majority. It was accompanied by Pitt's declaratory act, so called, which affirmed the right of Parliament "to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever"-an act intended by the great statesman to soothe the feelings of some who might, by their votes, defeat the repeal bill. In the House of Lords it was stoutly opposed as a relinquishment of the sovereign power of the government. Lord Camden was favorable to repeal, but he was opposed to the declaratory act. Planting himself firmly on the maxim that taxation without representation is tyranny, "I will maintain it to the last," he said. "The position is founded in the law of nature. It is more; it is, itself, an 630 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. eternal law of nature." On the day of its enactment (March I8), the repeal act became a law by receiving the reluctantly-given signature of the king. The repeal of the stamp act produced great joy in England and America. In London the event was celebrated by bonfires and illuminations. The merchants had sweet dreams of reviving trade with the Americans. To Pitt was ascribed all the honor of the measure, and he was idolized. When he left the lobby of the House of Commons, the populace gathered around him with the most extravagant demonstrations of joy. The aristocracy, on the other hand, were offended and alarmed. "The king is made to bow to subjects," they said. "British power is set at naught; the foundation of the British empire is sapped." Pitt was lampooned and caricatured as a demagogue seeking popularity. One of the pictures entitled "The Colossus," represents Pitt raised on very lofty stilts, his gouty leg resting on the Royal Exchange in London, which is surrounded by bubbles inscribed "War," " Peace," etc. This stilt is called " Popularity.': The other, called " Sedition," he stretches over the sea toward New York, seen in the distance, and fishing for popularity in the Atlantic Ocean. He rests on a long staff entitled " Pension." Above Pitt's head hangs the broad hat of the commonwealth; and in the air, on one side, is seen Lord Temple occupied in blowing bubbles which support the "great Commoner's" fame. This picture, and the lines below which accompanied it, show the spirit of that day: " Tell to me if you are witty, Whose wooden leg is in de city, Eh bien drole,'tis de great pity. Doodle doo. "De broad-brim hat he thrust his nob in, De while St. Stephen's throng are throbbing, One crutch in America is bobbing. Doodle doo. " But who be yonder odd man there, sir! Building de castle in de air, sir? Oh!'tis de Temple one may swear, sir! Doodle doo. " Stamp act, le diable! dat's de jot, sir, Dat stampt it in de stilt-man's nob, sir, To be America's nabob, sir. Doodle doo. " De English dream vid leetle vit, sir; For de French dey make de Pit, sir,'Tis a pit for dem who now are hit, sir. Doodle, noodle, doo." CHAP. III. REJOICINGS IN AMERICA. 63I Equal joy was manifested in America, when news of the repeal came over the Atlantic. Pitt, the King, and the Parliament shared in the honors of congratulatory cannon-peals, oratory, bonfires, illuminations, and great meetings of citizens. In Boston, the Sons of Liberty gathered under the Liberty-Tree and adopted the most laudatory resolutions concerning the immediate participants in the measures that brought about the repeal. A day was set apart for celebrating the event. The dawn was ushered in by the roar of artillery and the ringing of bells. John Hancock, a leading patriot and wealthy merchant of Boston, opened a pipe of wine in front of his fine mansion on Beacon street; and at the suggestion of "a fair Boston nymph," the liberal citizen raised funds and ransomed and set at liberty every prisoner for debt in the jail of the New England metropolis, that they might participate in the general joy. All the great houses were illuminated, and many feasts were given. The local government dined at the Province House, where many loyal toasts were drank. Past animosities were forgotten, and the i6th of May, I766, was a happy day in Boston. In New York there were equal demonstrations of joy. Pitt, the King, and Parliament were praised and honored. The news of the repeal reached that city on the 6th of May. Bells rang out a merry peal. Cannons shook the city, and placards were scattered over the town calling the people to assemble the next day to celebrate the joyous event. It was a beautiful May day, and everybody was in the open air. A long procession of citizens was formed at the Bowling Green and marched to " The Fields" (the site of the City Hall and Post-office), where a royal salute of twenty-one guns was fired. The Sons of Liberty had a great feast, whereat twenty-eight "loyal and constitutional toasts were drank." The city was illuminated at evening, and bonfires blazed on every corner. Again, on the king's birthday (June 4), there was a celebration under the auspices of Governor Moore. That magistrate, the council, military officers and the clergy dined at the " King's Arms," on the west side of Broadway, opposite the Bowling Green, where General Gage had his headquarters. There were great rejoicings among the people in The Fields, where an ox was roasted whole; twenty-five barrels of beer and a hogshead of rum were opened for the populace; twenty-five pieces of cannon were ranged in a row and gave a royal salute, and in the evening twenty-five tar barrels, hoisted upon poles, were burned, and gorgeous fire-works were exhibited at Bowling Green. The Sons of Liberty also feasted together, and under the sanction of the governor they erected a tall mast in The Fields in front of Warren street, which they called a Liberty-Pole. Upon it they placed the inscription: To His Most Gracious Majesty George the Third, Mr. Pitt, and Liberty. At a 4I 632 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. meeting of citizens a fortnight later, a petition was numerously signed, praying the Assembly to erect a statue of Mr. Pitt. The Assembly complied; and on the same day that body resolved to set up an equestrian statue of the king. The former, made of marble, was placed at the intersection of Wall and Smith (now William) streets, in New York, and the latter, made of lead and gilded, was erected on a pedestal in the middle of the Bowling Green. These were set up in the year I770. Within six years afterward, the statue of the king was pulled down and destroyed by republicans, and that of Pitt was mutilated by royalists soon afterward. In Philadelphia, Charleston, and other places, also, there were great demonstrations of joy and loyalty. That loyalty, so manifestly sincere, was developed by a single act of justice, and even that was qualified. If the Brit-_: _:_~_,.,ish ministry had been wise, they might ____-_~~ —- ~ ~ t' have easily conciliated the Americans and ushered in an era of peace and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic. But they were not wise. In the midst of the rejoicings, there _____ A were wise, thoughtful. and patriotic men who shook their heads ominously, and whose voices seemed to many like the -l5in l croakings of the raven. While the bells K l!\lll|were ringing, cannons thundering and bonfires were blazing in Charleston, South STATUE OF GEORGE III. Carolina, and the legislature were voting to erect the fine statue of Pitt yet standing in that southern city, Christopher Gadsden collected some of his political friends under a great live-oak tree, and warned them not to be deceived by the show of justice, for the fangs of the dragon of oppression, by Pitt's declaratory act, had been left untouched. Similar warning was given in other colonies; and very soon there was a reaction in the public mind. The liberal press of England denounced the act, and Pitt's plea of expediency could not save him from very severe censure by the Americans when they gravely considered the matter. It was perceived, by sagacious observers, that the repeal bill was only a truce in the war upon the liberty of the Americans. They watched every movement of the government party with CHAP. III. PITT'S MOTLEY CABINET. 633 suspicion. Within a few months, there came from the serpent's egg-the declaratory act-a brood of obnoxious measures which kindled the fiery indignation of the colonists. When, in the summer of I766, the popular Rockingham ministry was dissolved, and the king called Pitt to create a new ministry out of such material as he pleased, the liberal party in England watched the movement with some anxiety, for they knew how obstinately the monarch clung to the royal prerogative. When the king offered Pitt a peerage with the title of Viscount Pitt and Earl-of Chatham, and he accepted the honor, his popularity fell suddenly to zero, and it never again wTent up to summer heat. There was a prevailing opinion that Bute and the Princess of Wales were still a power behind the throne, and fears were entertained that Pitt in his old age, eager for honors and emoluments, would be the puppet of the despised Scotch nobleman and the king's mother. In making up his cabinet, Pitt seems to have failed in sagacity. It was composed of such discordant materials that neither party knew what confidence to repose in it. It was largely composed of friends of the king, but the " colleagues whom he assorted at the same boards," wrote Burke, "stared at each other and were obliged to ask,'Sir, your name? Sir, you have the advantage of me; Mr. Such-a-one, I beg a thousand pardons.' I venture to say that it did so happen that persons had a single office divided between them who had never spoken to each other in their lives until they found themselves, they knew not how, pigging together, heads and points, in the same truckle-bed." It was an administration utterly unsafe to touch and unsure to stand upon. Pitt's shattered health would not permit him to control the cabinet. Frequent fits of gout confined him at his country-seat much of the time, when his opposers and political enemies, whom, to please the king, he had clothed with power, devised and put into operation schemes for taxing the Americans, directly contrary to his well-known principles of action. It was during his administration of two years and four months that some of the most obnoxious acts of Parliament concerning the Americans became laws, under the fostering care of the ministry. Troops had already been sent to America, in accordance with the provisions of a military act passed when news of the stamp-act disturbances in the colonies reached Parliament. A large portion of the House of Lords, the whole bench of bishops and many of the Commons, who did not doubt the right of the government to tax the colonies, urged the ministry to use coercive measures against them. "A certain number of bishops are entitled to a seat in the House of Lords, with the same political powers of the peers, and the two classes compose the " Lords spiritual and Lords temporal " of the kingdom. 634 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. Troops were sent to New York with power, under the law, to break into houses in search of deserters. The royal governor demanded of the Assembly an appropriation for the subsistence of these avowed instruments of oppression. The people were indignant. The Sons of Liberty were aroused to action, and they resolved to oppose the measure to the utmost of their ability. Angry feelings were excited between the troops and the citizens. The former, insolent and overbearing, became objects of intense dislike; and when, three months after the Liberty-Pole was erected with so much harmony and loyalty, the soldiers, to show their power, cut it down, RESTORING THE LIBERTY-POLE. the indignation of the people almost drove them into open armed rebellion. They set up the pole again the next evening, in defiance of the soldiery, with whom they had a fracas, when some blood was shed. A month later the troops again prostrated the pole, and again the people re-erected it, and from its top unfurled the British banner which they loved so well. They bound the pole with iron to resist the axes of the mercenaries, and set a guard to watch it. The soldiers came with loaded muskets, fired some random shots into a house where the Sons of Liberty were assembled, and tried to drive the people from the fields. Fearful retaliation would have RETOIN THE LII TYPO the ininto ftepol lotdov hmit pnamdrblin The se ptepl gin h eteeinineianeotesldirywt whom they ha a rcs we oeblo he.Amnh ae h ~t/,,, ii ~,,~,t,,,!~, ~' liii / I'il I _i srI'ii:i i....~i I~~~~~~~~~~l i I i'!" II I' i' irii''liiijllI:ijij' ~l' I i l,~li'ii~~~~i~'l~ ~ i~' I)i~ /' III"!' I il ia; ~ ~~~~~~~~~! I I! t!~~ t i l [t t II ~t~ Il~[~I~ I~Ij~i i ILl I I I I i, ~ l CHAP. III. A SERIES OF OBNOXIOUS ACTS. 635 followed this act had not the governor, alarmed by the popular indignation, ordered the troops to refrain from further aggressive acts. That was in the spring of I767. This defence of the Liberty-Pole in New York was applauded throughout the colonies, and was a manifestation of the spirit of the people everywhere. Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, was a ruling spirit in the cabinet in the absence of Pitt. He and Grenville coalesced in devising new schemes for taxing the Americans. The latter proposed direct taxation to a considerable amount. In June (1767), a bill, proposed by Townshend, for levying duties on tea, glass, paper, painters' colors, and other articles imported by the colonists, was adopted by Parliament. In July, another bill was passed for the establishment of a board of revenue commissioners in the colonies, with their seat at Boston, to be independent of colonial legislation; also for creating resident commissioners of customs to enforce the revenue laws. Another was adopted a few days later, forbidding the Assembly of New York to perform any legislative act whatever, until they should comply with the requirements of the mutiny act in regard to the subsistence of the troops. These taxation schemes were properly regarded as direct blows against the liberties of the Americans, and they excited almost as violent opposition as did the stamp act. The colonial assemblies boldly protested against them. The Assembly of New York disregarded the disabling act, while the royal governors, with their numerous retainers, as blind as their masters, elated by the prospect of being independent of the colonial assemblies, eagerly promoted the schemes of the ministry and so fostered opposition among the people. A warm discussion in Parliament, concerning the rebellious acts of the colonies, revealed the fact to the world that the Americans were on the eve of open rebellion. In the course of the debate they were charged with a design to revolt and set up an independent government. They were called " rebels" and " traitors." Even the cautious Lord Mansfield drew a picture of the "folly and wickedness of the American incendiaries," and the fatal effects upon England which the deplorable event of the separation of the colonists from'the mother country might produce. The prospect of disruption delighted the French ministry. Ever since the conquest of Canada, by which the French had been shorn by the English of a vast domain in America, the pride of that nation had been humbled at the feet of British power. There was a deep-seated determination to strike a deadly retaliatory blow when opportunity should offer. From the time of the treaty of Paris in I763, the French government, seeing disaffection in the colonies, cherished the hope that it would grow into an open 636 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. rupture which would lead to the withdrawal of those colonies from the government of Great Britain. That dismemberment of the empire was looked forward to by the French as the consummation of their wishes, and they resolved to help the Americans whenever they should enter upon a struggle, with arms, for their independence. That struggle now seemed to be near, and the chief French minister, Choiseul, resolved to send an emissary to America to spy out the real intentions of the colonists, if possible. That emissary was the Baron De Kalb, a colonel from the Franco-German province of Alsace, who was afterward a general in the American army of the Revolution, and fell a martyr, near Camden, in South Carolina. He was instructed to ascertain the wants of the Americans in respect to engineers and artillery officers, and munitions of war and stores; the strength of their purpose to withdraw from Great Britain; their resources in troops and fortifications; the plan of their projected revolution, and the character of their leaders, civil and military. The French minister did not comprehend the real loyalty of the Americans, nor their power of endurance and patience under provocation. The baron performed the service, but his report did not warrant Choiseul in hoping for an immediate rupture. From that time it was the cherished policy of the French government to foster the quarrel, and to give aid to the Americans whenever they should strike a blow for freedom. They did so, as we shall observe hereafter, for the sole purpose of injuring Great Britain and restricting her power. Meanwhile the colonists were preparing for resistance to the taxation schemes. The common danger had thoroughly united them, and a feeling of nationality was budding in their hearts. The committees of correspondence kept each colony fully acquainted with the sentiments and acts of the others. The assemblies and people took the broad view expressed by James Otis, that "taxes on trade, if designed to raise a revenue, were just as much a violation of their rights as any other tax." The colonial newspapers, then about thirty in number, were becoming tribunes of the people, and in them the principles of liberty and the rights of the colonists were ably discussed in short essays. Among the most effective of these were a dozen " Letters of a Farmer of Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies," which were published in a Philadelphia newspaper in the summer and autumn of I767. In a style of great simplicity, vigor and animation, their author (John Dickinson, an eminent lawyer of Philadelphia) portrayed the unconstitutionality of the conduct of Great Britain, the imminent peril to liberty in America which existed, and the fatal consequences of a supine acquiescence in ministerial measures-more fatal as precedents than by the immediate calamities they were calculated to produce. Votes of thanks CHAP. III. THE FARMER'S LETTERS. 637 were given to Dickinson at public meetings: and in May, I768, an association in Philadelphia, called the Society of Fort St. David, presented an address to him "in a box of heart of oak," with suitable inscriptions. On the top was represented the Phoenician cap of liberty on a spear, resting on a cipher of the letters "J. D."; underneath the cipher, in a semi-circular label, were the words "Pro Patria." Around the whole, the following: "The gift of the Governor and Society of Fort St. David to the author of THE FARMER'S LETTERS, in grateful testimony to the very eminent service thereby rendered to this country, I768." On the inside of the lid was the following inscription: " The Liberties of the British colonies in America asserted with Attic eloquence and Roman spirit, by 7ohn Dickinson, barristerat-law." The immediate and subsequent effects of these letters were wonderful. The colonial assemblies noticed them, and upon the broad grounds of right and justice laid down in these essays, they denounced the acts of Parliament. Non-importation associations which had been dissolved on the repeal of the stamp act were reorganized, and that powerful machinery almost destroyed the commerce with England. Dr. Franklin caused the Letters to be republished in London, with a preface written by himself, in I768. They were also translated into French and published in Paris. CHAPTER IV. THE AMERICANS RESOLVE TO RESIST-VIOLENCE DEPRECATED-VIEWS OF LEADERS-FOLLY OF THE MINISTRY-THE MASSACHUSETTS CIRCULAR —ACTS OF CROWN OFFICERS-THE ISSUEHILLSBOROUGH'S INSTRUCTIONS-TEMPER OF THE OTHER COLONIES-A PROPHECY-A WARLIKE MENACE-SEIZURE OF THE "LIBERTY "-EXCITING SCENES AT BOSTON-FIRMNESS OF THE CITIZENS —-ACTION ON RESCINDING BY THE ASSEMBLY-A THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSY. / T the beginning of I768, the Americans, educated by a long series of A/ moral and political contests with the government of Great Britain, and assured by recent experience and observation of their own sound and potent physical and moral strength derived from numbers and the justice of their acts, stood in an attitude of firm resolve not to submit to the -new schemes of the ministry for their enslavement. They were determined to maintain home rule inviolate in their political affairs, yet they were willing to bear with patience the pressure upon their industrial enterprise of old acts of Parliament then unrepealed. They were still eminently loyal, and were proud of the honor of being British subjects in its broad sense of nationality. But to the eye of a superficial observer the Americans, at that time, were in a state of open revolt. Their representative assemblies, uttering the voices of the people, were defying the power. of Great Britain which threatened to impose unjust and unconstitutional laws upon them, and to enforce them with ball and bayonet. The nonimportation agreements, working disastrously against British commerce, were again in full force; and the. spirit of resistance was rife among the people. But the leaders of American opinion, deprecating the spasmodic violence seen in opposition to the stamp act, counselled moderation, and condemned any but legal, just, and dignified measures. They saw that a crisis was at hand, when statesmanship of the highest order would be needed in the popular representative assemblies, and wise and judicious men were wanted as popular leaders of the people. When, in Boston, a placard appeared, calling on the "Sons of Liberty" to "rise and fight for their rights," and declaring that they " would be joined by legions," James Otis, in a townmeeting, denounced that spirit. "Were the burdens of the people ever CHAP. IV. THE MOB SPIRIT REBUKED. 639 so heavy," he said, " or their grievances ever so great, no possible circumstances, though ever so oppressive, could be supposed sufficient to justify private tumults and disorders, either to their consciences before God or legally before men; that their forefathers, in the beginning of the reign of Charles I, for fifteen years together, were continually offering up prayers to their God, and petitions to their king, for redress of grievances, before they would betake themselves to any forcible measures; and to insult and tear each other in pieces was to act like madmen." John Dickinson wrote: "Our cause is a cause of the highest dignity; it is nothing less than to maintain the liberty with which Heaven itself has made us free. I hope it will nQt be disgraced in any colony by a single rash step. We have constitutional methods of seeking redress, and they are the best methods." Like sentiments were expressed by other patriotic leaders; and their advice to stand in an attitude of defence and not of aggression-to make the king and his ministers the real revolutionists if revolution should occur-was heartily endorsed by the people. It was a new, a benign, and a thoroughly American method of resisting the oppressions of an imperial governmenta method having its foundations on law, enlightened public opinion, and social order. Had the king and his ministers been wise, and simply respected the natural and chartered rights of the colonists, the climax of revolution toward which events were rapidly tending might have been indefinitely postponed. But they were not wise. The pride of power would not brook resistance or even opposition to its wishes and its will. The three estates of the realmKing, Lords, and Commons-esteeming themselves collectively the absolute masters of America, resolved to teach the colonists that implicit obedience was their birthright and their natural and legal tribute to that master. Leaning upon the acknowledged power of Great Britain to execute the will of the King and Parliament in America, that government resolved to effect a thorough revolution in the colonial governments by military force; to establish a vast consolidated empire under absolute royal rule, and to lay the foundations of a great American revenue. When the suggestion was made to Charles Townshend that the troops might be safely withdrawn from America, and by so lessening the expenses might lessen the need of a revenue and causes for discontent, the imperious minister replied: " I will hear nothing on that subject; the moment a resolution shall be taken to withdraw the army, I will resign my office and have no more to do in public affairs. I insist it is absolutely necessary to keep up a large army there and here. An American army and consequently an American revenue are essential." 640 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. At that time Massachusetts, and particularly Boston, was regarded as the focus of sedition, and consequently had become the objects of the suspicion and wrath of the ministry. That Massachusetts was the "head centre" of opposition to ministerial and parliamentary injustice, cannot be truthfully denied. At the opening of the Assembly of that province at the beginning of 1768, the several obnoxious acts then recently passed were read and referred to a committee on the state of the province. That committee submitted a Letter addressed to the agent of the colony in England, but intended for the ministry. It set forth the rights of the Americans; their equality with British subjects as free citizens, and their right to local self-government. It expressed loyalty, and disclaimed a desire for independence; opposed the late acts as unconstitutional; remonstrated against the maintaining of a "'"' 5standing army in America as expensive, useless, altogether inadequate to compel obedience, and as dangerous to liberty. It objected to the establishment here of commissioners of cusX'~- " toms; expressed alarm because of the attempt to annihilate the legislative authority of New York,,' and indicated the intention of,"' / " _ Massachusetts to defend its rights.. /"""\ " -t\ I, After much debate the Letter was adopted with other epistles to 7 distinguished men in England; /..-o,,, ~also a petition to the king couched in beautiful and touching lanSAMUEL ADAMS. guage, in which a brief history of the settlements of the colonies was recounted; the story of their investment of rights by the revolution of I688 was told, and the principles of the sacred right of being taxed only by representatives of their own free election were laid down. All of these documents were the production of the teeming brain and facile pen of Samuel Adams, one of the soundest, purest, most inflexible and incorruptible men of his time; poor in purse, but rich in principle; of whom Governor Hutchinson said, " He is of such an obstinate and inflexible disposition that he could never be conciliated by any office or gift whatever." CHAP. IV. FALSE ACCUSATIONS. 64I In February, a Circular Letter, also written by Samuel Adams, was sent to the several colonial assemblies, informing them of the contents of the Letter to the agent of the province, and the petition to the king, and inviting them to join the people of Massachusetts in " maintaining the liberties of America." This Circular was fearlessly laid before Governor Bradford, for the patriots had nothing to conceal. It excited his fears and indignation. He wrote a letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, the Secretary of State for the colonies, in which he grossly misrepresented the temper and sentiments of the Circular, and declared that the Americans were aiming at independence. The board of commissioners of the revenue at Boston, who had lately been appointed, wrote in like manner, declaring their belief that their persons were not safe; that the seeming moderation of the Americans was illusory; that the colonists were uniting to throw off the yoke of dependence; complaining that at the town-meetings in the province "the lowest mechanics discussed the most important points of government with the utmost freedom, and said: "We have every reason to expect that we shall find it impracticable to enforce the execution of the revenue laws until the hand of government is properly strengthened. At present there is not a ship-ofwar in the province, nor a company of soldiers nearer than New York." Massachusetts said to the ministry: "Touch not our local government, and relieve us of taxation without representation," and asked her sister colonies to join in the just demand. The crown officers said to the ministry: " Send us a fleet and army that we may destroy the local governments and tax the people without their consent." This was now the issue. To this complexion it had come at last; and the crown officers, wishing to have troops sent over, that the work might be speedily accomplished, wrote alarming letters home about concerted insurrections and of danger to the commissioners of customs. They pretended that the anniversary of the repeal of the stamp act was the day fixed for unlawful proceedings; and they tried to excite the people to some violent act to justify their accusations, by causing the effigies of two revenue officers to be seen hanging on Liberty-Tree on that morning. The " Sons of Liberty " quietly took them down, and celebrated the day in a temperate manner. Not even a bonfire was lighted in the streets at night; and only a few men, women and children gathered with harmless demonstrations of joy. The false Bernard wrote that there was great disposition to disorder; that "hundreds paraded the streets with yells and outcries that were quite terrible." When, at the middle of April, the Circular and the misrepresentations of Bernard and other crown officers reached Hillsborough, he sent instructions to the governor to call upon the General Assembly of Massachusetts to 642 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. rescind their resolutions, the substance of which was embodied in their Circular, and in case of refusal to dissolve them. Meanwhile responses to the Circular had come to Boston from the other assemblies, expressing cordial approbation of its sentiments. Individuals also sent approving letters, and patriots issued appeals to the people through the medium of newspapers and pamphlets. "Courage, Americans!" wrote William Livingston (it is supposed, an eminent Presbyterian lawyer in New York), in the American Whizg, No. V. "Liberty, religion, and science are on the wing to these shores. The finger of God points out a mighty empire to your sons. The savages of the wilderness were never expelled to make room for idolaters and slaves. The land we possess is the gift of Heaven to our fathers, and Divine Providence seems to have decreed it to our latest posterity. So legible is this munificent and celestial deed in past events, that we need not be discouraged by the bickerings between us and the parent country. The angry cloud will soon be dispersed, and America advance to felicity and glory with redoubled activity and vigor. The day dawns in which the foundations of this mighty empire is to be laid by the establishment of a regular American constitution. All that has hitherto been done seems to be little beside the collection of materials for the construction of this glorious fabric.'Tis time to put them together. The transfer of the European part of the great family is so swift, and our growth so vast, that before seven years roll over our heads the first stone must be laid. Peace or war, famine or plenty, poverty or affluence-in a word, no circumstance, whether prosperous or adverse, can happen to our parent-nay, no conduct of hers, whether wise or imprudent-no possible temper on her part, will put a stop to this building." So ran the prophecy in 1768. At the end of seven years its fulfill-.ment began in earnest. With his instructions to Bernard, Hillsborough sent a letter to the other royal governors, describing the Massachusetts Circular as " of a most dangerous and factious tendency," and directing them to use their influence to induce their respective assemblies to treat it " with the contempt it deserved." The governors were also instructed, in case the assemblies gave "any countenance to the seditious paper," to immediately dissolve them. By these means the Secretary hoped to induce the other assemblies to oppose the bold measure proposed by Massachusetts, and so isolate that province. The result did not justify his hopes. By this attempt to control their action, the assemblies were irritated, and their zeal in the cause in which Massachusetts was leading was increased. Meanwhile orders had been given to General Gage at New York to hold a regiment in readiness there to send to Boston, for the assistance of the crown officers in executing the CHAP. IV. EXCITING SCENES AT BOSTON. 643 laws. The admiralty was also directed to send a frigate and four smaller vessels-of-war to Boston harbor for the same purpose, and directions were given for the repairing and occupancy of Castle William on an island in that harbor. This measure was regarded by the Americans as a virtual declaration of war, yet they resolved to keep the sword of resistance in the scabbard as long as possible. The commissioners of customs and the master of a sloop-of-war which, at their request, had come to Boston from Halifax, now assumed the utmost insolence of manner and speech toward the people. New England men were impressed into the British naval service, and in June, the sloop Liberty, belonging to John Hancock, whom the crown officers cordially hated because of his opposition to them, was seized under peculiar circumstances. She had come into the harbor with a cargo of Madeira wine. Just at sunset, the "tide-waiter" in the employ of the commissioners went on board, and took his seat in the cabin, as usual, to drink punch with the master until the sailors should land the cargo of dutiable goods. Hancock had resolved to resist the obnoxious revenue laws; and at about nine o'clock in the evening, his captain and others in his employ entered the cabin, confined the tidewaiter, and proceeded to land the wine without entering it at the customhouse or observing any other formula. So great were the exertions of the master of the Liberty that night, that he died from their effects before morning. The sloop was now seized by the officers of the customs for a violation of the revenue laws. A crowd of citizens quickly gathered at the wharf, and as the proceedings went on, a part of them, of the lower order, became a mob under the lead of Malcom, a bold smuggler. The collector (Harrison) and the controller (Hallowell) were there to enforce the law. The former. thought the sloop might remain at Hancock's wharf with the broad arrow upon her (a mark designating her legal position); but the latter had determined to have her moored under the guns of the war-vessel (Romney, of sixty guns), and had sent for her boats to come ashore. An exciting scene now occurred, which Mr. Bancroft has described as follows: "'You had better let the vessel be at the wharf,' said Malcom.'I shall not,' said Hallowell, and gave directions to cut the fasts.'Stop, at least, till the owner comes,' said the people who crowded round.'No, damn you,' cried Hallowell,'cast her off.'' I'll split out the brains of any man that offers to receive a fast or stop the vessel,' said the master of the Romney; and he shouted to the marines to fire.'What rascal is that who dares to tell the marines to fire?' cried a Bostoneer, and turning to Harrison, the collector, a well-meaning man, who disapproved the violent 644 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. manner of the seizure, he added:'The owner is sent for; you had better let her lie at the wharf till he comes down.''No, she shall go,' insisted the controller;'show me the man who dares oppose it.''Kill the damned scoundrel,' cried the master.'We will throw the people from the Romney overboard,' said Malcom, stung with anger.'By God she shall go,' repeated the master, and he more than once called to the marines,'Why don't you fire?' and bade them fire. So they cut her moorings, and with ropes in the barges the sloop was towed away to the Romney." i/ /_ f --. - ~.,~,!:!f, Y/ A" THE TIDE-WAITER SEIZED. This act excited the hot indignation of the people. A mob, led by Malcom, followed the custom-house officers, pelted them with stones and other missiles, and broke the windows of their offices. The mob seized a pleasure-boat belonging to the collector, and after dragging it through the town, burned it on the Common. Then they quietly dispersed. The commissioners were unhurt, but greatly alarmed. They applied to the governor for protection, but he, as much frightened as they, told them he was powerless. They finally fled to the Romney, and thence to Castle William, nearly three miles southeast of the city, where a company of British artillery were stationed. They were in no real danger in the city, but they were playing a deep game to deceive the ministry. The "Sons of Liberty " now called a meeting of the citizens at Faneuil CHAP. IV. LORD HILLSBOROUGH'S INSTRUCTIONS. 645 Hall, in a large building erected by Peter Faneuil in 1742 for the use of the town. They assembled in great numbers on the 13th of June, I768. Citizens and yeomen from the surrounding country commingled there, all animated by a spirit of patriotic defiance. James Otis was appointed chairman. A committee of twenty-one citizens were requested to convey to the governor an address adopted by the assemblage, asking him to order the Romney to leave the harbor, and to restrain further violent proceedings on the part of the crown officers. At that meeting the people plainly told the crown that its oppressions must cease. So was Faneuil Hall consecrated as The Cradle of Liberty. In eleven chaises the committee went in procession to the governor's house in the country. Bernard received them courteously, and the next day he sent a reply to the address, in which he promised to stop impressments, and said: "I shall think myself most highly honored if I can be, in the lowest degree, an instrument in preserving a perfect conciliation between you and the parent state." At that very time, the dissimulating governor was using his utmost endeavors to get troops into Boston, either from New York or England, and had written to his superiors that the events of the ioth of June constituted "an insurrection rather than a riot." The crown officers all reported that "a general spirit of insurrection was prevailing throughout the province," hoping to induce the ministry to use vigorous measures immediately for subjugating the Americans. Meanwhile the town of Boston declared in words written by John Adams, a rising young lawyer, that " every person who shall solicit or promote the importation of troops at this time is an enemy to the town and province, and a disturber of the peace and good order of both." While the excitement was at its height, the instructions of Hillsborough concerning the rescinding of the Massachusetts resolutions arrived. The Assembly were in session. On the 2Ist of June the governor delivered his message in accordance with those instructions. The House was composed of one hundred and nine members-much the largest legislative body in America. The message was received with calmness, and discussed with moderation but firmness. James Otis and Samuel Adams were the chief speakers. The latter was grave in demeanor and philosophical in his utterance. The former was fiery, and more declamatory. The friends of the,king and Parliament declared that his harangue was "the most violent, insolent, abusive and treasonable declaration that perhaps ever was delivered." "When Lord Hillsborough knows," said Otis, " that we will not rescind our acts, he should apply to Parliament to rescind theirs. Let Britons rescind their measures, or they are lost forever! " 646 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. For more than an hour Otis harangued the Assembly with words similar to these in meaning and intensity of expression. Even the "Sons of Liberty" trembled lest he should tread upon the domain of treason. The House refused to rescind, passed resolutions denunciatory of this attempt to arrest free discussion and expressions of opinion, and then sent a letter to the governor informing him of their action. " If the votes of this House," they said, "are to be controlled by direction of a minister, we have left us but a vain semblance of liberty. We have now only to inform you that this House have voted not to rescind, and that, in a division on the question, there were ninety-two yeas and seventeen nays." The seventeen "rescinders" became objects of public contempt. The governor was irritated by the FANEUIL HALL. "insolent letter," and proceeded to dissolve the Assembly; but before the act was accomplished that body had prepared a list of serious accusations against him, and a petition to the king praying for his removal. Massachusetts felt strong in the assurances of sympathy and support received from the other colonies; We have hinted that the Church and State in England worked in concert for the enslavement of the Americans. So early as 1748, Dr. Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury, had proposed the establishment of Episcopacy in America,'and overtures were made to several eminent Puritan divines to accept the mitre, but they all declined it. It was known that among other reforms in the colonies, proposed by the ministry at the beginning of the CHAP. IV. A THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSY. 647 reign of George the Third, was the curtailment or destruction of the Puritan, or Dissenting influence in the provinces, and to make the ritual of the Anglican Church the State mode of worship. This movement was made as secretly as possible, but it could not be wholly concealed. Rev. George Whitefield said to Dr. Langdon, a Puritan divine at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, " I can't, in conscience, leave this town without acquainting you with a secret. My heart bleeds for America. O poor New England! There is a deep-laid plot against both your civil and religious liberties, and they will be lost. Your golden days are at an end. You have nothing but trouble before you. My information comes from the best authority in Great Britain. I was allowed to speak of the affair in general, but enjoined not to mention particulars. Your liberties will be lost." Remembering the aspect of Episcopacy or rather of the Anglican Church in the early colonial days, the Americans had ever looked upon that Church as a partner of the State in its acts of oppression, and they feared its power. They well knew that if Parliament could create dioceses and appoint bishops, they would establish tithes and crush out dissent as a heresy. For years controversy on the subject was very warm and sometimes acrimonious in this country. The Anglican Church had many adherents in nearly all the colonies, and they naturally desired its ascendency. Essays by able writers appeared in pamphlets and sometimes in newspapers for and against Episcopacy. Among those of its opponents, none held a more trenchant pen than William Livingston, just mentioned. Dr. Ewer, Lord Bishop of Llandaff, had preached a sermon before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, in which he recommended the scheme for establishing Episcopacy in America, and heaped abuse upon the colonists, who were mostly Dissenters. " Upon the adventurers themselves," he said, "what reproach could be cast heavier than they deserved? Who, with their native soil abandoned their native manners and religion, and ere long were found in many parts living without remembrance or knowledge of God, without any divine worship, in dissolute wickedness and the most brutal profligacy of manners. Instead of civilizing and converting barbarious infidels, as they undertook to do, they became, themselves, infidels and barbarians." With this view of the state of religion in the colonies, the prelate concluded that the only remedy for the great evil was to be found in a church establishment. His recommendations were laid hold of with a firm grasp by churchmen in this country, and urged with zeal. Dr. Chandler of Elizabethtown, in New Jersey, published "An Appeal to thze Public in behalf of th/e Church of England" —an able and moderate performance. Men of less note followed, and echoed the sentiments of the worthy rector. 42 648 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. The Dissenters were aroused. They perceived in the Bishop's sermon the spirit of the old persecuting Church, and visions of Laud and the Star Chamber troubled them. They felt that their " liberties were in danger," without a doubt. The unjust reproaches of the prelate were severely commented upon, and his erroneous assertions were met with truth. Dr. Chauncey of Boston first entered the lists against him and his abettors; and early in 1768, Mr. Livingston issued, in pamphlet form, his famous Letter to the prelate, in which, with sarcastic indignation of tone, he refuted the charges of that dignitary so completely that they were not repeated. The pamphlet was republished in London, and excited much attention in England. It was highly commended by all Dissenters in America; and in the summer of 1768, when Massachusetts was in a blaze of indignation because of the instructions of Hillsborough and the duplicity of Bernard, the consociated churches of the colony of Connecticut assembled in convention at Coventry, with Noah Wells as their scribe or secretary, passed a vote of thanks to Mr. Livingston "for vindicating the New England churches and plantations against the injurious reflections and unjust aspersions cast upon them in the Bishop of Llandaff's sermon." This compliment was travestied by one of the champions of the church in a poem of fifty lines, which was published in Hugh Gaines' New York Mercury. It was entitled "A Reviving Cordialfor a Fainting Hero." The following is its conclusion: "March on, brave Will, and rear our Babel On Language so unanswerable; Give Church and State a hearty thump, And knock down Truth with Falsehoods plump; So flat shall fall their church's fair stones, Felled by another Praise-God-Bare-Bones. Signed with consent of all the Tribe, By No-h W-s our fasting scribe, The Scribe and Pharisee in meeting To William Li- n send greeting." This theological controversy ceased when the vital question of absolute resistance or submission to the encroachments of both Church and State upon the liberties of the Americans was brought to a final issue. In the war for independence which followed the ten years of discussion, appeal and remonstrance, many adherents to the republican cause were found among the members of the Anglican Church. The intimate relations of that Church with the State, however, caused many of its communion, especially of the clergy, to take the side of the crown. CHAPTER V. A ROYAL ORDER — ITS EFFECT UPON THE PEOPLE AND'THE ASSEMBLIES — VIEWS OF. PATRIOTS AND LEGISLATURES-THE COLONIES AN UNIT-HOPES OF THE FRENCH-NUMBERS " FORTYFIVE" AND "NINETY-TWO "-JOHN WILKES-PROPOSITIONS FOR PUNISHING THE LEADERS IN BOSTON — PERFIDY OF THE GOVERNOR — INDIGNATION OF THE PEOPLE — NON-IMPORTATION LEAGUE — COMMITTEE BEFORE THE GOVERNOR -- CONVENTION IN BOSTON — THE PEOPLE AROUSED-TROUBLES IN NORTH CAROLINA-THE REGULATORS. PTHE royal order sent by Hillsborough late in April, I768, requiring the American assemblies to treat the Circular Letter of the Massachusetts Legislature with contempt, as "an unwarrantable combination and flagitious attempt to disturb the public peace," and threatening them with dissolution in case they should refuse compliance, created a tempest of indignation all over the land. That order was properly regarded as a direct attempt to abridge or absolutely control free discussion in the colonies, and so deprive them of their best guaranty for the preservation of their liberties. They resented the king's action in the matter in respectful and decorous words that were full of the spirit of a people determined to be free; and that order was more potential in crystallizing the colonies into a permanent union than any event in their past history. They felt that in union only would consist their strength in the great conflict that now appeared inevitable, and which thinking men believed near at hand. Franklin in England, writing to his son concerning a proffered colonial office, said: "I apprehend a breach between the two countries." Samuel Langdon of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who had been a chaplain in the provincial army at the capture of Louisburg, wrote to Ezra Stiles, then a clergyman at Newport and afterward President of Yale College: "It is best for the Americans to let the king know the utmost of their resolutions, and the danger of a violent rending of the colonies from the mother country." Stephen Hopkins, then sixty years of age, and a Son of Liberty of truest metal, wrote from his home in Rhode Island to a friend in Boston: " Persevere in the good work. We will abide with you to the end; the God of wisdom and of justice is with us." Roger Sherman, the thoughtful shoemaker, on the judicial bench of Connecticut, and afterward, with Hopkins, a 650 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote: "No assembly on the continent will ever concede that Parliament has a right to tax the colonies;" and in another letter he said: " The right of unfettered discussion is inalienable, and we must maintain it." William Williams, a citizen of the same State and afterward a signer of the great Declaration, wrote from Lebanon to a friend: "We cannot believe that they [the British government] will draw the sword in their own colonies; but if they do, our blood is more at their service than our liberties." John Morin Scott, an ardent Son of Liberty in New York, and brave fellow-soldier of William Livingston, in the battle with the pen against the Church and State of Great Britain, wrote to a member of the Massachusetts Legislature: "You are right, and that is sufficient for me. We will fight the tory faction here, and the British regulars too, if necessary." When Chandler, the good rector of Elizabethtown and champion of the Church of England, wrote, "The colonies will soon experience worse things than in the late stamp act, or I am no prophet," the patriots of New Jersey smiled at the covert threat, and Richard Stockton, then a conservative member of the governor's council, but afterward a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote to William Livingston, saying: " We must maintain the natural and chartered rights of the colonists, but by peaceful and lawful means." The colonial assemblies everywhere took decided action, and exhibited remarkable unanimity of sentiment. New Hampshire was warmly responsive to the sentiments of Langdon's letter. The Assembly of Rhode Island highly approved of the action of Massachusetts. In Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, the same spirit was manifested. The New York Assembly adopted the Massachusetts Circular, and declared, by resolutions, the undoubted right of the people, through their representatives, to correspond and consult with any of the neighboring colonies on subjects of public importance. They chose a committee of correspondence; and the inhabitants of the city of New York, in a public letter addressed to their representatives in the Assembly, denounced the royal order "as the most daring insult that was ever offered to any free legislative body." That Assembly, which had yielded a little to the requirements of the mutiny act, now had more backbone of patriotism, and stood up manfully in support of the people's rights. The Sons of Liberty in New York were very active at the same time, and in the newspapers, hand-bills and pamphlets, they offered their sentiments with great boldness. A hand-bill, which was widely-posted about the city on a dark night, bore these words: —" Let these truths be indelibly impressed on our minds, that we cannot be free without being secure in our property; that we cannot be secure in our property if, without CHAP. V. TEMPER OF THE AMERICANS. 651 our consent, others may, as by right, take it away; that taxes imposed by Parliament do thus take it away; that duties laid for the sole purpose of raising money are taxes, that attempts to lay such, should be instantly and firmly opposed." The Legislature of Pennsylvania treated the royal order with decorous scorn; and a large public meeting in Philadelphia urged a cordial union of all the colonies in resistance to oppression. The Delaware Assembly boldly asserted the right of intercolonial correspondence, and declared their intention to co-operate with the other colonies. When the arrogant Governor Sharpe of Maryland laid the obnoxious royal order before the Assembly of that province, that body assured his excellency that they could not "be prevailed on to take no notice of, or treat with the least degree of contempt, a Letter so expressive of duty and loyalty to the sovereign, and so replete with just principles of liberty;" and added, " We shall not be intimidated by a few sounding expressions for doing what we think is right." They then sent their thanks to the Massachusetts Assembly. North Carolina rejected the order, and offered a respectful remonstrance; and at the same time the Massachusetts Circular was heartily approved. Virginia had already spoken out boldly in applause of the Circular, and the Assembly sent a letter of their own to all the colonial assemblies inviting their concurrence with Massachusetts. A committee of the South Carolina Legislature, composed of leading men of the colony like Gadsden, Laurens, Pinckney, Rutledge and Lynch, reported resolutions (which were adopted) declaring the Circulars of Massachusetts and Virginia to be replete with duty and loyalty to his Majesty, respect for Parliament, attachment to Great Britain, care for the preservation of the rights of British subjects, and founded upon undeniable constitutional principles. Twenty-six members voted for these resolutions. The offended royal governor immediately dissolved the Assembly, and the "Twenty-six" became as popular as the " Ninety-two" of the Massachusetts Assembly who voted not to rescind their Circular. The citizens of Charleston burnt the seventeen Massachusetts rescinders in effigy, and illumined -the streets of the city by almost three hundred torches carried in procession. By their light they garlanded with flowers and evergreens an effigy of the Goddess of Liberty, which they had crowned with laurel and palmetto leaves. Georgia responded with equal but less demonstrative patriotism. In the face of the warnings of the royal governor, that their action tended to independence and would bring ruin on America, they approved the Massachusetts Circular, and rejected the royal order. Their dissolution followed. All of the assemblies instantly sent reports of their action to that of 652 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. Massachusetts; and when the Letter from North Carolina, dated November IO, I768, reached Boston, the Evening Post of that city remarked: "It completes the answers to our Circular Letter. The colonies, no longer disconnected, form one body; a common sensation possesses the whole; the circulation is complete, and the vital fluid returns from whence it was sent out." It was so. At the beginning of I769, there was a perfect union of the thirEFFIGY OF THE GODDESS OF LIBERTY IN CHARLESTON. teen colonies in a determination to maintain their liberties at ally cost; while English statesmen, infatuated by the possession of power, were adopting measures for the abridgment, if not the utter destruction, of their liberties. It is instructive, in this connection, to consider the feelings and ideas of the French cabinet at that time, concerning the Americans —a cabinet com CHAP. V. THE FRENCH MINISTER EAGER FOR A REVOLT. 653 posed of changing materials which, as we have observed, played an important part in the struggle of the colonists for their independence. We have already noticed the hopes of Choiseul, the French minister, that an open rupture between the American colonies and Great Britain would speedily occur, and inflict a severe blow upon the strength of the latter. He was then supporting the decaying French empire with wisdom and energy. Ten years before, he had become the favorite and chief minister of the profligate Louis the Fifteenth through the influence of Madame Pompadour, who really ruled that monarch. Choiseul had been created a duke, and was regarded as the foremost living statesman of France. He was watching the course of political events in England and her American colonies with intense interest; and in the attitude of the latter toward the former in the summer of I768, he saw a reason for expecting an almost immediate outbreak of rebellion in America. This expectation was confirmed by a long conversation with an intelligent American, who gave him a clear insight of the resolution of the colonies to resist oppression, and their temper. He immediately wrote to the Count du Chatelet, then the French ambassador in London, that facts and not theories must control the actions of France, and saying: " My project, which is but a dream perhaps, is to consider the possibility of a commercial treaty, both of importation and exportation, the obvious advantages of which might attract the attention of the Americans. Will it not be possible to show them, at the moment of a rupture, an interest sufficiently powerful to detach them at once from their chief government? According to the predictions of some sensible men who have had opportunities to study the character of the Americans, and to comprehend their progress every day in the spirit of independence, this separation of the American colonies from their parent government must come sooner or later. The plan I propose will accelerate its consummation. It is the true interest of the colonies to forever secure their whole liberty, and establish their direct commerce with France and with the world. The main business will be to engage their neutrality. That will necessarily secure a treaty of alliance with France and Spain. They may not have confidence in the strength of our navy; they may suspect our fidelity to our engagements; they may fear the English ships-of-war; they may indulge a hope of success against the Spaniards and ourselves. I perceive all these difficulties, and do not hide their extent; but I perceive, also, the controlling interest of the Americans in profiting by the chance of a rupture to establish their independence. This cannot be done without risks; but he that halts at difficulties will never attempt anything. We firmly believe and hope that this 654 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. government will so conduct itself as to widen the breach, not to close it up. It is true that some persons of sagacity think it not only possible but easy to reconcile the interests of the colonies and the parent country, but I can see many obstacles lying in the way. I meet too many persons who think as I do. The course pursued thus far by the British government seems to me to be completely opposed to what it ought to be to effect a reconciliation." Choiseul had to wait full seven years for the gratification of his wish which was father to his thoughts, and then, through the operations of a faction, he had been dismissed from office. There was a curious feature in the political circles of England and America at this time. It consisted, in Great Britain, in the use of the number Forty-five, and in America of that number and Ninety-two combined, having a similar significance. John Wilkes, an ardent politician and fearless political writer in London, published a serial work called The North Briton. In number Forty-five of that work, he made a very severe attack on the government. That was in I763. He was prosecuted by the crown lawyer for libel and confined in the Tower, but was acquitted and received five thousand dollars as damages from the under-secretary, Wood. As Wilkes was regarded as the advocate of the people, this prosecution of their champion, by the government, was considered a malicious proceeding, and a blow at the freedom of speech and the press by the aristocracy. Violent political excitement ensued, and " Forty-five," the number of The North Briton that contained the attack, became the war-cry of the democratic party in Great Britain and the colonies. After ninety-two members of the Massachusetts Legislature voted against rescinding their resolutions embodied in their famous Circular, " Ninety-two" became a political catchword here, and its application was curious. Frothingham says: "When the Americans in London heard of the action of the Massachusetts Assembly, their favorite toast became:'May the unrescinding Ninetytwo be forever united in idea with the glorious Forty-five.' These talismanic numbers were combined in endless variety in the colonies. Ninetytwo patriots at the festival would drink forty-five toasts. The representatives would have forty-five or ninety-two votes. The ball would have ninety-two jigs and forty-five minuets. The Daughters of Liberty would, at a quilting party, find their garment of forty-five pieces of calico of one color and ninety-two of another. Ninety-two Sons of Liberty would raise a flag-staff forty-five feet high. At a dedication of a Liberty Tree in Charleston, forty-five lights hung on its branches, forty-five of the company bore torches in the procession, and they joined in the march in honor to the CHAP. V. THE AMERICANS MISREPRESENTED. 655 Massachusetts Ninety-two. At the festival, forty-five candles lighted the table, and ninety-two glasses were used in drinking the toasts; and the president gave as a sentiment: May the ensuing members of the Assembly be unanimous, and never recede from the resolutions of the Massachusetts Ninety-two." When news of these events in Massachusetts in the summer of 1768 reached England, and was soon followed by rumors that non-importation leagues were again forming, anger, deep solicitude and dismay prevailed. The exasperated ministry determined to punish the disobedient colony most severely. Lord Mansfield thought the members of the Assembly who, by their votes, had invited the union of the colonies in the assertion of their rights, ought to be summoned to England to answer for their conduct. The king, on the opening of Parliament, charged the Bostonians with a subversion of the constitution, and eagerness for independence of Great Britain. Both Houses denounced the proceedings of citizens and legislature of Massachusetts, and proposed to transport Otis, Hancock, the Adamses and other leaders to England for trial and punishment under an unrepealed act of Henry the Eighth. Exaggeration followed exaggeration as vessel after vessel reached England from America, and the friends of the colonists abroad were dumb, for awhile, for they had no available excuse to offer for the conduct of Massachusetts as misrepresented. Their silence gave a tacit sanction to the hot temper of the government and the harsh measures proposed by the ministry; and the mercantile and manufacturing interests were greatly disturbed by apprehensions of an absolute cessation of trade between them and the Americans. The colonial merchants were then owing British merchants twenty million dollars. Will this amount and the trade of the Americans be lost together? was the absorbing question of the hour in commercial circles. Unfortunately the British ministry were so satisfied with the supposed eminent ability of the Earl of Hillsborough to manage colonial affairs, that the whole American business was left to his discretion and control. Governor Bernard was his chief source of information concerning the temper and conduct of the Americans. That officer was false to them and false to his master, giving the latter untruthful accounts of events in our country. He perceived the dangers that were gathering around the royal governments everywhere, and he exaggerated every movement, hoping to induce the ministry to send troops and war-ships to Boston to overawe the people and make his own seat more secure. He sought to keep the people there quiet until such forces might arrive, by mischievous duplicity. The council was assured that if the people would cease the discussion of the question of 656 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. parliamentary power over the colonies, he would support their petition praying for relief from the recently enacted revenue laws. They consented, and Bernard showed a letter which he had written to Hillsborough in favor of the petition. Public excitement cooled, and the loyal Americans had hopes of repose. But in a secret letter of the same date, the perfidious governor gave to his master every possible form of argument in favor of not relaxing, in the least degree, the stringency and enforcement of the revenue laws. Hillsborough, equally false, encouraged the duplicity, and wrote a deceptive reply to be shown to the council. He actually used the name of his king as an abettor of the falsehood. Already orders had been given by the Secretary to General Gage to be in readiness to furnish troops whenever Bernard should make a requisition for them. When that officer heard of the disturbance in the New England capital, he sent word to the governor that the troops were in readiness. Bernard was anxious to send for them, but he could not make a requisition without the consent of his council. That body declared that the civil power did not need the support of troops, nor was it for his majesty's service or the peace of the province that any should be required. When the duplicity, the desires, and the acts of Bernard became known, the citizens of Boston could restrain their indignation with difficulty. Satisfied that the troops would come sooner or later, they resolved to put the engine of non-importation, which had worked so powerfully before, into vigorous operation. In August [1768] nearly all the merchants of Boston subscribed such a league, to go into operation on the first of January following, hoping, through the influence of the British merchants, to restrain the hand of the government uplifted to smite the Americans. The Sons of Liberty were active everywhere, and watched every movement of the crown officers. They soon discovered a British military officer in their city, evidently making preparations for barracks for troops. They gave the alarm. A town-meeting was called at Faneuil Hall, when James Otis, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and John Adams were appointed a committee to wait on the governor to ascertain whether the visit of the military officer was for such a purpose, and to request him to call a special session of the legislature. Bernard told them that troops were about to be quartered in Boston, and he refused to call the Assembly until he might hear from home. The governor was evidently alarmed, for he knew the great popularity of the men who stood before him. All Boston stood behind them, but its whole population was not more than sixteen thousand souls. His tone was more pacific than usual. Judging them by his own standard of morality, he had actually stooped to make some of these men his friends by bribes. He sent a com CHAP. V. PATRIOTS REJECT BRIBES. 657 mission to John Hancock, as a member of his council. That patriot tore the paper into shreds in presence of the people. He offered the lucrative office of advocate-general in the court of admiralty to John Adams, who instantly rejected it. He cautiously approached the sturdy Puritan, Samuel Adams, with honeyed words and an offer of place, but received such a rebuke that the words I have already quoted were afterward wrung from Hutchinson-" He is of such an obstinate and inflexible disposition that he could never be conciliated by any office or gift whatsoever." The governor's refusal to call the Assembly impelled the town-meeting to recommend a convention of delegates from all the towns in the province to be held in Boston, unfder the plausible pretext that the prevailing apprehension of war with France required a general consultation. Apprehending war with the mother country was the real cause for the movement. The convention assembled on the 22d of September, 1768, when more than a hundred delegates represented every town and district. in the province but one. Thomas il il Cushing, Speaker of the Assembly, presided. They petitioned the gov- -- ernor to summon a general court. He _ __ i answered by denouncing the convention as a treasonable body. They disclaimed all pretension to political authority, professed the utmost loyalty to the king, and said they had I met in that "dark and distressing i time to consult and advise as to the best manner of preserving peace and JOHN HANCOCK'S RESENTMENT. good order." The governor, in daily expectation of troops from Halifax, which, on his requisition, Gage had ordered to Boston, assumed a haughty tone, warned them to desist from further proceedings, and admonished them to disperse without delay. The Convention, unmoved by his words, remained in session four days, took moderatt action, and stood firm in their purpose. They adopted a petition to the king, an address to the people setting forth the alarming state of the country, and advised abstinence from all violence, and submission to legal authority. 658 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. The people were now thoroughly alive to a sense of their dangers and duties. The great political questions of the hour occupied their minds. The pulpit became a sort of political forum. Patriotism and Christianity were regarded as twin sisters. Order everywhere prevailed. Excitement had given way to Reason. The other colonies were watching Massachusetts intently. Virginia sent her salutatory greetings. The good Governor Botetourt, in pursuance of his prescribed duty, had dissolved her Assembly. They reorganized in a private house, and then adopted a non-importation agreement presented by George Washington. Other colonies sent cheering words, especially after troops had landed in Boston in the early autumnal days; and at nearly every public gathering in the several colonies, the stirring Massachusetts Song of Liberty was sung. That song was so powerful in moulding the popular mind in favor of union and resistance, that I give it below, entire, with the music, as it appeared when first printed in a Boston newspaper: THE MASSACHUSETTS SONG OF LIBERTY. " Come swallow your bumpers, ye Tories, and roar, That the Sons of fair Freedom are hamper'd once more; But know that no Cut-throats our spirits can tame, Nor a host of Oppressors shall smother the flame. " IFz Freedom we're born, and, like Sons of the brave, TVill never surrender, But swear to defenzd her, And scorn to survive, if unable to save. " Our grandsires, bless'd heroes, we'll give them a tear, Nor sully their honors by stooping to fear; Through deaths and through dangers their Trophies they won, WVe dare be their Rivals, nor will be outdone. " IZ Freedom we're bor, I c. " Let tyrants and minions presume to despise, Encroach on our RIGHTS, and make FREEDOM their prize; Encro~ach on our RIGHxs, and make FREED~rO,'atheir prize; CHAP. V. MASSACHUSETTS SONG OF LIBERTY. 659 The fruits of their rapine they never shall keep, Though vengeance may nod, yet how short is her sleep. " In Freedom we're born, &'c. "The tree which proud Haman for Alordecai rear'd Stands recorded, that virtue endanger'd is spared; That rogues, whom no bounds and no laws can restrain, Must be stripp'd of their honors and humbled again. "In Freedom we're born, &'c. "Our wives and our babes, still protected, shall know Those who dare to be free shall forever be so; On these arms and these hearts they may safely rely For in freedom we'll live, or like Heroes we'll die. " In Freedom we're born, &'c. "Ye insolent Tyraitts! who wish to enthrall; Ye Minions, ye Placemen, Pimps, Pensioners, all; How short is your triumph, how feeble your trust, Your honor must wither and nod to the dust. " In Freedom we're born, &c. "When oppress'd and reproach'd, our KING we implore, Still firmly persuaded our RIGHTS he'll restore; When our hearts beat to arms to defend a just right, Our monarch rules there, and forbids us to fight. " In Freedom we're born, &*c. "Not the glitter of arms nor the dread of a fray Could make us submit to their chains for a day; Withheld by affection, on Biitons we call, Prevent the fierce conflict which threatens your fall. "Zn Freedom we're born, &'c. "All ages shall speak with amaze and applause Of the prudence we show in support of our cause: Assured of our safety, a BRUNSWICK still reigns, Whose free loyal subjects are strangers to chains. " In Freedom we're born, &'c. "Then join hand in hand, brave AMERICANS all, To be free is to live, to be slaves is to fall; Has the land such a dastard as scorns not a LORD, Who dreads not a fetter much more than a sword? " In Freedom we're born," &'c. While the people of Massachusetts were preparing to fight for their liberties, if necessary, those of North Carolina, far away from the seaboard, were in open insurrection because of the cruelty of oppressors. Before the stamp act excitement convulsed the northern provinces, rebellion had germinated there; and when Governor Tryon, who was sent to rule North Carolina in I765, attempted to suppress free speech on the great question, he found that 660 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. he had an obstinate people to deal with. Tryon was proud, haughty, fond of show, extravagant, extortionate, treacherous, and naturally tyrannical when in power, but cowardly when confronted by equal moral or physical forces. He tried to compel the people to take the stamps, but they compelled the stamp-officer at Wilmington to go to the market-place and publicly resign his commission. This tacit defiance of his authority by resolute men alarmed the governor, and he tried to conciliate the militia at a general A BARBECUE AND THE RESULT. muster in Hanover, by treating them to a barbecued ox-an ox roasted whole-and a few barrels of beer. The insulted people cast the ox into the river, poured the liquor on the ground, and mocked Tryon. Soon after that, the rapacity of public officers in the province, from'the governor down, drove the people to the verge of rebellion. They met in small assemblies at first and petitioned for relief. Their prayers were answered by fresh extortions. Finally, they resolved to form a league for mutual protection, and to take all the power in certain inland counties into their own hands. Herman Husbands, a strong-minded and resolute Quaker, drew up a written complaint and sent it by a few bold men to the General Assembly at Hillsborough, in October, I766, who requested the clerk to CHAP. V. TREACHERY OF OFFICIALS. 66I read it aloud. It asserted that the "Sons of Liberty would withstand the Lords in Parliament," and set forth that great evils existed in the province. A general convention of delegates was recommended to consider public affairs, and two were afterward held. At the one held in April, 1767, on the banks of the Eno, not far from Hillsborough, it was resolved that the people in the more inland counties should regulate public affairs there, and by resolutions they almost declared themselves independent of all external authority. From that time they were called Regulators, and were a prominent and powerful body. The pride of Tryon induced him to covet a palace " fit for the residence of a royal governor." The blandishments and liberal hospitality of the governor's beautiful wife won the good-will of the representatives of the General Assembly, and they voted seventy-five thousand dollars of the public money to build a palace at Newbern. That sum was equal to half a million dollars now. The taxes were thereby heavily increased, and the already overburdened people were very indignant. With the increase of taxation the rapacity of public officers seemed to increase, and the industry of the province was subjected to a most onerous tribute to feed the vultures. Among the most rapacious of these was Edmund Fanning, a lawyer of ability, whom the people soon learned to detest because of his extortionate fees for legal services, but who was a favorite of the governor. The chief justice, Martin Howard, was Fanning's accomplice, and prostituted his sacred office to the base purpose of private gain. The Regulators, goaded by oppression, met in council and resolved not to pay any but lawful taxes and just dues, but with such a judge they were almost powerless. Fanning resolved to punish their leaders, and so overawe the people. He induced the governor to issue a proclamation full of fair promises, inviting the Regulators to meet the crown officers in friendly convention to settle all differences. They were betrayed. Those plain farmers trusted the fair promises, and relaxing their vigilance were preparing to meet the governor, when the sheriff, at the instigation of Fanning, appeared with thirty horsemen and arrested Husbands and some other leading Regulators, and cast them into the Hillsborough jail. This treachery aroused the the whole country, and a large body of the people, led by Ninian Bell Hamilton, a brave old Scotchman seventy years of age, marched upon Hillsborough with shot-guns, pikes, scythes and bludgeons, to rescue the prisoners. Fanning was alarmed. He released the prisoners and hastened to appease the angry multitude who were assembled on the banks of the Eno, opposite Hillsborough. With a bottle of rum in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other, he went down to the brink of the stream, and urging 662 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. Hamilton not to march his host into the town, asked him to send a horse over that he might cross, give the people refreshments, and have a friendly talk. Hamilton would not trust the wolf in sheep's clothing. "You're nane too gude to wade, and wade ye shall if ye come over," shouted Hamilton. Fanning did wade the stream, but his words and his liquor were alike rejected. Then Tryon's secretary rode across the river, and assured the people that all their grievances should be redressed, when they marched away. They drew up a respectful petition to the governor, who, in imitaATTEMPT TO PACIFY THE REGULATORS. tion of his royal master, spurned it with disdain. He ordered the deputies who bore the petition to return to their homes, warn the people to desist from holding meetings, disband their association, and be content to pay taxes. We shall meet these Regulators and their oppressors again presently. CHAPTER VI. GOVERNOR BERNARD'S INTERFERENCE-DOINGS OF A POPULAR ASSEMBLY IN BOSTON-LANDING OF TROOPS THERE-FIRMNESS OF THE COUNCIL AND SELECTMEN-PUBLIC FEELING OUTRAGEDTRIUMPH OF THE CITIZENS-ACTION OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT-ADVENT OF LORD NORTH -NON-IMPORTATION AGREEMENTS AND THE YOUNG WOMEN-ACTION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ASSEMBLY-DEPARTURE OF GOVERNOR BERNARD —HESITATION IN PARLIAMENT-A CIRCULAR TO THE COLONIES-EXCITEMENT IN ENGLAND-FRUITS OF TAXATION-POLITICAL EXCITEMENT IN NEW YORK. G OVERNOR BERNARD had assured the Massachusetts Convention of his displeasure, and his intention to enforce the laws. He said to them, in a proclamation, when they assembled: " It is my duty to interpose this instant, before it is too late (for he declared the gathering unlawful). "I do, therefore, earnestly admonish you that instantly, and before you do any business, you break up this assembly, and separate yourselves. I speak to you now as a friend to the province and a well-wisher to the individuals of it. But if you should pay no regard to this admonition, I must, as governor, assert the prerogative of the crown in a more public manner; for, assure yourselves (I speak from instruction), the king is dctermined to maintain his entire sovereignty over this province, and whoever shall persist in usurping any of the rights of it will repent of his rashness." So spoke the governor bravely, when he knew that a fleet and army were near to support him. But the Convention, as we have observed, did not heed the admonition. They stayed in session six days until they had accomplished their intended business, and they had just adjourned, when the white sails of eight vessels-of-war appeared at the entrance to Boston Harbor, bearing two regiments of British soldiers, which General Gage had ordered from Halifax, commanded by Colonels Dalrymple and Carr. Gage had sent his engineer, Montressor, to assist the troops, if necessary. That officer bore an order, in accordance with the wishes of Governor Bernard, to land the troops in the settled parts of Boston. Accordingly, on Saturday morning, the Ist day of October (I768), the ships moved up to the city, anchored with springs on their cables, and in spite of the solemn remonstrances of the people, the troops were landed on the Long Wharf, under cover of the guns of the war-vessels. The cowardly governor had gone into 43 664 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. the country to avoid the expected storm of popular indignation, leaving the military to bear the brunt of the odium and its effects. Bernard had tried to induce his council to sanction an order for quartering the troops in the town. They refused, and he took upon himself the whole responsibility of the act. The selectmen, regarding the order as illegal, refused to provide quarters for the soldiers. Dalrymple blustered and threatened, but they were firm. He had prepared for wicked work by providing each of his soldiers with sixteen rounds of ammunition. This fact he made known, and hoping to overawe the inhabitants, he marched f:> LANDING OF ROYAL TROOPS IN BOSTON. his whole force through the town, with fixed bayonets, colors flying, drums beating, and a train of artillery following, with all the parade of a triumphant army entering a conquered city. The unarmed inhabitants looked on with sorrow but not with fear. They knew that a single act of violence on the part of the troops would cause twenty thousand men, from the hundred towns of Massachusetts, to spring up for their defence like the harvest of dragons' teeth; and that war once begun, a vast host would come from the other provinces like trailing clouds full of wrath and potency. Dalrymple appeared before the selectmen, with one or two other officers, and haughtily demanded both food and shelter for his troops. "You will find both at the castle," said the guardians of the town, with the assurance that the law was upholding them. "And you will not furnish quarters for my soldiers?" asked the colonel. " We will not," responded the selectmen. CHAP. VI. BRITISH TROOPS IN BOSTON. 665 Then Dalrymple turned away in wrath, and encamped one regiment in tents on the Common, while the other was compelled to bivouac as best they might in the chilly air of an October night. The compassion of the inhabitants was'excited for the poor soldiers, whom they could not blame, and at nine o'clock the Sons of Liberty generously opened Faneuil Hall, and allowed the warriors to slumber there. The next day was the Sabbath. The unwise Dalrymple again paraded his troops through the streets when the people were engaged in public worship, disturbing them with the noise of the fife and drum. His soldiers challenged the citizens in the streets; and in various ways he tried to impress them with a sense of utter subjugation. These things only deepened their convictions of duty, and inflamed their resentment. Every strong feeling of the New Englander was violated. His Sabbath was desecrated, his worship was disturbed, and his liberty was infringed. Natural hatred of the troops, deep and abiding, was soon engendered, and the terms rebel and tyrant were freely bandied between them. The governor and the colonel used every means in their power to induce the council and the selectmen to provide for the troops. Planting themselves firmly on the law, these citizens were unmoved by entreaties or threats. Then the governor and sheriff tried to get possession of a dilapidated building belonging to the province in which to shelter the troops, but the occupants, supported by the law, successfully resisted. The governor now summoned all the acting magistrates to meet him, when he renewed the demand for quarters. "Not till the barracks are filled," was the response. The military officers could not put the soldiers into quarters, for the act might cause them to be cashiered on conviction before two justices of the peace, "the best of whom," wrote Gage, "the keeper of a paltry tavern." When the weather became so cold that tent-life could not be endured, the commanding officer was compelled to hire houses at exorbitant rates for shelter, and to furnish food for the troops at the expense of the crown. So, in this bloodless warfare with British regulars, the citizens of Boston, armed with chartered rights and statute law, were completely victorious. There was nothing for the troops to do, as the people were orderly and law-abiding. The soldiers being housed, the main guard was stationed opposite the State House, with cannon pointing toward the legislative hall. The people smiled at this covert threat, and Gage was convinced that more mischief had arisen from the follies and greed of the crown officers than from anything else; but he recommended the building of barracks and a fortification on Fort Hill, while Bernard, satisfied that the troops could not overturn the authority of the government, nor repress republicanism, again advised a forfeiture of the charter of the province. The commissioners of 666 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. customs who had fled to Castle William on the Romney now returned, and were more haughty than ever under the protection of armed men. They caused the arrest of Hancock and Malcom on false charges, claiming penalties for violations of acts of Parliament amounting to, in Hancock's case, almost half a million dollars. Hancock employed John Adams as his counsel, and "a painful drudgery I had of his case," said that advocate. Not a charge was established. Soon after these events the British Parliament assembled, and the king, BRITISH ARTILLERY IN BOSTON. in his speech which he read from the throne, spoke of Boston as being in a "state of disobedience to all law and government," proceeding to "measures subversive of the constitution, and attended by circumstances that might manifest a disposition to throw off its dependence on Great Britain." He promised, with the support of Parliament, to "defeat the mischievous designs of those turbulent and seditious persons" who had, under false pretences, too successfully deluded numbers of his subjects in America. In both Houses of Parliament great indignation, because of the conduct of the Bostonians, was expressed. The Lords, in their address to the king, said: "We shall be ever ready to hear and redress any grievances of your majesty's American subjects; but we should betray the trust reposed in us, if we did not withstand every attempt to infringe or weaken our just rights, and we shall always consider it as one of our most important duties to maintain entire and inviolate thle supreme authority of the legislature of Great Britain over every part of the British Emtpire." In the Commons, Henry Stanley indulged in bitter denunciations of the Americans. He condemned, in unmeasured terms, the non-importation leagues, as "unwarrantable com CHAP. VI. LIBERTIES OF AMERICANS IN PERIL. 667 binations among American tradesmen to cut off the commerce between the colonies and the mother country." " I contend, therefore," he said, "that men so unsusceptible of all middle terms of accommodation call loudly for our correction. What, sir, will become of this insolent town of Boston when we deprive the inhabitants of the power of sending out their rum and molasses to the coast of Africa? For they must be treated like aliens, as they have treated us upon this occasion. The difficulties in governing Massachusetts are insurmountable, unless its charter and laws shall be so changed as to give to the king the appointment of the council, and the sheriffs the sole power of returning juries." In the upper House, Lord Barrington called the Americans "traitors, and worse than traitors, against the crown-traitors against the legislation of this country. The use of troops," he said, "was to bring rioters to justice." Even Camden, who opposed Pitt's declaratory act, now acquiesced in the harsh measures against Boston that were proposed, and was severely chastised by the tongue of Edmund Burke for his inconsistency. " My astonishment at the folly of his opinions is lost in indignation at the baseness of his conduct," said the gifted Irishman. To gratify the prejudices of the king, Shelburne had been driven from the ministry, and Chatham, offended because of this act, had resigned. Lord North now commenced that long leadership of the ministry which continued until near the close of our struggle for independence. He took the initiative as the friend and champion of the king, by replying sharply to Alderman Beckford, who said: "Let the nation return to its good old nature and its old good humor; it were best to repeal the late acts and conciliate the colonies by moderation and kindness." To these wise words, North replied in falsification of history: "There has been no proof of any real return of friendship on the part of the Americans; they will give you no credit for affection; no credit for an attention to their commercial interests. If America is to be the judge, you must tax in no instance! You may regulate in no instance. Punishment will not be extended beyond the really guilty; and, if rewards shall be found necessary, rewards will be given. But what we do, we will do firmly. We shall go through our plan, now that we have brought it so near success. I am against repealing the last act of Parliament, securing to us a revenue out of America! I will never think of repealing it, until I see America prostrate at my feet." The words of the King, Lords and Commons made a deep impression on the minds of the patriots of Massachusetts, and throughout the other provinces. Their liberties were more dangerously menaced than ever, and the instruments for their enslavement were seated in the New England capital 668 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. and intrenched behind cannon. But the Sons of Liberty were more determined than ever to stand firmly by their rights, and at the same time to maintain a perfect adherence to the law. By this determination they conquered. Their worst enemies in Great Britain could not justly accuse them of treason for any act they had committed. They had a perfect right to cease trading with anybody. They had violated no law; and all the threats of the madmen in the government, and the presence of troops, could not alter their opinions. Their petitions, though rejected by the king with scorn, lost none of their vitality; and the official assurance that the monarch would not listen to "wicked men" who denied the supremacy of Parliament, did not move the patriots a single line from the path which they had prescribed for themselves. "t,!!iB. a "e "They' felt that Colonel ~1...'Barre prophetically read wre their hearts, when, in opco~lonies-/- position to a resolution of Lord North, offered in March, 1769, to reject a respectful petition from New York, he said: "I predicted all that would -t —',':, ~' - patriotic merchants was held, and [1^i [:tili',]!j}}~~ ~ ~i~ i" ~ ~ ~' in a body they went to the lieu~i?"'J! tenant-governor's house to treat IF i~ with his sons, who had violated the agreement. He treated them as incipient insurgents, and would Me-~......" not allow them to enter. He sent the sheriff into an adjourned meeting of merchants to order them to disperse. The troops the, Sons oLietwere furnished with ball-cartridges, and Colonel Dalrymple -__ i-~~ __f,.was ready to shed blood in deDEATH OF JAMES OTIS fence of the royal prerogative. The meeting sent a respectful letter to the governor, written by John Hancock, telling him plainly that their assemblage was lawful, and they should not disperse. Hutchinson, made wiser by past experience with an exasperated people, submitted to circumstances, and was quiet. Meanwhile the insolence and aggressive acts of the soldiery in New York had aroused the people there to resistance. Although it was winter, the Sons of Liberty frequently gathered around the Liberty-Pole, which had stood defiantly since it was iron-bound in I767. At midnight in Jan CHAP. VII. PATRIOTIC BOSTON WOMEN. 679 uary (I770), some armed men went stealthily from the barracks with chisels and axes, cut down the pole, sawed it in pieces, and piled the fragments in front of Montague's, the rendezvous of the Sons of Liberty. The perpetrators of the act were discovered at dawn. The bell of St. George's Chapel, in Beekman street, was rung as if there were a great conflagration, and at an early hour on the 17th of'January, full three thousand people stood around the stump of the consecrated pole. By resolutions they declared their rights, and contempt of the soldiers as enemies to the Constitution. The soldiers posted an insulting placard about the town. For about three days the most intense excitement prevailed. In affrays with the citizens, the soldiers were generally defeated, and on one occasion several of them were disarmed. Quiet was restored at length. The people erected another Liberty-Pole upon private ground purchased for the purpose upon Broadway, near the present Warren street; and not long afterward the soldiers departed for Boston, where bloodshed had occurred. In spite of the threatening attitude of the citizens, four or five Boston merchants continued to import and sell tea, the specially proscribed article. The women of Boston protested against this violation of a sacred pledge. The mistresses of three hundred families subscribed their names to a league, binding themselves not to drink any tea until the revenue act was repealed. Three days afterward the maidens of Boston were gathered in convention in the home of an opulent merchant, and there signed their names to the following pledge: "We, the daughters of those patriots who have and do now appear for the public interest, and in that principally regard their posterity-as such, do with pleasure engage with them in denying ourselves the drinking of foreign tea, in hopes to frustrate a plan which tends to deprive a whole community of all that is valuable in life." The recusant merchants were unmoved, and Theophilus Lillie announced his intention to import and sell tea in spite of public opinion. That opinion soon appeared embodied in a little mob, composed chiefly of half-grown boys, who set up a wooden post in front of Lillie's store, with a rudely carved head upon it, and a hand pointing to the merchant's door as a place to be avoided. Lillie was exasperated, but dared not interfere. A neighboring merchant of his stripe, named Richardson, a rough, stout man, having more courage, tried to get a farmer, who was passing in his cart, to knock down the post with his hub. The man was a patriot and refused, when Richardson rushed out and attempted to pull it down with his own hands. He was pelted with dirt and stones. In violent anger, he came out of Lillie's house, into which he had been driven by the mob, with a shotgun, and discharged its contents, without aim, into the little mob. A lad 44 680 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. named Samuel Gore was slightly wounded, and another, named Christopher Snyder, was killed. He was the son of a poor German widow. The mob seized Richardson and an associate and hurried them to Faneuil Hall, where the citizens speedily assembled to the number of two or three hundred. Richardson was tried and found guilty of murder, but Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson refused to sign the death-warrant. After he had lain in prison two years, the king pardoned the offender. The murder of Snyder produced a profound sensation in the public mind throughout the colonies, as a prophecy of coming war. In Boston his 1 I~i i ) 1, ~Ii) I,:. Q 0,THE EXASPERATED MERCHANT. funeral was made the occasion of a solemn pageant. His coffin was covered with inscriptions. One of these was: "Innocence itself is not safe." It was borne to Liberty Tree, where a very large concourse of citizens of every class assembled, and followed the remains to the grave. In that procession nearly five hundred children took part. The pall was carried by six of the victim's school-mates. Relatives and friends and almost fifteen hundred citizens followed. The bells of the city and of the neighboring towns tolled while the procession was moving; and in the newspapers, and by the lips of grave speakers in the pulpit and on the rostrum, little Christopher CHAP. VII. THE SOLDIERS AND CITIZENS IN BOSTON. 68 Snyder was spoken of as the first martyr to the cause of liberty in America. Dalrymple and his vicious Twenty-ninth regiment were impatient in the presence of such a popular demonstration. He wanted to be set at murderous work among the Bostonians, whom he thoroughly hated, but was restrained by the civil magistrates. This event was a forerunner of a more serious one a few days afterward. John Gray had an extensive rope-walk in Boston, where a number of patriotic men were employed. They often bandied coarse taunts with the soldiers as they passed by. On Friday, the 2d of March (I770), a soldier who applied for work at the rope-walk was rudely ordered away. He challenged the men to a boxing-match, when he was severely beaten. Full of wrath he hastened to the barracks, and soon returned with several companions, when they beat the rope-makers and chased them through the streets. The citizens naturally espoused the cause of the rope-makers, and many of them assembled in the afternoon with a determination to avenge the wrongs of the workmen. Mr. Gray and the military authorities interfered, and prevented any further disturbance then. But vengeance only slumbered. It was resolved, by some of the more excitable of the inhabitants, to renew the contest; and at the barracks the soldiers inflamed each other's passions, and prepared bludgeons. They warned their particular friends in the city not to be abroad on Monday night, for there would be serious trouble. Fresh wet snow had fallen, and on Monday evening, the 5th of March, frost had covered the streets of Boston with a coat of ice. The moon was in its first quarter and shed a pale light over the town, when, at twilight, both citizens and soldiers began to assemble in the streets. By seven o'clock full seven hundred persons, armed with clubs and other weapons, were on King (now State) street, and, provoked by the insolence and brutality of the lawless soldiery, shouted: " Let us drive out these rascals! They have no business here-drive them out! " At the same time parties of soldiers (whom Dalrymple had doubtless released from the barracks for the purpose of provoking the people to commit some act of violence, and so give an excuse for letting loose the dogs of war) were going about the streets boasting of their valor, insulting citizens with coarse words, and striking many of them with sticks and sheathed swords. Meanwhile the populace in the street were increasing in numbers every moment, and at about nine o'clock in the evening, they attacked some soldiers in Dock Square, and shouted: "Town-born, turn out! Down with the bloody-backs!" They tore up the stalls of a market, and used the timber for bludgeons. The soldiers scattered and ran about the streets, knocking people down and raising the fearful cry 682 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. of Fire/ At the barracks on Brattle street, a subaltern at the gate cried out, as the populace gathered there, "Turn out! I will stand by you; knock them down! kill them! run your bayonets through them!" The soldiers rushed out, and, leveling their muskets, threatened to make a lane paved with dead men through the crowd. Just then an officer was crossing the street, when a barber's boy cried out: "There goes a mean fellow, who will not pay my master for shaving him." A sentinel standing near the corner of the Custom-house ran out and knocked the boy down with his musket. The cry of fire and the riotous behavior of the soldiers caused an alarmbell to be rung. The whole city was aroused. Many men came out with canes and clubs for self-defence, to learn the occasion of the uproar. Many of the more excitable citizens formed a mob. Some of the leading citizens present tried to persuade them to disperse, and had in a degree gained their respectful attention, when a tall man, covered with a long scarlet cloak and wearing a white wig, suddenly appeared among them, and began a violent harangue against the government officers and the troops. He concluded his inflammatory speech by boldly shouting: " To the main-guard! to the mainguard! There is the nest!" It is believed that the orator in the scarlet cloak was Samuel Adams. The populace immediately echoed the shout —"To the main-guard!" with fearful vehemence, and separating into three ranks, took different routes toward the quarters of the main-guard. While one division was passing the Custom-house, the barber's boy cried out: "There's the scoundrel who knocked me down! " A score of voices shouted, " Let us knock him down! Down with the bloody-backs! Kill him! kill him!" The crowd instantly began pelting him with snow-balls and bits of ice, and pressed toward him. He raised his musket and pulled the trigger. Fortunately for him it missed fire, when the crowd tried to seize him. He ran up the Custom-house steps, but, unable to enter the building, he called to the main-guard for help. Captain Preston, the officer of the day, sent eight men, with unloaded muskets but with ball-cartridges in their cartouch boxes, to help their beleaguered comrade. At that moment the stout Boston bookseller, Henry Knox (who married the daughter of General Gage's secretary and was a major-general of artillery in the army of the Revolution), holding Preston by the coat, begged him to call the soldiers back. " If they fire," said Knox, "your life must answer for the consequences." Preston nervously answered: " I know what I am about," and followed his men. When this detachment approached, they, too, were pelted with snowballs and ice; and Crispus Attucks, a brawny Indian from Nantucket, at CHAP. VII. VIOLENCE IN THE STREETS OF BOSTON. 683 the head of some sailors, like himself (who had led the mob in the attack on the soldiers in Dock Square), gave a loud war-whoop and shouted: " Let us fall upon the nest! the main-guard! the main-guard!" The soldiers instantly loaded their guns. Then some of the multitude pressed on them with clubs, struck their muskets and cried out, "You are cowardly rascals for bringing arms against naked men." Attuck shouted: "You dare not fire! " _-:-',.r, sJ,a {_, i=.t —.] J THE BOSTON MASSACRE. and called upon the mob behind him: "Come on! don't be afraid! They daren't fire! Knock them down! Kill'em!" Captain Preston came up at that moment and tried to appease the multitude. Attucks aimed a blow at his head with a club, which Preston parried with his arm. It fell upon the musket of one of the soldiers and knocked it to the ground. Attucks seized the bayonet, and a struggle between the Indian and the soldier for the possession of the gun ensued. Voices behind Preston cried out, "Why don't you fire! why don't you fire?" The struggling soldier hearing the 684 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. word fire, just as he gained possession of his musket, drew up his piece and shot Attucks dead. Five other soldiers fired at short intervals, without being restrained by Preston. Three of the populace were killed, five were severely wounded (two of them mortally), and three were slightly hurt. Of the eleven, only one (Attucks) had actually taken part in the disturbance. The crowd dispersed; and when citizens came to pick up the dead, the infuriated soldiers would have shot them, if the captain had not restrained them. News of the tragedy spread over the town in a few minutes. It was now near midnight. There was a light in every house, for few besides children had retired on that fearful night in Boston. The alarm-bells were rung. Drums beat to arms. A cry went through the streets-" The soldiers are murdering the people! To arms! to arms! Turn out with your guns!" Preston also ordered his drums to beat to arms. Colonel Dalrymple, with the lieutenant-governor, were soon on the spot and promised the orderly citizens, who had taken the place of the dispersed mob, that justice should be vindicated in the morning. Order was restored, and before the dawn the streets of Boston were quiet. Meanwhile Preston had been arrested and put into prison; and the next morning the eight soldiers were committedall charged with the crime of murder. Such is the sad story of the famous "Boston Massacre," gleaned from the conflicting evidence of witnesses at the trial of Preston and his men, and of contemporary writers. The 5th of March was celebrated as a solemn anniversary in the history of the colonies, until after the Declaration of Independence became a national holiday. The killing of, citizens was undoubtedly a massacre, for the outrageous conduct of the soldiers created the mob. Their offensive acts on that night were undoubtedly approved by Dalrymple, their commander. It was his duty to keep them in the barracks at a time of popular excitement only, not an insurrection. He must have foreseen the result of their doings, and hoped for an excuse to "begin work in Boston," as he had said before. Such is the verdict of history after a lapse of more than a century. The event produced a profound impression everywhere. The cause of Boston became the cause of the continent. The story, embellished in its course from lip to lip, became a tale of horrors that stirred the blood of patriots everywhere. It was a crisis in the history of the colonies. Some were disposed to consider the events on that night as forming the principal cause of the Revolution which soon afterward broke out. John Adams said long years afterward: "On that night the foundation of American independence was laid;" and Daniel Webster, when speaking of the event, said: CHAP. VII. FIRM STAND OF THE PATRIOTS. 685 "From that moment we may date the severance of the British empire." The " foundation for the independence of America " was laid long before, when the early colonists began to yearn for the privileges of local selfgovernment; and the "severance of the British empire" was decreed when Andros was driven from New England. On the morning after the massacre, the Sons of Liberty gathered in great numbers in Faneuil Hall. The lieutenant-governor convened his council, and that afternoon a town-meeting was held in the South Meeting-house (yet standing), then the largest building in the city. The people there resolved " that nothing could be expected to restore peace and prevent carnage, but an immediate removal of the troops." A committee of fifteen, with Samuel Adams as their chairman, were sent the next morning, with that resolution, to Hutchinson and Dalrymple. "The people," said Royal Tyler, one of the committee, "are determined to remove the troops out of the town by force, if they will not go voluntarily. They are not such people as formerly pulled down your house, that conduct these measures, but men of estates-men of religion. The people will come in to us from all the neighboring towns; we shall have ten thousand men at our backs, and your troops will probably be destroyed by the people, be it called rebellion or what it may.'.' Hutchinson replied: "An attack on the king's troops would be high-treason, and every man concerned in it would forfeit his life and estate." The committee renewed the demand for the removal of the troops. The officials would only promise to send one regiment away. This unsatisfactory answer the committee reported to an adjourned town-meeting that afternoon, when it was immediately resolved that it was "the unanimous opinion of the meeting, that the reply made to the vote of the inhabitants, presented to his honor this morning, is by no means satisfactory, and that nothing else will satisfy them but a total and immediate removal of all the troops." Samuel Adams, John Hancock, William Molineux, William Phillips, Joseph Warren, Joshua Henshaw and Samuel Pemberton were appointed to carry this resolution to the civil and military authorities. Adams presented the resolutions. Again the lieutenant-governor and the colonel temporized. Hutchinson said he had no power to remove the troops. Adams proved that he had, by the provisions of the charter. Still the crown-officers hesitated. Adams resolved that there should be no more trifling with the will of the people. Stretching forth his hand toward Hutchinson, and in a voice not loud but clear, he said: "If you have power to remove one regiment, you have power to remove both. It is at your peril if you do not. The meeting is composed of three thousand people. They are become very impatient. A thousand men are already arrived from the 686 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. neighborhood, and the country is in general motion. Night is approaching; an immediate answer is expected." This was the voice of the province-of the continent-and the crownofficers knew it. Fear of the angry people and dread of the frowns of the ministry agitated them with conflicting emotions. Hutchinson grew pale; his knees trembled, and Adams afterward said, " I enjoyed the sight." The lieutenant-governor's council had unanimously recommended the removal of the troops; the people demanded it, and after conferring together in a whisper, Hutchinson and Dalrymple agreed to send the troops to Castle William. The committee returned to the meeting with the good news, and the Old South Meeting-house rang with acclamations of joy. The humbled troops were speedily sent out of the town. It was a signal triumph for the people and the rights of man. These troops had been sent to overawe the people; the people had overawed the troops. The inhabitants kept a strict guard over the prisoners and a vigilant oversight of the troops while they remained, "many of the most respectable citizens appearing as common soldiers" in this duty. The funeral of the victims of the massacre occurred on the 8th of March. It was made an occasion of a great popular demonstration. Four hearses that bore the bodies of Crispus Attucks, Samuel Maverick, Samuel Gray and James Caldwell, who were murdered on the 5th, met at the spot, in King street, where the tragedy was enacted. Thence they moved to the Middle Burial-ground, followed by an immense concourse of people of all classes and conditions, on foot; and then by a long line of carriages " of the gentry of the town," who occupied them. The bodies were placed in one vault. The newspapers of the country were shrouded in broad black lines. The Boston Gazette, printed on Monday, the I2th of March, was heavily striped with black lines, and contained pictures of four coffins, bearing the initials of the slain and the skull and cross-bones. Long afterward John Adams wrote: " Not the battle of Lexington or Bunker Hill, not the surrender of Burgoyne or Cornwallis, were more important events in American history than the battle of King street, on the 5th of March, I770. The death of four or five persons, the most obscure and inconsiderable that could have been found upon the continent, has never yet been forgiven in any part of America." Late in the autumn of the same year, when public excitement had subsided, Captain Preston and his soldiers were tried for murder before a court in Boston. Josiah Quincy, Jr., and John Adams were counsel for the prisoners. They were known as ardent patriots, yet their acceptance of the task of defending these prisoners offended many of their compatriots, and CHAP. VII. MORAL TRIUMPH FOR THE AMERICANS. 687 severely tried the strength of their popularity. They entered upon their duties as counsellors with humane motives, and they discharged them with fidelity to their clients, the law, and the testimony. Robert Treat Paine, afterward a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was the counsel for the crown. Preston and six of the soldiers were declared not guilty by a Boston jury. The other two-the soldier who killed Attucks, and another who shot Maverick-were convicted of manslaughter only, and for that offence they were each branded in the hand with a hot iron, in open court, and discharged. This trial was another triumph for the Americans. The advocates in Parliament for the revival of the long-slumbering statute of Henry the Eighth, providing for the trial in England of persons accused of-crimes in the colonies, gave as a reason for such revival, that American juries could not be trusted in the case of a crown-officer being on trial. This verdict of a Boston jury, under the circumstances, set that slander at rest forever, and amazed the judges of the English courts. The jury had simply triumphed over prejudice and strong emotion, and given a verdict in accordance with the dictates of conscience and perceptions of truth. On the evening when the Boston massacre occurred, Lord North asked leave of the British House of Commons to bring in a bill for repealing the duties on certain articles mentioned in Hillsborough's circular, but retaining a duty of three per cent on tea. This was a small tax-a very small burden -a mere " pepper-corn rent," avowedly to save the national honor. The proposition found very little favor from either party. The friends of the Americans demanded a repeal of the whole revenue act; the friends of the crown regarded a partial repeal as utterly useless, for they began to comprehend the deep-seated principle on which the Americans had planted themselves. Lord North, in his heart, wished to have a full repeal, and thereby insure a full reconciliation; but the stubborn king would not relinquish an iota of his prerogative on compulsion, and the duty on tea was retained by the votes of a small majority in Parliament. The bill received the royal assent on the I2th of April. The monarch had already received intelligence of the massacre. When it was revealed to Parliament, it created a very great sensation. Had that body received the news sooner, the duty on tea would not have been retained. When intelligence of this act reached America, the colonists saw that the contest was not quite over. In the three per cent duty on tea lay the kernel of future oppressions-materials for chains of slavery. But the people, late in I770, began to relax their loyalty to the non-importation leagues. The merchants of New York proposed to import everything but tea. "Send us 688 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. your Liberty-Pole, as you can have no further use for it," wrote the Philadelphians. The letter of the New York merchants was burnt by the students at Princeton, with James Madison at their head. In Boston it was torn in pieces, and in other colonies it was read with indignation. But Philadelphia and Boston merchants soon acquiesced; and before the close of I770, the colonists were importing everything from Great Britain excepting tea. The associations had exerted salutary influence on society in America. Many extravagant customs had been abolished; personal expenses had been curtailed, and some manufactures had been encouraged. Home-made articles were fashionable. The graduating class at Cambridge took their degrees in home-spun clothes in I770. The spinning-wheel, which had been introduced into the colonies by the Scotch-Irish early in the last century, played an important part in the politics of the time. It had been introduced into England from India in the reign of Henry the Eighth, and it was such an improvement upon the ancient distaff in the process of spinning, that, according to a legend that prevailed in Great Britain and Ireland, it was a special gift from heaven. This gift the patriotic women of America used most effectually in helping their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons in successful resistance to oppression. How much the hearts, heads and busy fingers of the women of the Revolution contributed to the achievement of the great result may never be known. The service was very great. CHAPTER VIII. SETTLEMENTS BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS-LAWLESSNESS IN NORTH CAROLINA-GOVERNOR TRYON AND THE REGULATORS-A BATTLE ON THE ALLAMANCE-CRUELTY OF THE GOVERNORCROWN-OFFICERS IN AMERICA MADE INDEPENDENT OF THE ASSEMBLIES-OBNOXIOUS LETTERS OF CROWN-OFFICERS-THEIR HISTORY-SPIRIT OF LIBERTY EVERYWHERE-VIRGINIA FIRM AND NEW YORK WAVERING-AFFAIR OF THE GASPE-EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE MINISTRY-TEA-SHIPS SENT TO AMERICA-PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THEM IN SEAPORT TOWNS. D URING the next two years after the Boston massacre, the colonists were not disturbed by any obnoxious legislation by Parliament. At that period a spirit of adventure caused many persons to climb over the mountains west of the British-American colonies to explore the valleys of the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, and to penetrate the dark forests in the more southern portions of the Mississippi Valley. Washington then made himself thoroughly acquainted with the region of West Virginia on the borders of the Ohio River. Daniel Boone and companions from the Clinch and Holston rivers were traversing the wilds of Kentucky, and preparing the way for settlements there; and James Robertson and others were exploring the borders of the sinuous Cumberland, and planting a permanent settlement on the bluffs at Nashville. So these pioneers were revolutionizing that vast and rich country into which an industrious population soon flowed, pitched their tents, and made permanent habitations. Robertson had come from the discontented regions of North Carolina, where the Regulators were resisting oppression with all their might. For more than two years anarchy prevailed there. Sheriffs dared not exercise their official functions. Judges were driven from the bench, and general lawlessness was observed. Governor Tryon met this state of things as a passionate and unwise ruler would. Instead of being just, and protecting the flock over which he had been set from rapacious wolves, he coalesced with the wolves and used the strong arm of military power to crush rising and righteous rebellion. Bad men had attached themselves to the Regulators and brought discredit upon their course, but a wise ruler would have discriminated between the good and bad of his opposers. 69 0 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. A rumor reached the governor that a band of armed Regulators were at Cross Creek (now Fayetteville) ready to march upon New Berne to release Herman Husbands, who had been temporarily imprisoned. Tryon fortified his palace and called out the militia of the several adjoining counties. Hus. bands was released and his partisans retired. But the governor went ahead, and made a virtual declaration of war against the Regulators. His council authorized him to march into the rebellious district with sufficient troops to restore law and order. With three hundred militia and a small train of artillery, he left New Berne late in April (I77I), and early in May encamped on REGULATORS CAPTURING A POWDER ESCORT the Eno, where he was joined by reinforcements. General Hugh Waddell had been directed to collect the forces from the western counties; and at Salisbury, where he rendezvoused his troops, he waited for powder then on its way from Charleston. Its convoy was intercepted in Cabarras county by some Regulators with blackened faces, and routed, and the powder fell into the hands of the assailants. Waddell crossed the Yadkin to join Tryon, where he received a message from the Regulators telling him to halt or retreat. He found many of his troops wavering; and so he turned about, and re-crossed the Yadkin, hotly pursued by a band of insurgents. They captured many of his men, but the general escaped to Salisbury. WSalisbuhen Tryon heard of these disasters, he pressed forward toward the Allamance Creek, to confront the Regulators, whom, he heard, were gathering in force on the Salisbury road. When he approached, they sent to him a proposition for an accommodation, with a demand for an answer within ~~ r ~~~~;i1 -:I Ad r | GOVERN AND THE REGULA R ~ ~ii GOVERNOR TRYON~ AN~D TH:E REGU LATOR S. CHAP. VIII. THE FIRST BATTLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 691 four hours. He promised a reply by noon the next day. That night he treacherously moved forward, crossed the Allamance at dawn, and moving stealthily along the Salisbury road, formed a line of battle within half a mile of the camp of the Regulators, before he was discovered. The insurgents seized their arms, and the belligerents confronted each other with deadly weapons. A parley ensued. An ambassador of the Regulators, named Thompson, who was sent to Tryon, was.detained as a prisoner. He resented the perfidy, and in bold words told Tryon some unpleasant truths. The governor, in hot anger, snatched a gun from the hands of a militiaman and shot Thompson dead. He instantly perceived his folly, and sent out a flag of truce. The Regulators saw Thompson fall, and they fired on the flag. At that moment the Rev. Dr. Caldwell, a staunch patriot, fearing bloodshed, rode along the lines and begged the Regulators to disperse. Tryon, on the contrary, full of wrath, gave the fatal word "Fire! " The militia hesitated. The governor, crazed with rage, rose in his stirrups and shouted "Fire! fire on them or on me!" A volley of musketry and discharge of cannon followed this order. The fire was returned. For a few minutes there was a hot fight. Some young Regulators rushed forward and seized the governor's cannon, but did not know how to use them. There was no acknowledged leader of the insurgents excepting Herman Husbands, who, when the firing began, declared that his peace-principles as a Quaker would not allow him to fight, and he rode away. He was not seen again in that region until the close of the war of the Revolution. In that conflict nine of the militia and more than twenty of the Regulators were killed, and many were wounded on both sides. It was the first battle in the war for independence. It was a sort of civil war, for it was fought on the soil of North Carolina between citizens of North Carolina. The Regulators were defeated, and the people in all that region-conscientious people-were compelled to take an oath of allegiance, which restrained their patriotic action when the war of the Revolution was earnestly begun. The victor exercised savage cruelty toward his prisoners, showing a petty spite which was disgraceful to a soldier and a man. He condemned a young carpenter named Few, who had suffered much from the bad conduct of Fanning (even the loss of a maiden to whom he was affianced), to be hung on the night after the battle, and caused the property of his mother, at Hillsborough, to be destroyed. Other prisoners were marched through the country, as in a triumphal procession, and the conqueror marked his path by conflagrations and destruction of growing crops. At Hillsborough six more of the prisoners were hanged, as a terror to the inhabitants. Among them was Captain Messer, who had been sentenced to be hung with Few. 692 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. His wife hurried to Tryon, with their little son ten years of age, and pleaded for her husband's life. The governor spurned her rudely, and Messer was led out to be executed. The boy broke away from his mother, who lay weeping on the ground, and going to the governor said: "Sir, hang me, and let my father live." "Who told you to say that?" asked Tryon.. - THE WRATH OF GOVERNOR TRYON. "Nobody," replied the lad. "Why do you ask that?" said the governor. "Because if you hang my father," said the boy, "my mother will die and the little children will perish." Tryon's heart was touched. Messer was offered his liberty if he would bring Husbands back. He consented, and his wife and children were kept as hostages. Messer returned in the course of a few days, and reported that he overtook Husbands in Virginia, but could CHAP. VIII. A CRISIS APPROACHING. 693 not bring him back. The exasperated governor hung Messer at Hillsborough, with the other prisoners. The movements of the Regulators was a powerful beginning of that system of resistance which marked the people of North Carolina in the impending struggle. It lacked the lofty moral aspect of the movements in New England. The North Carolinians were resisting actual oppression, in the form of heavy taxation and extortion; the New Englanders were moved by an abstract principle of justice and right. The three per cent. a pound duty on tea had no effect on the material prosperity of Massachusetts; but it represented oppression and injustice, and they resisted its collection. In I772, Parliament, by a special act for strengthening the powers of the royal governors in America, excited the indignation of the colonists. It provided for the payment of the salaries of the governors and judges independent of the colonial assemblies. Hutchins, who had been appointed governor of Massachusetts in I77I, was delighted, and in a triumphant tone he assured the Assembly that henceforth not they, but the crown, would pay his salary. They knew the significance of the act, and denounced it as a violation of their charter. Other assemblies took umbrage likewise, for it was regarded as a bribe for the faithfulness of the royal governors to the crown in a warfare upon colonial rights. The subject was taken into consideration at a town-meeting in Boston. A large committee was appointed to draw up and publish a statement of all the rights and grievances of the colonies. This was done in an address prepared by Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren, in which the scheme for establishing Episcopacy in America was also condemned. It was the boldest and most complete exposition of the rights and grievances of the colonies yet put forth, and it was followed by the organization of committees of correspondence in every town. Dr. Franklin, who had been appointed agent for Massachusetts in England, in I77I, published it there, with a preface written by himself. It produced a deep impression on both sides of the Atlantic. When the Massachusetts legislature assembled at the beginning of I773, Hutchinson denounced the address as "seditious and treasonable." This stirred the indignation of the people, and very soon afterward an event occurred which produced great exasperation in Massachusetts. Letters of Hutchinson, Lieutenant-Governor Oliver and others, written to Mr. Whateley, one of the under-secretaries of the government, then dead, had been put into the hands of Dr. Franklin by Dr. Hugh Williamson of Philadelphia, who had procured them by stratagem from the office of Mr. Whateley's brother. In these letters, the popular leaders of Massachusetts were vilified; the liberal clauses of the Massachusetts charter were condemned; the 694 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. punishment of the Bostonians by restraints upon their commercial privileges was recommended, and an "abridgment of what are called English liberties" in America, by coercive measures, was strongly urged. Dr. Franklin saw in these letters evidences of a conspiracy against his country by vipers in her bosom, and he sent them, with an official letter, to Thomas Cushing, the Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly, in which he said: "As to the writers, when I find them bartering away the liberties of their native country for posts; negotiating for salaries and pensions extorted from the people, conscious of the odium there might be attended with calling for troops to protect and secure them; when I see them exciting jealousies in the crown, and provoking it to wrath against so great a part of its most faithful subjects; creating enmities between the different countries of what the empire consists; occasioning great expense to the old country for suppressing or preventing imaginary rebellion in the new, and to the new country for the payment of needless gratifications to useless officers and enemies, I cannot but doubt their sincerity even in the political principles they profess, and deem them mere time-servers, seeking their own private emoluments through any quantity of public mischief; betrayers of the interest not of their native country alone, but of the government they pretend to serve, and of the whole English empire." These letters were circulated privately for awhile, when they were laid before the Massachusetts Assembly and published to the world. The tempest of indignation that followed these revelations was fearful to Hutchinson and his friends. A committee was appointed to wait upon the governor and demand from him an explicit denial or acknowledgment of their authenticity. "They are mine," he said, "but they were quite confidential." That qualification was not considered extenuating, and the Assembly adopted a petition to the king for the removal of Hutchinson and his lieutenant as public slanderers and enemies of the colony, and, as such, not to be tolerated. The petition was sent to Franklin, with instructions to present it in person, if possible. He could not do it, for the king disliked him. So he sent it to Lord Dartmouth, who had succeeded Hillsborough as secretary for the colonies. His lordship sent it to the king, who laid it before the Privy Council. Meanwhile the exposure had produced much excitement in England. Mr. Whateley accused Lord Temple, Pitt's brother-in-law (who had once obtained permission to examine Secretary Whateley's papers), of abstracting them and putting them into Franklin's hands. A duel, in which Temple was wounded, was the consequence. When Franklin heard of this, he publicly avowed his share in the matter, and exonerated Mr. Temple. "I CHAP. VIII. LOYALISTS IN NEW YORK. 695 am told by some," Franklin wrote to Mr. Cushing, " that it was imprudent in me to avow the obtaining and sending those letters, for that administration will resent it. I have not much apprehension of this; but, if it happens, I must take the consequences." While Massachusetts was in a ferment because of Hutchinson's acts, the spirit of liberty was conspicuously manifest in other colonies. On the receipt of the Massachusetts Address, setting forth the rights and grievances of the colonies, the Virginia Assembly expressed their concurrence and sympathy, and appointed a committee of correspondence as representatives of their body when not in session, and of the people. They were about to adopt other resolutions equally unsubmissive, in their spirit, to royal authority, when Lord Dunmore, the successor of the dead Lord Botetourt, as governor of Virginia, dissolved them. The committee of correspondence met the next day, and dispatched a Circular Letter, containing their resolutions, to the other colonial assemblies. That of Massachusetts responded by the appointment of a similar committee, of fifteen, and instructing them to urge the colonies to take similar action. Several of them did so, and the first sound link of a political confederacy was thus formed. In New York, meanwhile, the loyalist party had gradually obtained the ascendency in the Assembly. Their influence was felt among the people. As we have observed, non-importation agreements were disregarded. A general committee of one hundred, and a vigilance committee of fifty, had been appointed, and disaffection had appeared in these. The true Sons of Liberty in Hampden Hall found it difficult, for some time, to keep alive the demonstrative zeal of the patriots. They were assisted, however, by Governor Tryon, who came from North Carolina to rule New York. His petty tyranny soon arou, d the slumbering patriotism of the people, and when occasion demanded they were as fiery and firm as the New Englanders in defending their rights. In the summer of I772, an occurrence in Narraganset Bay made a great stir in the colonies and in Great Britain. The commissioners of customs, at Boston, sent an armed British schooner into the Bay, to enforce the revenue laws and prevent illicit traffic. It was the Gaspe, commanded by Lieutenant Dudingston. He loved to play the petty tyrant, and obstructed legitimate commerce by vexatious arrests of vessels on their course, without showing his commission. The chief-justice of Rhode Island (Hopkins) decided that no man coming into the colony had a right to exercise authority by force of arms, without first showing his commission; whereupon Governor Wanton sent the high-sheriff on board the Gaspe with a message to her commander asking him to produce his commission without delay. Dudingston did not 45 696 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. comply. The demand was repeated in a second letter, with the same result. The lieutenant forwarded Wanton's letters to Admiral Montagu, at Boston, of whom John Adams wrote in his diary: "His brutal, hoggish manners are a disgrace to the royal navy and to the king's service." He wrote a coarse, blustering letter to the governor, saying: " I shall report your two insolent letters to his majesty's secretaries of state, and have them to determine what right you have to demand sight of all orders I shall give to all officers of my squadron; and I would advise you not to send the sheriff on board the king's ship again on such ridiculous errands. The lieutenant, sir, has done his duty. I shall give the king's officers directions, that they send every man taken in molesting them, to me. As sure as the people of Newport attempt to rescue any vessel, and any of them are taken, I will hang them as pirates." To this insulting letter Governor Wanton replied with spirit. He expressed his gratification that his letters had been sent to the secretaries, and his surprise at the admiral's impolite words. He informed him that he should send that officer's letter to the same gentlemen, and leave it for the king and his minister to determine on which side the charge of insolence properly belonged. " As to your advice," he said, " not to send a sheriff on board any of your squadron, please to know, that I will send the sheriff of this colony at any time and to every place within the body of it, as I shall think fit." Before ministers had time to settle the question, the affair had assumed a more hostile aspect. Dudingston became more insolent and annoying. He ordered even well-known packet-ships to lower their colors in token of respect when passing the Gaspd, and often fired upon those which failed to do so. At about noon on the 9th of June (I772), the packet Hannah was passing up the Bay before a stiff breeze, and did not bow to the haughty marine Gesler. The Gaspd gave chase. The tide was ebbing, but the bar of Namquit Point was covered. The Hannah misled her pursuer, by a more westerly way, when the schooner ran upon the sands and was hopelessly grounded. This fact was told by the captain of the Hannah to John Brown, a leading merchant of Providence, who thought it a good opportunity to rid themselves of the nuisance. He organized an expedition to destroy the schooner that night. Eight of the largest boats in the harbor,-with four oarsmen each,their row-locks muffled, were collected early in the evening, and the whole expedition was placed in charge of Captain Whipple, one of Brown's most trusted shipmasters. Sixty-four well-armed men left Providence in the boats, between ten and eleven o'clock in the evening, and reached the Gaspe. They were hailed by a sentinel, but did not answer. Dudingston appeared on deck, waved his CHAP. VIII. RESISTANCE IN RHODE ISLAND. 697 hand for the boats to keep away, and fired a pistol among them. The shot was returned from a musket. The lieutenant was wounded and carried below. Then the vessel was boarded without much opposition. Dudingston's wound was dressed by an American medical student, and he was taken ashore. The crew were ordered to gather up their private property, and go ashore also. This done, the vessel was set on fire, and at early dawn she was blown up by her ignited magazine. DESTRUCTION OF THE GASPE. This high-handed act was condemned by the local authorities in public. Governor Wanton offered a reward of five hundred dollars for the discovery of the perpetrators. The British government offered five thousand dollars for the leader, and twenty-five hundred dollars to the man who should discover and reveal the names of the others. A royal commission of investigation was appointed, and the admiral gave all the assistance in his power, but not one of the party turned state's-evidence, though tempted by large rewards to do so. Nor did any of the citizens of Providence, who knew many of the actors well, reveal the secret (and the names of none of thepn were spoken of as actors) until after the war with Great Britain was actually begun. Then it was revealed that Whipple was the leader. The fact caused a very laconic correspondence. Sir James Wallace was blockading Narraganset Bay with a single war-vessel in I775, and Whipple was in command of a little provincial naval force to drive him away. Wallace wrote to that commander: "You, Abraham Whipple, on the Ioth of June, 1772, burned his majesty's vessel, the Gaspe, and I will hang you at the yard-arm. " JAMES WALLACE." 698 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. He was answered: "SIR,-Always catch a man before you hang him. "ABRAHAM WHIPPLE." At the beginning of 1773, the East India Company found itself greatly embarrassed by the American non-importation agreements concerning tea. That Company had seventeen million pounds of tea in store unsold. They could not pay dividends nor debts. Bankruptcies were the consequence, and these produced so great a shock to credit that a panic prevailed. The Company implored the ministry to take off the duty on tea. The ministry refused, for the royal prerogative forbade it. Leave was granted to the Company to send tea to America on their own account, without paying an export duty, and so enable the colonists to buy it cheaper from England than from any other market. The king and Lord North, losing sight of the principle involved, foolishly thought this measure would quiet the Americans, "for," North said, "men will always go to the cheapest markets." So another opportunity for reconciliation was lost. In May, Parliament passed an act in accordance with the king's desires, for so favoring the East India Company —a vast monopoly sitting heavily on the commercial enterprise of England-while respectful petitions and remonstrances from his loyal subjects in America, touching the highest interests of the nation, were treated with scorn. The king, in answer to such papers, announced that he considered his "' authority to make laws in Parliament of sufficient force and validity to bind his subjects in America in all cases whatsoever, as essential to the dignity of the crown, and a right appertaining to the state, which it was his duty to preserve entire and inviolate;" and he expressed his displeasure because, in their petitions and remonstrances, that right was brought into question. The East India Company, hoping, yet doubting, accepted the proposed arrangement. In August they received a proper license, and filled ships with cargoes of tea for American ports. Agents were appointed at all the sea-ports to receive the tea, and relief for the embarrassed company seemed to be nigh. They were warned by Franklin and other Americans that they would suffer loss by the operation, for their countrymen would not accept the new arrangement. But Lord North quieted the fears of the Company by saying: " It is no purpose making objections, for the king will have it so. He means to try the question with the Americans." The colonists accepted the issue. They met the commercial question with one of deeper significance than that of the dearness or cheapness of a commodity. Is there a duty for revenue, imposed on tea? was the true CHAP. VIII. PREPARATIONS FOR GENERAL RESISTANCE. 699 question. It was answered in the affirmative, and it was resolved that tea, whatever its price, should not be landed in America until that duty was taken off. The committees of correspondence soon produced unity of sentiment on that point throughout the colonies. Public meetings were held. Mutual support was pledged; the agents or consignees were requested to resign, and when the tea-ships arrived, they were not allowed in some places to discharge their cargoes. The spirit of the stamp-act days was aroused. The earliest public meeting to consider the reception that should be given to the tea-ships on their arrival, was held in the city of New York, on 7 i the 15th of October, 1773. Intimations had reached, / the city on the IIth, that a tea-ship had been ordered to that port; and at the meeting held at 7 the coffee-house, in Wall,i street, grateful thanks were voted to the patri-/'I otic American merchants / / - -- and ship-masters in Lon- -, don who had refused to receive tea as freight from / the East India Company. LORD NORTH. On the following day (October I6) a large meeting was held in the State-house yard, in Philadelphia, for the same purpose. When word reached the city that a tea-ship had been ordered to that port, the newspapers denounced the whole scheme as a ministerial trick to ensnare and enslave the Americans. The people were much excited, and the meeting in the State-house yard was a " monster" gathering for that day. Eight spirited resolutions were adopted, the most vital of which was one that declared "That the resolution lately entered into by the East India Company, to send out their tea to America subject to the payment of duties on its being landed here, is an open attempt to enforce the ministerial plan, and a violent attack upon the liberties of America." They also resolved that it was the duty of every American to oppose the attempt to force the tea and taxes upon them. The consignees 700 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. of the proscribed herb, in Philadelphia, were, by another resolution, requested, " from a regard to their character and the good order of the city and province, immediately to resign." Already a self-constituted "committee for tarring and feathering " had issued a manifest to the pilots on the Delaware, telling them to do their duty in case they should meet the teaship Polly, Captain Ayres. They were to warn him not to go to Philadelphia, and to promise him, in case he persisted in doing so, that he would have " a halter around his neck, ten gallons of liquid tar scattered over his pate, with the feathers of a dozen wild geese laid over that to enliven his appearance." The same committee threatened the consignees; and when, on Christmas day, the news reached Philadelphia that the long-expected Polly was "below," several gentlemen proceeded to meet her. She was intercepted a few miles below the city. When her captain was told about public sentiment in Philadelphia, he left his ship and accompanied the gentlemen to the city. The next day an immense public meeting was held at the State-house, to " consider what was best to be done in that alarming crisis." It was resolved that the tea should not be landed, nor the tea-ship be allowed to enter the port, or be registered at the Custom-house. It was also resolved that the tea should be sent back, and that the vessel should make her way out of the river and bay as soon as possible. News that a similar spirit had been manifested in Charleston, New York and Boston, drew hearty thanks from the meeting in Philadelphia. The Captain (Ayres) of the Polly pledged himself to conform to the wishes of the people, and so the latter triumphed. A contemporary writer said: "The foundations of American liberty are more deeply laid than ever." When the tea-ship Nancy, Captain Lockyier, arrived at Sandy Hook, below New York, her master wisely heeded the advice of the pilot, and went to the city without his vessel. Already a notice had appeared in Holt's yournal of that city, for the " Mohawks " to be in readiness when a tea-ship should arrive; and the captain found public sentiment so strong against receiving the tea, that he resolved to return to England with his cargo. While he was in the city, a circumstance occurred which justified him in making his decision. A merchant vessel arrived with eighteen chests of tea hidden away in her cargo. The wide-awake Sons of Liberty, suspecting smuggling, searched the vessel, and on finding the tea, cast the whole of it into the waters of the harbor. The captain was advised to leave New York as quickly as possible. As he and Lockyier put off in a boat for their respective vessels, at Whitehall (foot of Broad street), a multitude who had gathered there shouted a farewell; and while cannon-peals from the Fields shook the city, the people hoisted a British flag on the LibertyPole in token of triumph. CHAP. VIII. CONSIGNEES OF TEA IN BOSTON. 701 At Boston, yet the focus of resistance to British oppression, the greatest demonstrations concerning the tea-ships occurred. When the people heard of the sailing of these ships, they resolved to resist the landing of their cargoes at all hazards. The subject was discussed at the clubs and coffeehouses, with great warmth. The consignees were two of Governor Hutchinson's sons and his nephew, Richard Clarke, the father-in-law of John Singleton Copley, the artist. Their near relationship to the detested governor made them more obnoxious in the eyes of the Sons of Liberty. They were invited to appear before a meeting of citizens to be held under LibertyTree, on the 3d of November, where about five hundred citizens assembled, some of them leaders of popular opinion. A flag floated over the consecrated tree. The consignees did not appear, and a committee was appointed to wait upon them. They repelled the committee with discourtesy, and refused to agree, as was demanded of them, to return the tea to London in the same ships in which it should arrive. When the committee reported to the meeting, there was a cry-" Out with our enemies! Out with them! " The excited people were persuaded to disperse, and two days afterward a regular town-meeting was held. The next day another committee called upon the consignees with a request that they should resign. Their answer was: "It is out of our power to comply with the request of the town." On receiving this reply, the meeting broke up without the utterance of a single word; and that night a crowd gathered in front of Clarke's house, when a pistol-ball was fired among them from a window of the dwelling. Nobody was hurt, and the affair ended in the smashing of Clarke's windows. The silence of the town-meeting, on its dissolution, was ominous. The consignees felt it to be so. It plainly indicated that talking was over, and henceforth there would be action. They saw that they were now to be dealt with by the able committee of correspondence and the populace, and they were alarmed. The governor called a meeting of his council to consult about measures for preserving the public peace. The consignees, thoroughly frightened, petitioned leave to resign their appointments into the hands of the governor and council, but their prayer was refused. Believing themselves to be in personal peril, they fled from the city and took refuge in Castle William. CHAPTER IX. THE " BOSTON TEA-PARTY "-ITS EFFECTS AT HOME AND ABROAD-WRATH OF THE ROYALISTSTHE BOSTON PORT B3ILL-OPPOSITION OF BURKE AND OTHERS-CHARLES JAMES FOXIGNORANCE CONCERNING AMERICANS-OTHER MEASURES FOR PUNISHING THE BOSTONIANS ADOPTED-APPREHENSIONS OF THE MINISTRY-THE PETITION FOR THE REMOVAL OF HUTCHINSON-FRANKLIN BEFORE THE PRIVY COUNCIL-BAD MANNERS OF THE LORDS-FRANKLIN IS DISMISSED FROM OFFICE. O N Monday morning, the 29th of November, I773, a handbill was posted all over Boston, containing the following words: "Friends! Brethren! Countrymen!-That worst of plagues, the detested tea, shipped for this port by the East India Company, is now arrived in the harbor; the hour of destruction, or manly opposition to the machinations of tyranny, stares you in the face. Every friend to his country, to himself and to posterity, is now called upon to meet at Faneuil Hall, at nine o'clock THIS DAY (at which time the bells will ring), to make united and successful resistance to this last, worst, and most destructive measure of administration." The ship Dartmouth, from London, with a cargo of tea, had anchored off the castle the day before. By invitation of the Boston Committee of Correspondence those of Roxbury, Cambridge, Dorchester and Brookline assembled in the room of the selectmen, while crowds of citizens were pouring into Faneuil Hall, and resolved, by unanimous vote, to use their joint influence to prevent the landing of the tea. It was also resolved to invite all the town-committees in the province to co-operate with them. The crowd soon became so great that the Hall could not contain them, and the meeting was adjourned to the Old South Meeting-house. There the people resolved that the tea should not be landed; that no duty should be paid; and that it should be sent back in the same bottom. They also voted that Francis Rotch, the owner of the vessel, should be directed not to enter the tea, at his peril, and that the captain of the Dartmoutz should also be warned not to suffer the tea to be landed. Orders were given for the ship to be moored at Griffin's Wharf, and twenty citizens were appointed a guard to watch her. CHAP. IX. FIRMNESS OF THE PEOPLE OF BOSTON. 703 A letter came to the meeting from the consignees, offering to store the tea until they could write to England and receive instructions. "Not a pound of it shall be landed," said the meeting. They also resolved that two other tea-ships, then hourly expected, should, on their arrival, be moored alongside the Dartmout/h, in charge of the same volunteer guard. The meeting quietly adjourned, and the movements of the people were'governed by the Committee of Correspondence. They appointed a number of postriders to carry news to the other towns, in case there should be an attempt to land the tea by force. On the I4th of December, another meeting was held in the Old South, when it was resolved to order Mr. Rotch to immediately apply for a clearance for his ship and send her to sea, for his cargo had all been landed excepting the chests of tea. In the meantime, the governor had taken measures to prevent her sailing out of the harbor before the tea should be landed; and he wrote to the ministry, advising the prosecution of some of the leaders of the Sons of Liberty in Boston, for high crimes and misdemeanors. He ordered Admiral Montagu to place two armed ships at the entrance to Boston harbor, to prevent the egress of vessels; and he directed Colonel Leslie, who was in command of the Castle, not to allow any vessel to pass out from the range of his great guns, without a permit signed by himself. The excitement of the people was now. at fever heat. The issues of every future hour were looked for with great anxiety. The air was full of rumors-some true, some false-and on the I6th of December (I773), the day to which the meeting was adjourned, the largest assembly then ever seen in Boston were gathered in the Old South Meeting-house, and its vicinity. Samuel P. Savage, of Weston, presided. Full two thousand men from the neighboring towns were there. Seven thousand men soon filled the great fane and overflowed into the street. It was reported that the Custom-house officers had refused to give Mr. Rotch a clearance for his vessel before the tea-the whole cargo-should be landed. "No vessel can pass the Castle without my permission, and I will not give it," thought the governor, as he rode out to his country-seat at Milton; and he believed he had secured a victory. Not so thought the people. When the great assembly heard of the refusal of the Custom-house officers to grant a clearance, they said to Mr. Rotch: " Go to the governor; protest against their action, and ask him for a permit for your vessel to sail." He hastened to the governor in the country, and the meeting adjourned until three o'clock. When they reassembled the merchant had not returned, and the question was put to the meeting: " In case the governor shall refuse his permission, will you 704 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. abide by your former resolutions with respect to not suffering the tea to be landed?" Earnest men spoke to the question. Among the most earnest was young Josiah Quincy, a rising lawyer, with a feeble frame that was wasting with consumption, a firm will, patriotism of purest mold, and a burning zeal. He harangued the crowd with prophetic words eloquently spoken. Like a seer he perceived that a great crisis was at hand, where actions, and not words, would be required. " It is not," he said, "the spirit that reposes within these walls that must stand us in stead. The exertions of this day will call forth events which will make a very different spirit necessary for our salvation. Whoever supposes that shouts and hosannas will terminate the trials of this day, entertains a childish fancy. He must be grossly ignorant of the importance and value of the prize for which we contend; we must be equally ignorant of the power of those who have combined against us; we must be blind to that malice, inveterancy and insatiable revenge which actuate our enemies, public and private, abroad and in our bosoms, to hope that we shall end this controversy without the sharpest conflicts-to flatter ourselves that popular resolves, popular harangues, popular acclamations, and popular vapor will vanquish our foes. Let us consider the issue. Let us look to the end. Let us weigh and consider, before we advance to those measures which must bring on the most trying and terrible struggle this country ever saw." When Mr. Quincy ceased speaking, it was sunset and the church was lighted by candles. The question was put, and the thousands answered in the affirmative. There was a call for Mr. Rotch, but he had not returned. He came soon afterward, and reported that the governor peremptorily refused him permission to send his vessel to sea before the tea should be landed. A murmur ran through the vast assemblage, but the rising excitement was hushed into silence when Samuel Adams arose, and in a clear voice said: " This meeting can do no more to save the country." At that moment a person with painted face and dressed like an Indian gave a warwhoop in the gallery, which was responded to in kind from the door of the meeting-house. Another voice in the gallery shouted: "Boston harbor a teapot to-night! Hurrah for Griffin's Wharf!" The meeting instantly adjourned and the people rushed for the street, and pushed toward Griffin's Wharf, following a number of men disguised as Indians. The populace cheered. Guards were posted to keep order. Among them was John Hancock. The disguised men and others then went on board the tea-ships moored at Griffin's Wharf, and in the course of three hours they emptied three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the water of the harbor. The operation was performed in the presence of a multitude who were silent CHAP. IX. HOW TEA WAS SERVED IN BOSTON. 705 spectators of the scene. It was done at an early hour in the evening-a bright, cold, moonlit evening-and of the sixty men who went on board the tea-ships, only a part of them were disguised as " Mohawks." It was not a mob that destroyed the tea, but sober citizens. It was not a mob that were spectators of the scene, but a well-behaved audience looking upon a serious and most significant pantomime. It was the work of patriotic men, encouraged by patriotic citizens, who were determined not to be trifled with any longer. When the work was done-when Boston harbor had been made a DESTRUCTION OF TEA IN BOSTON HARBOR. vast "teapot "-the streets of the town became as quiet as a Sabbath evening. "All things," wrote John Adams to James Warren, "were conducted with great order, decency, and perfect submission to government." Early the next morning the Committee of Correspondence appointed Samuel Adams chairman of a sub-committee to draw up a statement of what had been done with the tea, and then they sent Paul Revere as express to carry the document to the Sons of Liberty in New York and Philadelphia. Of the immediate actors on board the tea-ships on that eventful night, the names of fifty-nine are known. The last survivor of the band was David Kinnison, who died in Chicago in I85 I, at the age of one hundred and fifteen years. 706 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. The audacity and firmness of the Bostonians were applauded throughout the colonies. Even in Canada and the British West Indies there were but feeble voices of censure. But among the crown-officers in America and the ministerial party in Great Britain there was fierce wrath. Hutchinson threatened, but so softly, because of his fears, that it barely sufficed to shield him from the frowns of tile ministers. The friends of the Americans in Parliament were silent for a moment, because they could not justify the destruction of private property; but the assurance sent to the East India Company, that the town of Boston would pay for every pound of tea destroyed on that occasion, loosened their tongues, and they made good use of the freedom for the benefit of the Americans. The whole dispute still rested upon the original foundation-the denial of the right of Great Britain to tax the colonies without their consent. It was this fact, more than the destruction of the property, that excited the ire of the king and his ministers, and made the House of Lords like a "seething caldron of impotent rage." The honesty of the Americans was overlooked, and the ministry saw nothing in the proceedings at Boston but open rebellion. The news of the "Boston Tea-party" reached England in January (I774), but it was not officially announced until early in March. The king had waited for overwhelming evidence of the wickedness of the Americans which he found in letters from Governor Hutchinson and Admiral Montagu, the consignees of the tea, the letters of other royal governors in whose respective colonies there had been serious threatenings, arid a large number of inflammatory handbills. All of these were sent by the king to Parliament with a message, in which he asked that body to devise means for the immediate suppression of tumultuous proceedings in the colonies. The House of Commons proposed an address of thanks to the king, and assurance that he should be sustained in efforts to maintain order in America. This address excited angry debates. The House became " as hot as Faneuil Hall or the Old South Meeting-house in Boston," said Burke. "There is open rebellion in America, and it must be punished," cried the Ministerial party. " Repeal your unjust laws and deal righteously with the Americans, and there will be peace and loyalty there," retorted the Opposition. After a long and stormy debate, the address was adopted by an overwhelming majority. This vote strengthened Lord North, and stimulated the passions of the monarch. Urged by his sovereign, North submitted a bill, at the middle of March, for the severe punishment of Boston. It provided for the removal of the Custom-house, courts of justice and government offices of all kinds from Boston to Salem, and forbade every kind of shipping business in the CHAP. IX. BOSTONIANS DENOUNCED IN PARLIAMENT. 707 harbor of Boston. It also provided that when the rebellious town should fully and humbly submit to royal authority, the king should have the power to open the port and restore the government business. North justified the harsh measure by asserting that Boston was " the ringleader in every riot, and set always the example which others followed." He believed severe punishment of this rebellious town would strike terror throughout the colonies, and so bring the Americans into subjection to the crown. Many of his supporters in the House used very violent language, calling the Bostonians "mobocrats," and "vile incendiaries;" men who were "never actuated by reason, but chose tarring and feathering as an argument." One member denounced them as utterly unworthy of civilized forbearance. "They ought to have their town knocked about their ears," he said; " and ought to be destroyed." He concluded his unstinted abuse by quoting the factious cry of the old Roman orators against their African enemies-" Delenda est Carthago "-Carthage must be destroyed. Others more just, like Rose Fuller, proposed only a fine, which Barre and other staunch friends of the Americans thought just, as it would affect a single town, and voted for it. For this apparent defection, the portraits of Barre and Conway were removed from Faneuil Hall for a short time. Edmund Burke took a broader, loftier view of the subject, in a speech of remarkable power. It was the first of that series of splendid orations in Parliament, which made his name immortal. He denounced the whole scheme as unjust, because there was no discrimination. "You wish to condemn the accused without a hearing," he said; " to punish indiscriminately the innocent with the guilty! You will thus irrevocably alienate the hearts of the colonists from the mother country. Before the adoption of so violent a measure, the principal merchants of the kingdom should at least be consulted. The bill is unjust since it bears upon the city of Boston, while it is notorious that all America is in flames; that the cities of Philadelphia, of New York, and all the maritime towns of the continent, have exhibited the same disobedience. You are contending for a matter which the Bostonians will not give up quietly. They cannot, by such means, be made to bow to the authority of ministers; on the contrary, you will find their obstinacy confirmed and their fury exasperated. The acts of resistance in their city have not been confined to the populace alone, but men of the first rank and opulent fortune in the place have openly countenanced them. One city in proscription and the rest in rebellion can never be a remedial measure for general disturbances. Have you considered whether you have troops and ships sufficient to reduce the people of the whole American continent to your devotion? It was the duty of your governor, and not of men without 708 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. arms, to suppress the tumults. If this officer has not demanded the proper assistance from the military commanders, why punish the innocent for the fault and the negligence of the officers of the crown? The resistance is general in all parts of America; you must, therefore, let it govern itself by its own internal policy, or make it subservient to all your laws by an exertion of all the forces of the kingdom. These partial counsels are well suited to irritate, not subjugate." Other members followed Burke in agreement with his views, but none were so clear and logical in ideas and expression as he. Charles James Fox, who had been dismissed from the Treasury to please the king, made his first speech in Parliament on that occasion, and it was a strange beginning of his brilliant career in the House of Commons. He objected to the power which the bill vestea in the crown to reopen the port of Boston when it should be closed! The persuasions and warnings of the Opposition fell upon prejudiced and dull ears, {I \ t and the famous Boston Port - gW Bill was passed by an almost unanimous vote. The exultant king signed it on the 3Ist of March, I774, and it beAMERICA FORCED TO TAKE TEA. came a law. It was the fatal knife of vivisection that severed the American people from their unnatural mother. The wound was made not healable from the searing given it by the unrighteous acts which followed. The ignorance of the British people concerning the Americans, at that time, was most notable, and it was largely displayed in the House of Commons. Great numbers of the common people believed that the Americans were nearly all negroes; and there were members of the House of Commons who stoutly maintained that they were chiefly Indians. Did not the painters and caricaturists represent "America" as an Indian girl? Were not the print-shop windows of the town then rich with the famous caricature of Lord Mansfield, the compiler of some of the obnoxious acts, holding down America-an Indian maiden-while Lord North was pouring tea down her throat? The political ideas of the Americans were so strangely at variance CHAP. IX. OPPRESSIVE MEASURES ADOPTED. 709 with the accepted theories in England, that a large proportion of the members of both Houses of Parliament could not comprehend them, in their simplicity. In British society, principles were so much overlaid by theories derived from the false premises of Church and State and conventional customs, that they were not easily recognized in their naked beauty as presented in American ethics and jurisprudence. The vote on the Port Bill stimulated Lord North to work the engine of oppression with greater vigor, and it was followed by other punitory acts of Parliament prepared by the skillful hand of Mansfield, the lord-chancellor. The Port Bill was followed by another " for better regulating the government of Massachusetts Bay." It provided for the appointment of the governor's council and the judges of the supreme court by the crown; for the selection of jurors by the sheriffs instead of the selectmen; the nomination of all other executive, military, and judicial officers by the governor without consulting his council, and for prohibiting town-meetings except for elections. It was really a bill for the subversion of the charter -of Massachusetts -an act for the inauguration of a radical revolution-a declaration of war upon the rights of the people of that province. "What can Americans believe," said Burke, who lifted up his voice most earnestly against the injustice, " but that England wishes to despoil America of all liberty, of all franchise, and by the reduction of the charters to reduce them to a state of the most abject slavery." Others warned ministers to pause; and Pownall prophesied in the ears of the House of Commons that these harsh measures would drive the Americans to the calling of a General Congress, and perhaps a resort to arms. In the House of Lords, Sheffield denounced the measure with vehemence, and eleven peers signed a protest; but logic and warnings were in vain; the bill passed both houses by very large majorities. North now gave a third turn to his engine of oppression conceived by the king, and introduced a bill intended to screen crown-officers from punishment. It provided for trial in England of all persons charged in the colonies with murders committed in support of government. It was intended as a guaranty of comparative safety to those who might shoot or bayonet rebels in the name of the king. "This," said Colonel Barre, in debate, "is, indeed, the most extraordinary resolution ever heard in the Parliament of England. It offers new encouragement to military insolence already so insupportable.... By this law Americans are deprived of a right which belongs to every human creature-that of demanding justice before a tribunal of impartial judges. Even Captain Preston, who, in their own city of Boston, had shed the blood of citizens, found among 710 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. them a fair trial and equitable judges. Another member (Alderman Sawbridge), declared that it was ridiculous and cruel-meant to enslave the Americans; and expressed a hope that they would not allow one of the bills to be executed; that they would reject them all. " If they do not," he said, "they are the most abject slaves upon earth, and nothing the ministers can do is base enough for them." This bill also passed both Houses by large majorities, and became a law by receiving the signature of the king on the 20th of May. Satisfied that these measures would have to be enforced by the military arm, the king caused a fourth bill to be introduced providing for the quartering of troops in America. Rose Fuller, who was a moderate supporter of the ministry, tried to break the severity of the new laws by a proposition to repeal the act imposing the duty on tea. His resolution was negatived by a large majority. When the result was announced, he arose and uttered with solemnity these remarkable words: " I will now take my leave of the whole plan; you will commence your ruin from this day! I am sorry to say that not only the House has fallen into this error, but the people approve of the measure. The people, I am sorry to say, have been misled. But a short time will prove the evil tendency of this bill. If ever there was a nation rushing headlong to ruin, it is this." The bill took the course of the others and became a law. These measures gave the ministers just apprehensions of open rebellion in America. The loyalty of the French in Canada, who were nearly all Roman Catholics, was not assured. It was a matter of vital importance to the government that their loyalty should be secured. So the King and Parliament, for state purposes, performed an inconsistent act. A bill was passed by the latter and confirmed by the former, which sanctioned the " free exercise of the religion of the Church of Rome, and confirmed to the clergy of that church their accustomed dues and rights." That King and Parliament, who would not acknowledge the legal existence of a Roman Catholic in Ireland, now, by the Quebec Act, so called, acknowledged the legal existence of a whole Roman Catholic state within the realm of England. Why? Because from the River St. Lawrence the government might more easily send instruments to enslave the English-American colonies than from any other point. We have observed that the petition from Massachusetts to the king, praying for the removal of the governor and lieutenant-governor of that province, was laid before the Privy Council by the monarch; also that Franklin had taken the whole responsibility of the act of sending to Boston the offensive letters of Hutchinson, Oliver, and others. His candid public CHAP. IX. FRANKLIN S MANLY CONDUCT. 711 avowal-" I alone am the person who obtained and transmitted to Boston the letters in question," without explanation, raised a storm of indignation against him from almost every quarter, and led the government into acts of petty malice unworthy of a great nation. Franklin was then, and had been for some time, postmaster-general of the American colonies-an office of i1 -iil i i THE HOUSE OF LORDS IN I774. distinction and profit to the holder. This office and his reputation were now imperiled by his manly act. On Saturday, the 8th of January, I774, Franklin received a notice from the Secretary of the Privy Council, that "the Lords of the Committee for Plantation Affairs," would meet at the Cockpit, on Tuesday following, to take into consideration the petition from Massachusetts, and requested his attendance. Franklin immediately consulted Mr. Bollan, a lawyer of some 46 712 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. distinction, who, in America, had married a daughter of Governor Shirley, and had been agent in England for the province of Massachusetts. In I769, Mr. Bollan procured from a member of Parliament a large number of letters written by Governor Bernard and others calumniating the people of Boston, and, as in duty bound, he sent them to the Massachusetts Assembly. This proper act had been denounced by Lord North, in Parliament,, and Mr. Bollan felt a sympathy for Franklin, and agreed to accompany him to the meeting. Less than twenty-four hours before that meeting, Franklin received a notice that Mr. Mauduit, agent for the crown-officers in Boston, had obtained leave to be heard by counsel in their behalf at that meeting. Mr. Bollan was then induced to appear as Franklin's counsel; but when he arose to speak in favor of the petition, some of the Lords objected to him as legally disqualified to act, and he was set aside. Then Franklin presented the resolutions of the Massachusetts Assembly, which had been sent with the petition. These were read; but when the letters which had caused the petition and resolution were brought up, Wedderburne, the solicitor-general, appeared as counsel for the governor, and interposed many objections to their reception. Franklin, being without counsel, asked and obtained leave for a postponement of the case, that he might procure for the Assembly the services of a competent lawyer. On the 29th of January, Franklin was again before the Privy Council. He was accompanied by Mr. Dunning, a former solicitor-general, as counsellor. Intimations had been given that Wedderburne would, on this occasion, chastise Franklin most severely for the part he took in exposing the letters which had induced the petition, and "an immense crowd," Franklin wrote, were present to enjoy the scene. No less than thirty-five peers were there. When Dunning had finished his plea in favor of the petition, Wedderburne arose. After giving an outline sketch of the political history of the colonies, which was marked by ignorance or misrepresentation, the solicitor-general fell upon Franklin with severe, unjust, and often coarse invective. He accused him of obtaining the letters clandestinely; and even after the solicitor admitted that they were genuine, he made insinuations that they might be forgeries, asserting that they were sent to widen the breach between the colonists and the government. "Amidst tranquil events," said the solicitor, " here is a man who, with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands up and avows himself the author of all. I can compare him only to Zanga, in Dr. Young's'.Revenge'-' Know, then,'twas I, I forged the letter —I disposed the pictureI hated-I dispersed, and I destroy.' CHAP. IX. A DISGRACEFUL PROCEEDING. 713 I ask, my lords, whether the revengeful temper attributed to the bloody African is not surpassed by the coolness and apathy of the wily American? " "The favorite part of his discourse," Franklin wrote to Cushing, "was levelled at your agent, who stood there, the butt of his invective ribaldry for near an hour, not a single lord adverting to the impropriety and indecency of treating a public messenger in so ignominious a manner, who was present only as the person delivering your petition, with the consideration of which no part of his conduct had any concern. If he had done a wrong in obtaining and transmitting the letters, that was not the tribunal where he was to be accused and tried. The cause was already before the chancellor. Not one of their lordships checked and recalled the orator to the business before them, but, on the contrary, a very few excepted, they seemed to enjoy highly the entertainment, and frequently burst into loud laughter. This part of his speech was thought so good that they have since printed it in or(:r to defame me everywhere, and particularly to destroy my reputation on your side of the water; but the grosser parts of the abuse are omitted, appearing, I suppose, in their eyes, too foul to be seen on paper; so that the speech, compared to what it was, is now perfectly decent." At the end of this tirade of abuse, the petition was dismissed as "groundless, scandalous, and vexatious." Franklin endured the coarse abuse of Wedderburne, and ill-manners of the lords, with the calmness of a philosopher. Not an emotion was manifested in his face. He was sustained by a consciousness of his own integrity and the justice of the cause to which he was a martyr. He felt that in this abuse of himself, as public envoy presenting a respectful petition, the British government were offering a gross insult to a great and loyal colony; and not to that colony alone, but to British American colonies from the St. Lawrence to the St. Mary's. He felt a conviction in that hour of trial that not only his own honor, but the wisdom and patriotism of the people he represented would be fully vindicated by the calm judgment of mankind. "I have never been so sensible of the power of a good conscience," he said to Dr. Priestley, who breakfasted with him the next morning; "for if I had not considered the thing for which I have been so much insulted as one of the best actions of my life, and what I certainly would do again in the same circumstances, I could not have suspected it." The course of the patriot and his accuser were widely different in the future. Franklin went forward in assisting and achieving the freedom and independence of his country, and will be forever venerated, as Washington wrote, " for benevolence, to be admired for his talents, to be esteemed for patriotism, to be beloved for philanthropy." Wedderburne went through life neither respected 714 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. nor beloved, a grasping place-seeker and corrupt courtier, " unhonored and unsung" at last; and when, thirty years after the scene here described, this man, having held various high offices in the government and received honors, died Earl of Roslyn, the king upon whom he had fawned said, " He has not left a greater knave behind him in my dominions." Franklin, though apparently unmoved before the Privy Council, felt deeply the indignity cast upon him; and, it is said, when he returned to his lodgings, No. 7 Craven street, that night, he took off the suit of clothes he had worn on the occasion, and declared that he would never wear it again until he should sign the degradation of England by a dismemberment of the empire, and the independence of America. He kept his word; and almost ten years afterward, when, as American commissioner, he signed a definitive treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain on the basis of absolute independence for his country, he wore the same suit of clothes for the first time after his vow was uttered. The government, pre-determined to fill the post-offices in America with friends of the crown, so as to watch and obstruct the communications between the political leaders in the several colonies, hastened to make the hue-and-cry that Wedderburne had raised against Franklin, at the instigation of the king, an excuse for dismissing him from the office of'deputy postmaster-general. He received a written notice of his dismissal on the day after his last appearance before the Privy Council. "How safe the correspondence of your Assembly committees along the continent will be through the hands of such officers," he wrote to Mr. Cushing, " may now be worth consideration, especially as the post-office act of parliament allows a postmaster to open letters, if warranted to do so by the order of a secretary of state, and every provincial secretary may be deemed a secretary of state in his own province." >P CHAPTER X. GENERAL GAGE APPOINTED GOVERNOR-HUTCHINSON AND HIS FRIENDS-THE SONS OF LIBERTY ACTIVE-GAGE IN BOSTON-DOINGS OF A TOWN-MEETING-ACTION OF THE VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY-A GENERAL CONGRESS ADVOCATED —GOVERNOR GAGE AND THE ASSEMBLY-PORT OF BOSTON CLOSED-SUFFERING AND PATRIOTISM-BOLD PROCEEDINGS OF THE PEOPLE-PREPARATIONS FOR A GENERAL CONGRESS-DOINGS IN NEW YORK-MINUTE-MEN-GAGE AND THE PEOPLE-DREADFUL RUMORS FROM BOSTON-BOLD MEASURES OF A CONVENTION. T~ HE Boston Port Bill reached Massachusetts early in May, I774. It was preceded a few days by a commission sent to New York, for General Gage as governor of Massachusetts to succeed Hutchinson, who was recalled. The latter was mortified and alarmed. His recall seemed to be a pointed rebuke at that puncture, and he justly feared the resentment of the people whom he had misrepresented and misruled. He left Boston before Gage arrived, and remained in seclusion at his country-house at Milton until an opportunity offered for him to take refuge in Castle William. Hutchinson had many political as well as personal friends in Massachusetts. It must be remembered that the patriotic zeal which animated the Sons of Liberty was not universally felt, even in Boston. Those leaders were radicals, and were compelled to meet cold-hearted and hard-hearted conservatism at every turn. Hutchinson had many political sympathizers; and when he was about to depart for England, whither he fled from the frowns of his countrymen, more than a hundred merchants in Boston, and a number of lawyers, magistrates and men of property there and in the neighborhood, signed an address to him, in which they expressed their entire approbation of his public acts, and affectionate wishes for his personal happiness. These "addressors" became objects of intense dislike. Many of them, yielding to popular clamor, retracted. Those who would not retract, felt compelled to leave the colony, and became the first of the host of " Loyal Refugees" who peopled British provinces after the war that ensued. It was the Ioth of May when the Port Bill reached Boston. It was already in the hands of the Sons of Liberty in New York, carried thither by another ship from London. These patriots had waged a steady warfare 716 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK 1V. with the conservative and aristocratic elements in society there, bearing the obloquy of many in the easy walks of life, but sustained and honored by those in the paths of toil;-" the bone and sinew of a state," Scott, Sears, Lamb and McDougall-these were the trusted leaders. They perceived not only the infamy of the Boston Port Bill, but the danger to their own liberties foreshadowed by it. They called a meeting of their associates at Hampden Hall, and there resolved that the only safeguard for the freedom of the American colonies was in a General Congress of deputies-a hint, as we have seen, thrown out by Pownall in debate, to insure unity of action. They resolved to stand by Boston in its hour of distress; and by a letter dated the I4th of May, they entreated the patriots there to stand firm in support of their opposition measures. Their resolutions and the letter were sent by express to Boston by John Ludlow, who rode swiftly with them, on a black horse, toward the New England capital. He told their import as he coursed through Connecticut and Rhode Island. Near Providence on the edge of a wood that was just receiving its summer foliage, by a cool spring, he met Paul Revere riding express on a large gray horse, bearing to New York and Philadelphia assurances of the faith and firmness of the Bostonians, and to invoke sympathy and co-operation. Revere also carried a large number of printed copies of the act, made sombre by heavy black lines, and garnished with the picture of a crown, a skull and cross-bones, undoubtedly engraved by Revere himself. These he scattered through the villages on his way, where they were carried about the streets with the cry of " Barbarous, cruel, bloody, and inhuman murder!" Revere and Ludlow took a hasty lunch together at the spring, and then pressed forward on their holy mission. New York had first suggested a General Congress. The suggestion was echoed back with approval from every colony. So originated the famous First Continental Congress in 1774. Ludlow found Boston quiet but firm. Gage had arrived from New York by sea, attended only by his staff, though he had taken the precaution to order additional regiments to Massachusetts. He had remained a few days at the Castle, in conference with Hutchinson; and he had landed at the Long Wharf on the I7th of May, without any military display. There he was courteously received as their governor by a large crowd of citizens, and was escorted to the State-House by a militia company under John Hancock, where a loyal address was presented to him, and where he read his commission. After that he was entertained at a public dinner in Faneuil Hall. He believed that an era of reconciliation through submission was at hand. That night an effigy of Hutchinson was burned in front of Hancock's house, and the new governor was somewhat disturbed by grave doubts. CHAP. X. MASSACHUSETTS' CIRCULAR LETTER. 7I7 Meanwhile a town-meeting had been called for the next day after the arrival of the act, and the advent at the Castle of the crown-officer who was to enforce it. The Boston Committee of Correspondence had invited the committees of nine towns in the vicinity to a conference " on the critical state of public affairs." They had come with alacrity, and with hundreds of the yeomanry had joined the citizens of Boston in that town-meeting over which Samuel Adams had presided. That meeting, largely composed PAUL REVERE SCATTERING HANDBILLS IN THE VILLAGES. of those who would be most injured by the closing of the port, had resolved to stand firmly by their rights, whatever might befall them. They had addressed a Circular Letter to all the colonies, proposing a more stringent non-importation league than any before; confessing that "singly they must find their trial too severe," and imploring the sympathy and support of the other provinces, each of whose being, as a free people, depended upon the issue. "We think the archives of Constantinople [synonymous with despotic rule] might be searched in vain for a parallel," they said. "To reason upon such an act would be idleness. You will doubtless judge every BritishAmerican colony deeply concerned in it, and contemplate and determine upon it accordingly." This was the Circular Letter which Paul Revere was 718 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. bearing to New York and Philadelphia, whose Sons of Liberty forwarded it to the more southern colonies. The responses to the appeal from Boston and a letter from New York proposing a General Congress were marvellous for unanimity of sentiment. The action of the Virginia House of Burgesses was a fair type of the general indication of public sentiment. When the circulars and the Port Bill reached that body, all other business was at once suspended, that the documents might be discussed. They adopted strong resolutions of condolence with the citizens of Boston, and appointed the first day of June, when the Port Bill was to go into operation, as a fast. The royal governor (Lord Dunmore) was officially offended, and the next day he dissolved the Assembly. The delegates, eighty-nine in number, reassembled in the Apolloroom at the Raleigh tavern in Williamsburgh, organized themselves into a voluntary convention and prepared an address to their constituents, in which they declared that an attack upon one colony was an attack upon all. They also recommended a General Congress as suggested by New York, and adopted other measures of resistance to oppression. They recommended a meeting of the burgesses in convention at Williamsburgh on the first of August, and then adjourned. Twenty-five of the delegates remained to participate in the services of the fast-day. There was a very full attendance of the burgesses at the Apollo-room on the day appointed. They adopted a stringent agreement concerning non-exportation as well as non-importation, and recommended the cultiva.ting of crops for manufacturing purposes, and improvements in the breed of sheep. On the 5th, they appointed seven delegates to represent Virginia in the General Congress to meet at Philadelphia early in September, as had been proposed by Massachusetts. They then adjourned, each pledging himself to do all in his power to effect results contemplated in their proceedings. The Apollo-room, in the Raleigh tavern, was ever afterward regarded as the Virginia " cradle of liberty." In the meantime the other colonies were all aglow with enthusiasm, and full of sympathy for suffering Boston. From the forum, the pulpit, and legislatures, as well as through the newspapers all over the land, the Port Bill was denounced, and a General Congress was advocated. At the head of some of the newspapers reappeared the device used during the stamp-act excitement-a disjointed snake, with the words JOIN or DIE. The cause of Boston was the cause of all the colonies. At near the close of May, the Massachusetts legislature chose the councillors for the governor for the ensuing year, as usual. Governor Gage used his prerogative, and rejected thirteen of them. The remainder were not CHAP. X. THE PORT OF BOSTON CLOSED. 719 much more satisfactory; for they, too, were stirred by the spirit of liberty around them. The Assembly asked the governor to appoint a day for fasting; but he refused, because, he wrote to Dartmouth, " the request was only to give an opportunity for sedition to flow from the pulpit." Perceiving that the inhabitants of Massachusetts had lost one tyrant only to be supplied with another, Samuel Adams was about to offer a proposition for a General Congress, when the governor prorogued the Assembly, to meet after ten days at Salem. In anticipation of this act, the Assembly appointed Samuel Adams and James Warren a committee to act for them during the interim, as the exigencies of the case might require. When the Assembly met at __.... — THE RALEIGH TAVERN. Salem, these active patriots were ready with a plan for a General Congress; for non-importation; for providing munitions of war and funds, and for arousing the other colonies to immediate action. The port of Boston was closed at meridian on the Ist of June. At that hour, muffled church-bells in Philadelphia and other places tolled a funeral knell. The day had been appointed as a fast in many regions, and the churches were crowded with worshippers, who devoutly implored Heaven's mercies for the inhabitants of Boston, and strength and liberty for themselves. The law was rigorously enforced. Not a vessel of any kind was allowed to be used in the harbor. Not a pound of hay, nor a sheep or calf, could be brought in a boat from the islands, nor a stick of lumber, or package of merchandise, could be taken by water from wharf to wharf. Not a parcel of goods could be ferried across to Charlestown; and business of every kind was immediately paralyzed. A cordon of vessels-of-war inclosed the town, and several regiments that soon arrived made Boston an immense 720 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. garrison. Orders came to Gage from England, to order his soldiers to shoot any citizens who should not be docile, and he was assured, for his comfort, that, by the provisions of a recent law, all trials of officers and troops for homicide in America would be removed to Great Britain. Gage had orders to arrest, when he should deem it prudent to do so, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Dr. Joseph Warren, and send them to England to be tried for treason. Adams knew this; and with the halter almost about his neck, he said of his beloved and stricken Boston: "She suffers with dignity; and rather than submit to the humiliating terms of an edict, barbarous beyond precedent under the most absolute monarchy, she will put the malice of tyranny to the severest test. An empire is rising in America; and Britain, by her multiplied oppressions, is accelerating that independency which she dreads. We have a post to maintain, to desert which would entail upon us the curses of posterity." The utter prostration of all business in Boston soon produced widespread suffering. All classes felt the scourge of the unnatural oppressor. With faith that deliverance would come, they bore the severe chastisement with wonderful equanimity. Soldiers to enslave them appeared at every turn; and cannon to overawe them soon menaced their lives and property from every eminence on the peninsula; yet no rash act incited by anger or suffering, marred the dignity of their fortitude. The sympathy of the people everywhere was warmly excited. The Press and the Pulpit suggested the sending of relief to the smitten inhabitants, and very soon money, grain, flour and live-stock were on their way toward Boston, accompanied by letters of condolence. This food for the suffering poor seemed like relief sent to a beleagured garrison, on whose existence a great cause depended. "Hold on; and hold out to the last; as you are placed in the front rank, if you fail all will be over," said a letter accompanying a substantial gift. "Don't pay for an ounce of the damned tea," wrote Christopher Gadsden of Charleston, when, at the middle of June, he shipped the first contribution of rice from the Carolina planters. Georgians sent sixty barrels of rice; and from the more northerly colonies went grain and sheep and beeves, with money. The city of London, in its corporate capacity, sent three-quarters of a million dollars for the relief of the poor of Boston. The people of Marblehead and Salem offered the free use of their wharves and stores to the Boston merchants, for they scorned to profit by the misfortunes of their neighbors. When the Massachusetts Assembly met at Salem on the 7th of June, there was a very full attendance. Samuel Adams cautiously sounded the opinions of the members, and ascertained that a large majority were repub CHAP. X. TIME AND PLACE FOR A GENERAL CONGRESS. 721 licans. Then he presented the plan for future action, which he and James Warren had perfected. The few loyalists in that body were amazed at the audacity of the propositions, and one of them, feigning sickness, got leave of absence. He hastened to the governor (then living near Salem) and acquainted him with the seditious proceedings of the legislature. Gage immediately sent a proclamation by his secretary, Thomas Flucker, commanding the Assembly to dissolve. The governor was outgeneraled. When the secretary came, the door of the Assembly was locked, and the key was in Samuel Adams's pocket. Flucker was not permitted to enter the room, so he read the proclamation on the stairs, near the door, but to dull ears within, for the patriots would not listen to it. They proceeded to adopt a "Solemn League and Covenant" concerning non-importations; and agreeing with New York in the proposition for a General Congress, they appointed James Bowdoin, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Thomas Cushing and Robert Treat Paine to represent Massachusetts in the proposed General Congress. Pursuant to a request of the New York Committee of Correspondence, the Assembly fixed the time and place for the meeting of the Congress. They named Philadelphia as the place, and the beginning of September next ensuing as the time; and in a circular which they sent to the other colonies, the time and place were mentioned. After carrying out the other measures proposed in the plan of Adams and Warren, the Assembly adjourned indefinitely. So ended the last session of the Assembly of Massachusetts under a royal governor. On the same day an immense town-meeting, presided over by John Adams, was held in Faneuil Hall. The inhabitants by vote refused to make any provision for paying the East India Company for its tea destroyed, because they were surrounded by bayonets and ships-of-war. They ratified the acts of the Assembly, and assumed an absolutely defiant attitude. The proceedings of the Assembly, and of the people, greatly irritated Gage. He had troops at his back, but had resolved not to use them excepting in an extremity. He issued flaming proclamations from time to time, which excited the ridicule of the patriots. One of these was burlesqued in the Massachusetts Spy, a newspaper published in the riidst of British bayonets, which was commenced as follows: "Tom Gage's Proclamation, Or blustering Denunciation, (Replete with Defamation,) Threatening Devastation And speedy Jugulation Of the New English Nation, Who shall his pious ways sheen.-" 722 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. It closes with" Thus graciously the war I wage, As witnesseth my handTOM GAGE. By command of Mother Carey, Thomas Flucker, Secretary." The proposition for a General Congress to be held in September, in Philadelphia, contained in the Massachusetts Circular, received universal assent, and before the close of the summer of 1774, twelve of the thirteen British American colonies had chosen delegates to attend it. Rhode Island has the honor of first speaking out publicly on the subject after New York suggested it. A General Congress was proposed at a town-meeting held in Providence on the I7th of May. Four days afterward (2Ist) a committee of a town-meeting held in Philadelphia recommended such a measure; and on the 23d, a town-meeting in the city of New York did the same. We have seen that the meeting of the burgesses of Virginia at the Raleigh tavern warmly recommended the measure, on the 27th of May; and on the 31st, a Baltimore county-meeting took action in favor of a General Congress. On the 6th of June, a town-meeting at Norwich, Connecticut, approved of a General Congress; and on the i th, a county-meeting at Newark, New Jersey, did the same. The action of the Massachusetts Assembly at Salem and the town-meeting at Faneuil Hall, which urged the measure, did so on the I7th of June. On the 29th, a county-meeting at New Castle, Delaware, approved the measure; and on the 6th of July, the Committee of Correspondence at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, expressed their approbation. A general province-meeting was held on the 6th, 7th and 8th of July, at Charleston, and they urged the necessity of such a Congress; and a districtmeeting at Wilmington, North Carolina, held on the 21st of July, heartily responded affirmatively to the Massachusetts Circular. Only Georgia remained silent. The state of political society in New York, at this juncture, was peculiar. The professed republicans were divided by political distractions and social differences, and were designated by the respective titles of Patricians and Tribunes. The former were composed of the merchants and gentry, and the latter were mostly the mechanics. The former, who were conservative, joined with the loyalists in attempts to check the influence of the radical democrats of Hampden Hall. With these conservatives were found most of the leading merchants, who, as a class, were (as usual) averse to popular commotions which disturbed trade. They were not ready to enter into nonimportation agreements again hastily; and the letter which the Hampden I-Iall patriots sent by Ludlow, to Boston, alarmed them and the conservative CHAP. X. POLITICAL MOVEMENTS IN NEW YORK. 723 republicans. A meeting was called at a public-house, "to consult on the measures to be pursued in consequence of the late extraordinary advices received from England." At that meeting a Committee of Fifty were nominated as "representatives of public sentiment in New York." A few of the radicals were placed upon the committee; and at another meeting held on the i9th of May, the nomination was ratified and one more added to the committee, making the number Fifty-one. Concerning this movement, Governeur Morris wrote to a friend: " The heads of the nobility grow dangerous to the gentry, and how to keep them down is the question. While they correspond with the other colonies, call and dismiss popular assemblies, make resolves to bind the consciences of the rest of mankind, bully poor printers, and exert with full force all their tribunitial powers, it is impossible to curb them. But art sometimes goes further than force, and, therefore, to trick them handsomely, a Committee of Patricians was to be nominated, and into their hands was to be committed the majority of the people, and the highest trust was to be reposed in them by a mandate that they should take care quod republicd, non capiat injurianm. The Tribunes, through the want of good legerdemain in the senatorial order, perceived the finesse, and yesterday I was present at a grand division of the city, and there I beheld my fellow-citizens very accurately counting their chickens, not only before they were hatched, but before one-half of the eggs were laid. In short, they fairly contended about the future form of our government-whether it should be founded on aristocratic or democratic principles." The grand Committee of Fifty-one publicly repudiated the strong letter sent to Boston by the radicals on the I4th of May. They received Paul Revere courteously, but did not agree with the proposal of the Bostonians to revive non-importation or non-intercourse agreements. They sent a letter to Boston (supposed to have been written by John Jay) expressing their dissent, but heartily approving of a General Congress; and in another letter on the 7th of June, they requested the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence to name a time and place for the holding of a General Congress. The people of the other colonies approved non-intercourse, and New York, as represented by the Grand Committee, stood alone in opposition to a stringent non-importation league. The loyalists rejoiced, and a writer in Rivington's Royal Gazette exultingly exclaimed: " And so, my good masters, I find it no joke, For York has stepped forward and thrown off the yoke Of Congress, Committees, and even King Sears, Who shows you good nature by showing his ears." 724 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. But the "Committee of Vigilance," appointed by the Hampden Hall patriots, were not awed by the acts of the Grand Committee. They called a mass-meeting of citizens in The Fields on the Ig9th of June, when, by resolutions, the lukewarmness of the Committee of Fifty-one was denounced; sympathy with, and a determination to support the Bostonians were expressed, and the appointment of delegates to the General Congress, instructed to advocate non-intercourse with Great Britain, was urged. Nothing further was done to excite public attention until many days afterward, when the Committee of Fifty-one met on the evening of the 4th of July, and on motion of Alexander McDougall, five deputies to the General Congress were nominated. These were Philip Livingston, John Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane, and John Jay. McDougall proposed to submit the nominations (which were approved) to the Tribunes, or " Committee of Mechanics," for their concurrence. The proposition was rejected. McDougall was offended, and the next day a handbill, doubtless prepared by him, appeared throughout the city, inviting the people to a meeting in The Fields at six o'clock in the evening of the 6th. An immense gathering was there, for they were called "to hear matters of the utmost importance to their reputation and security as freemen." It was ever afterwards known as The Great Meeting in The Fields. McDougall was called to the chair, and a series of strong resolutions, among others one in favor of a stringent nonintercourse league, were adopted. On that occasion, a notable event occurred. In the crowd was a delicate boy, girl-like in personal grace and stature, about seventeen years of age, who was a student in King's (now Columbia) College, and known as the " Young West Indian." This boy had been often seen walking alone under the shadows of great trees on Dey Street, sometimes musing, and sometimes talking, in low tones, to himself. Some of the residents in that neighborhood haid, occasionally, engaged him in conversation, and had been impressed with his wisdom and sagacity. When they saw him in the crowd they urged him to address the meeting, but he modestly refused. After listening to several speakers, and finding that important considerations had been overlooked by them, he summoned courage to present himself before the people. It was then almost sunset. The great multitude were hushed into silence at the appearance of the slender boy. "Overawed by that multitude, he hesitated and faltered," says a recent writer; "but as he proceeded, almost unconsciously, to utter his accustomed reflections, his mind warmed with the theme-his energies were recovered. After a discussion, clear, cogent and novel, of the great principles involved in the controversy, he depicted in the glowing colors of adult youth the long-continued and CHAP. X. PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 725 long-endured oppressions of the mother-country. Insisting upon the duty of resistance, he pointed to the means and certainty of success, and described the waves of rebellion sparkling with fire, and washing back on the shores of England the wrecks of her power, of her wealth, and her glory. The breathless silence ceased when he closed, and a whispered murmur' It is a collegian! it is a collegian!' was lost in loud expressions of wonder and applause at the extraordinary eloquence of the young stranger." The orator was Alexander Hamilton, a native of the Island of Nevis, in the West Indies, who then first entered upon that extraordinary, useful and brilliant career in public life, for thirty years afterward, which placed him in the front rank among the statesmen of our country. The Committee of Fifty-one were alarmed by the great demonstration in The Fields. They submitted the nominations of deputies to the Tribunes, but neutralized the effect of their concession by declaring that the resolutions passed by the great meeting were seditious. This offended several of the staunch republicans of the committee, and eleven of them instantly withdrew. It was not long before that aristocratic body disappeared as an organization, and the Hampden Hall Sons of Liberty became the tribunes of the people. The city of New York elected the nominees. Neighboring counties chose four others, and the delegation from the province of New York were nine in number. While the leading patriots were preparing for the Grand Council of deputies, the people, everywhere, were preparing for impending war. They armed themselves, and practised military tactics almost every day. Men of all stations in life might be found in the ranks for discipline. Deacons of churches were often captains; having more than half of the young men of the congregations with whom they worshipped, as their followers. There was seldom any military organization besides a company, but they were ready to fall into regiments and brigades when called for. Boys imitated their elders, and " trained " with sticks. Blacksmiths were kept busy all of the summer and autumn of I774, forging swords, guns and bayonets, and other men were compounding gunpowder, and making bullets of lead. When the Congress at Philadelphia had closed late in the autumn, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts voted to enrol twelve thousand of these patriots under the general title of Minute-men-volunteers who would be ready at a minute's warning to take the field with arms in their hands. Rhode Island and Connecticut were invited to do likewise. They did so; and when the time came for armed resistance nearly all New England was disciplined, in a degree, for the struggle. The example was contagious. Other colonies followed, and in Virginia the Minute-men were of special 726 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. service to the patriot cause at a critical juncture. As the summer of 1774 wore away, Gage found himself greatly perplexed by his peculiar situation. Early in August he received official copies of the several acts of Parliament, which completely subverted the Charter of Massachusetts. Gage was made a ruler irresponsible to the people. He proceeded to form a council of thirty-six members, by a mandamus-a positive command to serve-and most of those so appointed accepted the honor. They soon felt the peltings of the pitiless storm of popular indignation so keenly, that twenty of them resigned, and the remainder sought protection under the troops in Boston. FORGING ARMS FOR THE MIINUTE-MEN. These "Mandamus Councillors," as they were called, were treated with scorn everywhere, and sometimes with personal indignities, mild in form but severe in effect, as in the case of a respected citizen of Plymouth. On the Sunday after he accepted the appointment, as soon as he took his seat in the house of worship, his neighbors and friends all put on their hats and walked out of the house. As they passed his pew, he hid his face by leaning his head over his cane. This public disapproval by those whom he loved, he could not bear, and immediately resigned. Gage was puzzled more by the forbearance of the people, than by their CHAP. X. ROYAL RULE IN PERIL. 727 defiance. Nobody committed any overt acts of treason or sedition that might justify him in using power for administering punishment, and yet the air was full of the'spirit of insurrection. He was helpless in a vortex of irritating words and acts that were ominous of evil. There were inflammatory handbills, newspapers, and tongues all around him exciting the people to rebel, but nobody stepped over the confines of law. Several times he was on the point of executing his discretionary orders to arrest Hancock and other leaders, but unoffended law bade him be cautious. Squibs, epigrams, sonnets, parables and dialogues of remarkable pith filled the whig journals, not only in Boston, but elsewhere, in which logic and argument were contained in a nut-shell, as in the following example from a New York newspaper: "THE QUARREL WITH AMERICA FAIRLY STATED. "Rudely forced to drink tea, Massachusetts in anger Spills the tea on John Bull-John falls on to bang her; Massachusetts, enraged, calls her neighbors to aid And give Master John a severe bastinade. Now, good men of the law, pray who is in fault, The one who begins or resists the assault?" Gage saw ominous menaces on every side; and late in the summer he re-established the seat of government in Boston, and prepared to cast up fortifications across the "Neck." His orders for this purpose exasperated the patriots. They saw, in these warlike measures, prophecies of their absolute enslavement. The Boston carpenters, though suffering through compulsory idleness, would not work on the fortifications at any price, and the popular voice applauded their patriotism. At about the same time, Gage, taking counsel of his fears, sent out some troops to seize gunpowder belonging to the province, at Charlestown and Cambridge. The indignation of the people rose to fever-heat because of this act, and a large number of them gathered at Cambridge with the intention of attacking the British troops in Boston, but were persuaded to remain quiet. This was followed, a few days afterward, by a rumor that went over the land, even to the Connecticut River and beyond, that war had begun in Boston; that the British ships there were bombarding the town, and that British troops were murdering the patriotic inhabitants. The tale of horror created a fearful excitement and a cry for vengeance. The Minute-men everywhere, though not organized, seized their arms, and marched in squads for Boston. Within thirty-six hours the whole country, for almost two hundred miles from the New England capital, had heard the dreadful tidings. Young men and old 47 728 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. men seized their firelocks, and matrons and maidens buckled on their wellfilled knapsacks and sent them away with the blessings of patriotic hearts. The roads were soon swarming with armed men, most of them on foot; but many men on horseback-a strange cavalcade-queer-looking men and queer-looking horses of all colors, ages and condition-some of the latter saddled and bridled, and some without either bit or stirrup. The host were intent upon the salvation of their brethren, and the destruction of the enemy; and they halted not until satisfied that the story was untrue, when / I I BLESSINGS FOR THE MINUTE-MEN. the angry tide slowly ebbed. It is believed that the rumor was started by some of the leading patriots, to produce an uprising of the people that should overawe General Gage and his troops. Full thirty thousand men, it was estimated, had started for Boston. It was a lesson for Gage, but he did not heed it. On the 6th of September (I774), a convention of delegates representing the towns in the county to which Boston belonged, resolved that the late asfl~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A UPRISING OF THE NEW ENGLAND YEOMANRY. CHAP. X. CONVENTION OF BOLD PATRIOTS. 729 acts of Parliament were not entitled to obedience; recommended that collectors of taxes and other officers holding public money, should retain the funds in their hands until the privileges of the charter should be restored; declaring that those who had accepted seats in the council should resign or be considered public enemies; recommended the people to seize and keep as hostages any crown-officers who might fall in their way after any patriot should be arrested for a political offence; and adopted an address to General Gage, in which they complained of the fortifications begun by the soldiers in Boston Neck as an act of hostility. They had resolved that they would not commence war, but act on the defensive only so long as just reason required; and they told Gage frankly that they would not submit to any of the late acts of Parliament concerning the Americans. These were bold words uttered by brave men. Gage denounced the convention as treasonable, and he declared that he should adopt such measures as he pleased to protect his troops, and that the cannon which he had placed in battery on the Neck should be used for that purpose. He had already broken up the eight military companies in the town composed of citizens, and dismissed John Hancock from the command of a corps known as " The Governor's Independent Cadets." That body, indignant because of this treatment of their beloved commander, had sent a committee to the governor at Salem, to surrender their flag into his hands, and acquaint him that they had disbanded themselves. Gage, who never had a conciliatory word for irritated citizens, gave vent to his angry feelings and berated the committee roundly, whereupon the bold Massachusetts Spy published the following as " a sample of gubernatorial eloquence, as lately exhibited to the company of cadets:" " Your Colonel, H-n-k, by neglect Has been deficient in respect; As he my sovereign toe ne'er kissed,'Twas proper he should be dismissed; I never was and never will, By mortal man be treated ill; I never was nor ever can, Be treated ill by mortal man. O had I but have known before That temper of your factious corps, It should have been my greatest pleasure To have prevented that bold measure. To meet with such severe disgraceMy standard flung into my faceDisband yourselves! so cussed stout! O had I, had I, turned you out!" CHAPTER XI. MEETING OF THE GENERAL CONGRESS-THE OPENING SCENES-THE CONGRESS OPENED WITH RELIGIOUS SERVICES-PERSONAL SKETCHES OF THE MEMBERS-HOSPITALITIES OF. PHILADELPHIANS-DIFFERENCES OF OPINION IN THE CONGRESS-A TRAITOR THEREIN-BELLIGERENT FEELINGS REPRESSED-APPEAL FROM BOSTON-'THE MOST IMPORTANT RESOLUTIONSSTATE-PAPERS FRAMED AND ADOPTED-" AMERICAN ASSOCIATIONS" FORMED —SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINIANS - OTHER STATE-PAPERS AGREED TO - A SECOND CONGRESS RECOMMENDED-PUBLIC SENTIMENT-DOINGS OF THE CONGRESS-A FOOLISH ORDER FROM THE KING. which thoughtful and patriotic men in America had long expected; which the French and other enemies of Great Britain on the continent of Europe had ardently wished for, and which the stubborn king of England, his ministers, and their aristocratic supporters in Church and State had hastened on by their perverseness and folly. That crisis was the planting of the seed of an independent nation in America. It was solemnly performed, when, on the 5th of September, I774, delegates from twelve British-American provinces met in the hall of the Carpenters' Association, in Philadelphia, and were organized into what they termed themselves, a Continental Congress, having for their object the consideration of the political state of the colonies; also the devising of measures for obtaining relief from oppression, and to unite in efforts to secure forever for themselves and their posterity, the free enjoyment of natural and chartered rights and liberties, in a perfect union with Great Britain. Very few of them had aspirations yet for political independence. On Monday, the 5th of September, there were present in the Carpenter's Hall (yet standing) forty-four delegates. These were John Sullivan and Nathaniel Folsom, from New H-ampshirc; Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, John Adams and Robert Treat Paine, from Massachusetts,; Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward, from Rhode Island,; Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman and Silas Deane, from Connecticut,; James Duane, John Jay, Philip Livingston, Isaac Low and William Floyd, from New York; James Kinsey, William Livingston, John Hart, Stephen Crane and Richard Smith, from NeVw Yersey; Joseph Galloway, Samuel Rhodes, Thomas Mifflin, Charles CHAP. XI. MEMBERS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 73I Humphreys, John Morton and Edward Biddle, from Pennsylvania; Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean" and George Read, from Delaware; Robert Goldsborough, William Paca and Samuel Chase, from Maryland; Peyton Randolph, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison and Edmund Pendleton, from Virginia, and Henry Middleton, John Rutledge, Christopher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch and Edward Rutledge, from South Carolina. Others came soon afterward —John Alsop and Henry Wisner, from New York, George Ross and John Dickinson, from Pennsylvania; Thomas Johnson and Matthew Tighlman, from Maryland; Richard CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA. Henry Lee, from Virginia,. William Hooper, Joseph Hewes and Richard Caswell, from North Carolina-making the whole number fifty-four. They chose Peyton Randolph to be their President. He was an eminent lawyer, who had been leducated at William and Mary College; was the king's Attorney-General for Virginia sixteen years before; had taken a decided stand against the ministry at the beginning of resistance; had recently been Speaker of the Virginia Assembly, and was a popular citizen. He was then fifty-one years of age. They chose for their Secretary, Charles Thomson, a native of Ireland, who, in early life, had emigrated to Delaware, but was 732 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. then a citizen of Philadelphia, of character and fortune. Dr. Franklin was his friend, and he was a good classical scholar. He had lived a bachelor until that week, when he was about forty-five years of age. Just as he was alighting from his chaise, with his bride-an heiress of much property-a messenger came to him from the Congress, saying: " They want you at Carpenters' Hall to keep the minutes of their proceedings, as you are very expert at that business." Thomson complied with their request, and very soon took his seat as Secretary of the Continental Congress; and he remained sole Secretary of that body during its entire existence of almost fifteen years. John Adams wrote in his diary, that Charles Thomson was "the Samuel Adams of Philadelphia; the life of the cause of liberty." Each colony had appointed representatives without any rule as to numbers. The grave question immediately presented itself, How shall we vote? It was suggested that the larger provinces like Virginia should have more votes than the smaller ones like Rhode Island, and that representation should be regulated by population and wealth. It was also suggested that a small province, as well as a large one, had its all involved in the issue, and it was proposed to vote by colonies. The question was one of so much importance, that it was left over for discussion the following day, when the Congress adjourned. When the members assembled the next morning, and the Secretary had called the roll and read the minutes, there was a pause. Members from various and distant provinces were personal strangers. Some had been instructed what to do, and others had been left free to act according to their own judgments, and the circumstances. No one seemed willing to take the first step in business. No one seemed to have determined what measure first to propose. The silence was becoming painful, when a grave-looking man, apparently about forty years of age, with unpowdered hair, a thin face, not very powerful in person, and dressed in a plain dark suit of " minister's gray," arose. "Then," said Mr. (afterward Bishop) White, who was present, " I felt a regret that a seeming country parson should so far have mistaken his talents and the theatre for their display." His voice was musical, and as he continued to speak, he became more animated, and his words more eloquent. With alternate vigor and pathos he drew a picture of the wrongs which the colonies had suffered by acts of the Parliament. He said that all the governments in America were dissolved; that the colonies were in a state of nature. He believed that the Congress then in session was the beginning of a long series of congresses; and speaking to the undecided question about voting, he declared his great concern, for their decision would form a precedent. He favored representation according to population; and CHAP. XI. PATRIOTIC WORDS. 733 in reference to the objection that such representation would confer an undue weight of influence upon some of the larger provinces, he said, with words that prophesied of a nation: " British oppression has effaced the boundaries of the several colonies; the distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American." His speech drew the earnest attention of the whole House; and when he sat down the question went from lip to lip, " Who is he?" A few who knew the speaker replied, "It is Patrick Henry of Virginia." PATRICK HENRY. PEYTON RANDOLPH. There was now no hesitation. The bold-spirited man, who electrified the continent with his burning words in stamp-act times, was now there to lead in a revolt. He had uttered the sentiment of union and nationality that warmed the hearts of all present, when he exclaimed: "I am not a Virginian, but an American." It was the text of every patriotic discourse thereafter; and from that hour the Congress went forward with courage and vigor in the work assigned them. They determined that the voting should be done by colonies, each colony having one vote, because they had no means for ascertaining the importance of each in population, wealth, and trade. It is estimated that the aggregate population at that time, including 734 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. five hundred thousand blacks and excluding Indians, was about two million six hundred thousand. The Congress adopted various rules; and it was proposed that the sessions should be opened every morning with prayer. Objection was made by Jay and Rutledge, the younger members, because there was such a diversity of theological opinions in that body. "I am no bigot," said Samuel Adams. " I can hear a prayer from a man of piety and virtue, who, at the same time, is a friend to his country." Then he moved that the Rev. Jacob Duche, an eloquent Episcopal minister, be "desired to open the Congress with prayer to-morrow morning." This nomination by a straight Puritan of the Congregational school-a man past middle life-removed all objections. The motion was agreed to. The next morning Mr. Duch6, after reading the Psalm for the day (the 35th), made an extemporaneous prayer, so " pertinent, affectionate, sublime, and devout," wrote John Adams, that it " filled eyery bosom present." That Psalm seemed peculiarly appropriate; for an express had just arrived from Israel Putnam of Connecticut with the dreadful rumor of a bombardment of Boston, and the murder of the inhabitants by the soldiery. The bells of Philadelphia were muffled and tolled in token of sorrow; but another messenger soon came with a contradiction of the report. There were many friends of the crown in Philadelphia, and it was resolved to hold the sessions of the Congress with closed doors. The members gave their word of honor to keep the proceedings secret; but there was a royalist spy in the midst playing the hypocrite-Joseph Galloway, a Pennsylvania delegate-who gave the pledge and broke it that very night. He and Duche afterward became active loyalists-the only persons of all that assemblage on the morning of the seventh of September, who swerved from the cause. The people had sent the best men to the Great Council, and were not disappointed. "There is in the Congress," John Adams wrote to his wife, " a collection of the greatest men upon this continent in point of abilities, virtues, and fortunes;" and Charles Thomson gave it as his opinion that no subsequent Congress during the war could compare with the first in point of talent and purity. Mr. Adams, in his diary, has left interesting personal notices of a few of the members. He writes that William Livingston, of New Jersey, was "a plain man, tall, black, wears his hair; nothing elegant or genteel about him. They say he is no public speaker, but sensible, learned, and a ready writer." He wrote of John Rutledge: " His appearance is not very promising; no keenness in his eyes, no depth in his countenance." " Edward Rutledge" (the youngest man in the assemblage), he wrote, "is young, sprightly, but not deep. He has the most in CHAP. XI. PERSONAL SKETCHES. 735 distinct, inarticulate way of speaking; speaks through his nose; a wretched speaker in conversation. He seems good-natured though conceited." " Randolph," he wrote, " is a large, well-looking man. Lee is a tall, spare man; Bland is a learned, bookish man." " Caesar Rodney," he wrote, " is the oddest-looking man in the world; he is tall, thin, and slender as a reedpole; his face is not bigger than a big apple; yet there is sense and fire, spirit, wit, and humor in his countenance." He wrote of Johnson of MaryTHE FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS. land, as one with "a clear, cool head, an extensive knowledge of trade as well as of law... not a shining orator. Galloway, Duane, and Johnson," he remarks, "are sensible and learned, but cold speakers. Lee, Henry, and Hooper are the orators. Paca is a deliberator too; Chase speaks 736 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. warmly; Mifflin is a sprightly and spirited speaker. Dyer and Sherman speak often and long, but very heavily and clumsily." Jay (son-inlaw of William Livingston) was young and slender, and enthusiastic in his nature. Stephen Hopkins, the oldest member, was sixty-seven years of age; his hair was white, his form was somewhat bent, and his limbs shook with palsy. Duane is described as "a sly-looking man, a little squint-eyed," and Hooper had a "broad face and open countenance." Washington, then forty-two years of age, modest and retiring, was the most conspicuous figure among them; tall, strongly-built, with a ruddy face, the picture of high health and manly strength. Every possible facility was given to the members of the Congress for the prosecution of their labors. The Carpenters' Association, themselves warm patriots, gave the free use of their hall and their library above; and the directors of the Library Company of Philadelphia requested their librarian to furnish the members with any books which they might wish to use during their sitting. They were also the recipients of unbounded hospitality from the leading citizens of Philadelphia, among whom they were continually entertained at tables sumptuously provided. John Adams related in his diary, that he dined with Mr. Miers, a young Quaker lawyer, and remarks: " This plain Friend, and his plain though pretty wife, with her Thees and Thous, had provided us the most costly entertainment-ducks, hams, chickens, beef, pig, tarts, creams, custards, jellies, fools, trifles, floating islands, beer, porter, punch, wine, etc. Again, after dining at Mr. Powell's: "A most sinful feast again! Everything which could delight the eye, or allure the taste-curds and creams, jellies, sweatmeats of various sorts, twenty sorts of tarts, fools, trifles, floating islands, whipped syllabubs, etc., etc. Parmesan cheese, punch, wine, porter, beer, etc." There were great differences of opinion among the members of the Congress as to the real state of the case, and the proper duties to be performed. This was foreshadowed by remarks of Henry and Jay, at the beginning. The former declared that an entirely new government must be founded. Jay said all government had not come to an end, and that they had not assembled to frame an American constitution, but to correct the faults of the old one. But in one important matter there was, from the first, much unity of feeling, namely, that the whole continent ought to support the people of Massachusetts in resistance to the unconstitutional change in their charter. At the opening of their business, they appointed a committee to state the rights of the colonists in general, the several instances in which those rights had been violated or infringed, and the means most proper to be pursued for obtaining a restoration of them. They also CHAP. XI. DISCUSSIONS IN CONGRESS. 737 appointed a committee to examine and report the several statutes which affected the trade and manufactures of the colonies. The reports of these committees furnished the materials for work, and at about the middle of September, the Congress was a theatre of warm but always friendly discussion. The debates took a wide range, and were very interesting and instructive. The foundations of their rights were discussed-the law of nature, the British constitution, and the force of prescribed allegiance. Then their work took a practical turn; and on the 22d of September, the Congress, by unanimous vote, requested "the merchants and others in the several colonies not to send to Great Britain any order for goods, and to direct the execution of all orders already sent to be delayed or suspended, until the sense of the Congress on the means to be taken for the preservation of the liberties of America was made public." How to avoid the appearance of revolution in their acts, was a perplexing question. There was a great diversity of opinion. Some were very radical, many were conservative, and some, true patriots at heart, were very timid. Some proposed to recognize the full force of the navigation acts; also the authority of Parliament to regulate the trade of the colonies, grounding that power not on the consent of the Americans, but upon " compact, acquiescence, necessity, and protection." Others were disposed to deny the authority of Parliament altogether. A compromise was offered that pleased nobody; and Joseph Galloway, then in secret communication with royal governors, proposed, in plausible terms, a scheme suggested many years before, for a Continental Union, with a president-general appointed by the king, and a grand council chosen every three years by the several assemblies, the British Parliament having power to revise their acts, and they in turn having the privilege of opposing a veto on British statutes relating to the colonies. The mover made an ostentatious display of patriotism, boasting of his readiness to spend blood and fortune in defence of the liberties of his country. At first some timid ones were disposed to fall in with his insidious scheme for defeating the great ends for which the Congress were assembled. He was defeated; but while all were determined to maintain their liberty, not one gave a decided voice in favor of independence. Meanwhile news came from Boston from time to time of the petty tyranny of Gage and his troops, endured by the patriotic citizens, and the marvellous fortitude of the afflicted, who declared they would abandon their homes, fortune, everything, before they or their children would submit to be slaves. These tales of sorrow wrought hot anger in the bosoms of some of the members; and Christopher Gadsden, who had preached resistance 738 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK 1V. and independence for ten years, and who, when reminded that war with Great Britain would destroy the seaport towns, exclaimed: " Our towns are built of wood and brick; if they are burned down, we can rebuild them; but liberty once lost is gone forever." Gadsden proposed, in his righteous wrath, to make immediate war upon the oppressor. Nay, nay, said the Congress; we must exhaust every means for obtaining redress peacefully, before we appeal to the arbitrament of the sword. There was much irritation of feeling that demanded self-restraint. Washington, who had said in the Virginia Convention, "I will raise a thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march with them at their head for the relief of Boston," expressed his indignation freely, yet he was willing to wait a little longer-to try peaceful measures for a short season more. He was resolved to fight, when war or submission should be the alternative offered. His mind was freely expressed in a letter to Captain Mackenzie of the British army, which he wrote from his lodgings in Philadelphia in October, in reply to one from that officer, who had been Washington's companion in arms. " Permit me," he said, "with the freedom of a friend (for you know I always esteemed you), to express my sorrow, that fortune should place you in a service that must fix curses to the latest posterity upon the contrivers, and, if success (which, by the way, is impossible) accompanies it, execrations upon all those who have been instrumental in the execution." After further expressing his views of the situation, and the determination of the colonies to defend their just rights, Washington remarked: " Give me leave to add as my opinion, that more blood will be spilled on this occasion, if the ministry are determined to push matters to extremity, than history has ever furnished instances of in the annals of North America." On the 8th of October-the day before Washington's letter was written -the Great Council at Philadelphia, after a very short but spicy debate, resolved: "That this Congress approve the opposition of the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay to the execution of the late acts of Parliament; and if the same shall be attempted to be carried into execution by force, in such case allAmerica ought to support them in their opposition." This was the whole business performed by the Congress on that remarkable day, according to the minutes of Secretary Thomson. It was enough. It was the most momentous act of that body during the whole session. From that hour the crystallization of the British-American colonies into an independent nation, went rapidly on. That resolution was like the luminous writing on the wall, warning Belshazzar of impending danger. Wise seers CHAP. XI. PATRIOTIC RESOLUTIONS OF CONGRESS. 739 interpreted it as a prophecy of the dismemberment of the British empire. But the British monarch, too blind to perceive the ominous light, and too deaf to hear the prophecy, in his anger because of that resolve, proclaimed his subjects in America to be rebels. That resolution was elicited by a letter from the Boston Committee of Correspondence, written on the 29th of September, in which was a recital of the wrongs endured by the citizens of that town, and asking the advice of the Congress whether they should abandon their homes and leave Boston, or suffer a little longer, for,it was believed that when the place should be JACOB DUCHE. CHARLES THOMSON. inclosed with the fortifications then a-building, the inhabitants would be held as hostages for the whole country. The resolution was the quick and glorious answer. It startled the timid in the Congress. Galloway the spy and Duane the arch-conservative, asked leave to enter upon the minutes their protest against the measure. Their request was denied, when they exchanged certificates privately, that they had opposed it as treasonable. Two days afterward the resolution was strengthened by another, which declared that any person who should accept or act under any commission or authority derived from the act of Parliament for changing the form of the government and violating the charter of Massachusetts " ought'to be held in detestation and abhorrence by all good men, and considered as the wicked tool of that despotism which is preparing to destroy those rights which God, nature, and compact have given to America." On the same day, the Congress sent a letter to General Gage, telling him of the just complaints 740 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. of the citizens of Boston made to them, and their suspicions that a plan was formed for the overthrow of the liberties of America; warning him that the oppression to which they were subjected might involve the colonies in the horrors of a civil war, and asking him, in order to quiet the public mind, to discontinue the erection of fortifications in and around Boston. On the I4th of October (I774), the Congress adopted a Declaration of Colonial Rights, reported by a committee composed of two deputies from each colony, in which the several obnoxious acts of Parliament, including the Quebec Act, were declared to be infringements and violations of their rights, and that the repeal of them was necessary in order to restore harmony between America and Great Britain. This was followed on the 20oth by the adoption of The American Association-a "non-importation, nonconsumption, and non-exportation agreement" applied to Great Britain, Ireland, the West Indies, and Madeira, by which the inhabitants of all the colonies were bound to act in concert and good faith, or incur the displeasure of the faithful ones. The agreement, which was embodied in fourteen articles, and was to go into effect on the first of December next ensuing, covered broad ground. In the second article the Congress, in the name of their constituents, struck a blow at the slave-trade, saying: "We will neither import, nor purchase any slave imported, after the first day of December next; after which time we will wholly discontinue the slave-trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manufactures to those who are concerned in it." By the fourth article, it was agreed that after the first of September the next year, in case their grievances were not redressed, not to export any " merchandise or commodity" to the countries above-named. Committees were to be appointed in every county, city, and town to enforce compliance with the terms of the Association; and it was resolved that they would have no "trade, commerce, dealings or intercourse, whatsoever, with any colony or province, in North America, which shall not accede thereto," or which should thereafter violate the Association, but would hold "them as unworthy of the rights of freemen, and as inimical to the liberties of their country." The several articles of the Association were adopted unanimously, excepting the one concerning exportations. Three of the five delegates from South Carolina refused to vote for that resolution or sign the Association, because, they said, the agreement to stop exports to Great Britain was an unequal arrangement. New England, they said, exported a large portion of their staple, fish, to Portugal and Spain, and would be very little affected; while South Carolina sent rice to Great Britain to the amount of a million and a half dollars annually, and would be ruined. When that resolution CHAP. XI. IMPORTANT STATE-PAPERS. 74I was carried, the three South Carolinians seceded from the Congress. Gadsden and another, in the spirit of Henry, declared by their act that they were not South Carolinians but Americans, and did not count the cost of patriotism. They stood by the other colonies, voted for the general good, and trusted to the virtue and generosity of their constituents. This secession caused a delay of several days in the business of the Congress. It was important to have the vote on the Association unanimous. The seceders were finally brought back, and induced to sign the Association, by allowing the unconditional export of rice, so that no burden of sacrifice might fall upon their province. An eloquent Address to the People of Great Britain, written by John Jay, and a memorial to The Inhabitants of the several British-American colonies, from the pen of William Livingston, were adopted on the 2Ist of October; and on the 26th-the last day of the session-a Petition to the King, drawn by John Dickinson, in which the final decision of the colonies was given in conciliatory terms, and an elaborate Address to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, also written by Mr. Dickinson, were agreed to. A few days before, the Congress had recommended the holding of another at Philadelphia on the Ioth of May following, if the grievances were not redressed in the meantime; and all the American colonies were invited to participate, by delegation, in its deliberations. Letters addressed to other colonies not represented in the Congress were approved, and on the afternoon of the 26th of October, I774, the First Continental Conlgress ended. All of the members and a few other gentlemen spent that evening together socially at the City Tavern, in Philadelphia. The next day they began to disperse to their homes. Almost every man was impressed with a belief that war was inevitable. Most of them were bold, but few of them were so lionhearted as Samuel Adams, who publicly said: " I would advise persisting in our struggle for liberty, though it were revealed from Heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine men were to perish, and only one of a thousand to survive and retain his liberty. One such freeman must possess more virtue, and enjoy more happiness, than a thousand slaves; and let him propagate his like, and transmit to them what he hath so nobly preserved." The first Continental Congress was in actual session only thirty-one days of the eight weeks of the term. The,remainder of the time was occupied in preparatory business. There was much talking (as in all deliberative bodies), for there were diversities of opinion, and every one was free to express his own. Of what they said we know very little, for the sessions were held in secret, and there were no professional newspaper reporters in those days. What they did we all know. The records of their acts were 742 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. soon published to the world, and produced a profound impression upon the minds of thoughtful men. The state-papers put forth by them were models of their kind, and commanded the admiration of the leading statesmen of Europe. The British monarch and counsellors were highly offended, and early in January, I775, Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of State for the colonies, issued the following Circular to all the royal governors in America —a " bull without horns," which did not frighten the patriots. Here is the letter: "Certain persons, styling themselves delegates of his Majesty's colonies in America, having presumed, without his Majesty's authority or consent, to assemble together at Philadelphia, in the months of September and October last; and having thought fit, among other unwarrantable proceedings, to resolve that it will be necessary that another Congress should be held in this place, on the Ioth of May next, unless redress for certain pretended grievances be obtained before that time, and to recommend that all the colonies in North America should choose delegates to attend such Congress, I am commanded by the King to signify to you his Majesty's pleasure, that you do use your utmost endeavors to prevent such appointment of deputies within the colony under your government; and that you do exhort all persons to desist from such unwarrantable proceedings, which cannot but be highly displeasing to the King." No doubt the amiable Dartmouth signed that foolish letter with reluctance and regret, for he well knew that its only effect would be to produce fresh irritations in the colonies, and make reconciliation and peace less possible. NW~N\ CHAPTER XII. DESTRUCTION OF TEA AT ANNAPOLIS-PROVINCIAL CONGRESS OF MASSACHUSETTS FORMED-PREPARATIONS FOR CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND WAR-THE COUNTRY AND EVENTS WEST OF THE ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS - CRESAP AND LOGAN - VENGEANCE OF LOGAN - HIS PROPHETIC SPEECH —WAR WITH THE INDIANS-BATTLE AT POINT PLEASANT-TREATY WITH THE INDIANS-PATRIOTISM OF THE SOLDIERS-GAGE'S LETTER TO THE MINISTRY-STUBBORNNESS OF THE KING-AMERICA'S ULTIMATUM-DR. FRANKLIN AND HIS " HINTS "-HIS PRIVATE DIPLOMACY WITH LORD HOWE AND MRS. HOWE. HILE the Continental Congress were laying the broad foundations for a republic in the West, their constituents were gathering the materials for the building of the superstructure.- They manifested their determination to resist oppression on all occasions. They would not yield a jot. Their maxims and their motives were not generated by sudden provocations, and liable to sudden dissolution. They were the offspring of eternal principles, and were everlasting in their vitality. This fact was manifested at Annapolis, in Maryland, long after the excitement occasioned by the destruction of tea in Boston harbor had subsided. No tea-ship had ever entered the port of Annapolis; but the people there, in the spring of I774, had expressed their warm sympathy with the views and acts of the Sons of Liberty in Boston. Quiet had prevailed in that ancient town for some time, when, at the middle of October, 1774, at the very time when the Continental Congress was considering Th/e American Associations that would make non-importation universal in the colonies, a violation of the old agreement excited a tempest of indignation. On Saturday morning, the I 5th of October, the ship Peggy Stewart, from London, owned by Anthony Stewart of Annapolis, sailed into that port, having among her cargo seventeen packages of tea. This fact soon became known, and the citizens were summoned to a mass-meeting. It was ascertained that the consignee had imported the tea, and that Mr. Stewart, the owner of the vessel, had paid the duty. The people, at that meeting, resolved that the tea should not be landed. They adjourned to the following Wednesday, and invited the inhabitants of the surrounding country to meet with them. Meanwhile Stewart had issued a handbill explaining the transaction, dis48 744 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. claiming all intention of violating the non-importation agreement, and expressing his regret that any tea had been put on board his ship. The people would not listen to his excuses, for they believed them to be only the whining of a detected culprit. They were more disposed to punish than to forgive, and resolved that the ship and its cargo should be burned on Wednesday. Sober citizens were alarmed, for they feared the meeting, with such work on hand, might be changed into an unrestrainable mob. Charles Carroll of Carrollton advised Mr. Stewart, for the security of his own personal safety, and that of the town, to burn his vessel with his own hands before the next gathering of the people. Stewart consented to do so; and going on board his ship, with a few friends, he caused her to be run aground near Windmill Point and set on fire, in the presence of a multitude of people. He went ashore in a skiff, when he was cheered by the satisfied populace, who instantly dispersed. This was the last attempt to import tea during the colonial rule. I have said that there was a general impression after the close of the Continental Congress, that war was inevitable. Before they met, many patriots thought so. Samuel Adams proclaimed it as his belief, all through the summer of I774. Major Joseph Hawley, one of the boldest of the patriots of Massachusetts, was one of those who "snuffed the battle from afar." He submitted to the delegation in Congress from Massachusetts, a paper entitled " Broken Hints," which was full of wise thoughts. It began with these remarkable words: "We must fight, if we cannot otherwise rid ourselves of British taxation, all revenues, on the constitution or form of government enacted for us by the British Parliament." He continued: "There is not heart enough yet for battle. Constant, and a sort of negative resistance of government, will increase the heat and blow the fire. There is not military skill enough. That is improving, and must be encouraged and improved, but will daily increase. Fight we mnust,finally, unless Britain retreats." When John Adams read these words to Patrick Henry, that patriot said, with emphasis, " I am of that man's mind." Britain did not intend to retreat. Her pride had been wounded by the successful defiance of her daughter, and she would neither forget nor forgive. Gage was instructed to do his duty fearlessly and with vigor. He did so, but not judiciously. He had not the rare art of conciliating enemies. His suavity was all for his friends. Gage had summoned the Assembly of Massachusetts to meet at Salem on the 5th of October to legislate under the new act of Parliament. The attitude of the Continental Congress made the patriots bolder than ever, and their town-meetings were so seditious in aspect, that the governor CHAP. XII. ACTIVE PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 745 countermanded his order for the session of the Assembly. But most of the members, denying his right to countermand, met there on the appointed day, ninety in number, waited two days for the governor, who did not appear, and then organized themselves into a Provincial Congress, with John Hancock as President, and Benjamin Lincoln, Secretary. They adjourned to Concord, where, on the I Ith, two hundred and sixty members took their seats. Then they adjourned to Cambridge, whence they sent a message to the governor, telling him that for want of a legal Assembly they had organized a Convention. They complained of the recent acts of Parliament which suspended the functions of their charter, expressed their loyalty to the king, and protested against the fortifying of the Neck. Gage replied, as he had done before, that it was only for defence; and he pointed to the sounds of the fife and drum, the military drills, the manufacture of arms, and warlike preparations all over the province, for his justification. He concluded by denouncing the Convention as an illegal body, and warning them to desist from further action. Gage's denunciations increased the zeal of the patriots. The Convention appointed a Committee of Safety, to whom they delegated large powers, among others to call out the militia of the province. Another committee was appointed to procure ammunition and military stores, and for that purpose they appropriated sixty thousand dollars. Henry Gardner was appointed Receiver-General, into whose hands the constables and tax collectors were directed to pay all public moneys that might be gathered by them. Provision was also made for arming the people of the province; and Jeremiah Preble, Artemas Ward, and Seth Pomeroy, all veterans of wars with the French and Indians, we're chosen general officers of the militia. Only Ward and Pomeroy consented to serve, and they entered immediately upon the duty of organizing the militia. Mills were erected for manufacturing gunpowder; establishments were set up for the making of arms, and encouragement was given to the production of saltpetre. Ammunition and military stores were collected at Woburn, Concord, near Salem, and at other places; and late in November, as we have observed, the Provincial Congress authorized the enrollment of twelve thousand Minute-men. That Provincial Congress assumed legislative and executive powers, and received the allegiance of the people generally. Gage found himself at the close of I774 unsupported excepting by his troops, a few government officials in Boston, and passive loyalists who were under the protection of his regiments. All outside of Boston wore the aspect of rebellion. Made afraid of his own weapons-fearing the people might turn the muzzles of the cannon which he had planted upon Fort Hill upon him 746 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. self and his troops, he ordered a party of sailors to be sent in the night from a man-of-war in the harbor to spike all the guns in battery there. That was a confession of weakness that made the patriots strong. While the colonists were preparing to measure strength in arms with Great Britain, there had been a speck of war with the Indians on the frontiers of Virginia. By the provisions of the Quebec Act, all'of the country north and west of the Ohio River, was included in that province. The limits of Virginia were bounded by the great mountain ranges, and west of A MhINUTE- MAN. these there was no government to restrain the actions of Christians or Pagans. Restless men wandered over the mountains into the valleys beyond, planted cabins there, and were as free as the air they breathed. The Indians were just as free to exercise their savage thirst for blood, and they frequently indulged in the pastime of murdering white people. Among those who suffered there, in I773, were Daniel Boone and others who accompanied him. The rapacious Lord Dunmore, then governor of Virginia, who was gathering riches by fees for granting land to settlers, and in acquiring large tracts for himself, had set his affections on the rich country north of the Ohio, which had been granted to Quebec. He disregarded the Quebec Act and his instructions under it, and continued to grant lands to settlers, in the Scioto Valley. He did more. Pittsburgh and the surrounding country, forming a part of the county of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, was rapidly CHAP. XII. THE INDIANS WRONGED. 747 filling up with settlers from Virginia and Maryland. Dunmore coveted the gains to be derived from the fees on land-warrants there, and he suddenly asserted the jurisdiction of Virginia over all the western country. Dr. Connelly, a Pennsylvanian, who was acquainted with all that region, and was well known, was made his deputy, with his headquarters at Pittsburgh. Serious disputes with Pennsylvania followed, but Dunmore persisted. Connolly proclaimed his authority as "Magistrate of West Augusta," and ordered a muster of the militia. The Virginia and Maryland settlers there, sided with the governor, and the authority of Connolly was acknowledged. Early in I774, the Indians committed many murders and depredations along the Ohio borders, and it was ascertained that the tribes were exchanging belts in seeming preparation for war. At that time Michael Cresap, a settler from Maryland, was near the present Wheeling, engaged in planting a colony. He had had some encounters with the Indians, but was disposed to treat them kindly. Late in April he received a message from Dr. Connolly that an Indian war was inevitable, when Cresap called a council of the settlers. Regarding Connolly's message as a warrant for making war on private account, they declared it against the Indians on the 26th of April. On the following day two canoes, filled with the painted savages, appeared, when they were attacked and pursued far down the river. When the pursuers returned, they proposed an assault upon the settlement of Logan, a Mingo chief, who had been reared near the banks of the Susquehanna, in Pennsylvania, spoke English well, and was a friend of the white people. Cresap prevented the expedition; but other traders, not so discreet, soon raised a furious tempest of resentment against their white brethren. Opposite Logan's settlement (thirty miles above Wheeling) was the cabin of a trader who sold rum to the savages. On one occasion some unarmed Indians, with their women, passed over the river, and all became drunk at the trader's house, when they were all murdered in cold blood by some white people who had been concealed near. Among the slain were the mother, brother, and sister of Logan, the latter the wife of John Gibson, a trader. The spirit of revenge was aroused in great intensity in the bosom of the Mingo chief; and nearly all the ensuing summer he was out upon the war-path gathering a fearful harvest of scalps from the heads of white people as trophies of his valor and vengeance. As Cresap was a leader of the white people on the Ohio, Logan held him responsible for the massacre, though, at that time, the trader was with his family in Maryland. To him Logan sent a note, late in summer, written by William Robinson with ink made of gunpowder, as follows: " Captain Cresap,-What did you kill my people on Yellow Creek for? 748 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. The white people killed my kin at Conestoga, a great while ago, and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin again on Yellow Creek, and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must kill too; and I have been three times to war since. But the Indians are not angry-only myself." After the war that ensued was over, Logan, then at old Chillicothe, on Pickaway Plains, refused to attend a council to which Lord Dunmore invited him. That invitation was sent by Colonel John Gibson. Logan took the messenger into the woods, where, seated upon a moss-covered root of an. /' —' " \e;'!.... [.'''1' 1 LOGAN AND COLONEL GIBSON. immense sycamore, he recited the story of his wrongs. He would not hold council personally with a white man; but he sent the following remarkable speech in the mouth of Colonel Gibson, which the latter wrote down and delivered to Dunmore: " I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him no meat; if ever he came cold and naked and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed and said:'Logan is the friend of the white man.' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. This called on me for revenge. I have CHAP. XII. BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT. 749 sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one! " The blood shed along the frontiers of Virginia, during that summer, caused Dunmore to fit out an expedition against the Indians beyond the mountains. He summoned the militia of the southwest to the field, and then he hastened to Pittsburgh. At about the same time, he renewed a treaty of peace with the Six Nations. The settlers flew to arms with alacrity, and, led by Colonel Andrew Lewis, they hastened over the rugged and pathless mountains toward a place of appointed rendezvous on the Ohio, with a promise of being reinforced by another division under the governor himself, who was to descend the river from Pittsburgh. Lewis, with about eleven hundred men, encamped on Point Pleasant, near the junction of the Great Kanawha and Ohio rivers, on the 6th of October, where, in expectation of the governor's speedy arrival, he did not cast up any intrenchments. But neither Dunmore nor a messenger from him appeared. He had gone down the Ohio before Lewis's arrival, with about twelve hundred followers, without waiting for the latter at the appointed place of rendezvous, and pushed on to the Shawnoese towns, which he found deserted. At the mouth of the Hockhocking he built a block-house, which he named Fort Gower. Meanwhile the Shawnoese-the fiercest of the Western tribes-had deserted their settlements (as Dunmore found) and were moving stealthily, with some Mingoes and Delawares, through the forests, to attack the camp of Lewis. So secretly had they approached, that the march was not suspected until they were discovered at early dawn on the morning of the Ioth of October (I774), within a short distance of the camp of the Virginians, and preparing for battle. Within an hour, they and the white people were engaged in a fierce struggle for the mastery-Cornstalk, their leader, encouraging them by his bravery and fortitude, and frequently uttering the words: "Be strong!" The great struggle lasted from sunrise till noon; and from that hour, a desultory fire was kept up until sunset. Neither party could claim a victory. Lewis, however, held the field, and the savages fled across the Ohio under cover of the darkness that night. The Virginians lost full half of their commissioned officers, and almost one hundred and thirty men, killed and wounded. The Indians lost about two hundred and thirty warriors. Among the officers under Lewis were several who afterward appeared conspicuous in our history, and whom we shall meet again-Shelby, Campbell, Robertson, etc. 750 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. On the day after the battle, Colonel Lewis received an order from Dunmore to hasten to join him at a point in the Scioto Valley, eighty miles distant. The governor did not then know how Lewis had been smitten by the savages. The latter did not hesitate to obey the order. Leaving a small garrison at Point Pleasant, the Virginians pushed across the Ohio, traversed the pathless wilderness in the midst of perils and hardships, and on the 24th of October encamped on Pickaway Plains not far from old ill'qw~~~ MILITIA CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS. Chillicothe, now the borough of Westfall. Dunmore was encamped on the banks of Sippo Creek, about seven miles southwest from the present Circleville, and there he held a council with the Indian chiefs, who, acknowledging their weakness, sued for peace. At that conference, Cornstalk was the principal speaker for the savages; Logan, as we have seen, refusing to attend. A satisfactory treaty of peace was concluded, and then the Virginians returned to their homes, from which they had been absent about three months, having wvon great advantages for their colony and for civilization. CHAP. XII. GAGE AND THE NEW ENGLANDERS. 751 When these Virginians left home, all the delegates to the Continental Congress had been chosen. No tidings from the East had reached the little army during their absence, and they were ignorant of the state of public affairs on the sea-board. They were patriots, and were jealous of their honor as such. That honor might be impeached by military service under a royal governor of Dunmore's stamp. So, at Fort Gower, on the 5th of November, they, as a body, expressed their sentiments freely. They spoke of the grievances of the colonies; their zeal for the honor as well as the liberties of Americans; and their loyalty to the king and the government to whom they owed allegiance so long as they ruled justly. They said: " As attachment to the real interests and just rights of America outweigh every other consideration, we resolve that we will exert every power within us for the defence of American liberty, when regularly called forth by the unanimous voice of our countrymen." Their proceedings offended Dunmore, and the governor and the citizen-soldiery both returned home dissatisfied. The elections for members of Parliament in the autumn of I774, satisfied the ministry that they were strong in the affections of the people. The king was jubilant because of the result, and the government was not in a frame of mind to receive with complacency the state-papers put forth by the Continental Congress, especially the petition to the king. In September Gage had written to Dartmouth a truthful statement of the condition of affairs in the colonies, and especially in Massachusetts. It was a letter that gave that minister great concern. Gage declared that the act of Parliament for regulating the government of Massachusetts could not be carried into effect until the New England colonies were subdued by military conquest; that Massachusetts had warm friends and abettors in all the other colonies; that the people of the Carolinas were as crazy as those in Boston; that all over New England the rural population were actually preparing for war by military exercises and by the gathering of arms and ammunition, and that the civil officers of the crown could find no protection in Boston. The governor suggested that it might be well to discard the colonies-cut them loose from the empire, and leave them to suffer anarchy, and so bring about repentance; having grown rich by their connection with Great Britain, they would speedily become poor in their helplessness. Thoroughly wearied, Gage also suggested, in a private letter to Dartmouth, that it might be well to suspend the operations of the obnoxious acts for a season. When these statements and propositions were laid before the king, he said, with emphasis and bitter scorn, "The New England governments are now in a state of rebellion. Blows must decide whether they are to be subject to this country, or to be independent." This was King George's ultimatum, to which 752 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. he obstinately adhered; and Lord North, to whom the words of the monarch were addressed, acted accordingly in the Parliament which assembled at about that time. Joseph Warren, in a letter addressed to Josiah Quincy, Jr. (who had gone to England to seek restoration of health by a sea voyage and to watch the drift of public opinion there concerning American affairs), gave the ultimatum of the Americans in these words: "It is the united voice of America to preserve their freedom, or lose their lives in defence of it. Their resolutions are not the effects of inconsiderate rashness, but the sound result of sober inquiry and deliberation. The true spirit of liberty was never so universally diffused through all ranks and orders of people in any country on the face of the earth, as it now is through all North America. If the late acts of Parliament are not to be repealed, the wisest step for both countries is to separate, and not to spend their blood and treasure in destroying each other. It is barely possible that Great Britain may depopulate North America; she never can conquer the inhabitants." Such was the attitude of the king and his American subjects when the new Parliament assembled on the 3oth of November, I774, the old one having been dissolved in September. At that time Dr. Franklin, who had been disgraced early in the year, so far as the ribald tongue of a dishonest solicitor-general, and an ill-mannered Privy Council could disgrace him, had become an object of deep concern by men of all parties. The king hated him for his sturdy republicanism and inflexible political honesty. Hutchinson, then in England, hated him for Franklin's exposure of his perfidy, and he pursued him relentlessly; and, at one time, there were intimations that if the agent remained in England, it would be at the peril of his life. On the other hand, the friends of the government regarded him as a bulwark of political wisdom, and a match in the field of diplomacy for the whole British ministry. It was believed by all that he was the depositary of the secret intentions of the colonists, toward Great Britain, in the measures they had adopted. He was solicited to promulgate the extent of the demands of the Americans; and so urgent were the calls for this knowledge, that without waiting for the reception of a record of the proceedings of the Continental Congress, he prepared a paper entitled " Hints for Conversation upon the subject of Terms that may probably produce a Durable Union between Britain and the Colonies," in seventeen propositions. The upshot of the whole was that the colonies should be reinstated in the position which they held in relation to the imperial government before the obnoxious acts then complained of became laws, by a repeal-by a destruction of the whole brood of offensive enactments in reference to America, hatched since the CHAP. XII. FRANKLIN AND MRS. HOWE. 753 accession of George the Third. In a word, he proposed that English subjects in America should enjoy all the essential rights and privileges claimed as the birthright of English subjects in England. This paper found its way to the ministry, and possibly to the king; and had the prime minister been allowed to follow the bent of his inclination and of his clear judgment, it might have been the basis of a compromise that would have preserved the unity of the British realm. Franklin had expressed, in these " Hints," the sentiments of his countrymen. The sage was a sphynx to the ministry. They were anxious to fathom the secrets which they believed were hidden in him, concerning the extent to which the Americans would consent to modify the " Hints," but his consummate diplomatic skill foiled their curiosity. Beneath a perfect freedom and frankness of manner of expression, there was always, to English minds, a riddle they could not solve. It was thought that in the amenities of social intercourse he might inadvertently drop a clue, or make confessions under the melting influence of adroitly applied compliments; and the charms of an accomplished woman, a sister-in-law of Earl Howe (the commander of the British fleet on the American coast in less than two years afterward), were employed to open the heart and mind of the impenetrable statesman. She was a lover of science; brilliant in conversation; winning in deportment, and a skillful player of chess, a game which Dr. Franklin was fond of. The story runs thus, as told by the statesman himself: At the Royal Society, one evening, a gentleman told Franklin that Mrs. Howe, a lady who possessed many admirable qualities, wished to play chess with him, as she fancied she could beat him. He accepted the challenge, and on the day after Parliament met he was introduced to her, was charmed by her mind and manners, played a few games, and accepted an invitation to repeat the visit and the amusement. At the second visit, after playing a long time, they fell into conversation, partly about a mathematical problem, and partly about the new Parliament, when she said: "And what is to be done with this dispute between Great Britain and the colonies? I hope we are not to have a civil war." "They should kiss and be friends," said Franklin; "what can they do better? Quarreling can be of service to neither, but is ruin to both." She replied-" I have often said that I wished government would employ you to settle the dispute for them; I am sure nobody could do it so well. Do not you think the thing is practicable?" Franklin answered-" Undoubtedly, madame, if the parties are disposed to reconciliation; for the two countries have really no clashing interests to differ about. It is rather a matter of punctilio, which two or three reasonable people might settle in half an hour. I thank you for the good opinion 734 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. you are pleased to express of me; but the ministers will never think of employing me in that good work; they choose rather to abuse me." " Aye," said Mrs. Howe, " they have behaved shamefully to you. Indeed some of them are now ashamed of it themselves." "I looked upon this as accidental conversation," Dr. Franklin wrote; "thought no more of it, and went in the evening to the appointed meeting at Dr. Fothergill's, where I found Mr. Barclay with him "-an eminent member of the Society of Friends. They at once entered into conversation Ji MRS. HOWE AND DR. FRANKLIN PLAYING CHESS. on the topic which Mrs. Howe had introduced, and evidently by preconcert with her. They commented upon the mischief likely to ensue from the quarrel, and expatiated upon the great merit of being instrumental in bringing about a reconciliation. They complimented Franklin about his ability and influence-told him that nobody understood the whole subject so well, or had a "better head for business," and that it was his duty to do all in his power to heal the dissensions between Great Britain and the colonies. They urged him to commit to writing his thoughts on the subject. Out of these interviews grew the " Hints" already spoken of, the name of the author of which was to be kept a profound secret. Mrs. Howe's invitations to chess-playing continued, and were accepted. Mrs. Howe's invitations to chess-playing continued, and were accepted. CHAP. XII. FEMININE DIPLOMACY FOILED. 755 On the evening of Christmas, Franklin was at that lady's house, when she said, almost immediately after he had entered, that her brother, Lord Howe, was very anxious to make the acquaintance of Franklin; that he lived very near, and that if the statesman would give her leave she would send for his lordship. "Send for him by all means," said Franklin, and Earl Howe very soon appeared. He was profuse in his personal compliments, blarped the ministry for abusing Franklin; said they were ashamed of it, and that ample satisfaction would undoubtedly be given; begged him to open his mind freely as to the best means for bringing about a reconciliation; observed that Franklin might not wish to have a direct communication with the ministry on the subject, or have it known that he had any indirect communication with them till he could be well assured of their good disposition; and that he (Lord Howe) being on good terms with the ministry, thought it not impossible that he might, as a bearer of communications between the two parties, be the means of effecting the desired end. At that moment Mrs. Howe offered to withdraw. The sagacious Franklin now saw clearly, what he had already suspected; namely, that the chess-playing was only a pleasant mask for a little artful diplomacy. His usual caution had not allowed him to divulge to the charming " petticoated-politician," a single secret which he wished to keep. Her titled brother-in-law was no more successful than she. When Mrs. Howe proposed to withdraw and leave Franklin alone with his lordship, the former begged her to stay, saying: " I have no secret to divulge, in a business of this nature, that I could not freely confide to your prudence." He assured Lord Howe that his lordship's manners had gained his (Franklin's) confidence, and made him perfectly easy and free in communicating himself to him, in whatever he had to divulge. After a long conversation Franklin withdrew, with a. promise to meet the earl at an appointed time. Mrs. Howe was present at the next interview. The subject of American affairs was fully discussed, when the earl drew from his pocket a copy of the " Hints," in Mr. Barclay's hand-writing, and asked Franklin if he knew anything about the paper. The sage saw that the secret of the authorship had been divulged, and he frankly avowed himself as the proposer. Earl Howe expressed his sorrow that Franklin claimed such large concessions from the ministry, as there was no likelihood that they would be admitted by the king and his advisers. Howe desired Franklin to draw up a plan for reconciliation less distasteful to the government; spoke of the infinite service he might be to the nation, and intimated that if he (Franklin) should be instrumental in accomplishing the wishes of the government in that regard, he might expect any reward in the power of that government to bestow. 756 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. The last proposition aroused Franklin's indignation. "It was to me," he. said, "what the French vulgarly call spitting in the soup." But he showed no signs of a ruffled temper, and promised to draw up for Lord Howe a new series of propositions, which he did in terms similar to those of the " Hints." All these private diplomatic operations ended in leaving Mrs. Howe and her brother no wiser than before the first game of chess was played with Dr. Franklin. He had checkmated his competitors in the art of diplomacy. BRITANNIA IN DISTRESS. British satirists and caricaturists handled the ministers and the king with considerable severity in I774. In a caricature published with the Westminster Magazine in April, entitled "The White-Hall Pump," poor Britannia is thrown down upon her child America, while Lord North, who was remarkable for his short-sightedness, viewing her through his glass, is pumping upon her, and seems to enjoy her distress. A parcel of Acts and Bills, Magna Charta, Coronation Oaths, &c., are scattered upon the ground. Lord Mansfield, with an act of Parliament, is seen (in the full caricature-only a part of it is here given) standing by the side of North to give him legal support, while other ministers are near. CHAPTER XIII. AMERICA'S AFFAIRS IN PARLIAMENT-THE KING AND LORD NORTH-PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONGRESS, IN ENGLAND-FRANKLIN A MISSIONARY-LORD CHATHAM AND FRANKLIN-NORTH AND THE CABINET-POLICY TOWARD THE AMERICANS —FRANKLIN ADMITTED TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS-LORD CHATHAM'S GREAT SPEECH ON AMERICAN AFFAIRS-ANGER OF THE KINGCHATHAM'S PROPOSITIONS REJECTED-HIS INVECTIVE-HE COMPLIMENTS FRANKLIN-OPPRESSIVE MEASURES-GIBBON-DISAFFECTION IN NEW YORK-FRANKLIN AND THE MINISTERS. W LIHEN the British Parliament assembled at the close of November, I774, the king told them that the Americans were on the verge of rebellion. He assured them that he had given orders for the prompt execution of the laws passed by the late Parliament, and for the restoration of order and good government in the colonies. The Commoners, as usual, prepared an address to the King, when the Opposition proposed an amendment asking his majesty to lay before Parliament all letters, orders, and instructions relating to American affairs, as well as all the intelligence received from the colonies. North opposed the amendment, because it would force the government to take the first step toward reconciliation, and therefore would be inconsistent with the dignity of the crown! The address promised his majesty full support by the Commons in its dealings with the colonies. A debate, in which much bitterness was shown, ensued, when the amendment was rejected by a large majority. In the House of Lords, an address, similar in sentiment, was carried by a large majority. Nine of the peers signed a protest which concluded with these words: "Whatever may be the mischievous designs or inconsiderate temerity which lead others to this desperate course, we wish to be known as persons who have ever disapproved of measures so pernicious in their past effects and future tendencies; and who are not in haste, without inquiry and information, to commit ourselves in declarations which may precipitate our country into all the calamities of a civil war." Lord North, no doubt sincerely wishing reconciliation, did not regard this triumph as a real victory; on the contrary, he saw interminable trouble ahead. But he had committed himself to the control of the king, and was compelled to do his majesty's bidding or resign; yet he tried to induce the 758 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. monarch to take some step in the direction of reconciliation. He suggested the propriety of sending a commission of inquiry to America, but the king overruled the proposition, and North acquiesced. The utter subserviency of this minister to the king, in opposition to his own conscience and sense of justice, is well illustrated by North's heartless remark afterward, in which he echoed his master's sentiments: "A rebellion is not to be deprecated on the part of Great Britain; the confiscations it would produce would provide for many friends of government." The ministry consoled themselves with the idea that so many colonies, with such clashing interests, could not long remain united. " It will be easy," said one of them to the French minister in'London, "to sow divisions among the delegates to their Congress; they will do nothing but bring ridicule upon themselves by exposing their weakness." This delusion was dispelled before the adjournment of Parliament for the Christmas holidays, by the arrival in England of a record of the proceedings of that Congress. The firmness, moderation, and unanimity of the action of the members greatly surprised the ministry, made the more sensible of them anxious, but only increased the anger of the king, who, in hurried words, as usual, " breathed threatenings and slaughter." The caricaturists had already ridiculed the blusterings of the government, by representing North, whom they nicknamed "Boreas," as viewing the distant colonies through his eye-glass, showing his ignorance of the true state of affairs in America, when he uttered his foolish boast after the Congress had assembled, " I promise to subdue the Americans in three months." When the proceedings of the Continental Congress reached England, the colonial agents there, and particularly Dr. Franklin, became active in their public promulgations. The president of the Congress had sent them to the agents as a body, with a letter requesting them to lay the petition to the king " into the hands of his majesty," and also to publish it. They were also requested to furnish printed copies of that and the "Address of the people of Great Britain " by the Congress, to " the trading cities and manufacturing towns of the United Kingdom." The Congress had passed a vote of thanks to the friends of the Americans in Parliament, and the agents were requested to convey the resolution to those gentlemen. Franklin took the task of this seed-sowing chiefly upon himself, for he was now regarded as the representative of the whole continent. The documents were printed and scattered over the kingdom; and Franklin and others traversed the manufacturing towns in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Northumberland, and Durham, and by word of mouth imparted much information and enlightenment on the great questions at issue. The people of those districts were mostly Dissenters, who looked upon the Church of CHAP. XIII. NORTH AND THE CABINET. 759 England as a portion of the state, in wielding weapons of oppression. The truths respecting human rights, uttered by Franklin, appealed to their warmest sympathies, and there was much excitement in the north of England. Petitions framed by Franklin, and numerously signed, praying for a repeal of the obnoxious acts, were sent into Parliament and immediately consigned to an inactive committee-" a committee of oblivion," as Burke called them. Ministerial agents were sent in the wake of Franklin and his friends to counteract their influence, and these sent in counter-petitions, also numerously signed, which were promptly acted upon. Petitions from the American colonies, even one from Jamaica, were treated with disdain. The agents were not permitted to lay the petition of Congress to the king " into his majesty's hands." Franklin presented it to Lord Dartmouth. His lordship laid it before the king, who promised it should be submitted to Parliament, and so the matter rested for awhile. Franklin, meanwhile, had borne a copy of the petition to Hayes, where he was courteously received by Lord Chatham. Among other pointed remarks made by Franklin to Pitt, on that occasion, none seemed to strike his lordship more forcibly than these words: "The army cannot possibly answer any good purpose in Boston, but may do infinite mischief; and no accommodation can properly be proposed and entered into by the Americans, while the bayonet is at their breasts. To have an agreement binding, all force should be withdrawn." Chatham was deeply impressed with the justice of the remark, and he promised Franklin that if his malady would allow, he would be in his place in the House of Lords at the reopening of Parliament, and move the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the troops from Boston. In this measure he thought were involved the hopes of liberty for England. The scruples of Lord North annoyed the king, and the monarch often rebuked his minister. These scruples had created much opposition to him in the Cabinet, and a clique had determined to procure his dismissal, if he should propose any more lenient measures toward the Americans. North was advised of this conspiracy. The Parliament was to reassemble on the 20th of January; and at a meeting of the Cabinet on the I2th, he saw unmistakable evidence that he must yield his conscience to the king, or throw up the seals of office. A majority of the Cabinet were firm supporters of the royal prerogative, and champions for the supremacy of Parliament. North loved place and its emoluments; so, quieting his conscience, by considering the sacredness of his pledge to the king, he reinstated himself with his fellow-ministers by unbounded good nature on that occasion, and a promise to take the tremendous responsibility of a leader in measures which his judgment assured him would create a civil war. At that meeting it was 49 760 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. decided to interdict all commerce with America; and to declare all persons in the colonies, not actively loyal to the crown, to be rebels. By so drawing the line of separation sharply, they hoped to create a permanent antagonism among the people here; but union rather than discord was effected. Parliament reassembled on the 20oth January, I775. The rumor had gone abroad'that Chatham would appear in his place. It was vehemently asserted by the court party that he would not be there; that he had washed his hands of American affairs, and would never more appear as their advocate. This assertion disturbed Lady Chatham, who was in London. She had informed her husband of the day appointed for the assembling of Parliament, but she feared there might be some trick by which Lord Chatham would be prevented from being present at the opening, as he desired to be. In a letLer to him she expressed some doubts about the propriety of her appearing at court, while the rumors of his remaining at Hayes were so rife. He wrote to her, most earnestly, saying: "For God's sake, sweet life, don't disquiet yourself about the impertinent and ridiculous lie of the hour. The plot does not lie very deep. It is only a pitiful device of fear, court fear, and faction fear. If gout does not put in a veto, which I trust in Heaven it will not, I will be in the House of Lords on Friday, then and there to make a motion relative to America. Be of good cheer, noble love. "Yes, I am proud —I must be proud to see Men not afraid of God, afraid of me." To Lord Stanhope he wrote: " I greatly wish Dr. Franklin may be in the House." His lordship communicated this wish to Franklin, and' offered to lend him assistance in gaining admission. On the morning of the 2oth, Lord Stanhope sent another message to Franklin, letting him know that if he should be in the lobby of the House at two o'clock that day, Chatham would be there and introduce him himself. Franklin was there. On mentioning to the great orator what Stanhope had said, Chatham replied: "Certainly, and I shall do it with the more pleasure, as I am sure your presence at this day's debate will be of more service to America than mine." He then took Franklin by the arm and was leading him along the passage to the door that entered near the throne, when one of the doorkeepers followed and acquainted Pitt, that, by the order, none were to be carried in at that door but the eldest sons and brothers of peers. Pitt limped back with Franklin to the door near the bar, where were standing a number of gentlemen waiting for the peers who were to introduce them, and some peers waiting for friends they expected to introduce. There Chatham delivered Franklin to the doorkeepers, saying CHAP. XIII. FRANKLIN IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 761 aloud: "This is Dr. Franklin, whom I would have admitted into the House;" which was accordingly done. "As it had not been publicly known that there was any communication between his lordship and myself," Franklin wrote, "this, I found, occasioned some speculation. His appearance in the House, I observed, caused a kind of bustle among the officers, who were busied in sending messengers for members-I suppose those in connection with the ministry, something of importance being expected when the great man appears, it being but seldom that his infirmities permit his attendance." Il A FRANKLIN LED INTO THE HOUSE. Chatham was in his place at the appointed hour. For what purpose? That question was soon answered, when, rising to his feet with a little help, he leaned upon a crutch, and, with a clear voice, proposed an address to the king, asking him to immediately dispatch to General Gage an order to remove his forces from Boston as soon as the rigors of the season would permit. "I wish, my lords," said Chatham, in the presence of a crowd of anxious listeners, "not to lose a day in this urgent, pressing crisis. An hour now lost may produce years of calamity. For my part, I will not desert, for a 762 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. single moment, the conduct of this weighty business. Unless nailed to my bed by extremity of sickness, I will give it my unremitted attention. I will knock at the door of the sleeping and confounded ministry, and will rouse them to a sense of their impending danger. When I state the importance of the colonies to this country, and the magnitude of danger from the present plan of misadministration practised against them, I desire not to be understood to argue for a reciprocity of indulgence between England and America. I contend not for indulgence, but justice to America; and I shall ever contend that the Americans owe obedience to us in a limited degree." Then stating the foundations upon which the supremacy of Great Britain over her colonies rested, he continued: " Resistance to your acts was necessary as it was just; and your vain declarations of the omnipotence of Parliament, and your imperious doctrines of the necessity of submission, will be found equally incompetent to convince or to enslave your fellow-subjects in America, who feel that tyranny, whether ambitioned by an individual part of the legislature or the bodies who compose it, is equally intolerable to British subjects." He then pictured in a pathetic manner, Gage's troops in Boston suffering in winter, insulted by the inhabitants, wasting with sickness, and pining for action; and then he wittily compared Gage to the great General Cond6, who, upon being asked on one occasion why he did not take Marshal Turenne prisoner, being so very near him, replied: "Upon my word, I am afraid Turenne will take me." "This spirit of independence," continued Chatham, "animating the nation of America is not new among them; it is, and has ever been, their confirmed persuasion. When the repeal of the stamp-act was in agitation, a person of undoubted respect and authenticity on that subject assured me that these were the prevalent and steady principles of America-that you might destroy their towns, and cut them off from the superfluities, perhaps the conveniences of life, but that they were prepared to despise your power, and would not lament their loss while they have-what, my lords?-their woods and their liberty. Oppress not these millions for the fault of forty or fifty individuals. Such severity of injustice must irritate your colonies to unappeasable rancor. What though you march from town to town, and from province to province? How shall you be able to secure the obedience of the country you leave behind you, in your progress to grasp eighteen hundred miles of continent? The spirit which now resists your taxation in America, is the same which formerly opposed wars, benevolence, and ship-money in England; the same which, by the bill of rights, vindicated the English constitution; the same which established the essential maxim of your liberties, that no subject of England shall be taxed but by his own consent." CHAP. XIII. LORD CHATHAM'S SPEECH. 763 Chatham then alluded to the late Congress; the wisdom of its course, and the support which its measures received from the whole people. "When your lordships look at the papers transmitted to us from America," he said,-" when you consider the decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but respect their cause, and wish to make it your own. For myself, I must avow, that in all my reading-and I have read Thucydides and have studied and admired the master-states of the world-for solidity of reasons, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, under a complication of difficult circumstances, no nation, or body of men, can stand in preference to the General Congress at Philadelphia. The histories of Greece and Rome give us nothing equal to it; and all attempts to impose servitude upon such a mighty continental nation, must be vain-must be fatal. We shall be forced ultimately to retreat; let us retreat while we can, not when we must. >-X' These violent acts must be repealed; you < will repeal them; I pledge myself for it. I stake my reputation on it. You will in the'.>47 end repeal them. Avoid, then, this humili- ating necessity. With a dignity becoming: your exalted situation, make the first advances to concord, peace, and happiness, for that is your true dignity. Concession comes if \ with better grace from superior power, and'' establishes solid confidence in the founda- " tions of affection and gratitude. Be the. i first to spare: throw down the weapons in your hands. To conclude, my LORD CHATHAMlords, if the ministers thus persevere in misadvising and misleading the king, I will not say that they can alienate the affection of his subjects from his crown, but I will affirm that they will make the crown not worth his wearing. I will not say that the king is betrayed, but I will pronounce that the kingdom is undone." This great speech-this noble plea for justice-made the king very angry. He regarded Chatham's independence as ingratitude, and he openly expressed a desire for the arrival of the day "when decrepitude or old age should put an end to him as a trumpet of sedition." The lords immediately censured Chatham's speech by a vote of sixty-eight to eighteen, against his proposition. Not discouraged, he immediately presented a bill which pro 764 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. vided for the renunciation of the power of taxation, demanding an acknowledgment from the Americans of the supreme authority of Great Britain, and inviting them to contribute voluntarily a specified sum annually to be employed as interest on the national debt. It also provided for an immediate repeal of all the objectionable acts of Parliament (ten in number), passed during the administration of the reigning monarch. Now occurred a remarkable scene. The petulant Earl of Sandwich said the proposition deserved only contempt, and ought to be immediately rejected. He could not believe it was the work of a British peer, but of some American. Turning his face toward Franklin, who stood, leaning on the bar, he said: " I fancy I have in my eye the person who drew it up, one of the bitterest and most mischievous enemies this country has ever known." The eyes of the whole House were now fixed on Franklin, when Chatham arose and said, with emphasis, "The plan is entirely my own; but if I were the first minister, and had the care of settling this momentous business, I should not be ashamed of publicly calling to my assistance a person so perfectly acquainted with the whole American affairs-one whom all Europe ranks with our Boyles and Newtons, as an honor, not to the English nation only, but to human nature." Sandwich moved that the bill be "rejected now and forever," and it was done. This drew from Chatham a terrible storm of invective. He perceived the fixed intention of the ministry to enslave the Americans at all hazards. " I am not surprised," he said, "that men who hate liberty should detest those who prize it, or that those who want virtue themselves should persecute those who possess it. The whole of your political conduct has been one continual series of weakness and temerity, despotism, and the most notorious servility, incapacity, and corruption. I allow you one merit, a strict attention to your interests; in that view, who can wonder that you should put a negative on any measure which must deprive you of your places, and reduce you to that insignificance for which God and nature designed you." The bill was rejected, because it was considered a greater concession to the colonies, and quite as injurious to the national honor as the proposition of Dean Tucker, a famous pamphleteer, that Parliament should by solemn enactment sever the colonies from the parent government, and disallow any application for restoration to the rights and privileges of British subjects, until, by humble petition, they should ask for pardon and reinstatement. This would not have been a severe punishment for the Americans. So firmly supported in the House of Lords, the ministers proceeded to put the engine of coercion into full play against the Americans. On the 2d of February, North proposed the first of a series of measures for com CHAP. XIII. A RESTRAINING ACT. 765 pelling the Americans to submit. He moved in the House of Commons for an address to the king, affirming that the province of Massachusetts was in a state of rebellion; that Great Britain would not relinquish an iota of her sovereign rule in the colonies; and urging his majesty to take immediate and effectual measures for enforcing obedience to the laws. They contemplated a material increase of the military force in America, and to restrain the entire commerce of New England with Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies. Charles James Fox moved an amendment censuring the ministry, and praying for their removal. A warm debate ensued, when Fox's amendment was negatived by a vote of three hundred and four against one hundred and five. North's motion, which ended with the usual pledge of " lives and fortunes," prevailed by a majority of two hundred and ninety-six in the Commons, and in the Lords by eighty-seven to twenty-seven; nine peers protesting. Gibbon the historian, who then had a seat in the Commons, and had veered from the Opposition to the Ministerial side, wrote: "We voted an address of'lives and fortunes,' declaring Massachusetts Bay in a state of rebellion; more troops, but, I fear, not enough to go to America, to make an army of ten thousand men at Boston; three generals, Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne! In a few days we stop the ports of New England. I cannot write volumes, but I am more and more convinced that, with firmness, all will go well; yet I sometimes doubt." Gibbon had written in favor of the Americans. Fox, in an epigram of twelve lines, alludes to his venality in these words: "King George in a fright, lest Gibbon should write The story of Britain's disgrace, Thought no means more sure, his pen to secure, Than to give the historian a place." North presented another bill-a Restraining Act-which provided for the destruction of the fisheries and other commerce of the New England colonies, exempting from its force those only who should produce evidence that they were supporters of the supremacy of Parliament. Protests from merchants and manufacturers, and also' from the Friends or Quakers, in behalf of those people on Nantucket, engaged in the fishing, were presented, but without effect. The bill was passed by an overwhelming majority, and twenty thousand inhabitants of New England, employing four hundred ships and two thousand fishing-shallops, were seriously injured by it. At this juncture news came from America of the general adhesion of the several colonies to the Continental Congress, when North presented another bill (March 8, I775), which included all the colonies in the operation of the Restrain 766 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. ing Act, excepting New York and North Carolina, where loyalty prevailed. In New York, conservatism was now rife, especially among the "Patricians," or what is termed the " upper classes" in society. Loyalty to the crown, and lukewarmness in the cause for which Boston was suffering, prevailed in the New York Assembly at the beginning of 1775, then in the seventh year of its existence. To stimulate and diffuse that conservatism and loyalty -to detach New York from the rest of the colonies, in political feeling, was now a prime object of the ministry and their American supporters. Severance from Great Britain was not to be thought of, said these loyalists. Even John Jay, one of the most active men in the Continental Congress, declared that he " held nothing in greater abhorrence, than the malignant charge of aspiring after independence." The New York Committee of Correspondence expressed their anxiety for the maintenance of union with Great Britain. And in the New York Assembly conservatism was strongly manifested, when a motion of Colonel Tenbrceck, to take into consideration the proceedings of the Continental Congress, was negatived. Again, when Philip Schuyler made a motion in that body that certain letters, which, the previous summer, had passed between the New York Committee of Correspondence and that of Connecticut on the subject of a General Congress; also that a letter of a committee of the New York Assembly to Edmund Burke (the agent for the province in England) a little later, should be entered upon the Journals of the House, the clerk to furnish copies for the newspapers, his motion was negatived. A proposition of Colonel (afterward General) Woodhull to vote thanks to the New York delegates in the Continental Congress for their faithfulness; another to thank those merchants who adhered to the nonimportation agreements, and still another to appoint delegates to the next Continental Congress, were negatived by the same vote. At about the same time the majority of the Assembly, on motion of Mr. DeLancey, decided by a resolution that the king and Parliament had a right to regulate the trade of the colonies, and to levy taxes by impost duties. A most obsequious petition to the king, in which he was styled " an indulgent father," was then offered. This excited the indignation of Schuyler and other republicans in the Assembly. The former attacked expressions in the paper with great vigor, and offered amendments substituting manly words for degrading ones. But the petition unamended, and a humble petition to the House of Lords, were adopted, and were sent to England, with a record of the proceedings of the Assembly. These papers caused the exemption of the province of New York from the force of the Restraining Act. They did not represent the feelings of the great mass of the people of that province, but only of the ruling classes. But the votes gave great joy to the Tories and the crown CHAP. XIII. A CONCILIATORY PLAN. 767 officers everywhere, and made the ministry hope that New York would be permanently disaffected, and so cut off New England from the other provinces until the war that ensued had made considerable progress. The Tories confidently looked for failure in the rebellion through dissension. John Adams predicted twenty years before, that the grand scheme of the British government would be the promotion of dissensions among the colonies. There was now much fluttering among the ministers. Lord North, to the astonishment of everybody, submitted a sort of conciliatory plan that pleased nobody, yet he adroitly carried it through. Other plans, more favorable to the Americans, were offered and rejected. Franklin's "Hints" had been considered by the ministry, and propositions had been made to him which were so much short of justice that he replied, i " While Parliament claims the right of altering American consti-' i i-X tutions at pleasure, there can be no agreement, for we are rendered unsafe in English privilege." When it was suggested that an agreement was necessary for America, as it would be "so easy for Britain to burn all their seaport towns," the philosopher t, answered bravely: "My little property consists of houses in those towns; you may make: bonfires of them whenever you please: the fear of losing them a will never alter my resolution to resist, to the last, the claim of - E Parliament." BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. The British government, by its acts, had now virtually declared war against the English-American colonists as rebels. Abandoning all hope of reconciliation, Franklin returned to America in the spring of I775, and entered vigorously upon the prosecution of the war that soon afterward broke out. CHAPTER XIV. THE KING AND HIS MINISTERS THE REAL REVOLUTIONISTS-THE SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE-ITS DEVELOPMENT IN AMERICA-FRANKLIN'S FABLE OF THE EAGLE AND THE CAT-THE AMERICANS NOT REVOLUTIONISTS-TREATMENT OF BATTLES-ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES, IN I775-THE CHILDREN OF BOSTON-THE APPOINTED SUCCESSOR OF GAGE-HIS GENERALSFRANKLIN'S VIEWS OF THE SITUATION —GAGE AND THE PEOPLE -HANCOCK AND ADAMSMILITARY EXPEDITION TO CONCOND-SKIRMISH AT LEXINGTON. N the early part of I775, the British government had proclaimed Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion, and provided means for suppressing that rebellion by force of arms. The fulmination of wrathful threats against that province was intended for the ears of her sister colonies, as well as for her own. They had interests in common. They were making resistance to oppression in common; and they were resolved to stand united for the common defence. To call Massachusetts a " rebel," was to call all the other colonies " rebels." So they all felt. Joseph Hawley had said in Massachusetts, when viewing the impending crisis: "We must fight!" Patrick Henry, in Virginia, had answered "Amen! " with vehemence; and these words from the head and heart of resistance to oppression, were echoed back from all the provinces in the early part of I775. For ten years the people of those provinces had pleaded, remonstrated, and worked in vain endeavors to obtain justice for themselves and their posterity. They had asserted the inalienable rights of every free-born Englishman, and had been haughtily spurned as slaves. They had bravely, meekly, patiently and persistently opposed the revolution which the king and Parliament seemed determined to effect (and did effect) by overturning the colonial charters and denying to British subjects in America the freedom and privileges of British subjects in England. At length the united colonies came to the solemn conclusion-" We must fight," and prepared for the dire necessity. The war for independence that ensued was not a war of revolution on the part of the Americans. It was a war by the Americans against the archrevolutionist King George and his ministers-a war by the Americans for the defence of their liberties and free institutions which the government of Great Britain sought to destroy. CHAP. XIV. THE INHERENT LOVE OF LIBERTY. 769 Let us look a little behind the stirring events of the spring of I775. You who have followed the narrative given in preceding pages in this work, cannot fail to have discovered the existence of a controlling spirit of independence-a spirit yearning for free thought and action-a spirit of resistance to unlawful restraint, everywhere manifested by the early settlers and colonists-emigrants from England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; from France, Switzerland, Holland, and Sweden. The sentiment uttered by Patrick Henry in old St. John's Church in Richmond in I775-" Give me liberty or give me death! " had been the sponsor of that faith and courage which impelled men and women to leave home and kindred, brave the storms of the Atlantic and the perils of the wilderness, and seek abiding places in the forests of America. That spirit was not born in these forests, as some suppose. It was older than the gnarled oak and lofty pines-as old as civilization-aye, as old as the race-a child of remote ages. It had been seen emerging from the mists of pre-historic times. It walked arm-in-arm with young Christianity when it went forth from the gates of Jerusalem to conquer the earth with its sublime ethics, for the Founder had said: " The Truth shall make you free." It asserted its power at Runnymede; and it spoke out boldly in the theological and ecclesiastical reformation of the sixteenth century. It found a rare coadjutor in the new-born printing-press; and from the advent of that mighty teacher, it was rapidly diffused. It was the prevailing spirit of the century, when the greater portion of the English colonies in America were planted-a century most remarkable for its energy and development. The immigrants hither came chiefly from among the middle-classes of society in Europe, who, with strong bones and tough muscles, brought to this virgin land an indomitable love for personal freedom. They brought the spirit of independence with them. They cherished it as a priceless jewel. From the beginning, they yearned for independent local legislation; and that aspiration deepened, and widened, and grew more sturdy as time passed on, until, at about the middle of the last century, as we have seen, the colonists, many in numbers and firm in faith, defied the government of England. It was high time for them to do so; for that government, wielded by an unwise and headstrong king with corrupt and obsequious advisers, meditated bold revolutionary schemes by which the ancient constitutions of the colonies were to be destroyed, and the people deprived of rights which they had ever held most sacred. We have seen how the attempt at subversion was made openly, and in secret, and with what patient dignity the oppressed colonists pleaded for redress and justice in loyal words. We have seen how they were spurned-spit upon, as it were, by the haughty king 770 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. and his ministers, until Dr. Franklin, their chief representative in England, losing all hope, folded his papers, sailed away from that country and came home to help his countrymen in the impending struggle with the brute force of Great Britain. Not long before Franklin's departure, he gave to the wprld that remarkable fable of the eagle and the cat, which, in the light of subsequent events, seemed prophetic. He was at Lord Spencer's one evening, with a number of English noblemen, when the conversation turned upon the subject of fables. Some one of the company observed that he thought the subject was exhausted; he did not believe that any beast, bird, or fish could be worked into a new fable with any success. The whole company appeared to agree with the gentleman excepting Franklin, who was silent. The company insisted upon his expressing his opinion. " I believe, my lords," said the sage, in substance, "' that the subject is inexhaustible, and that many new and instructive fables might be made out of such materials." He was asked if he would think of one at present. " If your lordship," he said, turning to Earl Spencer, "will provide me with a pen, ink, and paper, I believe I can furnish your lordship with one in a few minutes." The paper was brought, and Franklin wrote as follows: "Once upon a time, an eagle soaring around a farmer's barn and espying a hare, darted down upon him like a sunbeam, seized him in his claws, and remounted with him in the air. He soon found that he had a creature of more courage and strength than a hare, for which, notwithstanding the keenness of his eyesight, he had mistaken a cat. The snarling and scrambling of the prey was very inconvenient, and, what was worse, she had disengaged herself from his talons, grasped his body with her fore limbs, so as to stop his breath, and seized fast hold of his throat with her teeth.'Pray,' said the eagle,'let go your hold and I will release you.''Very fine,' said the cat,' I have no fancy to fall from this height, and be crushed to death. You have taken me up, and you shall stoop and let me down.' The eagle thought it necessary to stoop accordingly." John Adams, who received the story from Franklin's lips, wrote: "The moral was so applicable to England and America [England the Eagle, and America the Cat] that the fable was allowed to be original, and was highly applauded." The colonists now said: "We must fight." They repeated it from Maine to Georgia. They buckled on their armor and stood on the defensive determined not to give the first blow. We shall now see how their oppressors became the aggressors, and spilled the first blood that flowed in the war of that momentous revolution which King George the Third began. That revolution, as we have observed, was not the work CHAP. XIV. OBJECTS OF THE CONTEST. 771 of the people here. They did not seek to overturn anything; they sought only to preserve the precious things that existed. They had never known hereditary titles, nor prerogatives, nor any of the forms of feudalism, in America, other than as temporary exotics. They had grown to greatness in plain, unostentatious ways, chiefly as tillers of the soil and moving on a social plane of almost absolute equality. They had all been born free. They were not called upon to fight for freedom, for they already possessed it; they were compelled to fight for its maintenance. Therefore, the American people in I775 were not revolutionists. They, only, were revolutionists, who, by arbitrary methods, attempted to deprive the Americans of their rights. This aspect of the case I wish to impress upon the minds of my countrymen. I shall not dwell long upon the sanguinary features of that war. An eminent author, in a deprecatory spirit, wrote:"The Muse of History has been so much in love with Mars, that she has seldom conversed with Minerva." Acting upon that hint, I shall, in telling the story of that war, touch as lightly upon the terrible details of battles as faithfulness to the task before me will allow. With that governing thought, I have traced the course of the colonies through the several phases of their growth from feeble, scattered settlements to powerful commonwealths, endued with a pervading love of freedom, and possessing large liberties. I have endeavored to unfold the causes which gradually made them gravitate toward a common centre of nationality, in the form of a colonial Union. We will now consider their tremendous struggle during seven years for the maintenance of their liberties, and the establishment of a new and independent nation on the earth. In February, I775, Great Britain, as we have seen, had virtually declared war against the colonies. "The time for reconciliation, moderation, and reasoning is over," General Gage wrote to Lord Dartmouth. Even the boys of Boston asserted their rights in the presence of the military governor. They had built some snow-hills on the Common, down which they slid on to a pond. The soldiers, to annoy them, frequently demolished these hills. They complained to the captain, but could not obtain redress. At length a large deputation of older boys called upon General Gage. He received them courteously, and said: "Why have so many children waited upon me? " " We have come, sir," said the tallest boy, " to demand satisfaction." "What!" said the general with surprise, "have your fathers been teaching you rebellion, and sent you here to exhibit it?" " Nobody sent us here, sir," replied the boy, while his eyes flashed, and his cheeks reddened with indignation at the imputation of being a rebel. "We have never injured nor insulted your troops," he continued, "but they have trodden down our 772 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. snow-hills, and have broken the ice on our skating-ground. We complained, and they called us young rebels, and told us to help ourselves if we could. We told the captain of this, and he laughed at us. Yesterday our works were destroyed for the third time, and we will bear it no longer." The good-natured general felt touched with admiration for the spirit of these boys, and turning to an officer near him, he said: " The very children here draw in a love of liberty with the air they breathe." To the boys he said: "Be assured that if my troops trouble you again, they shall be punished." In reply to a letter from Dartmouth, ordering him to assert, by force, the absolute authority of the king, Gage wrote that civil government was \'.~, /,.,,~" ~j~_,~_.~THE SOLDIERS AND THE BOYS OF BOSTON. nearly at an end in Massachusetts. He advised the sending of twenty thousand troops, with whom he would undertake to enforce the new form of government, to disarm the colonists, and to arrest and send to England for trial the chief traitors in Massachusetts. Meanwhile the British government were preparing to reinforce the troops in Boston. It was determined to make the number there ten thousand. They also resolved to send another general to take the place of Gage, whom ministers considered too inefficient for the exigency. General William Howe was chosen to succeed him. His major-generals were Sir Henry Clinton and John Burgoyne. The former was a son of a provincial governor of New York; the latter was ambitious to win renown that he might wipe out the stain of his ignoble birth. He boastfully said: "I am confident there is not an officer or soldier in the king's service-who does not think the Parliamentary right of Great Britain CHAP. XIV. POSITION OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 773 a cause to fight for; to bleed and die for." There were many and noble soldiers who did not agree with him. For that reason Amherst declined the chief command which was offered to him, and partly for the same reason General Howe took the appointment with reluctance. " Is it a proposition or an order from the king?" Howe asked. " It is an order." "Then it is my duty to obey," he said with real reluctance, for he remembered with gratitude the vote of Massachusetts to erect a monument in memory of his brother, Lord Howe, who was killed near Ticonderoga. His reluctance was somewhat diminished when he was told that he and his brother Richard, Earl Howe (who had been appointed naval commander in America), would go as peace commissioners also, bearing the sword in one hand and the olivebranch in the other. Franklin, not long before his departure from England, had written to friends in Massachusetts, saying, in substance, " Do not begin war without the advice of the Continental Congress, unless on a sudden emergency." He said: " New England alone can hold out for ages against this country, and, if they are firm and united, in seven years will win the day." The prophecy was fulfilled in time and facts. "The eyes of all Christendom," he wrote, " are now upon us, and our honor as a people is become a matter of the utmost consequence. If we tamely give up our rights in this contest, a century to come will not restore us, in the opinion of the world; we shall be stamped with the character of dastards, poltroons, and fools; and be despised and trampled upon, not by this haughty, insolent nation only, but by all mankind. Present inconveniences are, therefore, to be borne with fortitude, and better times expected." The French minister in London wrote to his government: " Every negotiation which shall proceed from the present administration will be without success in the colonies. Will the king of England lose America rather than change his ministry? Time must solve the problem; if I am well informed, the submission of the Americans is not to be expected." The conduct of the Americans gratified the wishes of Franklin and the hopes of the French ambassador. When news of the contemptuous reception of the petition of Congress to the king, and copies of the Address of Parliament to his majesty, reached the Americans, there was an outburst of patriotism from the hearts of all the colonies. The spirit of the times gave fire to the tongue of Joseph Warren, when, on the anniversary of the Boston Massacre, he thrilled the souls of a vast concourse of citizens in the Old South Meeting-house, and drew from some of the forty British officers who were present, insulting hisses. His words went deep into the hearts of the people, and Gage well knew their-significance. 774 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. Before this the air was full of rebellious utterances; now it seemed as if the lightning of the popular wrath was about to kindle a mighty conflagration. On both sides watchful eyes never slept, and watchful ears were always open. All through March and far into April, Boston was like a seething cauldron of intense feeling. Gage was irresolute and timid. He had about four thousand well-drilled soldiers, eager to fall upon the " rebels," yet he hesitated. At length he resolved to nip rebellion in the bud. He prepared to seize John Hancock and Samuel Adams as arch-traitors, and send them to England for trial on a charge of treason. He also determined to send out troops to seize all the munitions of war which he knew the people had gathered at Concord and other places; and he fixed upon the night of the I8th of April as the time for the execution of his scheme. The plan was to be kept a profound secret until the latest moment. In the meantime Hancock and Adams, who were in attendance at the Provincial Congress held at Concord, had received warning of their personal danger, for an intercepted letter from London had revealed it; and when that Congress adjourned on the I5th of April, they tarried at Lexington, where they lodged at the house of Rev. Jonas Clarke, yet standing. At the same time the Minute-men were on the alert everywhere, and the fifteen thousand troops which the Provincial Congress had called for were in readiness to confront the oppressors of the people. Couriers were ready to ride over the country, and arouse the inhabitants, if the British should march that way; and wagons were prepared to remove the hidden stores to places of greater safety. The capital part of the scheme was to arrest Hancock and Adams at Lexington, ten miles from Boston. For this purpose, the soldiers who were to do the work, were to leave Boston secretly in the evening, at an hour that would enable them to reach Lexington at past midnight, when the doomed patriots would be sleeping soundly. Their arrest accomplished, the troops were to move rapidly forward to Concord, six miles further, and seize or destroy the cannon and military stores which the patriots had gathered. Preparations for the expedition were made as early as the fifteenth. On that day about eight hundred grenadiers and infantry were detached from the main body and marched to a different part of the town, under the pretense of teaching them some new military movements. At night, boats from the transports which had been hauled up for repairs, were launched and moored under the sterns of the men-of-war. Dr. Warren, one of the most watchful of the patriots, sent notice to Hancock of these suspicious movements, and enabled the Committee of Safety, of which the latter was chairman, to cause some of the stores at Concord to be removed to places *i:;tf:0;0:Sl; ~l:0:Et;::00000 i::000 S::t~t0040.Ei: ti tg E;;;000000:0000 flE;;:i:;~tEf: i X1 iciy;i201,,;0,,0., ad,\ 0f~t0|6.=...,.,........................ ok r -@j:: -; -I:-:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~". CHAP. XIV. PATRIOTS ON THE ALERT. 775 of safety, in time to save them from the invaders. To prevent a knowledge of his expedition spreading into the country, Gage sent out a number of his officers to post themselves on the several roads leading from Boston; and to prevent suspicions, they went out of the city at different times. But they were discovered, and the design suspected, by a Son of Liberty of Lexington, who informed Colonel Monroe, then sergeant of a militia company. That officer, suspecting a design to capture Hancock and Adams, collected a guard of eight well-armed men, who watched Mr. Clarke's house that night. In the afternoon of the I8th (April, I775), Gage's secret leaked out, and the patriots in Boston watched every movement of the troops with keen vision. Dr. Warren, Paul Revere and others made arrangements for a sudden emergency, to warn Hancock and Adams of danger, and to arouse the country. Their precautions were timely, for at ten o'clock that evening, eight hundred British troops marched silently to the foot of the Common, where they embarked in boats and passed over to Cambridge. They were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, assisted by Major Pitcairn. Gage supposed his secret was inviolate, but was soon undeceived. Lord Percy, who was one of his confidants, when crossing the Common, heard one of a group of citizens say, " The British will miss their mark." "What mark?" inquired Percy. "The cannon at Concord," was the reply. Percy hastened to inform Gage, who immediately issued orders to his guards not to allow any person to leave the city that night. It was too late. William Dawes had gone over the Neck to Roxbury on horseback, with a message from Warren to Hancock and Adams, and Warren and Revere were at Charlestown awaiting the development of events. Revere had engaged his friend Newman, sexton of the North Church, to give him a timely signal. He said to his friend: " If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch Of the North Church tower as a signal lightOne, if by land, and two, if by sea: And I on the opposite shore will be Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and.farm, For the country folk to be up and arm." The moon was just rising when the British troops landed on the Cambridge side of the water. Newman had hung out two lanterns, and the watching Revere, springing into a saddle on the back of a fleet horse owned by Deacon Larkin, hurried across Charlestown Neck. At the end of the 50 776 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. isthmus he was confronted by two British soldiers, who attempted to arrest him. Turning back toward Charlestown, he soon reached the Medford road, and escaped; and at a little past midnight he rode up to Clarke's house in Lexington, which was well guarded by Sergeant Monroe and his men. He asked, in hurried words, for Mr. Hancock. " The family have just retired," said the sergeant, "and I am directed not to allow them to be disturbed by PAUL REVERE AT LEXINGTON. any noise." "Noise! " exclaimed Revere; " you'll have noise enough before long; the Regulars are coming out!" He was then allowed to knock at the door, when Mr. Clarke opened a window, and inquired-" Who is there? " Revere answered hurriedly, "I want to see Mr. Hancock." " I do not like to admit strangers into my house so late at night," Clarke replied. Hancock, abed but not asleep, recognizing the voice of the messenger, CHAP. XIV. THE COUNTRY AROUSED TO ACTION. 777 called out: " Come in, Revere; we are not afraid of you." The story of impending peril was soon told, and the whole household were astir. Dawes, who went by Roxbury, soon afterward arrived. After refreshing themselves, he and Revere rode swiftly toward Concord, arousing the inhabitants by the way, as the latter had done between Medford and Lexington. They were overtaken by Dr. Samuel Prescott, who had been wooing a young woman in Lexington, and he joined them in their patriotic errand, when Revere, who was riding ahead, was suddenly surrounded by some British officers, and with Dawes was made a prisoner. Prescott dashed over a stone-wall with his active horse, and escaped. He rode over to Concord, and at about two o'clock in the morning of the Ig9th gave the alarm. Revere and his fellowprisoner were closely questioned concerning Hancock and Adams, but gave evasive answers. They were threatened with pistol-balls, when Revere told his captors that men were out arousing the country in all directions. Just then a church-bell was heard; then another, when one of the Lexington prisoners said: "The bells are ringing-the town is alarmed-you are dead men." The frightened officers left their prisoners, and fled toward Boston. The alarm rapidly spread, and the Minute-men seized their arms. At two o'clock in the morning, Captain John Parker called the roll of his company on Lexington Green in front of the meeting-house, and ordered them to charge their guns with powder and ball. The air was chilly, and, as the invaders did not seem to be near, the men were directed to take shelter in the houses. Meanwhile the British troops were making their way in the soft light of a waning moon. Colonel Smith was convinced that their secret was known and there was a general uprising of the people, for church-bells were heard in various directions. He sent back to Boston for reinforcements, and ordered Major Pitcairn to push rapidly on through Lexington and seize the bridges at Concord. As the latter advanced, he secured every man seen on the way. One of these escaped, and mounting a fleet-footed horse, hurried to Lexington and gave the alarm, but not until the invaders were within less than two miles of the village green. The bells rang out an alarm. The Minute-men came; and just at the earliest dawn of day Captain Parker found himself at the head of almost seventy men. After much persuasion, and the cogent argument that their lives were of the greatest importance to the colony at that time, Hancock and Adams left Mr. Clarke's house and went, finally, to a more secure retreat. Dorothy Quincy, to whom Hancock was affianced (and whom he married in September following), was visiting the family of Mr. Clarke, and she accompanied her lover and his friend in their slow flight from immediate danger. In the gray of the early morning, Major Pitcairn and his scarlet-clad 778 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. soldiers appeared, and halting not far from the line of Minute-men on Lexington Common, loaded their muskets. The patriots stood firm. They had been ordered not to fire a shot until they were assailed by the invaders. A pause ensued, when Pitcairn and other officers galloped forward, waving their swords over their heads, and followed by the shouting troops in doublequick time. "Disperse, you villains! Lay down your arms! Why don't you disperse, you rebels? Disperse! " cried the major. In rushing forward the troops had become confused. As the Minutemen did not immediately obey the com_________ __ mand to lay down their arms, Pitcairn iN~!_ wheeled his horse, and waving his sword, ~ shouted: "Press forward, men! surround the rascals! " At the same moment some random shots were fired over the heads of the Americans by the British soldiers, but without effect. The Minute-men had scruples about firing, until their own blood had been spilled. Pitcairn was irritated by their obstinacy, and drawing his pistol, discharged it, at the same moment shouting fire! A volley from the front rank followed the order, with fatal effect. Some Americans fell dead or mortally wounded, and others were badly hurt. There was no longer hesitation on the part of the Minutemen. The conditions of their restraint were fulfilled. The blood of their comrades had been shed; and as the shrill fife of young Jonathan Harrington set the drum a-beating, the patriots returned the THE ALARM-BELL. fire with spirit, but not with fatal effect. The blood of American citizens stained the green grass on Lexington Common, but no British soldier lost his life in that memorable conflict. Captain Parker, perceiving his little band in danger of being surrounded by overwhelming numbers and massacred, ordered his men to disperse. They did so; but as the British continued to fire, the Americans returned the shots with spirit, and then sought safety behind stone-walls and buildings. Four of the Minute-men were slain by the first fire, and four afterwards, and ten were wounded. Only three of the British were wounded, with Pitcairn's horse. .~'~~i: 2~~:iiii li'liii ll:i. - ~~:. ijiiiij~~iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ~ il_~Xiliii~liiiil:: - F~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.-'.... ~ ~ ~ - ~ ~ ~ - --- I ~'''ri.~,:, - -- -I:::li~/ ~i - — ~-... -.-I-.:. — I —- -.. ---------.... iiiliii'~ - - -'iii - -.....::::~::-:~-:.:i l:- I:;: -n::1:i.:-:.'..: - X —-O......]:ii.-....~...........:::...:.:.-....~..,. -. —----... -- - ---- I..- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~.... i'::::: ~:: a:.: -.......- -:,.. —-..-...,. -::::::'...:.''.:......44, ---. "..~.......~..~~.~~~...........,...-I..- ~- ~.... -...-.'4... 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M~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-: li::ii w::ii'::ii.i iii: ii:::(iii:::'iiiii....:::i::i:i..- il~:i:i I:i.iii: Iiii..~~.~..::.:...~....: ~.~i-.:...f.~::'-. -: - I. -.... ----—. ——':::....-.. -----....-.:r:- -..-. ~~~~ii:. -11:::.. --. --.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~.... -.. - - - ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ iiii~~~~iiiiiil.-~i, ~~~~..]]::,i~~~~~~~~~~~i:~~~~'t.~~~~~::.:,]; ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~i:iiii:i- -iiiiiii"-.: d i:.:ii-..,.-...,, -,,,-.......4.::~ --- -..-: —:-::::...-.... —'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:W,~?2~. ~ - ~- --- -..::~i - -::::,i:: i:::,:.:. "::i:::.:: I,-;::Z:'i-:. Ed~Xii..'...li'~i~ ~: sF.:.::::..'~::- 2:::..:..,.-.,-...3.,,,-%-~*;.:;_:8:~..,....,:... i:,:-::i::i~:::i:i:::::ii~i, i:::: l-:::.'', -W-.......~~r::::;:::::::j i;.l.:'~I':.... ~~~.:' -.... -... -—:-.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,. I -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~iiiiiiii --.......,~iiii~i~iii- - - Iiiiiii CHAP. XIV. "A GLORIOUS MORNING FOR AMERICA." 779 So ended the opening act in the great drama of the Old War for Independence. The bells that were rung on that warm April morning-the mercury marking 85~ in the shade at noon-tolled the knell of British domination in the old thirteen colonies. When the firing began, Samuel Adams was lingering in his tardy flight on a wooded hill near Clarke's house, and when the air was rent by the first volley on Lexington Common, he uttered these remarkable words: " What a glorious morning for America is this!" With the vision of an inspired seer at that moment, the sturdy patriot perTO ARMS! TO ARMS! THE WAR HAS BEGUN." ceived in the future the realization of his cherished dreams of independence for his beloved country. Those words are inscribed on the Lexington Centennial Medal. When the Minute-men at Lexington were dispersed at sunrise, the British drew up in line on the Common, fired a feu dejoic, gave three cheers in token of the victory, and in high spirits marched rapidly toward Concord. They had just been joined by Colonel Smith and his party, and felt sure of the success of the expedition. But the sunset told a sad tale for the invaders. Meanwhile the news of the skirmish was spreading with great rapidity 780 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. over the province. Before noon that day, the tidings reached Worcester, thirty miles from Lexington. "An express came to the town," says Lincoln, the local historian, "shouting as he passed through the streets at full speed,'To arms! to arms! the war has begun!' His white horse, bloody with spurring, and dripping with sweat, fell, exhausted, by the church. Another was instantly produced, and the tidings went on. The bell rang out the alarm; the cannon were fired, and messengers were sent to every part of the town to collect the soldiery. As the news spread, the implements of husbandry were thrown by in the fields, and the citizens left their homes with no longer delay than to seize their arms. In a short time the Minutemen were paraded on the Green, under Captain Timothy Bigelow; after fervent prayer by Rev. Mr. McCarty, they took up their line of march. They were soon followed by as many of the train-bands as could be gathered under Captain Benjamin Flagg." The scene at Worcester on that occasion, was a type of a hundred others enacted within twenty-four hours after the skirmish at Lexington. It affords a vivid picture of the spirit of the people. The serious question arose, Who fired first at Lexington, the British or the Provincials? Upon the true solution of that question depended, in a degree, the justification or condemnation of the belligerent parties, for the Americans had resolved not to be the aggressors. So late as May the next year, a London journal said: " It is whispered that the ministry are endeavoring to fix a certainty which party fired first at Lexington, before hostilities commenced, as the Congress declare, if it can be proved that American blood was first shed, it will go a great way toward effecting a reconciliation on the most honorable terms." The testimony of contemporaries seems to prove, beyond a doubt, that the British fired first. Stiles, in his MS. Diary, cited by Mr. Frothingham in his History of the Siege of Boston, under date of August 19, I775, wrote: " Major Pitcairn, who was a good man in a bad cause, insisted upon it to the day of his death, that the colonists fired first; and that he commanded not to fire, and endeavored to stop the firing after it began; but then he told this with such circumstances as convince me that he was deceived, though on the spot. He does not say that he saw the colonists fire first. Had he said it, I would have believed him, being a man of integrity and honor. He expressly says he did not see who fired first; and yet he believed the peasants began. His account is this: That riding up to them, he ordered them to disperse, which they not doing instantly, he turned about to order his troops to draw out so as to surround and disarm them. As he turned, he saw a gun in a peasant's hand, from behind a wall, flash in the CHAP. XIV. WHO FIRED FIRST? 781 pan, without going off; and instantly, or very soon, two or three guns went off, by which he found his horse wounded, and also a man near him wounded. These guns he did not see; but believing they could not come from his own people, doubted not, and so asserted, that they came from our people, and that thus they began the attack. The impetuosity of the king's troops was such that a promiscuous, uncommanded but general fire took place, which Pitcairn could not prevent; though he struck his staff or sword downward with all earnestness, as a signal to forbear or cease firing." In a counter manifesto to a proclamation of General Gage, prepared a few weeks after the event, it is asserted that the British, "in a most barbarous and infamous manner, fired upon a small number of the inhabitants, and cruelly murdered eight men. The fire was returned by some of the survivors, but their number was too inconsiderable to annoy the regular troops, who proceeded on their errand to Concord. One of the many depositions taken at the time, to settle the question, Who fired first? is the following: "About five o'clock in the morning we attended the beat of our drum, and were formed on the parade. We were faced toward the regulars, then marching up to us, and some of our company were coming to the parade with their backs toward the troops; and others on the parade began to disperse, when the regulars fired on the company before a gun was fired by any of our company on them." Clarke says, "So far from firing first upon the king's troops, upon the most careful inquiry it appears that but very few of our people fired at all, and even they did not fire until, after being fired upon by the troops, they were wounded themselves." On the Green, at Lexington, stands a monument, which was erected to the memory of the patriots who fell on or near that spot, which bears the following inscription: "Sacred to the Liberty and the Rights of Mankind!!! The Freedom and Independence of America-sealed and defended with the blood of her sons-This Monument is erected by the inhabitants of Lexington, under the patronage and at the expense of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to the memory of their Fellow-citizens, Ensign Robert Monroe, Messrs. Jonas Parker, Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, Jr., Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, and John Brown, of Lexington, and Asahel Porter, of Woburn, who fell on this Field, the first victims of the Sword of British Tyranny and Oppression, on the morning of the ever-memorable Nineteenth of April, An. Domini I775. The Die was cast!!! The blood of these martyrs in the Cause of God and their Country was the cement of the Union of these States, then colonies, and gave the Spring to the Spirit, Firmness, and Resolution of their Fellow-citizens. They rose as one man to revenge their 782 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. Brethren's blood, and at the point of the sword to assert and defend their native Rights. They nobly dared to be Free!!! The contest was long, bloody, and affecting. Righteous Heaven approved the Solemn Appeal; Victory crowned their Arms, and the Peace, Liberty, and Independence of the United States of America was their glorious reward. Built in the year 1799-" The precedence as to the time and place where blood was first shed in the Revolution is claimed for Westminster, Vermont, where, more than a month before the affair at Lexington, officers of the crown in endeavoring to subdue a mob, caused the death of one of the rioters. The event is recorded in an epitaph inscribed upon a slab of slate in the old burial-ground at Westminster, in the following words: "In Memory of WILLIAM FRENCH, son to Mr. Nathaniel French, who was Shot at Westminister, March ye I3th, 1775, by the hands of Cruel Ministerial tools of George ye 3d, in the Court-house at a I I o'clock at Night, in the 22d year of his Age. Here William French his Body lies, For Murder his Blood for Vengeance Cries. King George the third his Tory crew tha with a bawl his head Shot threw For Liberty and his Country's Good he Lost his Life, his Dearest Blood. END OF VOLUME I. OUR COUNTRY. CHAPTER XV. OPERATIONS AT CONCORD-RETREAT OF THE BRITISH-REINFORCEMENTS-A DREADFUL MARCH FOR BOSTON-FIGHT AT WEST CAMBRIDGE —PANIC AT CHARLESTOWN — ACCOUNT OF THE AFFAIR PUBLISHED IN ENGLAND-NEW ENGLAND IN ARMS-UPRISING OF THE COLONIESVIRGINIA CONVENTION — PATRICK HENRY'S APPEAL- WRATH OF DUNMORE- ROYAL RULE ABOLISHED-MECKLENBERG DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE-CALL FOR TROOPS IN MASSACHUSETTS-AN ARMY AT CAMBRIDGE. the town twenty minutes after he left Revere UiL} - 4 - and Dawes in the hands of their captors. He told Amos Melvin, the sentinel at the Courthouse, that the regulars were coming. It was ~:~'~iWkk ~s7..... then about two o'clock in the morning of the I9th of April, I775. That scion of a heroic -<4x -'i>- family, who had battled with the French and Indians in recent wars, seized the bell-rope and rung out such a vehement alarm that the villagers were all aroused from ~.E:-<, \5. w.'~,~.....their slumbers, and soon filled the streets. The first man who ap~ ~.*-~~.i~~ peared with a gun was 1_-'-4k William Emerson, the beloved pastor there. He was very soon sur",X',. 1 rounded by Minute-!'1~1 ~s \a tl` /-~~S~k 784 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. men on the Green; and when the guns at Lexington were heard before sunrise, the Committee of Safety and the principal people of the town had assembled for consultation. They soon made arrangements for the reception of the invaders. Couriers had been sent to the neighboring towns to stir up the people; and the men, women and children of Concord engaged vigorously in the removal of the cannon and stores to a place of safety. "I was then a lad fourteen years old," said the venerable Major James Barrett to me -;..... 1JT_-< >.__in i848, when he was eightynot carry a musket, but I could drive oxen. Stout men and woX c f and then boys and girls of my i I~ iiage would go, one on each side of the oxen, with long goads, and whip them into a trot, and so we carried away the stores, and hid them under pine boughs \ik\;\vK \ \~~!'~"~ )~-'' before the British regulars appeared." Men from Lincoln, Acton and other places hurried toward Concord, and in the gray of early morning these, with the local i Minute-men, were drawn up in battle array on the Common, under the general command of PARSON EMERSON AT COCORD. Colonel James Barrett, a soldier of the French and Indian war. Guards were placed at the bridges which spanned Concord River, a sinuous, sluggish stream, and at the centre of the village; and some militia were sent toward Lexington to gain information about the invading regulars, of whom they had uncertain stories. At about seven o'clock the militia men came hurrying back with the startling news that the regulars were near, and in number three times that of the Americans then assembled. The whole force of defenders now fell back to a hill about eighty rods from the centre of the village, where Colonel Barrett formed them in two battalions. This I ? .,// *'<'. /'"r'*v4Y' A., 'Y }y.. * _ 'A "4 (' I. "N' I rr ; 0 / 0 3.IJ.I$IJ;7 14' CHAP. XV. THE BRITISH AT CONCORD. 785 was scarcely done when the flashing of bayonets and of scarlet uniforms in the early morning sun, not more than a quarter of a mile distant, showed the immediate presence of the enemy. A short consultation of officers was held. Some were for giving fight on the spot where they stood, while others, more wise, perceiving that it would be simple murder of the men to cause them to fight against such odds, proposed to fall back a little distance and wait until they were made stronger by the militia from the surrounding towns, who were then flocking in. They did so, and took post upon rising ground beyond the North Bridge, about a mile from Concord Common. The British entered Concord in two divisions; one by the main road and the other over the hill from which the Americans had retired. Smith and Pitcairn remained in the town, and sent six companies to secure the bridges, prevent the militia from crossing them, and to discover and destroy the secreted stores, the hiding-places of which had been revealed by Tories. A party went to the *house of Colonel Barrett to destroy stores supposed to be there, but were disappointed. The inhabitants had worked so industriously for the salvation of the treasure, that very little was left for the marauders. A few gun-carriages were there, and those they burned. They demanded refreshments at the hands of Mrs. Barrett, and offered to pay for it. She refused the money, saying, "We are commanded to feed our enemy, if he hunger." In the village they broke open sixty barrels of flour, one-half of which was afterward saved. They broke off the trunnions of their iron twenty-four pound cannon, burned sixteen cannon carriagewheels, a few barrels of wooden trenchers and spoons, cut down and burned the Liberty-Pole, set the Court-house on fire, and cast about five hundred pounds of balls into a mill-pond. Mrs. Moulton put out the fire at the Court-house. The articles named were all the spoils gained by the expedition which produced a seven-years-war and the dismemberment of the British empire. Rumors of the events at Lexington, vague and uncertain, had reached the Minute-men at Concord. All Middlesex was awakened. The militia were flocking in from Carlisle, Chelmsford, Weston, Littleton, and Acton; and before ten o'clock the force amounted to full four hundred men-about one-half that of the regulars. They were drawn up in line by Joseph Hosmer of Concord, acting adjutant, and Major Buttrick of the same village took the immediate command. When they saw the smoke ascend from the town, the question pressed itself upon the heart and judgment of every man: "What shall we do?" There was no Continental Congress; they had no orders from the Provincial Congress; they were a little army of Middlesex farmers gathered for the defence of their homes and their rights: by 786 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. what authority might they attack British troops acting under lawful orders? Would it not be treason? But the troops were trampling upon their rights, and the smoke of their burning property was rising before their eyes. They took counsel of duty, and acted promptly. In the burying-ground on a hill near by, was the following epitaph on a stone over the grave of a slave: "God wills us free; man wills us slaves: I will as God wills; God's will be done.": —-: - * < r' i = f J REMOVING THE STORES AT CONCORD. Acting in the spirit of these lines, Isaac Davis of Acton drew his sword, and, turning to the company of which he was captain, said: "I haven't a man that's afraid to go." Then Colonel Barrett gave the word march, and the Acton company, followed by others, all under the command of Major Buttrick, pressed forward, in double file with trailed arms, to drive the British from the North Bridge. The latter began to destroy it, when Buttrick urged his men forward to save it. As they approached the river, they were fired upon by the regulars. Captain Davis and one of his company were killed, when Buttrick shouted: " Fire, fellow-soldiers; for God's CHAP. XV. THE RETREAT FROM CONCORD. 787 sake fire! " Immediately a full volley was given by the Minute-men, which killed three of the British and wounded several. Some other shots were fired, when the invaders retreated and the Minute-men took possession of the bridge. The war begun at Lexington that morning was seconded at Concord at the middle of the forenoon, and at meridian the same day, British power in America began to wane, when British regulars made a hasty retreat before an inferior number of provincial militia. Colonel Smith, hearing the firing at the bridge, sent out reinforcements. These met the retreating detachment. Seeing the increasing strength of the Minute-men, they turned about, and at noon the whole invading force retreated toward Lexington, the main column covered by strong flanking parties. It was soon perceived that the whole country was in arms. Minute-men appeared with muskets everywhere. They swarmed from the woods and fields, from farm-houses and hamlets. It appeared as if the old fable of the sowing of dragons' teeth, that resulted in a crop of full-armed men, had become history. " The Americans," wrote a British officer, "seemed to drop from the clouds." The blood shed at Lexington and Concord loosed the bands of conscience, and wiped out all the scruples of those who had been governed by a nice sense of the duties of a subject, and of honor and discretion. War hSad begun. In open highways the exasperated yeomanry attacked the retreating invaders; behind stone-walls, fences, buildings, and in wooded ravines the> ambushed, and assailed their foes with single shots or deadly volleys; and man after man fell dead in the British ranks or was badly wounded, until great wagons were filled with the slain and the maimed. The heat was intense, and the dust in the roads was intolerable. Exhausted by want of sleep, fatigue of marching, famine and thirst, the eight hundred men-the flower of the British army in Boston-must have surrendered to the armed yeomanry of Middlesex, soon after reaching Lexington, had not relief arrived. It came in the form of reinforcements under Lord Percy, and met the fugitives within half a mile of Lexington Common. The request sent to Gage early in the morning for reinforcements had been promptly answered by ordering Lord Percy to lead about a thousand men to the support of Smith and Pitcairn. They left Boston at nine o'clock in the morning, and marched over the Neck and through Roxbury, to the tune of Yankee Doodle, played in derision, it being used as a sort of " Rogue's March " when offenders were drummed out of the ranks. A lad in Roxbury, by many pranks, attracted the attention of Percy, who asked him why he seemed so joyful. "To think," said the boy, how you will dance to " Chevy Chase" by-and-bye. The earl was inclined to be super 788 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK i1. stitious, and the remark of the boy worried him all day. He was a son of the Duke of Cumberland, a lineal descendant of Earl Percy, one of the heroes of the battle of Chevy Chase, who was there slain. Rumors of the skirmish at Lexington had reached the people along the line of Percy's march, and the gathering militia hung like an angry, threatening cloud upon his flanks and rear. Between two and three o'clock he met the retreating army, when he opened fire from his cannon upon the pursuing Americans, formed a hollow square, and received in it the exhausted fugitives. Many of the soldiers fell upon the ground completely overcome with fatigue, some of them "with their tongues hanging out of their mouths, like those of dogs after a chase." Percy dared not tarry long, for the woods were swarming with Minute-men. After brief rest and partaking of some refreshments, the united force resumed their march toward Boston, satisfied that if they did not get back before sunset, they would not get there at all, for the militia were gathering from the neighboring counties. It was a fearful march for the troops, and for the people of the country through which they passed. The Americans relentlessly pursued, while flanking parties of the British committed many hideous excesses, plundering houses, burning buildings, and ill-treating the defenceless inhabitants. All the way to West Cambridge the retreating army was dreadfully harassed by their concealed foes. There General William Heath, whom the Provincial Congress had appointed to the command of the militia, accompanied by Dr. Warren, concentrated a considerable body of Minute-men, and skirmished sharply with the British. A bullet carried away a curl-pin from a lock of hair on Warren's temple, as he was moving here and there infusing his ownf. heroic spirit into the militia, as he did on Breed's Hill a few weeks later. The contest was brief. The British kept the militia at bay, and pressed on toward Boston, narrowly escaping seven hundred Essex militia under Colonel Timothy Pickering, who attempted to bar the way to Charlestown, whither the fugitives were compelled to go. The regulars finally reached that village and the shelter of the guns of their frigates, when Heath ordered the pursuit to be stayed. Charlestown had been in a state of panic all day. Dr. Warren rode through its streets early in the forenoon, and told the people of the bloodshed at Lexington. Then came the news from Concord, at which many of the men had seized their muskets and hastened to the country. The schools were dismissed; places of business were closed; and when it was known that the retreating British would pass through the town, many of the inhabitants gathered up their valuable effects and prepared to leave. The firing at Cambridge caused most of them to rush toward the Neck to seek safety CHAP. XV. EFFECT OF THE NEWS IN ENGLAND. 789 in the country, when they were driven back in despair by the approaching fugitives. Rumors reached them that the British were slaughtering women and children in their streets, and many of the terror-stricken people passed the night in the clay-pits back of Breed's Hill. Not a single person was harmed in Charlestown. Percy ordered the women and children to stay in their houses. Reinforcements were sent over from Boston; guards were stationed; the wounded were taken to the hospital, and quiet was restored. General Pigot assumed command at Charlestown the next morning, and before noon the shattered army were in their quarters in Boston. During the memorable day, the British lost in killed, wounded, and missing, two hundred and seventy-three men; the Provincials lost one hundred and three. Three days after the fight at Lexington and Concord, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts assembled at Watertown, seven miles west of Boston, and chose Dr. Joseph Warren to be their President. A committee was appointed to draw up a " narrative of the massacre." They took many depositions, by which it was proven conclusively that the British fired the first shots. This narrative, with a firm and respectful Address to the Inhabitants of Great Britain, was sent to Arthur Lee, the colonial agent in England, and were published in the London Chronicle on the 3oth of May, nine days before General Gage's despatches reached his government. The ministry were confounded, and affectel1 to disbelieve the statements, but their truth was soon established. When, on the Ioth of June, the despatches of Gage were published, London was almost as much excited as Boston had been. Placards, lampoons, caricatures, and doggerel verses were hawked about the streets in profusion. The retreat of the British from Concord and Lexington was properly regarded as a defeat and a flight, and ministers were reviled because " the great British army at Boston had been beaten by a flock of Yankees." The temporizing Dartmouth now saw the mischievous results of the policy of the ministry, and said: "The effects of General Gage's attempt at Concord are fatal. By that unfortunate event, the happy moment of advantage is lost." Poor Gage was held responsible for the blunders of the ministry, and was censured without stint. The news of the events on the Ig9th of April spread rapidly over the land, and stirred society in the colonies as it had never been stirred before. There was a spontaneous resolution to environ Boston with an army of provincials that should confine the British to the peninsula. For this purpose, New Hampshire voted two thousand men, with Folsom and Stark as chief commanders. Connecticut voted six thousand, with Spencer as chief and Putnam as second. Rhode Island voted fifteen hundred, with Greene as 790 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. their leader-Nathaniel Greene, who became one of the most efficient of the military officers in the war for independence. He was a Friend, or Quaker, in religious sentiment. He was naturally very intelligent, and had learned much from books; a skilled mechanic and expert farmer. His people admired him, and made him their representative in the Rhode Island legislature. In English jurisprudence and the theory of the art of war he had learned much; and his peace principles, in accordance with the discipline of his society, did not restrain him from making resistance to injustice by force, if necessary; and at times, while the storm of the Revolution was gathering, he rode far to see grand military parades to gain some practical instruction in the art of war, for his prescience observed its approach. " In 1774, in a coat and hat of the Quaker fashion, he was seen watching the exercises and manceuvres of the British troops at Boston, where he used to buy of Henry Knox, a bookseller, treatises on the art of war." Meanwhile most important events had occurred in Virginia. On the 20th of March a convention of representatives of that province met in St. John's Church (yet standing) in Richmond. They approved the acts of the Continental Congress, and thanked their representatives who sat in that body. They resolved to be firm in defence of their liberties, but expressed a hope of speedy reconciliation. Patrick Henry promptly rebuked their expression of that hope. He, like Samuel Adams, Hawley, and Greene, saw clearly that the colonies must fight. He knew the danger that threatened the liberties of his people. The House of Burgesses could no longer be relied upon as an auxiliary of the people in their struggle, because of the continual interference of the royal governor. The colony was unprepared for the impending conflict. Only a little powder and a few muskets in the old magazine at Williamsburg comprised their munitions of war. In view of this weakness in the presence of danger which he foresaw, Henry proposed the appointment of a committee to prepare a plan for the embodying, arming, and disciplining a sufficient number of men to place the colony in a posture of defence. True patriots in the convention opposed the measure as mischievous at that time. They would not believe that armed resistance would be necessary. " It will be time enough to resort to measures of despair," they said, " when every well-founded hope has vanished." They suggested that the colonies were too weak to think of resisting the arms of Britain, and deprecated any action that should provoke war. They relied upon the innate justice of Englishmen for redress and reconciliation. Henry's feelings kindled into a flame at these timid suggestions. "What," he exclaimed, "has there been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify hope? Are fleets and armies neces CHAP. XV. SPEECH OF PATRICK HENRY. 791 sary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win us back to our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask, gentlemen, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world to call for all this accumulation of armies and navies? No, sir; she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us the chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying argument for the last ten years; have we anything new to offer? Shall we resort to entreaty and supplication? We have petitioned; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free; if we wish to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending; if we mean not basely to abandon the struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir; we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us. "They tell us, sir, that we are weak-unable to cope with so formidable an enemy. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be next week or next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of Liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any power which our enemy can send against us. Beside, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a great God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. And, again, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is 5 I 792 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable! and let it come! I repeat it, sir; let it come / It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry Peace, peace; but there is nopeace! The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field. What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me," he cried, with both arms extended aloft, his brow knit, every feature marked with the resolute purpose of his soul, and with his voice swelled to its loudest note, "Give me Liberty, or give me Death! " Henry's resolution was adopted by an almost unanimous vote, and himself, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others were appointed a committee to execute their designs. In a few days they submitted a plan for the defence of the colony, which was accepted, when the convention reappointed the delegates to the first Congress to seats in the second, to. convene in May, adding Thomas Jefferson "in case of the non-attendance of Peyton Randolph." Henry's prophecy was speedily fulfilled. Almost "the-next gale" that swept from the North brought to their " ears the clash of resounding arms " at Lexington and Concord. These bold proceedings caused the name of Henry to be presented to the British government in a bill of attainder, with those of Randolph, Jefferson, the two Adams's, and Hancock. They excited the official wrath of Governor Dunmore, who stormed in proclamations; and to frighten the Virginians, he caused a rumor to be circulated that he intended to excite an insurrection of the slaves. He extinguished the last spark of respect for himself, when, late in April, he caused marines to come secretly at night from a vessel-of-war in the York River, and carry to her the powder in the magazine at Williamsburg. The movement was discovered. At dawn, the Minute-men assembled, and were, with difficulty, restrained from seizing the governor. The people also assembled, and sent a respectful remonstrance to Dunmore, complaining of the act as specially wrong at that time, when a servile insurrection was apprehended. He replied evasively. The people demanded the immediate return of the powder. Patrick Henry was at his house in Hanover, when he heard of the act. He assembled a corps of volunteers and marched toward the capital, when the frightened governor sent a deputation with the receiver-general to meet him. Sixteen miles from Williamsburg, they had a conference with the patriot. The matter was CHAP. XV. ABDICATION OF ROYAL GOVERNMENT. 793 compromised by the payment by the receiver-general of the full value of ihe powder. Henry sent the money to the public treasury, and returned home. In the midst of this excitement, the governor called the House of Burgesses together, to consider a conciliatory proposition from Lord North. They rejected it; and the governor now fulminated proclamations against Henry and the committees of Vigilance which were formed in every county in Virginia. He declared that if one of his officers should be molested, he would raise the royal standard, proclaim freedom to the slaves, and arm them against their masters. He surrounded his house-his "palace" as he called it-with cannon, and secretly placed powder under the floor of the magazine, with the evident intention of blowing it up, should occasion seem to call for the deed. The discovery of this " gunpowder plot " greatly excited the people. Then came a rumor, on the 7th of June (I775), that armed marines were on their way from the York River to assist Dunmore to enforce the laws. The people flew to arms. The governor, alarmed for his personal safety, withdrew, with his family, that night to Yorktown, and the next morning took refuge on board the British man-of-war Fowey. He was the first royal governor who abdicated government at the beginning of the Revolution. From the Fowey, Dunmore sent messages, addresses, and letters to the Burgesses in session at Williamsburg, and received communications from them in return. When all necessary bills had been passed, the House invited Dunmore to his capital, to sign them, promising him a safeguard. He declined, and demanded that they should present the papers at his present residence, the ship-of-war. They did not go; but delegating their powers to a permanent committee, they adjourned. So ended royal rule in Virginia. Other royal governors were also compelled to abdicate; and before the close of the summer of I775, British dominion in the English-American provinces had ceased forever, and the people were preparing for war. News of the events of the Ig9th of April reached the city of New York on Sunday, the 23d. Regarding patriotism as a holy thing, the Sons of Liberty there did not refrain from doing its work on the Sabbath. They immediately proceeded to lay an embargo on vessels bound to Boston with supplies for the British troops there. In defiance of the king's collector at that port, they landed the cargo of a vessel which he had refused to admit, demanded and received the keys of the Custom-house, dismissed those employed in it, and closed it. This was done by Sears and Lamb, the chief leaders of the Sons of Liberty; and they boldly avowed this overt act of treason in letters to their political friends in other cities. It was soon imitated elsewhere. 794 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. As the horrid story of Lexington and Concord spread over the provinces southward, royal authority rapidly disappeared. Provincial Congresses were organized in all the colonies where they did not already exist, and so the political union of the provinces was perfected. Provision was everywhere made for war; and in May, a convention of the representatives of the towns in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, met at Charlotte, and by their proceedings, virtually declared the inhabitants of that county independent of the British crown. Taking into consideration the fact that the crown e A GENERAL GAGE. LORD DARTMOUTH. DR. XWARREN. had proclaimed the people of the colonies to be rebels, the Convention declared that all government in their county had ceased, and proceeded by a series of resolutions, passed on the 3Ist of May, to organize independent local government for themselves. This famous " Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence" has been the subject of much discussion, disputations, and acute historical inquiry. In the meantime an army of patriots were gathering around Boston with a determination to confine the British troops to the peninsula, or drive them to their ships and out to sea. On the morning of the day after the massacre at Lexington and Concord, and the fight on the retreat, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety sent a circular to all the towns of the province, CHAP. XV. GATHERING OF PATRIOTS AT CAMBRIDGE. 795 saying: "We conjure you, by all that is dear, by all that is sacred; we beg and entreat you, as you will answer it to your country, to your consciences, and, above all, to God himself, that you will hasten and arrange, by all possible means, the enlistment of men to form the army; and send them forward to headquarters at Cambridge with that expedition which the vast importance and instant urgency of the affair demands." The call was answered by many of the people before it reached their ears. It arose spontaneously out of the depths of their own patriotic hearts. Men started from the desk, the workshop, and the field the moment when the dreadful tale was told. Many of them did not stay to change their ohihe y card n, ia A VETER\NI HASTIENING TO CAMBRIDGE. clothing; they carried neither money nor food, intent only upon having their firelocks in order, their powder-horns well supplied, and their bulletpouches well filled. The women on their way opened wide their doors and hearts for the refreshment and encouragement of the patriotic volunteers; and very soon all New England was represented at Cambridge. Veterans of wars with the Indians and the French appeared as leaders; and before the close of April a fluctuating army of several thousand men were forming camps and piling fortifications around Boston, from Roxbury to the Mystic River, along a line of about twenty miles. So early as the afternoon of the 20th, General Artemas Ward, the senior military officer appointed by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, was on the ground, and assumed the chief command. That Congress, like the Committee of Safety,- worked day and night in patriotic duty. They appointed military officers; organized a bureau of supplies, and issued bills of credit for the payment of the troops to the amount of three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, for the 796 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. redemption of which the province was pledged. They declared that no obedience was thenceforward to be rendered to General Gage, and that he ought to be " considered and guarded against as an unnatural and inveterate enemy to the country." They took legislative and executive power into their own hands, and so abolished royal government in Massachusetts; and they forwarded deputations to the Second Continental Congress that assembled early in May, suggesting the necessity for making provision for organizing an army competent to oppose the troops expected from Great Britain. It was at about that time, when society in the colonies was in a ferment, that Dr. Franklin arrived from England, when a poet of the day gave him a welcome in the following words: Welcome! once more To these fair western plains-thy native shore; Here live belov'd and leave the tools at home To run their length and finish out their doom; Here lend them aid to quench their brutal fires, Or fan the flame which Liberty inspires; Or fix the grand Conductor, that shall guide The tempest back, and'lectrify their pride. Rewarding Heaven will bless thy cares at last, And future glories glorify the past. Why staid apostate Wedderburn behind, The scum. the scorn. the scoundrel of mankind? Whose heart at large to ev'ry vice is known, And every devil claims him for his own; Why came he not to take the large amount Of all we owe him, due on thine account? 4-,? CHAPTER XVI. PERFIDY OF GAGE-CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA AND CROWN POINT-THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS-DECLARATIONS OF THEIR VIEWS AND INTENTIONS-PETITIONS AND ADDRESSESPREPARATIONS FOR WAR - NATIONAL FUNCTIONS OF CONGRESS- CONNECTICUT TROOPS AT HARLEM-FORTIFICATIONS IN NEW YORK ORDERED-THE FORCES AT CAMBRIDGE MADE A CONTINENTAL ARMY-BRITISH IN BOSTON-WASHINGTON APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEFCONTINENTAL PAPER CURRENCY-THE ARMY AT CAMBRIDGE-GAGE'S PROCLAMATION-BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. G AGE now saw the real peril of his situation, surrounded as he was by an army of exasperated men outside of Boston, and deadly foes within it. Instead of relaxing his rigor, he increased it for a moment in order to secure an unfair advantage. He forbade all intercourse with the country, and no one was allowed to leave the town. Their supplies of food and fuel thus cut off, famine stared the people in the face. The worst horrors of civil war were impending; and at that moment of their agony of dread, Gage offered to give safe conduct out of Boston to all who wished to go, provided they would surrender their arms, and promise not to join in an attack on his troops or works. In their extremity they accepted his proposition, and delivered their arms at Faneuil Hall. The exodus immediately began, when the Tories interfered. They begged Gage to keep the patriotic citizens as hostages. He violated his solemn pledge, and kept many of the disarmed inhabitants there, some of them separated from portions of their families, and exposed to bitter insults. The patriots now determined on aggressive movements to weaken the British power on the continent. It was believed that the ministry entertained a scheme for separating New England from the rest of the colonies by a military occupation of the Hudson Valley and Lake Champlain, the latter the Indian " door of the country " opening between the Hudson and the St. Lawrence. On Lake Champlain were the two powerful fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, which might be made most efficient in executing the proposed scheme, for they would secure free intercourse with Canada. Are the Canadians friendly to us? was then a question of great importance for the patriots. In March, Samuel Adams and Dr. Warren, members of the Committee of Correspondence, sent John Brown of western 798 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. Massachusetts, as a secret agent of that province, to seek an intelligent answer. He sent word that the Canadians were lukewarm, at the best, and advised the seizure of Ticonderoga and Crown Point the moment the impending conflict should be commenced; and he assured them that the Green Mountain Boys, as the men of Vermont (then the New Hampshire Grants) were called, whose leader was sturdy, patriotic, honest Ethan Allen, were ready to undertake the enterprise. When the blow was struck on the Ig9th of April, it was resolved to secure the lake fortresses at once. Samuel Adams and John Hancock conferred personally on the subject with the governor of Connecticut, at Hartford, when funds were appropriated from the public treasury for the expedition, and powers delegated to two citizens as a committee to superintend the expedition. An express was sent to Allen, asking him to hold his " Boys" in readiness. The whole movement was done in secret, yet hints of it reached the ears of Benedict Arnold, who was about to leave for Cambridge with a Connecticut company of which he was captain. The committee gathered sixteen men'at Salisbury, and marched to Pittsfield, where they were joined by Brown and Colonel Easton, with a small force of Berkshire volunteers. Pushing on to Bennington, they were joined by Allen and his men; and on Sunday, the 7th of May, I775, they rendezvoused at Castleton. There they were joined by Arnold. On his arrival at Cambridge he had proposed to the Provincial Congress an expedition against the forts, and received from them a commission of colonel, and authority to raise and lead not more than four hundred men against the lake fortresses. By virtue of this commission, he claimed the leadership, though he came with only one man. The militiamen chose Allen as their leader, and Arnold accompanied the expedition as a volunteer. On the evening of the 9th of May, the expedition was at Shoreham, opposite Ticonderoga. Only a few boats could be found there. In these, eighty-three men, with Allen at their head and accompanied by Arnold, passed over. The boats were sent back for more men under Colonel Seth Warner; but as a surprise of the garrison was necessary, and the day was dawning, the intrepid leader resolved not to wait. "It is a desperate attempt," said Allen to his men, in a low voice: " I don't urge it contrary to will; you that will undertake voluntarily, poise your firelocks." Every musket was poised. The men followed Allen up the bank to the sally-port, led by a lad familiar with the fort. The sentry snapped his fuzee, and ran into the fortress through a covered way, closely followed by Allen and his men. As they rushed into the parade they gave a tremendous shout, and ranged themselves in two lines against opposite walls. The aroused garrison CHAP. XVI. CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA. 799 leaped from their beds, seized their arms, and hastened to the parade, only to be made prisoners by the New Englanders. Captain Delaplace, the commandant of the garrison, awakened by the shout, sprang from his couch, followed by his alarmed young wife, and without dressing hastened to the door of his quarters in the upper story. Allen had already ascended the outside steps leading to that door, and giving three loud raps with the hilt of his sword, shouted, "Come out instantly, or I will sacrifice the whole garrison!" As the captain opened the door, the pretty face of his frightened wife peering- over his shoulders, Allen said, in a loud voice: "I order you in- \ stantly to surrender!" Delaplace and Allen were old friends. I The astonished captain ex-' claimed: "By what authority do you demand a surrender?" Allen raised his sword and thundered out: "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Conti- a nental Congress!" The captain began to speak, when Allen k e pointed to his men, and ordered him to be silent and surrender immediately. Delaplace obeyed; and the strong fortress, which had cost the British government millions of pounds sterling and many lives, passed into the possession of a few undisciplined ETHAN ALLES SUMMONS. men without the loss of a drop of blood. The Continental Congress, as an organized body, were not in existence until some hours after the surrender; but Allen knew they were to assemble on that day, the ioth of May, r775. With the fort were surrendered about fifty men, more than a hundred cannon, mortars, howitzers and swivels, many small arms, and a considerable quantity of ammunition and stores. Some of the great guns were afterward used by the patriots in the siege of Boston. Colonel Warner had crossed the lake with the remainder of the volunteers, and reached the fort at the moment of the 800oo OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. surrender. On the I2th he led a detachment, in boats, against Crown Point, and captured that strong fortress without bloodshed. In a large room of the State-house in Philadelphia, now known as Independence Hall, the Second Continental Congress met on Wednesday, the Ioth of May, and chose Peyton Randolph of Virginia for the President, and Charles Thomson, Secretary. Again Mr. Duche was invited to become the chaplain of Congress. Representatives of all the colonies were present on that day, except from Georgia, but late in July there were delegates present from that province. They met under a dense cloud of difficulties, through which, for awhile, few rays of sunlight could pierce. They had met as the representatives of separate colonies that were in a state of virtual rebellion against a powerful government which had declared its intention to bring them into submission by force of arms. Armies and navies were already on their coasts for the purpose, and more men were on the way. War had actually begun in two of the colonies, and overt acts of treason had been committed in nearly all. As an executive body, they were legally powerless. They had no authority from any one to employ a soldier or -levy or collect a tax. They had no executive head, no legislative functions, no treasury. They were assembled, as was the First Congress, simply as a great advisory committee composed of smaller committees from the several colonies. They were representatives of colonies groaning under serious grievances and petty tyrannies, and ready to fight for their rights, and yet loyal and loving subjects of the king of Great Britain. Even so radical a Son of Liberty as Dr. Warren, wrote from the Massachusetts Provincial Congress after the Ig9th of April, expressing a hope that the government would see the folly of its course and act justly, and saying: "This I most heartily wish, as I feel a warm affection still for the parent state." The delegates were more varied in their nationalities, their theological views, and their local interests than the prismatic colors; how were they to combine and become white, powerful, life-giving sunlight? was the vital question of the hour. The unexpected kindling of war compelled them to consider measures for defence, and yet there was indecision, for many members believed reconciliation possible, and wished to keep the door open. The Congress having resolved themselves into a committee of the whole to take into consideration the state of the colonies, reported on the 26th of May, that war had been commenced by Great Britain; that they had no intention to cast off their allegiance to the crown; and that they anxiously desired peace. At the same time they declared that the colonies ought to be put in a posture of defence against any attempt to coerce them into submission to parliamentary taxation. They resolved that no pro CHAP. XVI. BOLDNESS OF THE CONGRESS. 801 visions ought to be furnished the British army or navy; that no bills of exchange drawn by British officers ought to be negotiated, and that no colonial ships ought to be employed in the transportation of British troops. They considered it useless to memorialize the Parliament; but after strenuous opposition from the Massachusetts delegation, among whom the idea of independence was fast blossoming, it was resolved that another petition to the king should be drawn up and sent to his majesty. It was done. An Address to the Inhabitants of Canada; a Declaration setting forth the causes and the necessity for the colonies to take up arms; an Address to the Assembly of Jamaica, to the Inhabitants of Great Britain, and to the People of Ireland, were also adopted. To the king they expressed their continued devotion to his person, and their deep regret that circumstances had in the least weakened their attachment to the crown. To the people of Great Britain, they truthfully declared that their acts were wholly defensive; that the charge that they were seeking absolute independence was a malicious slander, and that they had never applied to a foreign power for countenance or aid in prosecuting a rebellion, as had been falsely alleged. They set forth, in very nervous sentences, that ill-treatment by the British government in the rejection of petitions, and oppressive acts of Parliament, was the cause that placed them in the attitude of resistance which they then assumed, contending that it was necessary and justifiable, and worthy of the free character of the subjects of Great Britain. They boldly said, when commenting upon the wanton exercise of arbitrary power: "Shall the descendants of Britons tamely submit to this? No, sirs! We never will, while we revere the memory of our gallant and virtuous ancestors, we never can surrender those glorious privileges for which they fought, bled, and conquered. Admit that your fleets could destroy our towns, and ravage our sea-coasts; these are inconsiderable objects, things of no moment to men whose bosoms glow with the ardor of liberty. We can retire beyond the reach of your navy, and, without any sensible diminution of the necessaries of life, enjoy a luxury which, from that period, you will want-the luxury of being free." From this time the Continental Congress were less timid. From the beginning they had evinced a determination to sustain Massachusetts in her defence of her charter. Now they assumed comprehensive authority without any fixed limits of action. They did not wait for the result of their petition to the king, but went forward in preparations for a struggle for life. They exercised supreme executive, legislative, and sometimes judicial functions; and in the ready obedience to their mandates observed by the several colonies, they derived their authority. The supporters of the Congress 802 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. throughout the land were so strong in character and intelligence, that, from the summer of I775 until the end of the war, that body never lacked moral strength for the exercise of the functions of a national government. All subjects of a general character were submitted to the consideration of the Congress. For example: When a rumor prevailed that a British regiment had been ordered from Ireland to New York, the Committee of One Hundred, of that city, which had been appointed to supersede that of Fiftyone, asked the Congress how they should act; and when a Provincial Congress had been organized in that colony in May, I775, that body submitted grave questions of public policy to the Continental Congress as a national and supreme tribunal, and suggested to them the propriety of issuing bills of credit in the name of the United Colonies, to furnish funds for defraying the expenses of defending the whole people. This was the first suggestion for the Congress to exercise national functions. New York was advised to permit the troops to land, and live in barracks, but not to fortify the city. They also suggested the inviting of General Wooster to come to their borders with his Connecticut regiment to assist in defending the city against any hostile movement of the expected troops. It was done, and Wooster was encamped at Harlem, whence he sent detachments to Long Island to guard against British cruisers and foragers, and to intercept supplies of provisions sent to the troops in Boston. At first the Continental Congress hesitated to approve the capture of the forts on Lake Champlain, but when timidity gave place to courage, they were anxious to maintain possession of them as a means for keeping the control of the Hudson Valley. For the like purpose, they directed the Provincial Congress of New York to fortify posts at the upper end of New York Island, and on both sides of the Hudson in the Highlands. At about the same time, when President Randolph was called to the chair as Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, they chose John Hancock to succeed him. Mr. Harrison of Virginia, as he conducted Hancock to the chair, said: " We will show Britain how much we value her proscriptions." The Congress were now called upon to exercise still higher national functions. It was soon perceived that the aged, good, and virtuous General Ward was not possessed of sufficient military ability to be chief commander of the motley forces which had been suddenly gathered at Cambridge. The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts apprehended the fading away of that army unless a more efficient commander might be found, and they gladly perceived a way for making a change without offence by asking the General Congress to assume the regulation and direction of that army. The war was, evidently, to become a continental one, and it was proper that a con CHAP. XVI. MILITARY CHIEF APPOINTED. 803 tinental army should be organized. The request was made, and in a private letter written by Joseph Warren to Samuel Adams, it was intimated that the request was to be interpreted as a desire for the appointment of a generalissimo or commander-in-chief of all troops that might be raised. The request was immediately followed by the news that reinforcements for the army in Boston were arriving, and that Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne were already there. The Congress felt compelled to act promptly, for there were indications that war would be commenced at some points remote from Massachusetts, in order to distract the colonies. They did not then know that Gage had advised his government to send fifteen thousand troops to Boston, ten thousand to New York, and seven thousand Canadians and Indians to operate in the region of Lake Champlain, falsely accusing the Americans of employing savages against British troops. Feeling that the union of the colonies was complete, notwithstanding Georgia was not yet represented in the Congress, that body, on the 7th of June, in a resolution for a general fast, had spoken, for the first time, of " the twelve United Colonies." To make the bond stronger, they now, on motion of John Adams, adopted the forces at Cambridge as a Continental Army, and proceeded to choose a commander-in-chief. At the suggestion of the New England delegation, Thomas Johnson of Maryland nominated George Washington, of Virginia, then a member of the Congress, for that important office, and he was elected by a unanimous vote. That was on the I th of June. When, on the following morning, President Hancock officially announced to Washington his appointment, that gentleman arose in his place, and formally accepted the office. In his modest speech on that occasion, after expressing doubts of his ability to perform the duties satisfactorily, he said: " As to pay, sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that, as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept the arduous employment at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses. Those, I doubt not, they will discharge, and that is all I desire." Washington was then forty-three years of age. Four major-generals and eight brigadier-generals were appointed in the course of a few days. The former were Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam; the latter were Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and Nathaniel Greene. On the 22d of June, the Congress resolved to issue a sum not exceeding two million dollars, on bills of credit, " for the defence of America," prescribed the form of the bills, and appointed a committee of five to attend to the printing of them. The plates were rudely engraved by Paul Revere, 804 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. of Boston, and printed on such thick paper, that the British called the currency "the paste-board money of the rebels." Each denomination had a separate and significant device and motto, which bore the stamp of the mind of Dr. Franklin, who was one of the committee. Twenty-eight gentlemen were appointed to sign them. New issues were made at various times until the close of I779, when the aggregate amount was $242,000,000. Then the bills had so much depreciated that one hundred dollars in specie would by4 DF LA IFTn.1 ceRS. The v boots and~sr~~EIODOLS, f a' s oh buy twengety-six hundred i n pape r currency. They Very soon beame worthlemss. In Janary, 781, Captain Allan McLan e paid $6 for a pair of boots, ansid $bo foryK a Boskein of thre b e adc.mad At the beginning of Jun Te (77) the army at Cambridge numbered about sixteen thousand men, all New Englanders. General Ward was the chief, and John Thomas was his lieu ten ant. Rich ard Gridley, who was the engineer-in-chief at the reduction of Louisburg thirty years before, was commissioned to command an artillery corps and to be chief engineer, and was assisted by Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller, who had commanded an artillery company in that town. The British force in Boston was increasing by fresh arrivals. It numbered then about ten thousand men. Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne had arrived late in May, and heartily joined Gage in forming and executing plans for dispersing thye "rebels." Feeing strong with these veteran officers and soldiers around him, and the presence was'assstedby enr Kno, aBoson boksller wh ha comandd a HoeClntnan Brgyn hd rrve lteinMa, ndhertlyjone Gag i frmng ndexcuin plnsfo dsp rsngth "rebls" eein stogwt teevtrn fiesad odesaoudhm n tepeec CHAP. XVI. GAGE'S INSULTING PROCLAMATION. 805 of several ships-of-war under Admiral Graves, the governor issued a most insulting proclamation, declaring martial law; branding those citizens in arms, and their abettors, as "rebels" and "parricides of the Constitution," and offering pardon to all who should forthwith return to their allegiance, excepting Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were reserved for condign punishment as traitors. This proclamation produced intense indignation throughout the province. "All the records of time," wrote Mrs. John Adams to her husband, "cannot produce a blacker page. Satan, when driven from the regions of bliss, exhibited not more malice. Surely the father of lies is superseded. Yet we think it the best proclamation he could have issued." At about the middle of June, the British officers in Boston waked to the consciousness that " rebel" batteries at Dorchester Heights on the south, or on Charlestown Heights-Bunker's or Breed's Hills-on the north, might make the situation of the troops in the town not only disagreeable but perilous. They resolved to sally out and fortify these heights themselves, Dorchester on the I8th of June, and Bunker's Hill a few days later. Rumors of this intention reached the Committee of Safety, to whom the Provincial Congress had delegated all discretionary powers to regulate the movements of troops, and they proposed the immediate fortification of Bunker's Hill before their enemy should come out. On. the I6th of June, an order was issued for the regiments of Colonels Frye, Bridges and Prescott, Samuel Gridley's company of artillery, and a fatigue party of Connecticut troops, under Captain Thomas Knowlton, of Putnam's regiment, to parade in the camp at Cambridge at six o'clock in the evening, with intrenching tools. The whole were placed under the command of Colonel William Prescott of Pepperell, who received written orders from General Ward to proceed to and fortify Bunker's Hill on the Charlestown peninsula. At nine o'clock in the evening, after a prayer by Dr. Langdon, President of Harvard College, a larger portion of these regiments, accompanied by General Putnam, marched over Charlestown Neck and along the road to Bunker's Hill. The whole force numbered about thirteen hundred men. They proceeded silently in the darkness. A council was held in the gloom, when it was decided that Breed's Hill, nearer Boston, would be the most effective point for a fortification. They accordingly proceeded to that eminence overlooking Charlestown on the edge of the water, and there, in the star-light, a thousand men began the work with pick and spade. The waning moon rose at midnight, and in its pale light they worked in such silence until dawn, that they were not discovered by the sentinels on the ships-of-war that lay in sight below them, and whose voices, 806 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. crying out hourly " All's well! " they could distinctly hear. There lay the Lively, Glasgow, Somerset, and Cerberus, with floating batteries, in fancied security, while the toilers piled the earth so vigorously, that a redoubt rose six feet above the earth at daybreak on Saturday, the I7th of June. Then they were discovered by the sentinel on the Lively. The captain beheld the strange apparition with wonder and alarm, and without waiting for orders:' BUILDING THE REDOUBTS ON BREED'S HILL. from the admiral, he put springs on his cable and opened a sharp fire on the unfinished work. Other vessels opened broadsides upon that seeming creation of magic, while the Americans within the redoubt, unhurt by the shots, worked steadily on. That cannonade at dawn on a beautiful summer morning, broke the slumber of the troops and citizens in Boston, and filled both with astonishment. Very soon roofs, balconies, and steeples were alive with gazers upon the strange scene. Gage summoned his principal officers to a council, when it was decided that the Americans must be dislodged, at all hazards. The newlyarrived generals proposed to land troops on Charlestown Neck, and taking CHAP. XVI. BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL. 807 the " rebels" in reverse, cut off their retreat and prevent their reinforcement. Gage decided to attack them in front; and about twenty-five hundred troops, composed of infantry, grenadiers, and artillery, with twelve pieces of cannon, crossed the Charles River in boats, at a little past noon, under cover of a tremendous cannonade from the shipping and Copp's Hill, and landed toward the eastern extremity of the Charlestown peninsula, at the head of the present Chelsea Bridge. There Howe reconnoitred the American position, ordered his men to dine, and sent back to Boston for reinforcements. The men at the redoubt had toiled all the forenoon, completed their work, and at meridian exchanged the pick and spade for the accoutrements of war. Almost twelve hours had they labored, with little rest and food. They had cast up a redoubt about eight rods square, and an embankment on its left extending about a hundred yards toward the Mystic River; also a similar line on the right. The troops, wearied with work and want of food and sleep, asked for relief, but their leader said " No;" you have cast up the redoubt, and you shall have the honor of defending it." They asked for reinforcements, which he at first declined calling for, supposing the British would not attack him. At length there were indications in the city that they were coming out, and Prescott sent to General Ward for reinforcements. That officer tardily complied with the request, and sent the New Hampshire regiments of Stark and Reed; also some small field pieces. Some other detachments joined Prescott, and Dr. Joseph Warren, who had just received a commission as major-general, arrived with the cheering news that other reinforcements were coming. Putnam was there, flying from point to point to make dispositions for securing a victory, and urging Ward, who was afraid of an attack upon Cambridge, to send on reinforcements. When Howe was about to move at three o'clock in the afternoon, the Americans were prepared for the contest. Prescott, with Warren, and the constructors of the redoubt, were within that work, excepting the Connecticut troops, who, with the New Hampshire forces, were at a rail fence and breastworks on the west of the redoubt. The artillery companies were between the breastwork and a rail fence on the eastern side, and three companies were stationed in Charlestown at the foot of Breed's Hill. Just as the fight was about to begin,~ reinforcements came for Howe and landed at the present entrance to the Navy Yard. They consisted of a regiment, some companies of light infantry and grenadiers, and a marine battalion led by Major Pitcairn of Lexington fame. The entire British force now confronting the Americans on the peninsula numbered more than three thousand. 52 80o8 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK iV. At half-past three o'clock, Howe's great guns moved toward the redoubt, and opened fire upon the works. They were followed by the troops in two columns, commanded respectively by Generals Howe and Pigot, the infantry and grenadiers assailing the outworks. At the same time the guns on the ships and the battery on Copp's Hill hurled random shot in abundance upon the little earthwork. In the midst of the roaring thunder, the Americans were silent in the redoubt, and mostly so along the lines of intrenchments and fences, for their leader had ordered them not to fire until they s - THE FIRST FIRE FROM THE REDOUBT. could see the whites of the eyes of the approaching foe. The silence was a riddle to the English. It was soon solved. When they were within the prescribed distance, up rose the concealed host, fifteen hundred strong, at the word Fire! and poured such a tremendous and destructive storm of bullets upon the climbers of the green slope, that whole platoons and even companies were prostrated as a scythe would have mown down the long grass through which they were wading. Flags fell to the ground like the tall lilies in a mown meadow, and the shattered army was horror-struck for a moment. The bugles sounded, and they fell back to the shore, when a shout of triumph went up from the crest of Breed's Hill. Howe soon rallied his men, and repeated the attack with a similar result. ~;..~ ~ ~~~~~?:::'''?'' 11 ii ii!i?'?~""''" ~~ i!i~ li!1 ii.!. 11.i......... X11..... 71~:117 ~.~?.!~11~iiii~..~::...~::~i.~!~? ~i~~~i?~.'i:::~?i?:~:?111.~?!i!?11~?!11~i:~?:~::~..... ~iiii~.~..........?...........................................!' ~.~iiii~::.~ ~':~.~i~i~i~i~:. ~i!I~ i!11~ii:~.'11.~:.:~:.......i?'~i~,111i~iiii~i~i..i~lii'111~:.'~:~i'~.~.........?......................... I a~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...... I 2:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~....... t~ Z~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.............. lim m ---- n -e Mloo 04 -1 --- ------ --- - -- --- ------ -—..... - ------ --------- -- - -- -----::: ~~~~~~~~ t: ~~p j~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. 0 ~~:~i~~:~:~~?~:~~::::~~:l:~~::::::::~~~:5'~~5::~~: M ~~::::::j:~::~:::::j:::ii:::::::jj::: ~:~::::j~:j:I r O'E. 11 CHAP. XVI. RETREAT OF THE AMERICANS. 809 The British were greatly annoyed by shots from houses in Charlestown, and, at the request of Howe, shells were thrown into it from Copp's Hill, and set the village on fire. Very soon almost two hundred wooden buildings-dwellings and churches-were in flames, and Breed's Hill was shrouded in black smoke for awhile, until a gentle breeze that suddenly sprang up blew it away. At the same time General Clinton, who, from Copp's Hill, had seen the second recoil of the British troops, hastened across the river, and at the head of some broken battalions shared in the perils and success of a third attack, for Howe had again rallied his troops, and was pressing toward the Americans. The British had been ordered to march at quick step, and use only their bayonets. These and the artillery soon drove the defenders of the breastworks into the redoubt. Again from that flaming centre went out dreadful volleys that shattered the head of the British column. The powder of the Americans was now almost exhausted. Their fire became more feeble. The British pushed up to and over the ramparts; and after a hand-to-hand struggle in the redoubt with bayonets and clubbed muskets, the Americans were driven out. They fled toward Charlestown Neck, where reinforcements had been arrested by a severe enfilading fire from the British vessels. The retreat of the main body was covered by the prolonged fighting of Stark, Reed, and Knowlton at the outworks, with some reinforcements. Warren was the last to leave the redoubt, and was hurrying toward Bunker's Hill, where Putnam was trying to rally the fugitives, and was shot dead by a bullet that pierced his brain. The British loss in this battle-killed, wounded, and prisoners-was ten hundred and fiftyfour. Among the officers slain was Major Pitcairn. His pistols are now in the possession of descendants of General Putnam. The Americans lost in killed, wounded, and missing, four hundred and fifty. This conflict, known as the Battle of Bunker's Hill, though fought on Breed's Hill, lasted almost two hours. It was gazed upon by anxious thousands who were on the neighboring hills and the roofs, and steeples in Boston, deeply interested spectators of a terrible scene in which dear kindred were engaged. When the redoubt was carried and the Americans retreated, the whole body of troops on the peninsula were compelled to run the gauntlet of cannon-balls from the British vessels, as they fled across Charlestown Neck. Many were slain there. The survivors encamped that night on Prospect Hill, and the British reposed on their arms on the field of battle until the next morning, when they passed over the water to Boston never again to appear on the main land of Massachusetts. CHAPTER XVII. WASHINGTON TAKES COMMAND OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY —PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE OF BOSTON —DISPOSITION OF THE OPPOSING ARMIES-DEALINGS WITH THE CANADIANS-CANADA TO BE INVADED-EXPLOITS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN-INSTRUCTIONS TO GENERAL SCHUYLERTHE INDIANS AND THE JOHNSON FAMILY —BENEDICT ARNOLD-THE CANADIANS-CHARACTER OF THE TROOPS AT TICONDEROGA-MONTGOMERY SUMMONED TO COMMAND TIIEM-ST. JOHNS BESIEGED AND CAPTURED-ALLEN MADE PRISONER-ARNOLD'S EXPEDITION-PREPARATIONS TO BESIEGE QUEBEC. W WASHINGTON did not go to his home at Mount Vernon after his appointment to the chieftainship of the Continental Army; but six days after that appointment (June 21), he left Philadelphia for the east. He was accompanied by Generals Lee and Schuyler. They were escorted to New York by Philadelphia light-horsemen. At Trenton they met a courier riding in haste to give the Congress news of the battle of Bunker's Hill. He relieved the mind of Washington of a great burden of anxiety by assuring the general that the militia behaved nobly in the battle, for of such materials the Continental Army was composed. Washington arrived in New York on Sunday afternoon, the 25th of June, where he was received by the Provincial Congress, and addressed by their President, Philip Livingston, in a highly conservative speech; for the royal governor, Tryon, had just arrived also, and public sentiment in New York was almost equally divided in favor of the two distinguished men. After returning the salutation in a few words, Washington retired to his lodgings, where he spent the whole evening with Schuyler in consultation about operations in the Northern Department, over which the latter was placed. It was then the most important field, for it had a broad frontier on unfriendly Canada, a wily and treacherous foe in the Indians within its bosom, and a demoralizing element of loyalty to the crown pervading its more influential society. On Monday morning Washington and Lee, accompanied by Schuyler, rode to New Rochelle, where they conferred with the veteran soldier, General Wooster. There Schuyler left them, when they journeyed on toward the New England capital, receiving the warmest greetings of the people who flocked to the highways to catch a glimpse of the eminent CHAP. XVII. WASHINGTON TAKES COMMAND OF THE ARMY. 8II Virginian. These officers reached Watertown, seven miles from Boston, on the morning of the 2d of July, where they received congratulatory addresses from James Warren, President of the Provincial Congress in session there. They arrived at Cambridge early in the afternoon, when Washington established his headquarters in the fine house provided for him, now the residence of Professor Longfellow the poet. At nine o'clock the next morning (July 3), he appeared, with his suite, under a large elm tree yet standing at the northerly end of Cambridge Common. The Continental forces were drawn up in line, when Washington, with uncovered head, stepped a few paces forward, drew his sword, and took formal command of the Army. In that important office he served without intermission almost eight years, when he resigned his commission into the custody of the Congress, from which body he received it. On the 4th of July, Washington issued his first general order, in which he recommended sobriety, harmony, order, and the constant exercise of patriotism and morality, and a humble reliance upon God. On the 9th, he held his first council of war; and ten days afterward Adjutant-General Gates reported present, fit for duty, I3,743 men, and an enrollment of I6,770, all from the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Some riflemen from Maryland, Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania, led by Daniel Morgan, a man of sturdy frame and unflinching courage, who had seen service in the French and Indian War, joined the army soon afterward. Washington immediately began the siege of Boston by so disposing his forces as to confine the British to the peninsula and the adjacent islands and shores. He arranged his army in three grand divisions, each division containing two brigades. The right wing was placed under General Artemas Ward, with brigadiers Thomas and Spencer. They were stationed at Roxbury. The left wing was commanded by General Lee, and consisted of the brigades of Sullivan and Greene. These occupied Winter and Prospect Hills. The centre was commanded by General Putnam. One of his brigades was commanded by Heath, and the other by a senior officer of less rank than a brigadier, for Pomeroy had declined the office conferred upon him by the Congress. The Americans cast up strong lines of intrenchments between the extremities of the army. The British were strongly intrenched on Bunker's Hill, about half a mile from the battle-ground on Breed's Hill. Their sentries occupied Charlestown Neck; floating batteries were moored in Mystic River, near Bunker's Hill, and a twenty-gun ship was anchored at the ferry between Boston and Charlestown. On Copp's Hill, in the city, the British had a strong battery. The bulk of the army under General Howe 812 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. (who had succeeded Gage in the chief command) lay upon Bunker's Hill, and some cavalry and a small corps of Tories remained in the city. Such was the relative position of the belligerent forces during the summer and early autumn of I775. Meanwhile the civil powers of the General Congress and of the province were strengthened by consolidation. In Massachusetts a House of Representatives was organized under the original charter, which vested executive powers in a council chosen by the people, in the absence of the governor and his lieutenant. That body, therefore, assumed such powers, as a single executive committee, vested with all the functions of Committees of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety. Under such a government the people of Massachusetts lived, until they formed a State Constitution in I78o. We have observed that the General Congress sent an address to the inhabitants of Canada. It was affectionate in its terms. It invited them to join the other colonies in efforts to obtain a redress of grievances. But the duplicity of the Congress of 1774 had made the Canadians lukewarm, as John Brown reported them, if not actually hostile. That Congress had also addressed them in affectionate terms; but in their address to the people of Great Britain, who delighted in shouting " No Popery! " they had, unfortunately, in alluding to the Quebec Act, said: "We think the Legislature is not authorized by the constitution to establish a religion fraught with sanguinary tenets, in any part of the globe; nor can we suppress our astonishment, that a British Parliament should ever consent to establish in that country [Canada] a religion that has deluged your island in blood and dispensed impiety, bigotry, persecution, murder, and rebellion through every part of the world." This address, like the one to the Canadians, was translated into the French language, and scattered among the priests and the people by the press. It created much indignation for awhile, but the resentment soon cooled, for the national hatred of the English by the French population made the latter soon feel kindly toward the "Bostonians," as the patriots were called. Carleton proclaimed martial-law in Canada, and denounced the borderers who seized the lake posts, as rebels and traitors. He sought alliances with the Indian tribes, and proposed to invade New York for the purpose of recovering those posts. When, in June (I775), the Continental Congress heard of these things, the conquest of Canada seemed to them and to the people as a simple act of self-defence, and it was resolved to undertake that task. It ought to have been attempted sooner. Allen urged it with vehemence soon after the posts were taken. Hoping his advice to invade Canada at once would be followed, he began to prepare for the important CHAP. XVII. INVASION OF CANADA AUTHORIZED. 813 work. A party of his Green Mountain Boys captured Skenesborough, at the head of Lake Champlain (now Whitehall), with a son of Skene, the proprietor, and many of his people. They also took away from them a schooner and several bateaux. Colonel Arnold armed the schooner with guns from Ticonderoga, fully manned it, and with some bateaux sailed down the lake to attack the fort at St. Johns, on the Sorel, its outlet, followed by Allen, with one hundred and fifty men, in boats and bateaux. Arnold left the schooner at the foot of the lake, and with thirty-five men, who went in boats, he captured the little garrison at St. Johns, destroyed some vessels there, and sailed for Ticonderoga with his prisoners. He met Allen on the way. After a brief conference, the latter pressed forward to garrison the captured fort; but on the approach of a superior force of Canadians from Montreal and Chambly, he retreated. Then it was that Allen, by an earnest letter, entreated the Congress to invade Canada. The exploits of the Green Mountain Boys and of Arnold, showed how easily the conquest might be achieved. But the Congress then regarded the letter of the bold leader as the utterances of the wild fancy of an ambitious adventurer drunk with sudden success. But events soon changed their minds. After the information of Carleton's movements had been received, and the battle of Bunker's Hill had startled the continent, the Congress and the people saw the folly of the delay. The operations of the patriots on Lake Champlain had aroused the British authorities in Canada to a sense of their danger; the delay had enabled them to take measures for arresting that danger. General Schuyler was ordered to repair to the lake fortresses, where Colonel Hinman was in command with a few Connecticut troops. He had been appointed to that station with the sanction of the Continental Congress. Schuyler was authorized, if he should "find it practicable and not disagreeable to the Canadians, immediately to take possession of St. Johns and Montreal, and pursue such other measures in Canada as might have a tendency to promote the peace and security of the province." These mild and cautious words were properly interpreted as an explicit order to invade Canada. Agents were sent among the Indians in the Mohawk country at the same time, to secure their neutrality, but not to force military alliances with the savages. The Congress also appointed a Board of Commissioners of Indian Affairs, of which General Schuyler was appointed chairman. His family had always maintained a great influence over the chiefs of the Six Nations; and the general was popular among them. The value of his services in keeping these nations neutral or passive during the struggle cannot be estimated. Schuyler did not reach Ticonderoga until the i8th of July, having been 8I4 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. detained at Albany and vicinity in consequence of alarming news from the Indian country. It was asserted that Guy Johnson, the Indian agent, who had espoused the ministerial cause, was endeavoring to make the Six Nations the allies of the British in the impending struggle; and that Sir John Johnson, the son and heir of Sir William, was organizing a military force for the same purpose, among his retainers who were chiefly Scotch Highlanders and the Tories of Tryon county. These rumors were largely true, and demanded instant attention. PHILIP SCHUYLER. When Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga, he found great confusion prevailing. Colonel Arnold, who claimed precedence to all others because of his earlier commission from the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, refused to acknowledge the authority of Colonel Hinman; and most of the Green Mountain Boys, disgusted by Arnold's offensive bearing toward Allen and other officers, had returned home. Complaint of his conduct was made to the body who commissioned him. It was a difficult case to deal with. Nobody doubted Arnold's bravery and skill, and his usefulness as a leader. CHAP. XVII. INSUBORDINATION IN THE ARMY. 815 But he was ambitious, unscrupulous, and so quarrelsome that few could endure him in his mood at that time. A committee was sent to investigate the matter. They were empowered to order his return to Massachusetts, or to submit to Hinman's authority. When their errand was revealed to Arnold, he was enraged. He stamped, swore, cursed all Congresses and kings, fate, committee-men in general and his present inquisitors in particular, and, with horrid oaths, he declared that he would be second to no man. Then he threw up his commission, disbanded his men, and rode to Cambridge to lay his grievances before Washington. Schuyler's first object was to ascertain the state of the province he was about to invade. He employed Major Brown, an American resident on the Sorel, employed by Adams and Hancock for the same purpose, to obtain desired information. The major soon reported that there were only seven hundred regulars in Canada; that the militia would not serve under French officers lately appointed; that the peasantry were generally friendly toward the "Bostonians," and that it was a most auspicious time to invade the province. Meanwhile Schuyler had attempted to organize the crude army which had been slowly gathering at Ticonderoga, composed chiefly of Connecticut troops under Wooster. The general was, in his daily habits of life, a strict disciplinarian, and the insubordination which he encountered at the outset, annoyed him exceedingly. The Connecticut troops were extremely democratic in their notions. Each man felt himself equal to his officers in command, and could not brook the restraint of necessary discipline. Schuyler chafed under this state of things, and the friction then visible prevailed during the whole campaign. Schuyler had a divided duty as leader of the army and head of the Indian Commission. The duties of the latter then imperatively demanded his attendance, and he summoned Montgomery, his favorite brigadier, to the actual leadership of the expedition. This handsome Irish gentleman, then forty years of age, had achieved distinction in the British army, and had lately married a sister of Robert R. Livingston, who was afterward the eminent chancellor of the State of New York. His devoted young wife accompanied him as far as the country seat of General Schuyler, at Saratoga, where he bade her adieu, kissed the tears from her cheeks, and with cheerfulness said at parting: "You will never have cause to blush for your Montgomery." Arriving at Ticonderoga on the I7th of August, he was placed in active command of the expedition, and Schuyler returned to Albany, where he soon afterward received a letter from General Washington, urging him to hasten the invasion of Canada. Meanwhile Montgomery, with a little more than a thousand men, had 816 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. gone to Isle La Motte to prevent British vessels a-building on the Sorel, passing into Lake Champlain. There he was joined by Schuyler on the 4th of September. They pushed on to Isle aux Noix, and with a considerable force appeared before the fort at St. Johns, the first military post within the Canadian border. Deceived concerning the strength of the garrison and the disposition of the Canadians, they fell back and waited for reinforcements. There Schuyler was prostrated with sickness, and at the middle of the month he was compelled to return to Ticonderoga. Fever, gout, and rheumatism tortured him for a long time, and he did not rejoin the army, but did better service in sending forward reinforcements and supplies. Montgomery was now in full command of the army. He immediately invested St. Johns with about a thousand men. New York troops had already joined him. Lamb's company of artillery came late in September, Some troops from New Hampshire under Colonel Bedel, and Green Mountain Boys led by Colonel Seth Warner, also joined him. The garrison was commanded by Major Preston, and was well supplied with provisions and ammunition. This circumstance, the injudicious movements of Colonel Ethan Allen and Major Brown, who were recruiting south of the St. Lawrence, and the insubordination and mutinous spirit displayed by the Connecticut and New York troops, prolonged the siege. It lasted fifty-five days. On the evening of the 2d of November, when Preston heard of the defeat of a considerable force under Carleton, on their way to relieve him, he surrendered the fort, garrison, and munitions of war to Montgomery. The spoils of arms, ammunition, provisions and clothing, were considerable. Five hundred regular soldiers, and one hundred Canadian volunteers, were made prisoners of war. Some victories and disasters had occurred at other points during the siege. Colonel Allen, with about one hundred recruits, mostly Canadians, crossed the St. Lawrence to attack Montreal. He was misled by the advice of Major Brown, who agreed to cross at another place and join in the attack. General Robert Prescott was in command of the city. He sallied out with a considerable force of regulars, Canadians and Indians, and after a sharp skirmish made Allen and his men prisoners. For reasons never explained, Brown did not cross the river, and the attacking party were overwhelmed. When Prescott learned that Allen was the man who seized Ticonderoga in May, he was greatly enraged. He ordered his chief prisoner to be bound hand and foot with irons, and sent to England to be tried for treason. Prescott caused his shackles to be fastened to a bar of iron eight feet in length. With this, Allen was thrust into the hold of a war-vessel, where he was kept five weeks without a seat, or a bed to lie upon, when she sailed for CHAP. XVII. THE AMERICANS ENTER MONTREAL. 817 England, and more humane treatment was given him. Allen was kept in close confinement in England, Halifax, and New York until the spring of 1778, when he was exchanged. At the close of October (I775), detachments under Colonel Bedel and Majors Brown and Livingston, captured the strong fort (but feebly garrisoned) at Chambly, a few miles from St. Johns, with a large amount of provisions and munitions of war. When Carleton heard of this disaster, he left Montreal with a mixed force to reinforce Major Preston. He crossed the St. Lawrence in flat-boats and bateaux, and was about to land at Longueuil, when Green Mountain Boys and New Yorkers under Colonel ETHAN ALLEN IN IRONS. Seth Warner, rising suddenly from a hiding-place, opened a terrible fire from their muskets and a storm of grape-shot from a four-pound cannon, which drove them across the river in great confusion. These two events caused Preston to surrender, as we have observed. After the capture of St. Johns, Montgomery pushed on toward Montreal. Carleton, conscious of his weakness, prepared to fly, with the garrison, to Quebec. Montgomery sent a detachment to the mouth of the Sorel, where the flotilla bearing General Prescott and the garrison was intercepted and captured, with a considerable quantity of munitions. Carleton, passing by in the night, in a boat with muffled oars, escaped to Quebec. On the I3th of November, Montgomery entered Montreal in triumph. He treated the inhabitants so generously, that he gained their confidence and respect. There he found a large supply of woollen goods with which he clothed such 8i8 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. of his men who agreed to remain beyond the term of their enlistment, and he prepared for further aggressive movements. Although the strongholds in Canada, excepting the capital, were then in his possession, he wrote to the Congress: "Till Quebec is taken, Canada is unconquered." Meanwhile the co-operating expedition mentioned by Washington in his letter to Schuyler, had done its marvellous work. Late in August, the commander-in-chief had perfected his plan. Arnold was then at Cambridge making loud complaints of ill-usage upon Lake Champlain. The proposed expedition, promising wild adventure and the exercise of rare courage and skill, seemed to be suited to his nature, and Washington, to silence his complaints and to secure his services, commissioned him a colonel in the Continental Army, and gave him the command of the troops to be used, comprising eleven hundred hardy men selected from the forces at Cambridge. These were composed of New England musketeers and riflemen from Virginia and Pennsylvania under Captain Daniel Morgan. At the middle of September they sailed from Newburyport, in transports, for their general rendezvous at Fort Western on the Kennebec River, opposite the present city of Augusta. They were then on the verge of an uninhabited wilderness, excepting by a few Indian hunters. There they were furnished with bateaux wherewith to navigate shallow streams and little lakes; and at Norridgewock Falls, where Father Rale had his Indian mission, already mentioned, their first labors began. Their bateaux were drawn by oxen, and their provisions were carried on their backs around the falls-a wearisome task often repeated afterward. But they pressed on with cheerfulness toward the headwaters of the Kennebec, often wading and pushing their bateaux against swift currents. At length they left that stream, and over craggy knolls, tangled ravines, deep morasses and gentle brooks they made their way to Dead River-a portage of fifteen miles broken by three ponds. Upon the placid bosom of that sluggish stream, on the great watershed between the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic, they moved quietly, in fine weather, and were suddenly confronted by a lofty mountain capped with snow. At the foot of this hill Arnold encamped. Major Bigelow ascended to its summit, hoping to see the spires of Quebec; and it has been called Mount Bigelow to this day. Sickness and desertion now began to reduce the number of effective men. It was late in October. Keen winds came from the north. They were thirty miles from Lake Megantic, the source of the Chaudiere, a tributary of the St. Lawrence, down which Arnold intended to voyage in the bateaux. When the expedition moved, a heavy rain had set in. Torrents came roaring from the hills and filled the Dead River to its brim. Its banks were soon overflowed and its channel was filled with drift-wood, among CHAP. XVII. AMERICAN TROOPS IN THE WILDERNESS. 819 which several of the boats were overturned and much provision was lost. Food for only twelve days remained. A council of war determined to send the sick and wounded to Norridgewock, where Colonel Enos was yet with the rear division. He was ordered to come on with provisions for fifteen days. Instead of obeying, he returned to Cambridge with his whole division, where he was looked upon as a traitor or coward. Though acquitted by a court-martial, he was never restored to public favor. Arnold's situation was now becoming critical. The rain changed to snow, and ice formed upon the still waters. The men were often compelled to wade in the freezing floods, waist deep, and push the bateaux before them. In that dreadful journey two women, wives of two soldiers, participated, wading with their husbands. At length Lake Megantic was reached, ARNOLD S EXPEDITION ACROSS THE WILDERNESS. and they encamped on its borders; and the next day, Arnold, with fifty-five men, started to voyage down the Chaudiere to the nearest French settlement, there to procure provisions and send them back to the main army. It proved to be a most perilous undertaking. They had no guide. As soon as they entered the river, they found the current running swiftly over a rocky bed. They lashed their baggage and provisions to the bateaux, and committed themselves to the seething flood. They were soon among foaming rapids, when three of their vessels were dashed to pieces and their contents engulfed. No life perished. The men were saved by those in the other boats which were moored in shallow estuaries. This seeming calamity was a mercy in disguise, for, had they not been checked, the whole party, in a few minutes, would have been plunged over a fearful cataract, the sullen roar of which they could distinctly hear. 820 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. For seventy miles further, falls and rapids succeeded each other, when Sertigan was reached, and Indians were sent back to the main body with provisions, and to guide them to the settlements. This relief-party found the soldiers in a starving condition. Their boats and provisions had been destroyed, and they had slaughtered their last ox several days before. They had subsisted upon a scanty supply of roots, and tried to obtain mucilage by boiling their moose-skin moccasins, but in vain. A dog was killed and furnished soup for a few, and they were suffering the despair of hopelessly starving men when the Indians found them. A few days afterward, the whole army, united, were marching toward the St. Lawrence; and on the 9th of November they suddenly appeared on the heights of Point Levi, opposite Quebec, veiled in falling snow. To the eyes of the wondering people of that city, they seemed like a spectre army just fallen from the clouds. Morgan's riflemen, in their linen frocks, had been seen by the messenger, who carried the news of their arrival to Quebec. "They are votu en tcile" (clothed in linen cloth), said the messenger. The last word was mistaken for t6le (iron plate), and this created a panic. The city was soon in a tumult. The drums beat to arms, and the garrison was strengthened. Arnold relied upon the friendship for the Americans of a large portion of the inhabitants of Quebec, and believed they would compel the garrison to surrender, if he should appear with a force before the city. He was anxious to cross over at once, but was detained by a storm of sleet until the I3th. That night he crossed the river with five hundred and fifty men in birch canoes. They landed at Wolfe's Cove, ascended the ravine, and at dawn stood in battle array on the Plains of Abraham, where Wolfe had stood sixteen years before. Believing that a shout from his little army would bring out a friendly response from the city, he marched his men toward the two gates opening upon the Plains, and ordered them to give three cheers. He expected to bring out the regulars to attack him, when he hoped, by the assistance of the citizens, to be able to rush in and take possession of the town. But the commanders were wise enough to not open the gates, and the citizens were restrained by fear of the garrison. After making a ridiculous display of arrogance and folly a few days, by issuing proclamations and demanding the surrender of the city, all of which were treated with contempt by the commanders of the garrison, Arnold was startled by the news that Carleton was coming down the St. Lawrence with a force of Canadians and Indians, and information from his friends in the city, that the garrison were on the point of sallying out to attack him with field-pieces. He had no cannon, and his numbers were few, though the remainder had come over from Point Levi, and joined him; and he prudently fled up the river to CHAP. XVII. MONTGOMERY MARCHES TOWARD QUEBEC. 82I Point aux Trembles (Aspen Trees Point), and there awaited instructions from Montgomery. Impressed with the importance of taking Quebec to insure the conquest of Canada, Montgomery placed small garrisons in the forts at St. Johns and Chambly, and left Montreal in charge of General Wooster, preparatory to marching on the Canadian capital. He had heard that the British authorities there were much alarmed by the presence of Arnold. " They expect to be besieged," he wrote to Schuyler, " which, by the blessing of God, they shall be, if the severe season holds off and I can prevail on the troops to JOURNEY THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. accompany me." Montgomery's greatest difficulty was involved in the last consideration. A large portion of his men were indisposed to go further, or remain longer than their enlistment papers compelled them to-the first of December. Day by day his army was melting away. The frequent appeals of General Schuyler and himself to Congress for reinforcements had not been responded to, and he took the responsibility of making an unauthorized engagement with troops who were willing to go. With the comparatively few men who agreed to follow him, he left Montreal on the 26th of September, and joined Arnold at Point aux Trembles, on the 3d of December, and took command of the combined troops. With woollen clothing which he took with him, Montgomery made Arnold's thinly-clad troops comfortable. CHAPTER XVIII. QUEBEC ASSAILED-DEATH OF MONTGOMERY-ARNOLD AND LAMB WOUNDED-AMERICANS REPULSED-MONTGOMERY'S REMAINS- CONDITION OF THE REPUBLICAN ARMIES-FRANKLIN'S PLAN FOR A CIVIL GOVERNMENT-GENERAL POST-OFFTCE ESTABLISHED-A GENERAL HOSPITAL -THE ARMY BEFORE BOSTON-COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS-INSUBORDINATION-EVENTS NEAR BOSTON-A CONTINENTAL NAVY-A CHANGING ARMY-OFFICERS' WIVES IN CAMP-UNION FLAG-BRITISH TROOPS IN BOSTON-ARTILLERY PROCURED-DORCHESTER HEIGHTS FORTIFIED-BOSTON CLOSELY BESIEGED. T HE little army of republicans under Montgomery, less than a thousand in number, with two hundred Canadian volunteers led by Colonel James Livingston, pressed on toward Quebec from Point aux Trembles, and arrived before the town on the evening of the 5th of December. The general made his quarters at Holland House, two or three miles from the city, and on the following morning he sent a flag with a message to Governor Carleton, demanding an instant surrender of the post. The flag was fired upon. Montgomery, indignant at such treatment-such violation of the rules of war among civilized nations-sent a threatening letter to Carleton, and another to the inhabitants. These were taken into the city by a woman, and a copy of the latter was shot over the walls, into the town, on an arrow from an Indian bow. Carleton refused to have any intercourse with the "rebel general," and the latter prepared to assail the walled town with his handful of men, ill-clad, ill-fed, and exposed to storms and intense cold on the open Plains of Abraham. The ground was too hard frozen to be penetrated with pick or spade, and the snow covered it in huge drifts; so Montgomery filled gabions (a sort of wicker-work baskets) with snow, poured water over the mass, which instantly congealed, and soon raised a huge ice-mound. Upon this glittering embankment Lamb placed in battery six I2-pound cannon and two howitzers. In the Lower Town he placed four or five mortars, from which he sent bombshells into the city and set a few buildings on fire. Montgomery made further unsuccessful efforts to communicate with the governor; and continued to throw shells into the city. At length some heavy round shot from the citadel shivered Lamb's crystal battery into fragments, and com CHAP. XVIII. THIE SIEGE OF QUEBEC. 823 pelled him to withdraw. The cannon of the Americans made no impression on the heavy walls, and Montgomery was compelled to resort to other measures for taking the city. It was now determined to wait for expected reinforcements, but for a fortnight they waited in vain. The Congress were tardy in their actions; and for want of hard money Schuyler was almost powerless to procure men or supplies. He used his own personal credit largely, but he could not send on men. A friend in Montreal had helped Montgomery to the extent of his ability, and the general was left to his own resources. The terms of the enlistment of many of his \x \,.,,, ~'\~,men had almost expired, and the deadly small-pox had appeared among them. A.. i 1l li web of fearful difficulty was thus gathering - -,' i around the general; but worse than all was a quarrel between Arnold and some of his l.....h5-.i',,;~'?~1lSi, l officers, which caused the latter and their. I"-~"~"qYA~~l~', ~ men to threaten to leave the service unless I Montgomery, by the exercise of wisdom and justice, healed the dissensions; and at Christt~!'! mas time a plan was arranged by a council of officers to assail the town at two points - Y;P~U~ —simultaneously; one division of the troops to be under the immediate command of the general, and another under Arnold. The latter was to make a night attack upon the Lower Town, setting fire to houses in the suburb St. Roque so as to consume the B3ritish stockade in that quarter, while the main A SWIFT MESSENGER. body should attempt to take Cape Diamond Bastion, a strong part of the city walls on the highest point of the rocky promontory. It was determined to make the assault on the first stormy night. At length the serene, cold days and nights were ended, and on the evening of the 30th of December (I775) a snow-storm set in. Montgomery's force was now reduced by sickness and desertion to seven hundred and fifty men, but the brave soldier was determined to assail the town with this handful. He gave orders for his troops to be ready to move at two o'clock in the morning of the 3 st. Colonel Livingston was directed to make a feigned attack on St. Louis Gate and set it on fire, while Major Brown should 53 824 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. menace Cape Diamond Bastion. Arnold was directed to lead three hundred and fifty men, with Lamb's artillery and Morgan's riflemen, to assail and fire the works in St. Roque, while Montgomery should lead the remainder below Cape Diamond along the narrow space between the declivity and the St. Lawrence, carry the defences at the foot of the rocks, and endeavor to press forward and join Arnold. Being thus in possession of the whole Lower Town, the combined forces were to destroy Prescott Gate, at the foot of Mountain street, and rush into the city. No doubt full success would have rewarded their efforts had not a Canadian deserter revealed the plot to Carleton, who caused his troops to sleep on their arms and to be ready for action at all points. In order to recognize each other, the republican soldiers were ordered to fasten a piece of white paper to the front of their caps. On some of them they wrote the words of Henry, "Liberty or Death." The narrow path along which Montgomery led his men at the foot of the acclivity, was blocked with ice and snow, and a strong wind blew blinding sleet and cutting hail in the faces of the patriots. They pressed on, and passing a deserted barrier, they approached a block-house, at the foot of Cape Diamond, pierced for musketry and cannon. All was silent there. Believing the garrison not to be on the alert, Montgomery, burning with impatience to win success, shouted to his immediate followers-the companies of Captains Cheeseman and Mott-" Men of New York, you will not fear to follow where your general leads; push on, my brave boys, and Quebec is ours! " and rushed forward to surprise the garrison and take the battery. There were vigilant eyes and ears in the block-house. In the dim light of a winter's dawn, through the thick snow-vail, forty men watched the coming republicans; and when Montgomery shouted to his followers, and was within fifty yards of the works, they opened a deadly fire of grape-shot from their cannon. Montgomery, his aid McPherson, Captain Cheeseman and ten others were instantly killed. The remainder retreated to Wolfe's Cove, where the senior officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, rallied them, but did not renew the effort to reach Prescott Gate. While these sad events were occurring on the St. Lawrence side of the town, Arnold was making his way near the St. Charles, along a narrow way filled with snow-drifts. The town was in an uproar. The bells were ringing; the drums were beating a general alarm; and cannon were beginning to thunder. The storm was raging violently, and Arnold was compelled to march in single file. Lamb had to leave his cannon behind in the drifts, and join the fighters with small arms. At a narrow pass Arnold was wounded in the leg, and was carried to the General Hospital, when the command CHAP. XVIII. REPULSE OF THE REPUBLICANS. 825 devolved on Morgan. The troops pressed forward under their new leader, captured a battery, and fought fiercely for three hours to capture another, and succeeded. Then Lamb was severely wounded. Morgan was about to push on to attack Prescott Gate, when the sad news came that troops under Dearborn, stationed near Palace Gate, had been captured by a party who had sallied out of the city, and had then cut off the retreat of Arnold's division in front. At ten o'clock, after he had lost full one hundred men, Morgan was GFNERAL CARLETON. GENERAL WOOSTER. GENERAL MIONTGOMIERY. compelled to surrender with more than four hundred followers. A reserve force of Arnold's division had retreated, and were soon joined to those under Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell. So ended the siege of Quebec. When the contest was over, and it was known in the city that General Montgomery was slain, Governor Carleton, who had been his companion in arms under Wolfe, sent out a detachment to search for his body. It was found, with those of Cheeseman and McPherson, shrouded in snow-drifts. They were carried into the city and buried within the walls. There Montgomery's remains rested forty years, when they were taken to New York and deposited beneath a beautiful mural monument erected by order of Congress on the exterior of the wall of St. Paul's Church that fronts on Broadway. The Continental Congress, in the meantime, had been working industriously in perfecting a national organization and in supporting the armies in 826 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. the field, at the same time taking pains not to give mortal offence to the British government until an answer to their petition should come from the king. They had tremendous difficulties before them, and heavy responsibilities to bear. The first reports from Washington and Schuyler, concerning the troops, were very discouraging, and they continued to be so for several months-the spirit of democracy everywhere producing insubordination and consequent weakness. The inefficiency of the executive powers of the Congress was keenly felt. These were delegated to a single committee of that body. The sagacious Franklin saw the futility of attempting to carry on the inevitable war with such a feeble instrument, and late in July he submitted the basis of a form of confederation, similar in some respects to the one he proposed in the Convention at Albany twenty-one years before, but generally more like our present national constitution. The plan was a virtual declaration of independence; the government it proposed was to be perpetual unless the British rulers should accede to the claims of the colonies. It was not then acted upon. The colonial post-office system had been broken up by the public disorders, and on the 26th of July (I775) the Congress made provision for a new one, and appointed Dr. Franklin postmaster-general. From that office lie had been dismissed by the British government the year before, as we have observed. Very little else was done during the year toward organizing civil government, for military affairs occupied almost the whole attention of the Congress. They established a general hospital, and appointed the unworthy Dr. Benjamin Church as chief director. Soon after his appointment, he was detected in holding secret correspondence with General Gage. He was immediately expelled from every position of trust which he held, and by order of the Continental Congress was lodged in the Norwich (Connecticut) jail. His health failing, he was allowed to leave the country for the West Indies. The vessel in which he sailed was never heard of afterward. So perished the first traitor to the American cause. Dr. John Morgan took his place at the head of the hospital. The army before Boston received the special attention of the Congress. The term of enlistment of all the troops would expire with the year, and Washington foresaw the dissolution of his forces then. He asked the Congress to assist him in providing plans for preventing such a fatal disaster. They sent a committee composed of Dr. Franklin, Thomas Lynch, and Benjamin Harrison to the camp at Cambridge for the purpose, and at the headquarters of Washington they opened their conference with the commander-in-chief on the I8th of October. There they were joined by delegates from the several New England colonies, and in the course of a few CHAP. XVIII. THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 827 days they matured a plan that was satisfactory to Washington, and was effectual. For a long time the army was not only weak in numbers, but feeble in moral strength and material supplies. In August it was discovered that the supply of gunpowder was not sufficient for nine rounds to each man, and other munitions were lacking in the same proportion. For months the American army was compelled to play the part of jailer to the British troops in Boston. It was even difficult to sustain that part; and had the royal forces known the real impotence of their jailers, they might have burst their prison doors with impunity, and scattered the republican army to the winds. In the individuality-the self-assertion of each soldier-to which allusion has been made, was found moral weakness as regarded the strength of discipline. Each man had left his home to fight for freedom, and was disposed to first assert it in his own behalf. The consequence was general insubordination, which had to be humored until the common sense and experience of the soldier taught him the value and necessity of discipline. Washington managed this matter with great tact, and accomplished, by argument and persuasion, that which he could not have gained by force. Comparative inaction marked the siege of Boston for several months. There was some cannonading in August when General Sullivan, in imitation of Prescott, cast up a redoubt in a single night upon an eminence within cannon-shot of Bunker's Hill. Three hundred shells were thrown upon this redoubt from Bunker's Hill and British shipping with very little effect. There were occasional skirmishes between republican detachments and royal foragers on the islands in Boston harbor and the shores of the main, but there was no serious engagement. Washington tried to bring on one by various challenges. He did not feel strong enough to attack his foe, but he was ready to meet any sortie or sallying-out the British troops might make. But Gage was too prudent to attempt another excursion into the country. He contented himself with threats; in the sending out of alarming stories about Russian and German troops coming to help the British, and in treating the few whigs who remained in Boston in a barbarous manner. Gage was called to England, in October, to answer for his inefficiency, when General Howe assumed the chief command of the British army in America. Howe strengthened his defences, and increased the number of British cruisers sent out to harass the coast towns of New England, hoping thereby to cause Washington to weaken his besieging army by sending detachments for the relief of the distressed regions. Falmouth (now Portland, Maine,) was burned in October, and other towns were sorely smitten by the marauders. These acts failed to draw a regiment away from Cambridge, but caused 828 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. a swarm of American privateers to appear upon the waters. Captain Manly, in a vessel sent out by Washington to intercept supply-vessels bound for Boston, maintained a position off the harbor of the New England capital for some time, and made three important captures. One of his prizes contained heavy guns, mortars, and intrenching tools; the very things most needed by the Americans at that time. Howe imitated Gage in treating the open whigs and suspected persons in Boston with harshness. His excuse was that they were active, though secret, enemies, keeping up a communication with the "rebels" either by personal intercourse, or by signals from church steeples and other high places. He forbade all persons leaving the city without permission, under pain of military execution; and he ordered all of the inhabitants to associate themselves into military companies. At about this time the Congress was putting forth its energies for the establishment of a Continental Navy. The separate colonies were doing the same thing. A Marine Committee was appointed, and in December (I775) the Congress ordered the construction of thirteen armed xessels. Meanwhile Washington, under instructions, had caused floating batteries to be built in the Charles River, from one of which shells were thrown into Boston late in October, producing much alarm and some injury. Six months had passed away since the battle of Bunker's Hill, and yet the relative position of the belligerent troops had changed very little. The people murmured; Congress fretted, and Washington was impatient to begin a vigorous siege. But he was almost powerless. At the beginning of December his old army began to dissolve, and not more than five thousand new recruits were enrolled. There seemed to be a fatal flagging of spirits. The cold was increasing; many of the soldiers lacked comfortable clothing; it was difficult to procure wood for fuel, and whole regiments were compelled to eat their provisions raw for the want of it to cook them. Fences and fruit trees around the camp were seized for use, and groups of shivering soldiers were often seen hovering around smouldering embers. The Connecticut troops demanded a bounty, and when it was refused, because Congress had not authorized it, they resolved to leave camp in a body on the 6th of December. Many did go and never came back. These untoward circumstances filled the mind of Washington with the keenest anxiety; when suddenly a salutary change was visible. Within the space of a fortnight new hopes and renewed patriotism seemed to fill the bosoms of the people, and at the close of the year the regiments were nearly all full, and ten thousand Minute-men, chiefly in Massachusetts, were ready to swell the ranks when called upon. The camp was well supplied with provisions; CHAP. XVIII. THE UNION FLAG. order was generally preserved; the commander-in-chief was more hopeful than at any time since his arrival, and general cheerfulness prevailed. The wives of several of the officers had arrived in camp. Mrs. Washington, with her son John Parke Custis and his young spouse, came on the i ith of December, and the Christmas holidays were spent at Cambridge quite agreeably. The new Continental army was organized on the first of January, I776, DISPIRITED SOLDIERS. when it consisted of almost ten thousand men, of whom more than a thousand were absent on furlough which it had been necessary to grant as a condition of re-enlistment. The event was signalled by the raising of a new flag composed of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, emblematic of the union of tie thirteen colonies (for Georgia had lately sent delegates to 030 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. the Congress), and in the dexter corner, the British Union-the combined crosses of St. George and St. Andrew on a blue ground as indicative of the loyalty of the colonies to the British crown. As it fluttered in the keen winter wind on that clear morning, shouts from a thousand voices greeted it, and in token of their feelings many of the soldiers threw their hats high in air. This incident produced erroneous impressions upon the British officers in Boston. On that day printed copies of the king's speech on the opening of Parliament late in October were received by General Howe, and he sent a package of them to General Washington. The king, after declaring his intention to enforce obedience in the colonies, proposed the appointment of Commissioners to offer the olive branch of peace and pardon to all individual offenders in America, as well as whole communities or provinces that might sue for forgiveness. The hoisting of the Union flag-the flag with the British Union-was regarded with joy in Boston as a token of the deep impression the "gracious speech" had made upon the Americans, and as a signal of submission! The Union flag had been raised before the speech was received, and the latter was burned with contempt by a party of Massachusetts soldiers. The British troops in Boston, at this time, numbered about eight thousand, exclusive of marines on the ships-of-war in the harbor. They were well supplied with provisions from Barbadoes and Great Britain, and having been promised ample reinforcements the coming season, they were prepared to sit quietly in Boston and wait for them. They had converted the Old South Meeting-house into a riding-school, and Faneuil Hall into a theatre, and were whiling away the winter quite pleasantly, while Washington was chafing with impatience to " break up the nest." He had received a temporary reinforcement of five thousand militia, and he waited for the ice in the rivers to become strong enough to bear his troops to make an assault upon the town. But the winter was exceedingly mild and no opportunity of that kind offered until February, when a council of his officers deemed the undertaking too hazardous. The temporary militia had retired, and Washington was compelled to call upon the New England colonies to furnish thirteen regiments more. Just at that time news came from the north of the death of Montgomery and the repulse at Quebec, with an urgent request from General Schuyler for the commander-in-chief to send three thousand soldiers immediately to reinforce the little army in Canada to retrieve its losses, and to maintain the republican cause in that province. The necessity for strength at Boston was as great as at Quebec, yet Washington, ever ready to act for the general good, asked Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut to furnish a CHAP. XVIII. CANNON FROM LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 831 regiment each, enlisted for a year, and send them to Canada. To relieve these colonies of an increased burden, he allowed three regiments to be taken from his last requisition, reserving ten for the main army. They were raised and sent to Canada during the winter. In small arms and ammunition the army at Cambridge was yet sadly deficient. Powder was very scarce, and it was difficult to get a supply. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _t _ - - _ -t -, M _ TAKING CANNON FROM TICONDEROGA TO BOSTON. General Putnam was specially charged with the procuring of it. Colonel Moylan wrote from the camp in January: "The bay is open-everything thaws here except Old Put. He is still as hard as ever, crying out for powder-powder-ye gods, give us powder! " Colonel Knox, who had been sent to the Champlain forts, had, with great enterprise and perseverance, brought, upon forty sledges drawn by oxen, more than fifty cannon, mortars, and howitzers. The strange procession of cattle and sledges, and rough teamsters carrying their guns slung over their knapsacks on their backs, had made their way over frozen lakes and rivers, wild morasses and rugged hills 832 OUR COUNTRY. Book IV. covered with almost impassable snows; and a supply of bomb-shells came from New York. Late in February powder began to arrive. The ten militia regiments came in to strengthen the lines. Heavy pieces of ordnance were placed in position before Boston, and Washington, who had been urged by the Congress to attack the city as soon as possible, before expected reinforcements should arrive, now prepared to do so. General Howe, meanwhile, felt perfectly secure. HIe wrote to Dartmouth that he had not the least apprehension of an attack from the rebels, and wished they would " attempt so rash a step, and quit their strong intrenchments," to which they might attribute their safety. From this dream of security Howe was suddenly awakened, and his wish was gratified. His young officers had got up a farce entitled "' Boston Blockaded," in which Washington was burlesqued as an uncouth figure with a large wig and wearing a rusty sword, accompanied with a country servant with a rusty gun. They were now called to perform in the serio-comic drama of Boston Bombarded, with appropriate costume and scenery, and Washington and Howe as the principal characters. The American commander determined to occupy and fortify Dorchester Heights which overlooked Boston, and which Howe had strangely neglected to secure. The design was kept a profound secret. To divert the attention of the British, a severe cannonade and bombardment was opened upon the town from Lechmere's Point, Roxbury, Cobble Hill, Ploughed Hill and Lamb's Dam, on Saturday night, the 2d of March. This was repeated on Sunday and Monday nights, the latter the eve of the anniversary of the Boston Massacre. At seven o'clock that evening, General Thomas, with two thousand men provided with intrenching tools, proceeded to take possession of Dorchester Heights. A train of three hundred carts and wagons, laden with fascines and screwed hay, followed. They all moved in perfect silence; and within an hour they were on the Heights, undiscovered by the British sentinels in the city, where every ear was filled with the incessant noise of cannon on the American batteries, and which was kept up all night-from seven o'clock till daylight. The working force were divided, one-half of them taking post on an eminence nearest Boston; the other on a hill opposite the castle. The bundles of hay were placed on the Boston side of Dorchester Neck as a covering for the teams and troops passing over it, from a raking fire that might be opened from the town. The weather was moderately cold. The ground was frozen to the depth of eighteen inches. The full moon was shining in splendor; and through that long winter night-several hours longer than the summer night when the redoubt on Breed's Hill was erected -worked on under the direction of the veteran Gridley, the same engineer, CHAP. XVIII. REDOUBTS ON DORCHESTER HEIGIITS. 833 and the eye of Washington, who perceived with joy that his movement was unsuspected by his enemy. At about three o'clock in the morning, a relief party appeared; and at dawn on the 5th of March, I776, the astonished Britons saw two redoubts on Dorchester Heights skillfully planned, strong enough to protect their inmates from grape-shot and musketry, armed with cannon that seriously menaced all Boston, and manned with resolute patriots. On the summits of the steep hills were barrels filled with stones to be rolled down upon ascending assailants, and strong abatis formed of the trees of adjacent orchards, protected the foot of the Heights. " Perhaps there never was so much work done in so short a space of time," wrote General Heath. Howe was overwhelmed with astonishment, and exclaimed: " I know not what I shall do! The rebels have done more in one night than my whole army would have done in a month." A Loyalist of the time wrote: "Like Titans of old the Rebels had piled Huge stone-heaps on Dorchester Hill, And with murderous plan like savages wid, So prepar'd our poor soldiers to kill, Who might be compelled to scale the rough Height To drive the bold Yankees away in affright." CHAPTER XIX. PERILS OF THE BRITISH IN BOSTON-BRITISH AND TORIES LEAVE THE CITY FOR NOVA SCOTIAHONORS TO WASHINGTON'-STIRRING EVENTS IN NEW YORK-AFFAIRS IN THE MIDDLE PROVINCES IN 1775-EXCITING SCENES IN VIRGINIA-BATTLE AT GREAT BRIDGE-DESTRUCTION OF NORFOLK-EVENTS IN NORTH CAROLINA IN I775-BATTLE AT MOORE'S CREEK BRIDGEDOINGS IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA IN I775-CONDITION OF TIlE AMERICANS-MERCENARY TROOPS SOUGHT FOR BY THE BRITISH. G ENERAL HOWE fully comprehended the perils of his situation. American officers whom he had affected to despise had outgeneraled him. He over-estimated the numbers of the republican army, and supposed that the work on Dorchester Heights had been done by twelve thousand men. To the minds of his cultivated officers it seemed like the realization of a tale of the Arabian Nights. But it was the work of less than three thousand New England farmers, meanly clad, poorly fed, and inadequately armed and disciplined. To dislodge them was the prime necessity of the British. " If they retain possession of the Heights," said Admiral Shuldham, "I cannot keep a ship in the harbor." It was therefore determined to assault the Americans, and attempt to drive them from their redoubts. Washington was prepared for such an emergency. He had boats and floating batteries that would carry four thousand men into Boston. Twenty-four hundred picked soldiers-the flower of the British army in the New England capital-were placed under the command of Lord Percy, and ordered to drive the Americans from the intrenched hills. Howe freely declared the expedition to be a perilous one. Percy remembered Lexington and Bunker's Hill, and had no wish to go. His men shared in the consternation which the order had produced among the officers. But British honor, and the safety of the British troops in Boston, demanded the effort. When Percy and his soldiers entered boats to pass over, the Americans were delighted; and Washington reminded them that it was the anniversary of the Boston Massacre-an act yet unavenged. This thought added strength to their resolution, and they were further nerved to the performance of valorous deeds, because the neighboring heights, on that mild, sunny spring morning, were crowded with anxious spectators who looked for a repetition CHAP. XIX. THE EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 835 of the dreadful scenes on Breed's Hill. But Percy did not intend to scale the heights before night; and with his men he passed over to the Castle. That afternoon a violent storm of wind and rain came up from the south, and increased to a furious gale before midnight. Some of the British vessels were driven ashore by the storm, and on the morning of the 6th the rain fell so thickly and furiously, that nothing could be done. Howe, in dismay, now called a council of war. It was evident that the fleet and army were in great peril. The terrified Loyalists demanded of the general the sure protection which he had promised them. It was known that Washington was preparing to bombard Boston; also that the divisions of Generals Greene and Sullivan were ready at Cambridge to be led by General Putnam, in boats covered by floating batteries in the Charles River (which was now clear of ice), to assail the town at two prominent points, at a signal to be given by Thomas' guns. The council, therefore, determined to evacuate Boston as soon as possible. Th;s resolution spread dismay among the Tories, for they had reason to fear the retaliation of the W'higs whom they had sorely oppressed for almost two years. They saw the power on which they had confidently leaned becoming like a broken reed. The perils of a dangerous sea-voyage and privations in a strange land seemed less fearful to them than the righteous indignation of their abused countrymen, and they prepared to go with the fleet and army. Howe now began to make ready for leaving Boston. He wished to do so quietly, if Washington would allow it, and threatened to destroy the town in case his troops should be molested at his departure. His war-vessels and transports, one hundred and fifty in number, were drawn nearer the town to be in readiness to convey his troops peaceably away or to spread destruction, as circumstances might seem to require. His determination was communicated to the American commander by the selectmen of Boston, and a tacit assent to the peaceful arrangement was given. But Washington did not relax his vigilance. He planted a new battery, and was ready at any moment to attack the foe on perceiving the least sign of bad faith. The evacuation was delayed until Sunday, the I7th of March, Howe lingering, no doubt, with a hope of receiving reinforcements. Washington determined to wait no longer for a peaceable departure of his enemy. On Saturday, the I6th, he seized and fortified Nooks' Hill, by which he held the British completely at his mercy. Howe knew this, and at four o'clock the next morning he began the embarkation of his troops and the Loyalists. During the few preceding days Boston had been the theatre of great confusion and alarm. The war-ships and transports were too few to carry much 836 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK V. of the effects of the Tories. What they could not take with them they destroyed. The soldiers broke open and pillaged many stores. Crean Brush, a sycophantic New York Loyalist, was authorized by Howe to seize all the clothing and dry goods belonging to Whig merchants, and place them in the vessels. Furniture was wantonly defaced by the soldiers, and valuable goods were cast into the waters. These outrages produced widespread distress. But the fearful drama was ended on the beautiful Sabbath day in March. Before sunset, the great fleet had left Boston, bearing away to Nova Scotia artillery, ammunition, stores, and Loyalists-the WASHINGTON WVATCHING THE DEPARTURE OF THE BRITISH. latter to the number of about eleven hundred. Then the American troops marched in and took possession of Boston, where General Putnam was placed in chief command. The event gave great joy to the American people, and the Continental Congress caused a gold medal to be struck and presented to Washington with the thanks of the United Colonies. While these events were occurring in Northern New York and New England, important movements in most of the other colonies were made CHAP. XIX. SEARS AND RIVINGTON. 837 during the year I775. There were stirring events in the city of New York. The Provincial Congress, early in its session, was strongly imbued with Toryism and timidity. Schemes for conciliation rather than for defence occupied their attention. We have seen how timidly they paid honors to Washington when he passed through the city. The same escort of honor which that Congress ordered for Washington, they ordered for Governor Tryon, who arrived at the same time, in the Asia man-of-war. The Committee of One Hundred, governed by the will of the people, soon taught the latter to be circumspect. Under their sanction the Sons of Liberty acted with extreme boldness. Captain Lamb, assisted by some of the military, and citizens led by "King" Sears, removed the cannon from the royal battery, at the foot of Broadway, to a place of safety for the use of the people. There was an encounter at that time with armed men who came from the Asia. It drew from that vessel several broadsides, which, taking no life, spread dreadful alarm. The story went abroad that the city was to be sacked and burned, and hundreds of men, women and children were seen flying in terror at midnight toward the Harlem River. The indignation of the people was so demonstrative, that Tryon, alarmed for his personal safety, fled on board a British sloop-of-war (October, 1775), from which he attempted, but in vain, to exercise royal authority, in imitation of Governor Dunmore, of Virginia. He was greatly assisted by Rivington, the publisher of a Tory newspaper in New York, in stirring up disaffection among the people. Rivington, in total disregard of truth and common fairness, abused the republicans without stint, especially Captain Sears, a native of Connecticut, but then a retired New York merchant. That patriot being in Connecticut in consultation with ardent Whigs, soon after the flight of Tryon, exasperated by some of Rivington's abuse, went to New York at the head of one hundred horsemen, and at noon-day (November, 1775) placed a guard around the printing-office of the offending Tory, demolished his presses, and putting his type into bags, left the city to the tune of Yankee Doodle in the order in which he entered it. He took with him the metal letters, which were made into bullets. Before this the Provincial Congress, yielding to public opinion, had authorized the raising of four regiments; the construction of military works at Kingsbridge, and the erection of fortifications in the Hudson Highlands. Royal government was virtually at an end in New York at the close of I775. The Provincial Congress of New Jersey, disregarding the authority of the royal governor (a son of Dr. Franklin), assumed all the functions of regular government with the sanction of the people. They proceeded to regulate the militia. They authorized the raising of two battalions for the Con 838 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. tinental service to be commanded respectively by William Maxwell and William Alexander (Lord Stirling), and the issuing of bills of credit to defray the public expenses. In Pennsylvania, through the influence of timid or wavering leaders, there was much hesitation during I775, while Delaware, under the same executive head, took a decided stand in favor of the republican cause. Maryland, laying aside local disputes, did likewise. A Provincial Council of Safety superseded the royal government, and took vigorous measures for sustaining the war that was begun. Comparative tranquillity prevailed during 1775 in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, while in New York, Virginia, and all New England, the people were excited by political discord or actual hostilities within their borders. After Governor Dunmore of Virginia fled to the Fowey, the people of that colony assembled at Richmond in a representative convention, and exercised the functions of government by providing for the common defence and for the security of the province from invasion from without, and a servile insurrection within, which the fugitive governor threatened to excite. They regulated the militia, provided for the raising of troops, and for issuing treasury notes. They also authorized the raising of independent companies for the defence of the frontiers. Early in the autumn Dunmore proceeded to execute his threat concerning the slaves. He unfurled the royal standard over the Fowey at Norfolk, and proclaimed freedom to all slaves who should rally under it. He also proclaimed martial-law over all Virginia. He sent a party ashore to destroy the printing-office of John Holt, an ardent Whig journalist; and at the head of a motley band of Tories and negroes, he commnitted depredations in southeastern Virginia. With the aid of some British vessels he attacked Hampton, near Old Point Comfort, late in October, when he was repulsed by the militia. Exasperated by his defeat, he openly declared war against the people. The militia of Lower Virginia flew to arms; and under Colonel Woodford, who had been sent there with a body of Minute-men, they prepared to drive the traitor governor from their soil. He became alarmed, and after fortifying Norfolk, he caused some works to be thrown up at the Great Bridge over the Elizabeth River, near the Dismal Swamp, by which he expected the approach of Woodford. There a short but severe battle was fought on the morning of the 9th of December, 1775, between the Virginia militia and a band of Tories and negroes under Captains Leslie and Fordyce. The latter were routed and fled back to Norfolk in confusion, where Dunmore, covered as he was, had remained in safety. In his rage he threatened to hang the boy who had brought him the first news of the disaster. CHAP. XIX. A WICKED ROYAL GOVERNOR. 839 Woodford pushed on toward Norfolk, drove Dunmore to the small vessels-of-war, and entered the city in triumph, where he was joined by Colonel (afterward General) Robert Howe, with a North Carolina regiment, who took the chief command. That spirited officer annoyed Dunmore exceedingly by desultory cannon-shots, attacks upon British foraging parties, and the discharge of musketry from the houses in Norfolk. At length the British frigate Liverpool came up the river from Hampton Roads, when the governor sent a message to Howe demanding the instant cessation of the firing, and also a supply of food, and threatening to cannonade the town in case of a refusal. A prompt refusal was sent back, when the governor C,~1 - \ 11 NORFOLK IN FLAMES. executed his threat, and more. On the morning of the first of January, I776, his vessels-of-war opened a cannonade upon Norfolk, and he sent a party of marines and sailors to set the city on fire. The conflagration raged for fifty hours, during which time the cannonade was kept up. The distress occasioned by this wicked act at that inclement season was terrible; and the remembrance of it nerved the arms of the Virginia soldiers and the hearts of the Virginia people all through the struggle for independence. After prowling along the Virginia sea-coasts and up its rivers with his ships and motley horde of followers for several months, Dunmore established a fortified camp on Gwyn's Island in Chesapeake Bay, from which he was dislodged by Virginia militia under General Andrew Lewis. Then he went up the Potomac with the evident intention of seizing Mrs. Washington to 54 840 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. hold her as a hostage, and to lay waste the Mount Vernon estate; but heavy storms and the Prince William militia at Occoquan frustrated his designs. He finally sailed to the West Indies, taking with him about a thousand negroes whom he had collected by promises of freedom or by violence during his marauding expeditions, and sold them for slaves to the planters there. Thence he returned to England. In North Carolina resistance to oppression began early, as we have seen. The Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence in May, I775, was but a culmination in action of the patriotic sentiments of the province. Governor Martin, who succeeded Tryon, alarmed by the threatening aspect of the popular will, first fortified his "palace " at New Berne, and then took refuge in Fort Johnson, near the mouth of the Cape Fear River. From that stronghold he was driven by the patriots in arms in July, to the Pallas sloop-of-war in the Cape Fear. The fort was destroyed, and the governor fulminated menacing proclamations from his floating quarters. His political friends were numerous; but under the wise leadership of Cornelius Harnett, John Ashe and a few others, the Whigs were so well organized that they silenced the Tories, and kept the most obnoxious ones prisoners on their own plantations. The Continental Congress voted to furnish supplies for a thousand men in that province to counteract the influence of Governor Martin and his friends; and a popular convention that assembled at Hillsborough in August, and assumed the control of the colony, authorized the raising of two regiments, with Robert Howe and James Moore to command them. The governor, from the Pallas, sent a proclamation in which he denounced the Convention as treasonable, and the Convention denounced his manifesto as "a scandalous, malicious and scurrilous libel, tending to disunite the good people of the province," and ordered it to be burned by the common hangman. Many Scotch Highlanders who were involved in the rebellion in I745 in favor of the "Young Pretender" had settled in North Carolina, and were firm Loyalists. Among them was Flora MacDonald, who, in her beautiful young maidenhood, had saved the life of the " Pretender" after the battle of Colloden. She had settled at Cross Creek (now Fayetteville), with her husband and children, and had great influence among her countrymen. They were all true to King George; and when late in I775, Governor Martin was acting in concert with Dunmore in southwestern Virginia, and was expecting a British force on the coast of North Carolina, he resolved to strike an effectual blow against the republicans of the province. He commissioned Donald MacDonald, an influential Scotchman at Cross Creek, a brigadier-general, and Flora's husband took a captaincy under him. He was CHAP. XIX. BATTLE AT MOORE'S CREEK BRIDGE. 841 authorized to embody the Highlanders and other Loyalists into a military corps, and raise the royal standard at Cross Creek. It was formally unfurled, at a large gathering of the clan, by Flora herself, who was then a handsome matron between forty and fifty years of age. Very soon fifteen hundred armed Tories gathered around it, while Colonel Howe was absent with his regiment, assisting the Virginians against Dunmore. When Colonel Moore heard of this gathering of the Tories he marched with his regulars and some Hanover militia-eleven hundred strong —to disperse them. At the same time the Minute-men were gathering in large numbers. MacDonald was alarmed and fled toward the Cape Fear, hotly pursued by Moore. At a bridge over Moore's Creek (an affluent of the South River, a principal tributary of the Cape Fear), he was met by armed patriots of the Neuse region, under Colonels Caswell and Lillington, on the evening of the 26th of February, I776. The following morning a sharp fight occurred there, in which the Loyalists were defeated and dispersed; many of them were killed, and more were made prisoners. Among the latter were the general, and the husband of Flora MacDonald. This victory greatly inspirited the Whigs and discouraged the Tories; and soon afterward the MacDonalds returned to Scotland in a sloop-of-war, encountering a French cruiser on the way. During an engagement between the two vessels, the brave Flora remained on deck, and was wounded in the hand. In South Carolina armed resistance was active in I775. The Provincial Congress, over whom Henry Laurens presided, issued $600,000 in paper money and voted to raise two regiments, of which Christopher Gadsden and William Moultrie were chosen colonels. Lieutenant-Governor Bull tried in vain to suppress the republican spirit; and when, in July, Lord William Campbell arrived at Charleston with the commission of governor, and called an assembly, that body declined to do any business under him. Executive powers were intrusted to a Council of Safety, who proceeded to organize civil government on a republican basis, and to put the province in a state of defence. The Tories in the back country, who were very numerous, were disarmed by a force under William Henry Drayton, a nephew of the lieutenant-governor. An armed vessel was sent to seize an English powder-ship lying in the harbor of St. Augustine, and returned to Charleston with fifteen hundred pounds of that much needed'article. Early in September, Colonel Moultrie was ordered to take possession of the little fort on Sullivan's Island near the entrance to Charleston harbor. In so doing he found no resistance; for the garrison, expecting the hostile visit, had fled to the British sloops-of-war Tamnar and C/hcrokce, lying near, where they were soon joined by Governor Campbell, who took refuge there from a storm of 842 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. popular indignation which had been created by a knowledge that he had tried to incite the Indians on the frontier to attack the Carolinians, and had tampered with the Tories in the interior. So ended royal rule in South Carolina, and republicanism reigned supreme. Early in I776, Moultrie was ordered to build a fort on Sullivan's Island large enough to accommodate a garrison of a thousand men, because information had been received by the Council of Safety that a British land and naval force were preparing to attack Charleston. The fort was built of palmetto logs and earth, and was named Fort Sullivan. Over it was unfurled the flag of South Carolina, which Moultrie had designed. As there was then no national flag, and the provincial troops who garrisoned the fort were dressed in blue, and wore a silver crescent on the front of their caps, he had a large blue silk flag prepared with a white crescent in the dexter corner. This was the first American flag displayed in South Carolina. Georgia, tardy in joining the Continental movement, felt the flame of patriotism warming the hearts and minds of her sons early in I775. In February, the inhabitants of the parish of St. Johns, in that province, chose Lyman Hall to represent them in the second Congress, and he took his seat as such at the middle of May. In July the Provincial Convention that had been formed adopted the American Association, and chose delegates to represent the whole province in the Congress; and then the bright galaxy of the "Old Thirteen" was perfected. The royal governor, Sir James Wright, had tried in vain to suppress the rising tide of republicanism in Georgia. So early as May, I775, when it was suspected that he was about to imitate General Gage, by seizing the ammunition of the province, several members of the Council of Safety and others broke open the magazine, sent a greater portion of the powder to Beaufort, South Carolina, and hid the remainder in their own garrets. When the governor and the Tories were preparing to celebrate the king's birthday, on the 4th of June, by firing the cannon on the battery in Savannah, some of the leading Whigs spiked the guns there, and hurled them to the bottom of the bluff. Not long afterward, a letter written by the governor to General Gage, asking him to send troops to Georgia to suppress the rising rebellion there, was intercepted at Charleston. The republicans were greatly exasperated; and a day or two afterward they seized a British'ship at the mouth of the Savannah River, with thirteen thousand pounds of gunpowder on board. The spirit of resistance waxed stronger and stronger, until, in January, 1776, the Whigs resolved to endure the adverse influence of the governor and the Tories no longer. Joseph Habersham, a member of the popular legislature, with some armed volunteers, seized Governor Wright and made him a prisoner on parole at his CHAP. XIX. FLIGHT OF A ROYAL GOVERNOR. 843 own house. A sentinel was placed before it, with orders not to allow any intercourse between the governor and the Loyalists. During a stormy night in February, Sir James escaped through a back window of his house, walked five miles down the borders of the river with a friend, and then entering an open boat, fled in the pelting rain, under the cover of darkness, for shelter to the British vessel-of-war Scarborough, lying in Tybee Sound. Stuart, the Indian agent for the Southern Department, had fled for safety to St. Augustine. He had incurred the bitter resentment of the patriots by trying to'~' ).' DISABLING CANNON AT SAVANNAH. execute an atrocious order from Gage, as commander-in-chief of the forces, in these words: "The people of Carolina in turning rebels to their king have lost all faith; improve a correspondence with Indians to the greatest advantage, and even when opportunity offers make them take arms against his majesty's enemies, and distress them all in their power; for no time is now to be kept with them; they have brought down all the savages they could against us here, who, with their riflemen, are continually firing upon our advanced sentries; in short, no time should be lost to distress a set of people so wantonly rebellious; supply the Indians with what they want, be the expense what it will, as every exertion must now be made on the side of government." Gage had borne the same false testimony concerning the employment of the savages by the Americans, to the British ministry, as an excuse for his barbarous recommendations to make allies of them with the British army. At the same time the British emissaries were among the savage tribes of the north trying to form alliances with them, and to incite them to war against the Patriots. 844 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. So was ended royal rule in Georgia. At the same time royal authority had really ceased in all the colonies. Each had formed a provisional government for itself, and each looked to the Continental Congress as the central director of the civil and military movements of the United Colonies in the great struggle before them. They were waging a defensive war against a powerful nation, whose maritime superiority was universally acknowledged; and the contest would have been hopeless on their part but for the geographical, topographical, and social conditions which were substitutes, in a large degree, for numerous and well-disciplined and well-furnished armies, which they lacked. The American settlements were sparsely sprinkled along a comparatively narrow selvedge of the continent on the western shores of the Atlantic Ocean, for a thousand miles. Their country was broken by rugged hills, considerable rivers and vast morasses, and heavily wooded almost everywhere. The population were occupied chiefly in farming, and presented very few salient points of attack by military or naval forces, such as cities and large villages. The only towns of considerable size were Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, Norfolk, and Charleston. Of these, three of the larger ones did not contain twenty thousand inhabitants each, while neither of the others had half that number. It was next to impossible to subdue a country so extended and so populated, if the people were tolerably united. This fact dawned upon the minds of the headstrong king and his supple ministry, after the events at Lexington and Concord, as a new and ominous light. They had declared before the world their intention to crush the rebellion in America, and to enforce obedience; but they saw with alarm that their military establishment was not strong enough to spare sufficient troops and ships from the necessary police force of the kingdom to do it; so they began to look for foreign mercenaries in America and Europe-the savages of our forests and the soldiers of the old world despotisms-to aid them in enslaving between two and three million of their best subjects. The king first applied to the Empress of Russia, whom he was disposed to regard as a half-barbarian sovereign of a barbarous nation, for the loan of her soldiers. Her ministers expected a ready compliance, for could not British gold purchase anything? Gibbon, the historian, wrote to a friend in October, I775: " When the Russians arrive, will you go and see their camp? We have great hopes of getting a body of these barbarians; the ministers daily and hourly expect to hear that the business is concluded; the worst of it is, the Baltic will soon be frozen up, and it must be late next year before they can get to America." But Catharine sent a flat refusal to enter into such nefarious business, half-barbarian as the British king thought her to be. CHAP. XIX. KING OF ENGLAND AND EMPRESS OF RUSSIA. 845 She said, in a letter written by her minister, " I am just beginning to enjoy peace, and your majesty knows that my empire needs repose. It is also known what must be the condition of an army, though victorious, when it comes out of a long war in a murderous climate. There is an impropriety in employing so considerable a body in another hemisphere, under a power almost unknown to it, and almost deprived of all correspondence with its sovereign. My own confidence in my peace, which has cost me so great efforts to acquire, demands absolutely that I do not deprive myself so soon of so considerable a part of my forces. Affairs on the side of Sweden are but put to sleep, and those of Poland are not yet definitely terminated. Moreover, I should not be able to prevent myself from reflecting on the consequences which would result for our own dignity, for that of the two monarchies and the two nations, from this junction of our forces, simply to calm a rebellion which is not supported by any foreign power." This letter, which conveyed reproof in sarcastic words, stung and irritated the king. He was also surprised and offended by what he deemed her want of politeness, in not answering his gracious autograph letter with her own hands, and with soft words becoming a woman. He sputtered out his indignation in his rapid way, and said: " She has not had the civility to answer me in her own hand; and has thrown out expressions that may be civil to a Russian ear, but certainly not to more civilized ones." The king was compelled to pocket his wrath, which he did with dignity and composure after the first ebullition of feeling, and turning to the needy German princesthe rulers of a people out of whom had come his own dynasty-he was rewarded with success. x A,\= CHAPTER XX. FOREIGN TROOPS HIRED BY THE BRITISH-CONDITION AND WANTS OF THE REPUBLICAN ARMY IN CANADA-TEMPER OF THE CANADIANS-COMMISSIONERS OF CONGRESS IN CANADA-RETREAT OF THE AMERICANS FROM QUEBEC-AFFAIR AT THE CEDARS-DEATH OF GENERAL THOMASDISASTER AT THREE RIVERS-RETREAT OF THE AMERICANS FROM CANADA-TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS-SIR JOHN JOHNSON AND HIS CONDUCT — SCHUYLER DEFEATS HIS PLANS-THE ROYAL GREENS-LADY JOHNSON-WASHINGTON'S ARMY-LEE IN NEW YORK-CLINTON IN NORTH CAROLINA-BATTLE IN CHARLESTON HARBOR. F -AILING to procure "barbarians" from Russia, the British monarch asked Holland for the loan of a brigade of troops. Deputies said: "A commercial State should avoid quarrels if possible;" and Van der Capellan, the greatest statesman of the Netherlands at that time, remarked: " A republic should never assist in making war on a free people." Unwilling to offend England, the brigade was offered on the condition that it should not serve out of Europe. This was a polite and adroit denial of the request, and the troops were not accepted. While these negotiations were going on, bargains were made by the British government with some of the less scrupulous German rulers for the hire of the required number of soldiers. The bargains were perfected at the close of'775, and early in I776. The contracting parties were the reigning governors of Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Hanau, Brunswick, Anhalt, Anspach, and Waldeck, and the King of Great Britain. They were governed in the negotiations by the common law of trade expressed by supply and demand. England needed troops; the German rulers needed money. The former had the money and the latter the troops, which, in time of peace, were a heavy burden upon the resources of the princes. The bargain was a natural one on business principles; the morality of the transaction was quite another affair. About seventeen thousand German troops, most of them well-disciplined, were hired. Their masters were to receive for each soldier a bounty of twenty-two dollars and a half, besides an annual subsidy, the whole amounting to a large sum. The British government also agreed to make restitution for all soldiers who might perish from contagious diseases; while being CHAP. XX. GERMAN TROOPS HIRED BY ENGLAND. 847 transported in ships; in engagements, and during sieges: and they were all to take an oath of allegiance to the British monarch, without its interfering with their oaths of allegiance to their respective rulers. They were, according to the agreement, to constitute a corps made up of four battalions of grenadiers, each four companies; fifteen battalions of infantry of five companies each, and two companies of Yagers (riflemen), all to be well equipped with the implements of war. The chief commanders of these troops, best known \' \' GERMAN SOLDIERS FORCED FROM THEIR HOMES. to Americans, were General Baron de Riedesel, General Baron Knyphausen, and General De Heister. The name of Hessians was given to them all, and, because they were mercenaries (men fighting only for pay), they were particularly detested by the Americans. The employment of them was a disgrace to the British government, and the method used in forcing many 848 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. of them was a crime against humanity. Laborers were seized in the fields, mechanics in the workshops and worshippers in the churches, and hurried to the barracks without being allowed a parting embrace with their families. The king of Great Britain, to avoid complicity in the horrid work, refused to give commissions to German recruiting officers (who, it was known to the British ministry, intended to impress men), saying: "It, in plain English, amounts to making me a kidnapper, which I cannot think a very honorable occupation." All Europe cried "Shame!" and Frederick the Great of Prussia took every occasion to express his contempt for "the scandalous man-traffic" of his neighbors. Whenever any of these troops were compelled to pass through any part of his dominions, he claimed the usual toll for so many head of cattle, since, as he said, they had been sold as such. Of the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, he remarked in a letter to Voltaire: " The sordid passion for gain is the only motive of his vile proceeding." Without these troops the war would have been short; with them the British were not successful. A part of them under Riedesel went to Canada in the spring of I776, to assist in driving the republicans out of that province. Another part under Knyphausen and De Heister joined the British army under General Howe before New York, in the summer, and had their first encounter with the patriots on Long Island. We left the little army of republicans in Canada, bereaved of their brave leader, shattered in strength and shivering with cold outside the walls of Quebec. The time of the enlistment of many of the soldiers expired with the year, and they went home; and the besieging army was reduced to about four hundred Americans, and as many uncertain Canadian volunteers. Arnold, on whom the command devolved, though disabled by his wound, retired with them to Sillery, above Quebec, where he formed a camp and passed a rigorous winter. He was full of pluck. From that suffering camp he wrote: " I have no thought of leaving this proud town until I enter it in triumph." But he needed ten thousand well-provided troops to do that and effect the conquest of Canada. The army needed not only men, but hard money and everything necessary for a siege and conquest. General Wooster, on whom the chief command of the army in Canada devolved, on the death of Montgomery, wrote to Schuyler from Montreal, that with hard money supplies might be procured in that province. " Money we must have," he wrote, "or give up everything. If we are not immediately supplied with hard cash we must starve, quit the country, or lay it under contribution." He wrote in every direction for aid, but it did not appear. Schuyler, when he heard of the disaster, was anxious to fly to the relief of the imperiled army. Like all true patriots he was grieved at the loss of ~:~i. ~ i iiiiil::.~:"~. ~:...~~: i~h'0 0 ~Sf~ u r;: O~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~x~~ -:F` ~ ~ ~ CHAP. XX. THE AMERICAN ARMY IN CANADA. 849 Montgomery. He could not take his place, for he was then tortured with gout and confined to his house. He was also watching the suspicious movements of Sir John Johnson and the Tories and Indians of the Mohawk region. He sent urgent appeals to the Continental Congress and that of New York for men, money, and munitions. How could they be furnished? With difficulty the army of Washington on the sea-coast, in the midst of a populous region, could be supplied with these; how then could they be furnished for service on the St. Lawrence, more than three hundred miles from the sea, with a desolate wilderness between, and the broad forests and few open fields and lakes covered with snow and ice? It was impossible. The Canadians were restrained from enlisting by the priests, whom Wooster had offended by his injudicious exhibition of his hatred of " popery." His prejudices were so strong, that he could hardly be civil to the Roman Catholics by whom he was surrounded, and whose friendship it was important to cultivate. The petty tyranny of Arnold offended and disgusted the nobility, who were taught by circumstances to regard his troops as intruders and a scourge, rather than deliverers, as they were considered when Montgomery was in command. The priests and nobles led all the rest, and the people held back. HIad Montgomery lived, no doubt Canada would have been standing side by side with the other British-American colonies in the strife for freedom. That Wooster, on account of his age and temperament, was unfit to command the army in Canada, all contemporary writers agree. He took personal charge of the troops at Quebec, on the first of April. They lay scattered around the town, in groups, some distance from each other, about two thousand in number, only one-half of whom were fit for duty, for the small-pox and other diseases had filled the hospitals with sick men. To dislodge the British garrison required several thousand men and a good train of artillery. These were wanting. Reinforcements from the colonies went forward tardily. The Canadians had changed from lukewarm friends into active enemies, and were gathering around the standard of Carleton. It seemed as if the little army of republicans must be captured or destroyed very speedily, when Washington, who was then at New York with a little more than eight thousand troops, sent three thousahd of his best men, under General Sullivan, for service in Canada. Thomas of Massachusetts had already been commissioned a major-general and sent to take command of the troops near Quebec; for the health of Schuyler, and his important duties in relation to the Tories and Indians in the Mohawk region, would not permit him to go to the head of the troops in Canada. Meanwhile Congress had appointed Dr. Franklin, Samuel Chase, and 850 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. Charles Carroll a board of commissioners invested with full authority to proceed to Canada and direct military affairs there; to promise a guaranty of the estates to the clergy; to establish a free press; to offer the Canadians free trade with all nations; to invite them to form a free and independent government for themselves, and to join the confederated colonies. The commissioners arrived at Montreal, where Arnold was in command, at the close of April. They were too late. A general impression prevailed there that the American army would soon be driven out of the province, for reinforcements for Carleton were on their way. Without an army, without hard money, and without credit, the commissioners could not ask the Canadians to join them. They perceived that the main objects of their mission could not be obtained, and it was determined to withdraw the troops to St. Johns, and there to fortify and reinforce them, so that they might be an impassable barrier to an army that might attempt to penetrate the country below. General Thomas arrived at Quebec on the first of May. He found there nineteen hundred troops, one-half of whom were sick with the small-pox and other diseases. They had, in the magazine, only one hundred and fifty pounds of powder. Some of the troops were clamorous for a discharge, for their term of enlistment had expired. This inauspicious state of affairs caused Thomas to prepare for a retreat toward Montreal. While he was making ready for the movement, British ships arrived at Quebec with troops, when a thousand men of the garrison, with six cannon, sallied out and attacked the Americans, who fled in their weakness far up the St. Lawrence, to the mouth of the Sorel. A fortnight after this retreat, Captain Foster, with some British regulars and Canadians, and about five hundred Indians under Brant, the celebrated Mohawk chief, came down the river from Oswegatchie (now Ogdensburg) and captured a small garrison at the Cedars Rapids, not far above Montreal. They were a part of Colonel Bedel's New Hampshire regiment. The colonel was sick at Lachine, and his major (Butterfield), terrified by a threat made by Forster, surrendered without fighting. Arnold went out to attack the captors, but to prevent the prisoners being murdered by the Indians, he consented to a compromise for an exchange. While the enemy was thus pressing upon Montreal from up the river, word came from below that General Thomas was sick with the small-pox. He died on the 2d of June, when the command devolved on General Sullivan, who felt sure that in the course of a few days he would " reduce the army to order," and " put a new face on affairs" there. To Washington he wrote: "I am determined to hold the most important posts as long as one CHAP. XX. RETREAT FROM CANADA. 851 stone is left upon another." But Sullivan did not know that British and German troops, under Generals Burgoyne and Riedesel, were then landing at Quebec, and so putting the republican army in Canada in a position of great peril. By the arrival of these reinforcements, Governor Carleton found himself in command of about thirteen thousand soldiers, most of them thoroughly equipped for war. Some of the vessels, with troops, were sent directly up the river, and assisted in repelling an attack upon a British post at Three Rivers by a force under General Thompson, composed of Pennsylvania troops commanded respectively by Colonels St. Clair, Wayne, and Irvine. Thompson was badly beaten, and he and Irvine, with one hundred and fifty private soldiers, were made prisoners. This disaster was discouraging to Sullivan. It was immediately followed by the startling news of an overwhelming military force coming up the river by land and water. Sullivan was compelled to retreat up the Sorel, carrying most of his boats and his cannon around the rapids at Chambly. He pressed on to St. Johns. Arnold, who seeing approaching danger had abandoned Montreal without waiting for orders, had joined him near Chambly, and on the I7th of June the remainder of the invading army were all at that post which Montgomery had captured when he entered Canada about seven months before. The fugitive troops were in a most pitiable condition. Nearly one-half of them were sick, and all of them were half-clad, and scantily fed with salt meat and hard bread. "At the sight of so much privation and distress," wrote Dr. Stringer, the medical director, " I wept till I had no more power to weep." The force was too weak to make a successful stand at St. Johns against the great army of Burgoyne that were slowly pursuing, and they continued their flight to Crown Point, in open boats without awnings (for they could get none), exposing the sick to the fiery sun and the drenching rain. Terrible were the scenes at Crown Point after the fragments of the army were gathered there. More than thirty victims of disease were buried daily, for awhile. Every spot and every thing seemed to be infected with pestilence. For a short time the troops were poorly housed, half-naked, and inadequately fed; their daily rations being raw salt pork, hard bread, and unbaked flour. Five thousand men were there. During two months the Northern Army had lost by desertion and sickness full five thousand soldiers. So ended in disaster the remarkable invasion-one of the boldest ever undertaken, all things considered. Meanwhile the Congress had, by resolutions, given ample support to the army in Canada. They had told General Thomas to "display his military qualities and win laurels." They resolved that, "General Schuyler be 852 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. desired to take care that the army in Canada be regularly and effectually supplied with necessaries;" that hard money could not be sent into Canada, but provisions should be forwarded from the neighboring colonies, and that "six thousand militia be employed to reinforce the army in Canada." As these resolutions were not followed by corresponding performances, and as the army could not fight and subsist upon resolutions, there was disastrous failure-a failure caused chiefly by neglect. The exertions of General Schuyler to reinforce and supply the army in Canada were untiring, and the amount of labor to accomplish that end, which he performed while tortured with bodily suffering, was prodigious. At the same time he was defeating, by vigilance, wisdom and energy, the efforts of Sir John Johnson to bring upon the rear of the Northern Army the Tories west of Albany, and the Six Nations of Indians. Early in January (1776) he was told that Sir John had fortified his manor-house at Johnstown, and that his retainers, mostly Scotch Highlanders, seven hundred in number, were in arms. The general called for volunteers to enable him to disarm this formidable conspiracy. The response was marvellous. They came in such numbers, that, when he was within a few miles of Johnson Hall, he was at the head of almost three thousand men, including nine hundred of the Tryon County militia. He had met Sir John on the way, and made friends of the Mohawks; and he compelled the baronet and his followers to surrender all the arms and military stores which they had collected. He also took Johnson's parole of honor that he would not take up arms against the republicans, nor tamper with the Indians. Sir John deceived Schuyler with false promises. He violated his parole; and when Schuyler sent an armed force to arrest him in May, he fled, with his followers, through the great wilderness between Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains to the St. Lawrence, and joined the British army in Canada. He was commissioned a colonel in that army, and raised two battalions-a total of a thousand men, composed of his retainers and other Tories. These were the formidable corps known in the border warfare of that period as The Royal Greens, because of their green uniform. Lady Johnson, who was a daughter of John Watts, one of the king's counsellors of the province, was sent to Albany on horseback in that pleasant spring-time, attended by a military escort, where she was kept in durance several months, as a hostage for the restraint of her husband. The army under Washington, which had driven the British out of Boston, soon afterward appeared in other fields of duty, a part of them, as we have seen, in Canada, but more at New York and it} its vicinity. At the beginning of the year Washington ascertained that Sir Henry Clinton was CHAP. XX. GENERAL LEE IN NEW YORK. 853 about to sail from Boston, with troops, on a secret expedition. It was suspected that New York was his destination, where Governor Tryon was ready to head a formal demonstration in favor of the crown. The Tories there were active and numerous. Disaffection prevailed extensively; and it was fostered by Tryon, whose "palace " was the armed-ship Duchess of Gordon, lying in the harbor. Fearing that province might be lost to the republicans, Washington ordered General Charles Lee, then recruiting in Connecticut, to embody the volunteers and march to New York. Governor Trumbull lent his official aid to Lee, and within a fortnight after the latter received his orders, he was in full march for the Harlem River with twelve hundred men, and the bold Son of Liberty, Isaac Sears, as his adjutantgeneral. His approach caused many Tories to flee, with their families, to Long Island and New Jersey; and the Committee of Safety, timorous and undecided, protested against his entering the city, because the commander of the Asia had threatened to cannonade and burn the town if "rebel" troops should be allowed to enter it. Lee did not heed the threats nor the protests. He encamped his troops in the Fields (now the City Hall Park), made his headquarters at the house of Captain Kennedy, No. I Broadway (yet standing), and issued a proclamation, saying: " I come to prevent the occupation of Long Island or the city, by the enemies oF Liberty. If the ships-of-war are quiet, I shall be quiet; if they make my presence a pretext for firing on the town, the first house set in flames by their guns shall be the funeral pile of some of their best friends." Before these brave words the Tories cowered. The proclamation sent a thrill of patriotism among the weak-kneed in the Provincial Congress, and that body adopted measures for fortifying the city and the approaches to it, and garrisoning it with two thousand men. Sir Henry Clinton's vessels appeared off Sandy Hook on the day when Lee arrived in New York. He was bound for the coast of North Carolina to execute a plan of the ministry for the subjugation of that province, suggested by Governor Martin the previous autumn. It was believed by the king and his advisers that the people of the southern provinces would join the royal troops when they should appear; but Dartmouth, evidently having some doubts, instructed Clinton, in case the people were not loyal, to distress them by burning any of their towns that might refuse to submit. A fleet commanded by Sir Peter Parker, and designed to act under Clinton's orders, did not leave Ireland until February. Then the vessels were delayed by storms. Clinton, meanwhile, had been awaiting their arrival with impatience. It was May before he entered the Cape Fear River with some of them. From the Pallas he issued a proclamation (May 5, 854 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. 1776) which declared North Carolina to be in a state of rebellion, ordered all Congresses to be dissolved, and offered pardon to all penitents excepting the arch-rebels Cornelius Harnett and Robert Howe. The latter was then a brigadier-general in the Continental army. The people laughed at the manifesto, and the irritated baronet vented his wrath upon the property of Whigs. Earl Cornwallis had come with troops in the transports convoyed WILLIAM MOULTRIE. CHARLES LEE. ROBERT L.OWE. by Parker's fleet, and he was sent, with nine hundred men, to ravage the plantation of General Howe at Brunswick. Governor Martin sent a party to burn the house of William Hooper, who was then a delegate in the Continental Congress; and some mills in the neighborhood were destroyed. Satisfied that the North Carolinians could not be coaxed nor frightened into submission, the British forces proceeded to attempt the reduction of Charleston, South Carolina, as a prelude to the fall of Savannah. General Lee, who had been ordered by Washington to watch the movements of Clinton, who had been ordered by W~ashingtonz to wratch the movements of Clinton, CHAP. XX. AFFAIRS AT CHARLESTON. 855 had made his way southward by land, and arrived at Charleston on the 4th of June. Lee's arrival was at an auspicious moment. Four days before, John Rutledge, President of the Provincial Congress of South Carolina, had been informed that a British fleet of armed vessels and transports filled with troops lay anchored off Dewee's Island, twenty miles north of Charleston bar. Rutledge had been industriously preparing for a defence of Charleston. Almost one hundred cannon were mounted at various points around Charleston harbor, and a strong battery had been erected at Georgetown. Brigadier-General Armstrong of Pennsylvania was in command of troops there; yet the story of the formidable British force being near, spread a panic among the inhabitants. The arrival of Lee, whose experience and skill were known, inspired the patriots with confidence, and the alarm subsided. The people worked cheerfully to perfect the defences; and the garrison of Fort Sullivan labored day and night to complete that work and arm it. When, on the day of the arrival of General Lee, the British forces appeared off Charleston bar, about thirty pieces of heavy cannon were mounted on it. The militia from the surrounding country now flocked into Charleston at the call of President Rutledge. These, with Carolina regulars and the troops from the North brought by Armstrong and Lee, made an available force of almost six thousand men. Colonel Gadsden commanded the garrison in Fort Johnson, on James Island, three miles from the city. Colonel Moultrie was at the head of the troops in Fort Sullivan, on Sullivan's Island, and Colonel Thompson commanded riflemen from Orangeburg, stationed on the eastern end of that island. A considerable force were at Haddrell's Point on the northerly side of the harbor, under the immediate command of Lee, assisted by General Robert Howe. Rutledge proclaimed martial-law in the city. Some valuable store-houses on the edge of the water were pulled down, and a line of defences were erected there. The streets near the water were barricaded; lead window-sashes were melted into bullets, and seven hundred negro slaves belonging to Loyalists, with tools, were pressed into the service. After long delay Clinton completed his arrangements for a combined attack of ships and troops upon Fort Sullivan, which was chosen to receive the first blow. It was garrisoned by about four hundred men, mostly South Carolina regulars, with a few volunteer militia; and its only aid was a sloop, with powder, anchored off Haddrell's Point. Lee had pronounced the fort absolutely untenable, and called it "a slaughter pen;" and he advised Rutledge to withdraw the garrison and abandon Sullivan's Island without striking a blow. Rutledge refused. Lee, with sharp words and angry tone, 55 856 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. persisted in his views, and if he dared he would have withdrawn the troops in spite of the wiser President. He annoyed Moultrie by his orders looking to a flight from the fort, directing him to build bridges for retreat to the main; but Moultrie did not believe that he could be driven from his little fortress of soft palmetto logs, for he knew, better than Lee, their resisting power. Lee tried to weaken his force by ordering detachments to be sent from the fort; and up to the last moment he wished to have Moultrie removed from the command. Had he been acting in favor of the enemy he could not have given better advice; and in view of his subsequent treason, which will be noticed hereafter, the historian cannot be sure that he was not, at that time, acting the part of a traitor. The vehemence of his language impressed others. The brave Captain Lempriere, while viewing the British vessels that had come over the bar, said to Moultrie: " Well, Colonel, what do you think of it now?" "We shall beat them," Moultrie said. "The men-of-war," answered the captain, " will knock your fort down in half an hour." "Then we- will lie behind the ruins and prevent their men from landing," replied the imperturbable colonel. Clinton had landed soldiers on Long Island, a strip of sandy land separated from Sullivan's Island by a shallow creek. There he erected batteries to confront those of Thompson on Sullivan's Island, and awaited the pleasure of Admiral Parker. On the morning of the 28th of June, Sir Peter, from his flag-ship the Bristol, gave a signal for attack. The Thunderbomb opened a bombardment on the fort; and between ten and eleven o'clock the flag-ship and Experiment, each carrying fifty guns, and the Active and Solebay, of twenty-eight guns each, moved forward and anchored within cannon-shot distance of the fort, with springs on their cables. Lord Campbell, the fugitive royal governor, was on board the Bristol, expecting to be reinstated in power the next day, for no officer of the fleet doubted the entire success of the British forces in demolishing the fort and seizing Charleston. It was supposed that two broadsides would end the fort and secure the garrison; but when these were delivered, Moultrie, who had not a tenth as many guns as were brought to bear upon him, returned the fire with spirit and effect. The broadsides of the British ships only jarred the fort. The spongy palmetto logs received the round-shot and were not fractured. The missiles were imbedded in the soft wood, and so gave increased strength to the fort; while Moultrie's guns, fired slowly and with precision, sent balls that shivered hulls and spars, and spread death over the decks. The roar of three hundred guns shook the city, where a multitude of anxious spectators beheld the terrible scene from windows, balconies, roofs, and steeples, and along the edges of the water. At length, perceiving the CHAP. XX. ATTACK ON FORT SULLIVAN. 857 unfinished state of the fort on its western side, Parker ordered the Sphynx, Active, and Siren, each carrying twenty-eight guns, to take a position in the channel on that side, so as to enfilade the garrison —to fire on their flank. Had they done so, destruction or surrender would have been the fate of Moultrie and his men. But all three struck on a shoal called The Middle Ground, and could not be got off until they were severely battered by balls BRAVE SERGEANT JASPER. from the fort. One of them could not be moved. The people at Charleston, seeing this, sent up a shout of joy; but they were soon saddened. A few moments afterward the flag that waved over the fort suddenly disappeared. Had Moultrie surrendered? No! A cannon-shot from a British vessel had cut the flag-staff, and the blue banner of South Carolina, with its 858 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. silver crescent, had fallen outside of the fort. Seeing this, Sergeant Jasper exclaimed: " Colonel, we mustn't fight without a flag! " and going quickly through an embrasure he picked up the precious piece of silk while cannonballs were flying thickly around him, re-entered the fort, fastened the banner to a sponge-handle, climbed to the parapet, fixed its new staff firmly there, and flung it to the breeze. At this time, Clinton with his two thousand land troops and six hundred seamen, attempted to co-operate with the fleet by landing on Sullivan's Island and attacking the fort on its unfinished side. He opened his batteries on Long Island, upon Thompson, who had only two guns, but his Carolina riflemen were expert and dangerous sharp-shooters. Clinton embarked some of his troops in boats covered by floating batteries in the creek; but the soldiers could not land in the face of the terrible volleys from Thompson's men, and were speedily disembarked. The baronet accomplished almost nothing during the furious conflict of ten hours on that bright and hot June day. Thompson held him at bay until the battle ceased at evening. Moultrie's powder was scarce at the beginning, and he used it sparingly. At length it was nearly exhausted, and he sent to Lee for more, notwithstanding that officer had written to him: " If you should, unfortunately, expend your ammunition without beating off the enemy or driving them aground, spike your guns and retreat." A little later, braver words were uttered and better deeds were done by President Rutledge. He wrote: " I send you five hundred pounds of powder. You know our collection is not very great. Honor and victory to you, and our worthy countrymen with you! Do not make too free use with your cannon. Be cool and do mischief." The powder was forwarded by Lee. Moultrie resumed his fire, and did such "mischief" that the British were glad to end the fight. The firing from their vessels slackened at sunset, and at half-past nine ceased altogether. The Bristol and Experiment were nearly wrecks, so fatally accurate had been the firing from the fort. Had the sea been at all rough, the flag-ship must have gone to the bottom. The fleet withdrew out of reach of Moultrie's guns; and the next morning the crew of the Actwon, which was hopelessly aground, set her on fire, and fled in boats, leaving her colors flying. These and some of her munitions of war the Americans secured half an hour before she blew up. In that battle-one of the most severe of the war-the British lost in killed and wounded two hundred and twenty-five men. Of the four hundred and thirty-five in the beleaguered fort, only ten were killed and twentytwo wounded, though thousands of shot and many shells were hurled against CHAP. XX. THE BRITISH REPULSED AT CHARLESTON. 859 them. Charleston was saved, and South Carolina was defended from invasion by the valor of her own sons; and in honor of the brave colonel who commanded the garrison, the palmetto log-fortress was named Fort Moultrie. After remaining a few days at Long Island to repair damages, the British fleet, with Clinton's army, sailed for New York, where they joined the forces under General and Admiral Howe. The loss on board the British ships, in this action, was frightful. Every man stationed on the quarter-decks of the vessels at the beginning of the battle was either killed or wounded. On board the flag-ship forty men were killed, and seventy-one were wounded. Governor Lord William Campbell, who was serving as a volunteer, was severely wounded at the beginning of the action. The commodore suffered a slight contusion. The Bristol had not less than seventy balls put through her. When the spring of her cable was cut, she swung round with her stern toward the fort, and instantly every gun that could be brought to bear upon her hurled deadly shot into the exposed vessel, for Moultrie, at the beginning, had said, " Mind the commodore and the fifty-gun ship." ~ Although the Thunder-bomb cast more than fifty shells into the fort, not one of them did any serious damage, for in the centre of the works there was a large moat, filled with water, which received nearly all of the shells, and extinguished the fuses before the fire reached the powder. Others were buried in the sand and did no harm. After the battle, the Americans picked up in and around the fort, twelve hundred shot of different calibre that were fired at them, and a great number of thirteen-inch shells. CHAPTER XXI. BRITISH VESSELS DRIVEN FROM BOSTON HARBOR-BRITISH TROOPS SAIL FOR NEW YORK-WASHINGTON IN NEW YORK - ACTION OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS -SCHUYLER AND THE INDIANS-A HORRIBLE PLOT DEFEATED-MOVEMENTS IN FAVOR OF INDEPENDENCE-PAINE AND HIS "COMMON SENSE "-INDEPENDENCE IN CONGRESS AND ELSEWHERE-SILAS DEANE SENT TO FRANCE-POSITIVE ACTION OF THE COLONIES IN FAVOR OF INDEPENDENCE-THE FORMATION OF STATE GOVERNMENTS RECOMMENDED-DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. MMEDIATELY after the evacuation of Boston, Washington hastened to New York with a greater part of his army, for he suspected Howe of an intention to attack that city. British war vessels lingered in Boston harbor even so late as June, and there was a prevailing fear in New England that Howe intended to return to their shattered capital. It was therefore determined by the Massachusetts Assembly to drive the ships to the sea. This was done at the middle of June, by General Lincoln, at the head of militia and a few regulars, who so annoyed the ships with cannon planted on the shores, that they departed never to return. Howe went to Halifax to prepare for attacking the Americans at what he supposed to be a more vulnerable point. In June, I776, General Howe sailed with his recruited army from Halifax for New York, and arrived at Sandy Hook at near the close of that month. There he was soon afterward joined by a large fleet commanded by his brother Richard, Earl Howe. The latter had been made joint commissioner with the general, and authorized by the king to offer pardon to all rebels, in his name, and to negotiate for peace or to prosecute the war as circumstances might demand. The admiral was the pleasant gentleman whom Dr. Franklin met at the chess-playing with Mrs. Howe, in London, and had some diplomatic correspondence with him. He addressed a courteous letter to Franklin, on his arrival, with copies of a proclamation of pardon, which the Congress permitted the shrewd American diplomat to answer. It was done in terms that made Howe shrink from the task of replying to it. When Washington arrived in New York, he pushed forward the defences of the city, and in the Hudson Highlands, for already intimations had reached the Americans that a grand scheme of the ministers for dividing the CHAP. XXI. PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 86I colonies, was to effect a junction between troops going up the Hudson Valley, and others coming down from the St. Lawrence, the latter being already at the foot of Lake Champlain. Fort Washington was built on the highest part of Manhattan Island (now Washington Heights); and strong batteries were constructed near it as well as in the more immediate vicinity of the little town whose northern verge was on The Fields, now City Hall Park. The commander-in-chief went to Philadelphia to confer with the Continental Congress on the topic of the general defence of the colonies, for the theatre of war was evidently about to expand along the entire sea-board. It was then known that the mercenaries of the British monarch were on their way to America; and it was believed that the city of New York was destined to receive the first stunning blow from the combined British and German armies. Danger appeared imminent, and Congress authorized the enlistment of thirteen thousand troops from New England, New York, and New Jersey; also the establishment of a Flying Camp under General Hugh Mercer, composed of men from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. These were to rendezvous at Amboy, in New Jersey, opposite Staten Island. The Congress also authorized the forming of a body of Indians, two thousand in number, for service in Canada, to oppose the savages employed by Carleton. General Schuyler, who was wiser concerning the. Indians than the senators at Philadelphia, asked the significant question: "Where are the Indians to be found?" He knew it would be impossible to gather so large a number for such a purpose. " I think," he said, " that if the Indians can be kept from joining the enemy, it will be as much as we have a right to expect." Knowing their cruel disposition, he was averse to employing them in war; he knew, also, that their maxim in alliances with the white people was to adhere to the strongest, most liberal in giving rewards, and with whom there was the least danger. Schuyler labored successfully in effecting that neutrality; he held the Six Nations in restraint from I775 until I783. Washington returned to New York early in June, and made his summer headquarters at Richmond Hill (now the intersection of Charlton and Varick streets), afterward the country seat of Aaron Burr. Soon after his return a foul conspiracy, hatched by the unscrupulous Governor Tryon on board the Duchess of Gordon, was discovered. The brothers Howe were hourly expected to enter the harbor of New York with a powerful fleet and army, and a plan was formed for causing the uprising of the Tories in New York and in the lower valley of the Hudson at that moment; to cut off all communication with the mainland; to fire the magazine; to murder Washington, his staff and other leading officers of the American army in the city; or to 862 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. seize them and send them to England for trial on a charge of treason; and, making prisoners of the great body of the troops, carry out the separating design of the ministry just mentioned. The mayor of New York (Matthews) was Tryon's chief vehicle of communication with the Tories. A large number of persons were concerned in the plot. Their influence was felt even above the Hudson Highlands, by the offer of large rewards for those who should join the king's troops when they should land. The up-river recruits I; II~lii I it W.ASHINGTON AND THE GREEN PEAS. were to spike the great guns on the fortifications in the Highlands, and then hasten to join the Loyalists below. Washington's Life Guards were tampered with, and two of them were seduced from their fidelity. To one of them, an Irishman named Hickey, was entrusted the task of destroying Washington. He resolved to poison his commander, and tried to make the general's housekeeper, a faithful maiden, an. accomplice in the deed. She pretended to favor his plans. It was arranged for her to put poison, that he should prepare, into green peas, a dish of which Washington was very fond. At the appointed time he saw the poison mixed with the peas and watched the girl, at an open door, as she carried the fatal mess to the general's table and placed it before him. The maiden had revealed the plot to Washing CHAP. XXI. A HORRIBLE PLOT DEFEATED. 863 ton, and he made an excuse for sending the peas away. He ordered the arrest of Hickey, who was tried by a court-martial, and was condemned. He was hanged on a tree in Colonel Rutger's field a little east of the Bowery, on the 28th of June, 1776, in the presence of twenty thousand people. Already Mayor Matthews and more than twenty others had been arrested by order of the Provincial Congress, but only Hickey suffered death. It was the first military execution in the Continental Army; and it is a notable fact that the delinquent was from a body of men who were specially chosen for their trustworthiness. The horrible plot was traced directly to Governor Tryon, as its author. Ten days after the execution of the Life-Guardsman, General Howe landed nine thousand troops on Staten Island, and there awaited the arrival of his brother Lord Howe with a large fleet. At the moment when British armies and navies were hovering on the American coasts charged with the unrighteous business of suppressing by force of arms the uprising of a free people in defence of their liberties, that people, by their representatives in Congress assembled, were laying broadly the foundations of an independent nation. In all their debates, petitions and remonstrances, the colonists had steadily disclaimed a desire for political independence of Great Britain. As a body, they were sincere; and it was only when dependence was made a synonym for slavery, that any great number of Americans sincerely entertained a wish for independence. That desire had been cherished in the hearts of a few like Samuel Adams and Christopher Gadsden, from the time when Writs of Assistance and the Stamp Act foreshadowed the oppressive measures toward the Americans which the new king would be willing to sanction; but not until late in I775, when the respectful petition of the Congress had been treated by the sovereign and the legislature with scorn, and it was known that there were negotiations on foot for the hire of foreign troops to enslave the Americans, did any considerable number of thinking men, in the colonies, openly express opinions favorable to independence. When Great Britain sent armies hither to coerce submission to her injustice; "to plunder our seas, ravage our coasts, burn our towns, harass our people, and eat out their substance;" when King, Lords, and Commons became totally "deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity,"' the colonies were forced to "acquiesce in the necessity which compelled them to dissolve the political bands which connected them with the parent state, 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, entitled them." At the beginning of 1776, when the king had proclaimed the colonists to 864 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. be rebels, rejected their petitions with disdain, and was preparing to send a crushing force hither, men in every station in life began to speak out boldly in favor of independence. Washington did not hesitate; and General Greene wrote to a delegate in Congress from his colony: " The king breathes revenge, and threatens us with destruction; America must raise an empire of permanent duration, supported upon the grand pillars of truth, freedom, and religion." And later Washington declared that when he took command of the army he "abhorred the idea of independence;" but "I am now fully convinced," he wrote, " that nothing else will save us." The flame of desire for absolute independence glowed in almost every bosom. It was fanned by the brave words of Thomas Paine, the son of an English Friend who had lately come to America as a literary adventurer and missionary of freedom. He was full of aspirations for liberty, and the opportunity to do good for mankind. At the beginning of I776, he put forth a powerful plea for independence, suggested by Dr. Rush of Philadelphia. In terse, sharp, incisive and vigorous sentences, glowing with zeal and sincerity, he embodied the sentiments of reflecting men and women throughout the colonies in telling words of common sense, like these: " The nearer any government approaches to a republic, the less business there is for a king; in England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away places. Volumes have been written on the struggle between England and America. Arms must decide the contest; the appeal was the choice of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge. The sun never shone on a cause of greater worth.'Tis not the affair of a city, a county, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent-of at least oneeighth part of the habitable globe.'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in it even to the end of time. It matters little now what the king of England either says or does. He hath wickedly broken through every moral and human obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet, and by a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty, procured for himself a universal hatred. Independence is now the only bond that will keep us together. We shall then see one object, and our ears will be legally shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well as cruel, enemy. We shall then, too, be on a proper footing to treat with Great Britain; for there is reason to conclude that the pride of that court will be less hurt by treating with the American States for terms of peace, than with those whom she denominates'rebellious subjects' for terms of accommodation. It is our delaying it that encourages her to hope for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war. Every quiet method for peace CHAP. XXI. DESIRES FOR INDEPENDENCE AWAKENED. 865 hath been ineffectual; our prayers have been rejected with disdain; reconciliation is now a fallacious dream. Bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the touchstone of nature; can you hereafter love, honor, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried fire and sword into your land? Ye that tell us of harmony, can ye restore to us the time that is past? The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries,''Tis time to part.' The last chord is now broken; the people of England are presenting addresses against us. A government of our own is our natural right. Ye that love mankind, that dare oppose not only tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression; Freedom hath been hunted round the globe; Asia and Africa hath long expelled her; Europe regards her like a stranger; and England hath given her warning to depart: 0! receive the fugitive, and prepare an asylum for mankind." So pleaded this earnest man, and he called his appeal by the significant name of Common Sense. The effect of the pamphlet was marvellous. It carried dismay into the camp of the enemy, and illustrated the truth of the assertion, that "the Pen is mightier than the Sword." Its trumpet tones wakened the continent, and made every patriot's heart thrill with joy. It was read with avidity everywhere; and the public appetite for its solid food was not appeased until a hundred thousand copies had fallen from the press. Satisfied of its worth and salutary influence, the Legislature of Pennsylvania voted the author two thousand five hundred dollars. Washington wrote to Joseph Reed from Cambridge: "A few more such flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and Norfolk, added to the sound doctrine and unanswering reasoning contained in the pamphlet Common Sense, will not leave members at a loss to decide upon the propriety of a separation." It probably did more to fix the idea of independence firmly in the public mind than any other instrumentality. Legislative bodies soon began to move in the matter. The Continental Congress was firm at heart but timorous in action, for awhile. In January (I.776), Franklin called up his plan for a confederation, and endeavored to have a day set for its consideration, but was defeated by Dickinson, Hooper, Jay and others, who were not ready for separation. But in February, a proposition from Wilson, for Congress to send forth an address to their constituents in which they should disclaim the idea of renouncing their allegiance, disgusted that body and the people. The constituency everywhere were ahead of their representatives in aspirations for independence. The proposition of Wilson brought out Harrison of Virginia, who said: " We have hobbled on under a fatal attachment to Great Britain. I felt that attachment as much as any man, but I feel a stronger one to my country." 866 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. The honest and able George Wythe, from the same province, was also fired with righteous indignation at the proposition, and exclaimed, after asserting the natural and prescriptive rights of the Americans: " We may invite foreign powers to make treaties of commerce with us; but before the measure is adopted, it is to be considered in what character we shall treat! As subjects of Great Britain? As rebels! No; we must declare ourselves afree people." These were the first brave words on the floor of Congress in favor of independence. They were followed by a resolution offered by Mr. Wythe, "That the colonies have a right to contract alliances." "That means independence," said timid ones; but the question whether the resolution should be considered was carried by the vote of seven colonies against five. In less than a month afterward, Silas Deane was appointed by the Committee of Secret Correspondence, a political and commercial agent to operate in France and also elsewhere, and to procure necessary supplies of every kind for an army of twenty-five thousand men. He was instructed to say to the French government, in substance, " We first apply to you, because if we should, as there is an appearance we shall, come to a total separation with Great Britain, France would be the power whose friendship it would be fittest for us to obtain and cultivate." Already an emissary from France had been sent to America, with the consent of young King Louis, who had doubtless given some of the members of the Congress to understand that aid would be offered by France, if it could be done secretly, for that country was not then in a condition to engage in war with Great Britain. The subject of independence came up in other forms in Congress. In their instructions to the commissioners to go into Canada, reported by John Adams, these words were used: " You are to declare, that it is our inclination that the people of Canada may set up such a form of government as will be most likely, in their judgment, to produce their happiness." To this Jay and others objected, because it meant "independence." But the sentence was adopted. Then, after long debate, the Congress resolved, in April, to throw open the ports of the colonies to the commerce of the world, " not subject to the king of Great Britain," and that " no slaves be imported into any of the thirteen United Colonies." This resolution abolished British custom-houses, and swept away the colonial system here. It was a most important step in the direction of absolute independence. North Carolina was the first colony that took positive action on the subject of independence. On the 22d of April, I776, a provincial Convention in that colony authorized its representatives in the Continental Congress " to concur with those in the other colonies in declaring independence." The people of Massachusetts did the same on the next day. Those CHAP. XXI. ACTION OF COLONIAL LEGISLATURES. 867 of Rhode Island and Virginia instructed their representatives to propose independence. Those of Connecticut told their delegates to assent to independence. The Provincial Congress of New Hampshire issued similar instructions; and the delegates from New Jersey, just elected, were left to act in the matter as their judgment might dictate. Several months before, the subject had been hinted at in the Pennsylvania Assembly, when the startled Conservatives procured the adoption of instructions adverse to that idea. These restrictions were removed, but the delegates received no official INDEPENDENCE HALL IN I876. instructions on the subject. At the close of May the Maryland Convention positively forbade their delegates voting for independence, but at the close of June they were in accord with Virginia. Georgia, South Carolina and Delaware, took no official action in the matter, and their delegates were left free to vote as they pleased. William Franklin (son of Dr. Franklin), the royal governor of New Jersey and the last of the crown-officers who held his seat, had been arrested by order of the General Congress, and sent, a prisoner of State, to Connecticut. So the sovereignty of that body was asserted in this treatment of the direct representative of the king. It was the act of an independent nation. Meanwhile the desire for independence had become a living principle in 868 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. the Continental Congress, and that principle soon found courageous utterance. On the Ioth of May, that body, on motion of John Adams, resolved, " That it be recommended to the several assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs hath hitherto been established, to adopt such a government as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general." This was a bold but cautious step. It was not sufficiently comprehensive to form a basis of energetic action in favor of independence. There was need for some one courageous enough to offer an instrument which should sever the cord that bound the colonies to Great Britain. That man would be marked as an arch-traitor, and incur the undying resentment of the royal government. He appeared in the person of Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, whose constituents had instructed him to "propose " independence; and on the 7th of June, 1776, he arose in his place in the hall of Congress-a spacious room in the State-house at Philadelphia, and ever since known as Independence Hall-and with his clear, musical voice read aloud this resolution: " That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; and that all political connection between us and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." John Adams instantly seconded the resolution. To shield him, and Mr. Lee, from the ministerial wrath, the Congress, whose sessions were always held with closed doors, directed their secretary to omit the names of the mover and seconder of the resolution, in the Journal; and the entry simply declares that " certain resolutions respecting independence being moved and seconded," it was resolved that the further consideration of them should be postponed until the next day. The postponement was afterward extended to the first of July; and in order to avoid a loss of time, in case the resolution should be adopted, a committee was "appointed to prepare a declaration to that effect." The committee was composed of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Mr. Lee was not appointed on the committee, because he had been compelled to leave Philadelphia for his home, in consequence of the serious illness of his wife. The Declaration was fully discussed in committee, and when its topics were settled, the task of putting the whole in proper form was committed to Mr. Jefferson, because he was a colleague of Mr. Lee, and his acknowledged superior in the art of literary composition. At the end of two days he submitted a draft which was adopted unanimously by the committee, after some CHAP. XXI. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 869 slight verbal alterations by Adams and Franklin. Debates upon it in Congress were long and animated, for there was not unanimity therein, on the subject. Several amendments were made. Among these was the striking out of a long paragraph, in which the King of Great Britain, in the general indictment, was held responsible for the African slave-trade carried on by the colonies, and the perpetuation of slavery here. The charge was not strictly correct, and a sacred regard for truth caused the clause to be omitted in the indictment. It was evident from the beginning that a majority of the colonies would vote for independence, but their unanimous consent was most desirable. To secure that result, the friends of the measure bent every effort. The Assemblies of Maryland and Pennsylvania, as we have seen, had refused to sanction it, and Georgia, South Carolina, and New York remained silent. The delegates from Maryland were all in favor of it; those from Pennsylvania were divided. At length, on the 24th of' \ / June, the people of Pennsylvania, in a convention held at Philadelphia, consented to "concur in a.vote of Congress, declaring the United Colonies free and independent States;" and by the unwearied exertions of Chase, Carroll and other delegates from Maryland, the Convention of that province, on the 28th of June, recalled their former RICHARD HENRY LEE. instructions and empowered their representatives to concur with the other colonies in a Declaration of Independence. So the most important obstacles in the way of unanimity were removed; and when a vote was taken in the committee of the whole House on Mr. Lee's resolution, on the 2d of July, all the colonies voted for it excepting Pennsylvania and Delaware, four of the seven delegates from the former voting against it, and the two delegates from Delaware, who were present, being divided-Thomas McKean favoring it, and George Read opposing it. The all-important resolution being adopted, it remained for final action in the Declaration of Independence. It was warmly debated on the 2d and 3d of July. Meanwhile news of the arrival of General Howe, with a large British army, at Sandy Hook, had been received by the Congress, and made a profound impression on that body. McKean, burning with a desire to 870 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. have Delaware speak in favor of Independence, sent an express after Caesar Rodney, the other delegate from that colony, who, he knew, was in favor of the measure. Rodney was eighty miles from Philadelphia. He tarried only long enough to change his linen. Ten minutes after receiving McKean's letter, he was in the saddle, and riding day and night, he reached Philadelphia on the 4th of July, a short time before the final vote on the Declaration was taken. So Delaware was secured —Read had changed his mind and voted for the Declaration. Robert Morris and John Dickinson of Pennsylvania were absent. The former was in favor, the latter was opposed to the measure. Of the other five Pennsylvania delegates who were present, Dr. Franklin, >.'j( l James Wilson, and John Morton were in favor of it, and Thomas Willing and Charles Humphreys were opposed to it; so the vote of Pennsylvania was also secured. When' I,'/ 1/' } Fthe question was taken on that bright, cool /t Iw\\ "':.'day, the 4th of July, I776, the Declaration I'e',.- of Independence was adopted by the unani-, // M - 2 mous vote of the thirteen colonies, and i/'~ ~)~ ~ Charles Thompson, the Secretary of Con/~~ i~iF ~i / gress, made the following modest record of the great event, in their journal: " Agreeably to the order of the day, the ~ if~l,/1//// of the whole, to take into their further consideration the Declaration; and, after some THOMAS JEFFERSON. time, the President resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported that the Committee have agreed to a Declaration, which they desired him to report. The Declaration being read, was agreed to." In that Declaration, after reciting their reasons for making it, in a series of definite charges against the British monarch, the Congress said: " We, therefore, the representatives of the United States, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the 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 independent 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 CHAP. XXI. SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 87I ought to be, totally dissolved, and that, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." Having, by this act, given birth to a nation, it was necessary to have, for use, a token of national authority, and on the afternoon of the same day, the Congress resolved: "That Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams, and Mr. Jefferson be a committee to prepare a proper device for a Seal for the United States of America." The Declaration of Independence was signed on the same day by every member present, who voted for it. As the voting in the Congress was by colonies, a majority of the members of that body could not bind a single colony; it was therefore necessary for the members to sign it, to show that a majority of the delegates of the several colonies represented were in favor of it. Their signature, only, could be received as a proper authentication of the instrument. These signatures were attached to a copy on paper, and the instrument was ordered to be engrossed on parchment. This was done, and the copy on parchment was signed by fifty-four delegates on the 2d of August. Two others afterward signed, one in September and the other later in the autumn. Immediately after the adoption of the Declaration it was printed, and was sent out in every direction, with the names of only John Hancock, the President of Congress, and Charles Thompson, Secretary, appended to it. The erroneous impression has prevailed that only these two officers signed it on the Fourth of July. In January, I777, it was printed on a broadside, with the names of all the signers, and sent to the several assemblies, conventions and committees, or Councils of Safety, and to the several commanding officers of the Continental troops. 56~,= CHAPTER XXII. RECEPTION OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE-STATE GOVERNMENTS FORMED-ARRIVAL OF BRITISH FORCES BEFORE NEW YORK-PEACE COMMISSIONERS FOILED-LORD HOWE, ANDT. WASHINGTON AND FRANKLIN-THE BELLIGERENT ARMIES-PREPARATIONS FOR A CONFLICTTHE BATTLE ON LONG ISLAND-THE RETREAT OF THE AMERICANS FROM BROOKLYN-PEACE COMMISSIONERS AGAIN FOILED-INTERNAL PERILS OF THE ARMY - EVACUATION OF NE~W YORK BY THE AMERICANS-ITS POSSESSION BY THE BRITISH. HE far-reaching results of the Declaration of Independence were not appreciated, at the time, by the great body of the people. There was general joy, because there was a vague idea in the public mind that something beneficial might immediately ensue. A Whig newspaper in the city of New York announced the great act of the Congress " on Thursday last," without a word of comment, and in only six lines. But there were seers and sages in every community whose discernment penetrated the veil of the future, and beheld glorious visions beyond of a great and free nation on the soil of America. These were the men who led in public demonstrations of joy all over the country on that occasion. When the Declaration was read in public from Rittenhouse's Observatory on the Walnut-street front of the State-house in Philadelphia, on the 8th of July, it was greeted with loud huzzas by the people. These thoughtful men testified their belief that the great act had ended royal rule in the United States, by taking down the king's arms that were over the seat of justice in the State-house, and burning them in the street, with other symbols of royalty. The same kind of men, with similar prescience, after the Declaration had been read to the republican army in New York, toward the evening of the 9th of July, led the excited populace, composed of citizens and soldiers, at early twilight, to the Bowling Green at the foot of Broadway, where stood aloft an equestrian statue of the reigning monarch, which had been set up by grateful Americans after the repeal of the Stamp Act, ten years before. They put ropes around the necks of the man and horse, pulled them from the pedestal, and broke them in pieces. The statue was made of lead, and gilded. The pieces were carried away, and the metal was cast into forty thousand bullets by patriotic women CHAP. XXII. EFFECTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 873 wherewith to fight the royal troops. " So," said a contemporary writer, " they had melted majesty hurled at them." Everywhere in America multitudes of men and women perceived the full significance of the act, and these led in chanting the great song of deliverance that filled the hearts of republicans and found expression from their lips. In Europe the act gave hope to tens of thousands of aspirants for freedom, and thrones began to tremble..~~c. PULLING DOWN THE STATUE OF THE KING. Meanwhile the resolution of Congress adopted in May, recommending the colonies to form State governments, had been acted upon by several of them. New Hampshire had prepared for a State government, in January, 1776. The royal charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut were considered sufficiently democratic; and that of the latter remained the fundamental law of the State until 1842. New Jersey adopted a State constitution on 874 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. the 2d of July; Virginia adopted one on the 5th, and Pennsylvania on the I5th. On the 14th of August, Maryland followed their example; Delaware on the 20th of September, and North Carolina on the I8th of December. Georgia adopted a State constitution on the 5th of February, I777, and New York on the 2oth of April following; but South Carolina did not follow the example until the Ig9th of March, I778. Massachusetts, the most eager champion for local self-government, deferred the important measure that secured it, until the 2d of March, I780. Within a year after the Declaration of Independence was made, most of the States had organized settled governments, but no national government was established until the armed struggle had been going on for six years, as we shall observe hereafter. We left Washington and his main army in and around the city of New York, in the summer of I776. General Howe arrived at Sandy Hook from Halifax at the close of June, and on the 8th of July-four days after independence was declared-he landed nine thousand men on Staten Island, that lies between New York harbor and the sea. There he awaited the arrival of his brother, Admiral Howe, with his fleet bearing British regulars and German hirelings. These, and the broken forces of Clinton and Parker from the Carolinas, soon joined General Howe; and by the middle of August, the British, land and naval, numbering almost thirty thousand men, prepared to fall upon the American forces. With this great force the British commanders, who counted largely upon the moral strength of the Tories in favor of the crown, felt confident that they would soon bring the rebellion to an end, either by negotiations or by crushing it under the heel of military power. Lord Howe had said, at Halifax, " Peace will be made within ten days after my arrival." Like the ministry who sent them, the commissioners were profoundly ignorant of the spirit of the people they were to deal with. The powers with which they were vested were very limited. They could grant pardons to individuals on their return to allegiance, and grant amnesty to insurgent communities which should lay down their arms and dissolve their governments. They might converse with individuals in America on the public grievances and report their opinions, but they might not be judges of their complaints nor promise redress; and they were not allowed to treat with any Congress, either provincial or continental, nor with any civil or military officer commissioned by such bodies. The brothers entered upon their narrow diplomatic mission immediately after the arrival of the admiral. They sought first to open communication with Washington. For this purpose they sent a note to him by a flag, inclosing a copy of a declaration of the royal clemency, and the willingness of the king to grant a free pardon to all penitents. The superscription of the CHAP. XXII. THE BRITISH BEFORE NEW YORK. 875 letter did not bear the official title of the commander-in-chief-only " George Washington, Esq."-and he refused to receive it. Anot'her was sent by the hand of Major Paterson, General Howe's adjutant, less marked by omissions, but it was not received. Wishing to make some arrangement about an exchange of prisoners, Washington permitted the major to visit the American camp. When the adjutant was about to depart, the latter expressed the hope that his visit would be accepted as the first advance of the commissioners toward reconciliation. He assured the general that they had large powers. " From what appears," said Washington, " they have power only to grant pardons; —having committed no fault, we need no pardon; we are only defending what we deem to be our indisputable rights." The admiral addressed a friendly letter to Dr. Franklin in a similar manner, and received from the statesman a reply, courteous in tone, but in no wise soothing to his feelings as a soldier or a Briton. Franklin concluded his letter by saying: "This war against us is both unjust and unwise; posterity will condemn to infamy those who advised it; and even success will not save from some degree of dishonor those who voluntarily engage to conduct it." The brothers suspected Franklin uttered the sentiments of the Congress with whom they were not permitted to treat; and that the words of Washington were in accordance with the views of the same body. The generous and noble-hearted admiral was grievously disappointed by these rebuffs. He saw that he was powerless as a minister of peace; that he had been deceived, and that he was placed by a sense of duty to his king in a position most distasteful to him, and repugnant to his convictions of right. War, and not peace, now occupied the attention of the brothers for awhile. August had now arrived. A large army and navy were threatening the city of New York and its vicinity. Already ships-of-war had run up the Hudson River past American batteries, and were menacing the country in the rear of Manhattan Island, with the intention of keeping open a free communication with Carleton then on Lake Champlain, and furnishing arms to the Tories in Westchester county. In the city of New York, a majority of the influential inhabitants were active or passive Tories. The provincial authorities were yet acting timidly. It was even proposed by Jay to lay Long Island waste, burn the city of New York, and retire to the rugged fastnesses of the Highlands. Washington's whole effective force, for manning batteries, securing passes, and occupying posts, some of them fifteen miles apart, did not then exceed eleven thousand men; the most of them were militia coming and going and poorly armed, and a regiment of artillery without skilled gunners and furnished with old iron field-pieces. Sectional jealousies were dividing the troops. Gates was already showing his jealousy 876 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. of Washington, and an itching to take his place; and faction in his favor was breeding in the Corfgress, from which came frequent resolutions that interfered with the well-laid plans of the commander-in-chief and the efficient General Schuyler in Northern New York. Yet Washington was hopeful. An appeal to the country was nobly responded to at that hour of imminent danger. From the farms of Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, where ripening harvests needed them, came patriotic yeomanry, and swelled the American army to seventeen thousand effective men. The whole number, sick and well, was almost equal to that of the British. Both parties made preparations for an inevitable conflict. Hulks of vessels were sunken in the channel of the Hudson River opposite the heights on which Fort Washington was built. Fort Lee was erected on the Palisades beyond. Batteries were constructed at various points on Manhattan Island, and a considerable body of troops were sent over to take post and cast up fortifications on Long Island, back of Brooklyn, under the command of General Greene. That officer was soon prostrated by bilious fever and resigned the leadership to General Sullivan, who had lately come from Lake Champlain. A small detachment was placed on Governor's Island near the city; another was sent over to Paulus's Hook, where Jersey City now stands, and a body of New York militia, under General James Clinton, took post in Westchester county to oppose the landing of the British from vessels on Long Island Sound. Parsons' brigade took post on the East River, at Kipp's Bay (now foot of Thirty-fourth street), to watch British vessels if they should enter those waters. Sullivan placed guards at several passes through a range of hills on Long Island, which extend from the Narrows to Jamaica; and late in August he had a line of defences extending from the vicinity of Greenwood Cemetery to the Navy Yard, a distance of a mile and a half. These were armed with twenty cannon, and there was a redoubt of seven guns on Brooklyn Heights. The British army moved on the morning of the 22d of August. About fifteen thousand troops were landed on the west end of Long Island on that day. Washington sent reinforcements to Sullivan; and the idea that the American troops were about to evacuate the city, and leave it exposed to the shells of the British shipping in the Bay, greatly terrified the inhabitants. Many Whig families fled to the country and did not return until the close of the war. General Putnam now took the chief command on Long Island, with particular instructions from Washington to guard the passes through the wooded hills. Regiments of Germans under General De Heister followed CHAP. XXII. BATTLE ON LONG ISLAND. 877 the British troops, and on the 26th, the combined forces of the enemy composed a most perfect army in experience and discipline. Its chief leaders were Generals Clinton and Cornwallis, accompanied by General Howe, and it was supported by over four hundred ships and transports. Among the former were ten ships-of-the-line, twenty frigates, and some bomb-ketches. On the evening of the 26th, the number of effective American troops on Long Island did not exceed eight thousand men. Between this weak force of republicans and the strong army of the king now stretched the denselywooded hills, with their steep sides and narrow passes, from the flat lands to the Brooklyn ferry. One of these was south of the present Greenwood Cemetery; another in Prospect Park (now marked by an inscription); a third near the village of Bedford, and a fourth toward Jamaica. About twenty-five hundred Americans were set to guard these passes, not so much to prevent the British pressing through them (for this Washington did not expect to do), but to harass and confuse them in their march. When Washington left the camp at Brooklyn on the evening of the 26th, it was obvious that the British intended to gain the rear of the Americans by the Bedford and Jamaica passes, and he gave strict orders for them to be closely watched and strongly guarded. At three o'clock on the morning of the 27th of August (I776), General Putnam was told that his pickets at the lower pass (south of Greenwood) had been driven in. He ordered Brigadier-General Lord Stirling, with some Delaware and Maryland troops, to march and "repulse the enemy." Stirling instantly obeyed, and was followed by General Parsons with some Connecticut troops. They all crossed the marsh-bordered Gowanus Creek over a causeway and bridge at some tide-mills on the creek, when Stirling soon found himself confronted by an overwhelming division of the British army under General Grant, with Howe's ships-of-war in the Bay, on his right flank, for they had come up in a menacing attitude toward the city, and lay not far from Governor's Island. Stirling placed his only two cannon on the side of a wooded height (now known as Battle Hill, in Greenwood), so as to command the road. This formed the left of his line. His right was nearly on the Bay, and the troops of Colonels At Lee and Kiechlein, which had been guarding the pass, formed his centre. The Germans under De Heister and Knyphausen were moving at the same time to force their way through the pass at Prospect Mount (now Prospect Park), while Howe, with the main body of the British army led by Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis, was moving toward the Bedford and Jamaica passes, to gain the rear of the Americans. Putnam had utterly neglected to place a competent guard at the latter pass, as Washington had 878 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. ordered him to do; and when he was told of the movement of the British in that direction, instead of informing the commander-in-chief of the imminent danger, or directing Stirling to retreat from almost certain destruction, he allowed Sullivan to go out with a few troops, and take command of New Jersey and other forces on Mount Prospect. When, at eight o'clock in the morning, the British had reached the Bedford and Jamaica passes, not more than four thousand Americans were out of the lines at Brooklyn-a handful to oppose five times that number, then stretched along a line more than five y~ —~- \ x~:'' - N~,. x. ~ — w._<.'-..T —.' —, THE AMERICANS AT GOWANUS CREEK. miles in extent. The Americans on the left did not perceive their danger until the British had gained their flank and began the attack. The incapacity of Putnam for such important service had allowed a surprise. The British attack was severe and persistent. The troops composing the American extreme left fled in confusion, and with fearful loss to the lines at Brooklyn; and some Connecticut fugitives, unmindful of the safety of those behind them, burned the bridge over the Gowanus Creek, thereby cutting off the retreat of their fellow-soldiers by that way. Meanwhile the Germans had attacked Sullivan, on the site of Prospect Park, and a desperate fight ensued. While it was going on, Clinton unexpectedly appeared, endeavoring to gain Sullivan's rear. As soon as the latter saw his peril, he ordered a retreat to the Brooklyn lines. It was too late. Clinton drove him back upon the German bayonets. After a sharp hand-to-hand conflict, and seeing no chance for success, Sullivan ordered his men to shift for them ~~~~ "~~~~~~~ —' RM 01,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EWE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 11 ONES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ r~~~~~~~~~~~0 A Z ~7 y Jhlsoz &Mi- th i s ~~~I- AT0- I ~-31A'~ k ERG N~S RLNA O SGW! Ja!K Puli3c r",N, olI CHAP. XXII. THE AMERICANS DEFEATED. 879 selves. Some fought their way through the cordon of soldiers, some hid in the woods, and Sullivan, concealed in a field of corn,.was made prisoner by some German grenadiers. Stirling and his party were now the only Americans in the field with unbroken ranks. They fought the enemy with great spirit four hours, when, hopeless of receiving reinforcements, and seeing the main body of the British army rapidly approaching his flank and rear, Stirling ordered a retreat. The bridge was in flames, and the tide was rising. There was no alternative but to wade the morass and the creek, and that passage was about to be cut off by Cornwallis, who was rapidly descending the Port Road with grenadiers and Highlanders. What was to be done? Could any be saved? Stirling's valor quickly answered the questions. He ordered the Delaware troops and one-half of the Marylanders to cross the mud and water with some German prisoners which they had taken, while he and the rest of the Marylanders should keep Cornwallis in check. The order was obeyed. The five Maryland companies that remained fought with desperate valor while the whole of their companions-in-arms crossed the water in safety, excepting seven who were drowned. This movement was seen by Washington from the redoubt on Brooklyn Heights. He was sorely grieved by the disasters of the day. And now the final one occurred. Stirling, having saved a majority of his troops, could no longer resist the pressure of overwhelming numbers on his front, flank and rear, and he surrendered. He would not yield up his sword to a British commander, but sought De Heister, to whom he delivered it. The Germans were the principal victors on that day. They received the surrender of Sullivan, Stirling, and more than half the prisoners. The loss of the Americans did not, probably, exceed one thousand, of whom one-half were prisoners; more than half the loss fell upon Stirling's command. Many of the prisoners were afterward sufferers in the loathsome British prisons in the city of New York and the prison-ships near by. The victors encamped before the American lines on the night succeeding the battle, and prepared to besiege the works of their foe. Washington was anxiously watching every movement, for there was no one on whose judgment and vigilance he might implicitly rely. For forty-eight hours he did not sleep. Fortunately for the republicans, Howe was very indolent and sluggish in thought and movement. A devotee of sensual pleasures and impatient when business interfered with them, he allowed opportunities for achieving grand results to slip. Had Clinton been in command at that time, he would, doubtless, have captured the whole American army and its munitions of war, on the morning of the 28th. Howe dallied in the lap of 880 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. enjoyment, and allowed them to escape. During two days after the battle the rain fell almost incessantly. Mifflin had come down from the north end of Manhattan Island with a thousand troops, but with these reinforcements the republican army was too weak to cope with the strong enemy. Washington clearly perceived this, and resolved to retreat. Early on the 29th, he sent an order to General Heath to forward from Kingsbridge " every flatbottomed boat and other craft," at his post, " fit for transporting troops;" and a similar order was sent to the assistant quartermaster-general at New York. Late in the / —-— I i t -- afternoon he revealed his plans to a council of war at the house'.,;,1 tl 0 As > A-;of Philip Livingston, on Brook- 5.., -- uS& lyn Heights, and they were approved. The embarkation in boats, managed by Glover's regiment of Essex county fishermen, took place at the Brooklyn ferry after midnight, when the storm had ceased. The full moon was obI~(F iscured by clouds. Silently the I troops moved from the works to the river; and before dawn a heavy fog covered them from view. Before six o'clock in the morning of the 3oth of August, nine thousand American soldiers with their baggage and muni-' — I, -C; tions of war excepting some THE NEGRO AND THE HESSIAN SENTI'NEL.. heavy artillery, had safely passed over the East River to New York. The whole movement was unsuspected by the British leaders on land and water until it was too late to pursue. A negro servant had been sent by a Tory woman near the ferry to give notice of the flight, but he fell into the hands of a German sentinel, who could not understand a word that was uttered. When the astonished Howe found that his expected prey had escaped, he "swore a big oath," and then took possession of the abandoned American works. Leaving garrisons in them, he encamped the main body of his army eastward of Brooklyn as far as Flushing, and then prepared for CHAP. XXII. CONFERENCE WITH PEACE COMMISSIONERS. 88I the capture of the city of New York, with the American troops in it. The admiral moved his vessels up within cannon-shot of the city, for the same purpose. Because of this victory, General Howe (who was uncle to the king) was created a baronet-Sir William Howe. Admiral Howe thought the discomfiture of the Americans on Long Island a propitious time for the exercise of his functions as a peace commissioner. Generals Sullivan and Stirling were prisoners on board his flagship, and he paroled the former, and sent him with a verbal message to the Congress asking that body to designate some person with whom he might hold an informal conference. They appointed Dr. Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge, a Committee to meet his lordship; and the house of a loyalist, Colonel Billop, on the western side of Staten Island, was chosen to be the place for the conference. In that house they met on the I Ith of September. The utmost courtesy was observed. Lord Howe told the Committee that he could not recognize them as members of Congress, but as private gentlemen, and that the independence of the colonies lately declared could not be considered for a moment. "You may call us what you please," said the Committee; we are, nevertheless, the representatives of a free and independent people, and will entertain no proposition which does not recognize our independence." The gulf between them was evidently impassable, and the conference was soon terminated. Howe accompanied the Committee back to Amboy in his barge in which they had been brought over to Staten Island; and with the expression of hopes that reconciliation might speedily heal all dissensions, he bade them a courteous adieu. Washington's army had escaped the perils of war from without, but greater perils existed within its own bosom. At no time during the long years of conflict that ensued was the usually serene and hopeful mind of the commander-in-chief more seriously clouded with doubts than in the month of September, 1776. That army seemed to contain all of the elements of dissolution-lack of permanency, unity of feeling and unalloyed patriotism, with sectional jealousies, insubordination, disrespect for superiors, and a lack of that moral stamina so essential to success in every undertaking. Contemporary writers give a sad picture of the army at that time. Among some of the subordinate officers, greed overshadowed patriotism. Officers were elected, not because of their merits, but by a compliance with the condition that they should throw their pay and rations into a joint stock for the benefit of a company; surgeons sold recommendations for furloughs for ablebodied men, at sixpence each, and a captain was cashiered for stealing blankets from his soldiers. Men went out in squads to plunder from friend 882 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. and foe; drunkenness was a common vice, and licentiousness poisoned the regiments. With such an army subjected to the temptations of a city, before such an enemy as confronted it, how dark must have appeared the future to the commander-in-chief? That enemy was evidently preparing to strike a crushing blow. His navy occupied the Bay and the rivers on each side of Manhattan Island, and swarms of loyalists were ready to receive him with open arms in Westchester county, where he might cut off the supplies and the retreat of the Americans, and compel them to surrender. 1- v. PLUNDERING SOLDIERS. At that gloomy moment Washington called a council of war (September I 3), when it was resolved to send the military stores to Dobb's Ferry, twenty-two miles up the Hudson, to evacuate the city and to retreat to and fortify the Heights of Harlem toward the northern end of the island, and so keep open a communication with the country beyond. It was a timely decision, for the next day, the sixteenth anniversary of Wolfe's victory at Quebec, in which Howe bore a conspicuous part, had been chosen by that commander as the time for making a descent in force on New York. On that morning the sick were taken from the city into New Jersey, and under the direction of Colonel Glover the removal of the stores by water was CHAP. XXII. AMERICAN TROOPS LEAVE NEW YORK. 883 begun. The main body of the army, accompanied by a host of Whigs, moved toward Mount Washington, leaving a rear-guard of four thousand troops under Putnam to hold the city as long as it might seem safe. The army marched slowly, watching with keen vision the movements of the British; and on the I6th, they were on Harlem Heights, and Washington had made his headquarters at the house of his companion-in-arms on the field of the Monongahela, Colonel Roger Morris, which is yet standing. He had spent most of the I4th at the house of Robert Murray, on the Incleberg (now Murray Hill), sending out his scouts toward various points on the East River. There he gave instructions to Captain Nathan Hale, who entered the British camp as a spy, and whose sad fate we will consider presently. Howe, with his usual sluggishness, did not move at the time appointed, though he had given out the significant parole of Quebec, and the countersign of Wolfe. The admiral sent more ships-of-war up the East River; and on the morning of the I5th, others went up the Hudson as far as Bloomingdale, and put a stop to the removal of the American stores. On the same day, toward noon, those in the East River anchored a little below Blackwell's Island and began a heavy cannonade, to cover a force, chiefly Germans, who, in eighty-four boats, crossed the river and landed at Kip's Bay. The rest of the British army was stretched along the shore to Hell Gate, and over Ward's and Randall's Islands. Washington suspected the British would land near Harlem. He was on Harlem Plains when he heard the cannonading. Springing into the saddle, he rode swiftly, with his staff, in the direction of the din of battle. He soon met fugitive Continentals flying in terror. The guard at Kip's Bay had fled at the first cannon-shot hurled against them, and the brigades of Parsons and Fellows, that were to support them, panic-stricken, were scattering in all directions, without firing a musket. Their officers tried, in vain, to check their flight. Washington was alarmed and exasperated-alarmed because Putnam must be captured if the British could not be kept back for a few hours; exasperated because of the cowardice of his soldiers at that moment of supreme necessity for sturdy valor. He used every means in his power to rally them. He set a sublime example of bold courage by pressing forward within eighty yards of the battle-line, when, finding himself without followers, he wheeled his horse and gave judicious orders for the salvation of Putnam and the security of his army on the Heights of Harlem. He succeeded in rallying the troops sufficiently to make an orderly retreat to Bloomingdale, while the invaders moved forward, took possession of a redoubt, and halted on the Incleberg, an eminence between Fifth and Sixth avenues and Thirty-fourth and Thirty-eighth streets. 884 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. Meanwhile Putnam had been apprised of his danger. He struck the flag on Fort George at the foot of Broadway, and retreated by the roads nearest the Hudson River. The fugitive Lord Dunmore, who was with the fleet, went ashore and unfurled the red-cross of St. George over the fort, while Putnam was marching speedily and stealthily along ways sheltered by the woods, to the Bloomingdale road, which he reached at Sixtieth street. At the same time, Howe, with Clinton, Governor Tryon and other officers were enjoying refreshments at the house of Mr. Murray, on the Incleberyg. Mrs. Murray was a charming Quaker lady, and a warm Whig. She adroitly concealed her politics, and offered her guests her choicest wines and cakes. With sprightly conversation she captivated the warriors, and detained them and their troops long enough to allow every follower of Putnam to pass safely by within a mile of her house. The British leader was soon apprised of the startling fact, and ordered General Robertson to take possession of the deserted city with a strong force. For seven years, two months, and ten days thereafter, the British held possession of the city of New York. General Howe made the spacious Beekman mansion, at Turtle Bay (demolished in I874), his headquarters. Washington had left the Apthorp mansion (yet standing), at Bloomingdale, only a few minutes before British lightinfantry took possession of it. That night (September I5, I776), the American army were encamped in a line from the East River to the Hudson. Harlem Plains lay between the two armies. CHAPTER XXIII. FIRE-SHIPS-BATTLE ON HARLEM PLAINS-CAPTAIN HALE, THE SPY-GREAT FIRE IN NEW YORK -THE UNITED STATES AND FRANCE-BEAUMARCHAIS IN ENGLAND-COMMITTEE OF SECRET CORRESPONDENCE-AMERICAN COMMISSIONERS IN PARIS-WASHINGTON PLEADS FOR A PERMANENT ARMY, AND IS DISAPPOINTED-FORTS WASHINGTON AND LEE-GENERAL LEE, JOHN ADAMS AND WASHINGTON-BRITISH AND AMERICAN ARMIES IN WESTCHESTER-BATTLE AT WHITE PLAINS-RETREAT INTO NEW JERSEY-INCIDENTS OF THE CAPTURE OF FORT WASHINGTON-PRISON-SHIPS AND THEIR VICTIMS. HE patriots who marched from the city to Harlem Heights were drenched by a shower, and slept in the open air that night. The stars were hidden by clouds until morning. Before the dawn of the I6th, a ruddy light suddenly glared along the Palisades and illumined the Hudson many miles. It was the flame of Captain Silas Talbot's fire-brig, with which he attempted to burn the British shipping in the Hudson. He failed, but the vessels were scared away, leaving a free communication between the strong work on Mount Washington and Fort Lee, on the crown of the Palisades opposite. A few hours later some Virginians under Major Leitch, and Connecticut Rangers commanded by Colonel Knowlton, were engaged in a severe fight, on Harlem Plains, with British infantry and Highlanders, using several pieces of artillery, and commanded by General Leslie, who was in charge of the British advance-guard. They fought desperately with varying fortunes, till Washington reinforced the Americans with some Marylanders and New Englanders, with whom Generals Putnam, Greene and others took part to encourage the men. The British were pushed back, and climbed to the high, rocky ground at the northern end of the Central Park east of the Eighth Avenue. There they were reinforced by Germans and Britons. Washington now fearing an ambush, and unwilling to bring on a general engagement, ordered a retreat. This affair greatly inspirited the Americans, though Major Leitch and Colonel Knowlton were killed, and about sixty others were slain or wounded. IHowe was displeased with Leslie's movement, and rebuked him for imprudence. The British chief did not make any aggressive movement for about three weeks afterward. 886 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. During that period Washington strengthened his defences, and gained much information respecting the British army. He greatly lamented the death of Knowlton, whose Rangers, called " Congress' Own," had acted as a sort of body-guard for the commander-in-chief before the Life-Guard were organized. Captain Nathan Hale, before mentioned, was one of Knowlton's most trusted officers, and was chosen by his colonel from among other volunteers for the perilous service of a spy. He entered the British camp as a plain young farmer, and made sketches and notes unsuspected. At length a Tory kinsman betrayed him, and he was taken b fore General Howe at the Beekman mansion. Hale frankly avowed his na e, rank, and his character of a spy, which his papers revealed, and Howe ordered him to be hanged the next morning (September 22, 1776), without even the form of a trial. All night he was tortured by the taunts of a brutal jailer in Beekman's green-house, in which he was confined; and in the morning he was delivered to the savage Provost-marshal Cunningham for execution. Hale was denied the services of a clergyman and the use of a Bible; but the more humane officer who superintended the execution, furnished him with materials to write letters to his mother, betrothed, and sisters. These Cunningham destroyed in the presence of the victim of his brutality, while tears and sobs marked the sympathy of the multitude of spectators of the scene. Hale met death with firmness. With unfaltering voice he said: " I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." These were the last words uttered by the young patriot, then only a little more than twenty-one years of age. At that moment the smoke of the smoldering embers of a great conflagration was hovering over the city of New York. At one o'clock in the morning of the 2Ist, a fire burst out in a low "groggery " near Whitehall. It swept up and across Broadway, laying Trinity Church and more than four hundred tenements in ruins. While it was raging the exasperated soldiers, who had expected winter shelter in the buildings, charged the disaster to the Whigs. Some of them, who came out in the gloom to save their property, were murdered by bayonets, or were cast into the flames and perished. General Howe, in his report, without a shadow of truth, declared the accident to have been the work of conspirators. Let us leave the belligerent armies for a moment, and see what was doing in the halls of legislation. We have seen how eagerly France watched for rebellion in America from the days of the Stamp Act excitement, as a means for avenging the injuries she had received from Great Britain. We have seen how, from time to time, emissaries were sent to America by the French government, during the quarrel between Great Britain and her CHAP. XXIII. RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 887 colonies, to ascertain the true state of public feeling here, with the hope of finding in the dissatisfied Americans powerful allies in her intended struggle to recover what " perfidious Albion " had taken from her. She was always saying pleasant things to the Americans, and trying to attract them to herself by professions of friendship and sympathy. This coquetry was taken seriously by the colonies, and when the "' time that tried men's souls " arrived-when Great Britain had hired German soldiers to butcher or enslave her subjects in America, the colonies naturally turned first to the French to ~~~~~~~~~~~r-/ EXECUTION OF CAPTAIN HALE. ask for aid in their struggle for freedom. Silas Deane, as we have observed, was sent to France by Congress in the spring of I776, as a commercial agent to obtain supplies for an army. At that time, Beaumarchais, an irrepressible Frenchman, conspicuous in the literary and political world of Paris, was a secret agent of the French government in watching the course of the British ministry toward the colonies, and feeling the pulse of public opinion in England. He was in London 57 888 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. in 1775, where he mingled freely with the politicians who hovered around Wilkes; and he became satisfied that civil war in England and success on the part of the Americans, then in open insurrection, were events not far in the future. He was convinced that the first reverse to British arms in America would be the signal for a revolution in London, and in this he saw the golden opportunity for France. Lord Rochford, North's minister for Foreign Affairs, had said to Beaumarchais: " I am much afraid, sir, that the winter will not pass without some heads being brought down, either among the king's party or the opposition." And John Wilkes (the leader of the British democracy) had boldly said to him, at the end of a public dinner: " The king of England has long done me the honor of hating me. For my part, I have always done him the justice of despising him. The time has come for deciding which of us has formed the best opinion of the other, and on which side the wind will cause heads to fall." These, and a hundred other seditious and revolutionary sayings, the ardent Frenchman repeated to Vergennes, the most energetic of the ministers of King Louis, and said in a formal letter: "The Americans will triumph, but they must be assisted in their struggle; for if they succumb, they would join the English, turn round against us, and put our colonies in jeopardy. We are not yet in a fit state to make war. We must prepare ourselves, keep up the struggle, and with that view send secret assistance in a prudent manner to the Amnericans." This was the key-note to the boasted "friendship" of his "Most Christian Majesty "-the prime motive for the "assistance" rendered by the king of France to the Americans during the war of the Revolution, as we shall observe hereafter. Arthur Lee (brother of Richard Henry Lee), an aspiring young barrister then in England, and whom Franklin had left in charge of the agency for Massachusetts when he returned to America, became acquainted with Beaumarchais's expressed desire to aid the Americans. Of this he gave information to the Congress, through his brother, who was a member of that body. They listened to Lee's reports secretly communicated, and became impressed with the idea that aid might be obtained from France and other European countries. In November, 1775, they appointed the famous "Committee of Secret Correspondence," with a deceptive announcement of their functions, having Dr. Franklin as their chairman. They were soon cautioned that Arthur Lee could not be trusted with important negotiations, and persuaded the Congress to send Silas Deane abroad for the purpose. Lee was greedy for honors, and wished to win immortal renown by obtaining material aid for his countrymen from France, as speedily as possible. For that purpose he misrepresented Congress to Beaumarchais, CHAP. XXIII. PROPOSED TREATY WITH FRANCE. 889 and Beaumarchais and France to Congress. When Deane arrived, Lee regarded him as a rival; and when he found that agent and Beaumarchais making successful plans for obtaining supplies from France, he uttered such slanders concerning both, that the Congress withdrew their confidence from both. At that juncture, early in the autumn of 1776, the Congress sent Dr. Franklin as a Commissioner of the United States to the French Court, with Deane and Lee as his assistants. The Congress had elaborated a plan for a treaty with France, by which it was hoped the States would secure their independence. They wished France to immediately declare war against /, LOUIS XVI. COUNT DE VERGENNES. England, during which diversion they hoped to win their independence, when they would make valuable commercial and territorial concessions to the French monarch. The Congress was also to stipulate that the United States would never agree to be subject to the British crown, and that in case of war neither party should make a definitive treaty of peace without six months notice to the other. Improving the hint given to Vergennes by Beaumarchais, the Congress instructed the Commissioners in this wise: " It will be proper for you to press for the immediate and explicit declaration of France in our favor, upon a suggestion that a reunion with Great Britain may be the consequences of a delay." On the 4th of January, I777, Dr. 890 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. Franklin wrote to the Committee of Secret Correspondence from Paris: "I arrived here about two weeks since, where I found Mr. Deane. Mr. Lee has since joined us from London. We have had an audience of the minister, Count de Vergennes, and were respectfully received. We left for his consideration a sketch of the proposed treaty. We are to wait upon him to-morrow with a strong memorial, requesting the aids mentioned in our instructions. By his advice, we have had an interview with the Spanish ambassador, Count D'Aranda, who seems well disposed toward us, and will forward copies of our memorials to his court, which will act, he says, in perfect concert with this." So first began the Foreign Diplomacy of the United States. Washington had, early in his chieftaincy, urged upon the Congress the necessity of the establishment of a permanent army, and with prophetic words had predicted the very evils arising from short enlistments and loose methods of creating officers, which now prevailed. While there was a brief lull in active military operations after the battle on Harlem Plains, he again set forth, in graphic pictures, the sad condition of his army, and the importance of a thorough reform and reorganization of the forces, for he foresaw the natural dissolution of his army, by the expiration of enlistments, only a few weeks later. The Congress had just resolved (September Ioth) to form the army anew into eighty-eight battalions, to be "enlisted as soon as possible, and to serve during the war, " but they were so afraid of the "military despotism" implied by a standing army, that much of the efficacy of this longer term of enlistment was neutralized by retaining the old method of levying troops by requisitions upon the several States, and the appointment of officers by local authorities without due regard to their qualifications. Washington was compelled to relinquish all present hope of obtaining an efficient army for the great work before him. Yet he never despaired nor uttered a petulant word of complaint, nor threatened to resign. His duty as a patriot and soldier was plain, and he pursued it. For almost a month Washington rested with the main body of his army on Harlem Heights, watching the movements of Howe. He had constructed strong lines of fortifications across the narrow island, between the Harlem and Hudson Rivers, and redoubts were planted at proper places to defend approaches from the waters and the main land. The crest of Mount Washington was crowned with a five-sided earthwork, named Fort Washington. It was two hundred and thirty feet above tide-water, a mile northward of headquarters, with strong ravelins and outworks, and mounting thirty-four great guns. This was the principal fortification within the American lines, and was commanded by General Putnam. General Greene, the best leader CHAP. XXIII. CHARACTER OF CHARLES LEE. 891 in the army excepting Washington, was in command of Fort Lee on the Palisades on the New Jersey shore. At this time General Charles Lee was making his way toward the camp. He had been called from the Carolinas, by the Congress, to take the chief command of the army in the event of Washington being disabled. His fame was very great, not because of anything of importance which he had done, but from what itwas supposed he was capable of doing. But he was a charlatan, and afterward became a traitor to a cause which he really despised, and supported only from base motives. He was a hot-headed and wrong-headed man, and extremely vain. He was proud of being an Englishman, and looked with contempt upon his American associates. Incapable of planning a campaign or executing a complicated military movement, he had, by dash, audacity, boasting, fault-finding, and the force of an imperious will and temper deceived the Americans into a belief that he was a great soldier. On his way north he had, at Philadelphia, wrung from the Congress a grant of thirty thousand dollars, as an indemnity for any losses of property which he might sustain in England in consequence of his playing "rebel; " and he came to Washington's army in the field with the sanction of Congress as the delegated commander-in-chief on a certain contingency. Forever afterward he intrigued, as did Gates, for the chief command by superseding Washington, until he was driven from the army in disgrace. John Adams, then the chairman of the Board of War, gave to Lee the confidence which he always withheld from Washington. When a letter from the commander-in-chief, warning the Congress of the great dangers to which his army was exposed, was read in that body, Adams treated it as the utterance of a timid man. "The British force is so divided," he said, " they will do no great matter this fall;" and at that critical moment, when his energy was most needed in his responsible position, he obtained leave of absence. He had been deceived by the perfidious Lee, who wished to discredit Washington's sagacity, and who, at the very moment when Howe was moving to gain the rear of Washington's army, wrote from Amboy, that the British would " infallibly proceed against Philadelphia," and leave the American army alone. On the I2th of October, Howe embarked a large portion of his army in ninety flat-boats, and landed them on Throgg's Neck, a low peninsula jutting out from the main of Westchester county. He left a sufficient force under Lord Percy to hold the city and guard the British lines toward Harlem. Washington sent Heath to oppose Howe's landing, and to occupy lower Westchester. After encountering many difficulties from the opposition, Howe finally took post on the heights of New Rochelle, across the road 892 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. leading to White Plains, where he was joined by General Knyphausen with a freshly arrived corps of German troops. Meanwhile Washington had sent McDougall, with his brigade, four miles beyond Kingsbridge, and a detachment to White Plains. He wished to evacuate Manhattan Island entirely, but an order had come from Congress to hold Fort Washington to the last extremity. At a council of war held on the I6th of October, he produced such proofs of the intention of the British to surround his army, that it was determined to move them all into Westchester excepting a garrison for Fort Washington. That was commanded by Colonel Magaw of the Pennsylvania line, with troops who came chiefly from that State. The army marched in four divisions, commanded respectively by Generals Lee (who had just arrived), Heath, Sullivan and Lincoln, and moving up the valley of the Bronx River, formed intrenched camps from the heights of Fordham to White Plains. On the 2Ist, Washington made his headquarters near the village of White Plains. General Greene commanded a small force that garrisoned Fort Lee. After almost daily skirmishing, the two armies, each about thirteen thousand strong, met in battle array at the village of White Plains, on the 28th of October. The Americans were encamped behind hastily thrown up intrenchments just north of the village, with hills in the rear to retreat to, if necessary. About sixteen hundred men from Delaware and Maryland, and militia under Colonel Haslett, had taken post on Chatterton's Hill, a high eminence on the west side of the Bronx, to which point McDougall was sent with reinforcements on the morning of the 28th, with two pieces of artillery under the charge of Captain Alexander Hamilton. Howe's army approached in two divisions, the right commanded by Sir Henry Clinton, and the left by Generals De Heister and Erskine. Howe was with the latter. He had moved with very great caution since his landing, and now, as he looked upon the Americans behind their apparently formidable breastworks, he hesitated, and held a council of war on horseback. Then he inclined his army to the left, and on the slopes southeast of the present railway station, he planted almost twenty field-pieces. Under cover of these his troops constructed a rude bridge across the Bronx, over which British and German battalions passed, and attempted to ascend the steep, wooded Chatterton's Hill to drive the Americans from it. Hamilton's cannon, which he had placed in battery, annoyed them exceedingly. They recoiled, when they were joined by reinforcements under Leslie, foot and horse, and pushing up more gentle declivities, in the face of a furious tempest of bullets, they drove the Americans from their position. McDougall led his troops to Washington's camp, leaving the British in possession of Chatterton's Hill. CHAP. XXIII. AMERICANS RETREAT FROM WHITE PLAINS. 893 Howe dared not attack Washington's breastworks (composed chiefly of cornstalks covered lightly with earth), but waited for reinforcements. They came, just as a severe storm of wind and rain set in. When it ceased at twilight on the 3ISt, Washington, perceiving Howe's advantage, withdrew under the cover of darkness behind intrenchments on the hills of North -'15: THE COUNCIL OF WAR ON HORSEBACK. Castle, toward the Croton River. Howe did not follow, but falling back, encamped on the heights of Fordham. Washington called a council of war, when it was determined to retreat into New Jersey with a large portion of the army, leaving all the New England troops on the east side of the Hudson to defend the passes in the Highlands. These troops were placed under the command of General Heath. Five thousand soldiers crossed the Hudson, some at Tarrytown 894 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. and some at King's Ferry, now Stony Point. Washington, accompanied by Heath, Stirling (who had lately been exchanged), Mifflin, and Generals George and James Clinton, rode to Peekskill, whence they voyaged in a barge on a tour of inspection of the fortified points in the Highlands, as far as Fort Constitution. It was then decided to fortify West Point opposite that fort. Returning to King's Ferry, the chief hastened southward, gathered his little army near Hackensack in the rear of Fort Lee, and made his headquarters there, on the I4th of November. On the day of the battle at White Plains, Knyphausen, with six German battalions, crossed the Harlem River at Dyckman's Bridge (present head of navigation), and encamped on the plain between Fort Washington and Kingsbridge. The Americans in the redoubts near by stood firm till the fort was closely invested by the foe. Washington had left it and Fort Lee in charge of Greene. When he heard of the peril that menaced it, he advised that officer to withdraw the garrison and stores, but left the matter to Greene's discretion. When, on the i th, he reached Fort Lee, he was disappointed in not finding his wishes gratified. Greene desired to hold the fort as a protection to the river; Congress had ordered it to be held till the last extremity, and Magaw, its commander, said he could hold out against the whole British army until December. Washington was not satisfied of its safety, but yielded his judgment and returned to Hackensack. There, at sunset, he received a copy of a reply which Magaw had made to a summons of Howe to surrender, accompanied by a threat to put the garrison to the sword in case of a refusal. To this summons Colonel Magaw replied, protesting against the savage menace, and declaring that he would defend the post to the last extremity. Washington immediately rode to Fort Lee. Greene had crossed over to the island. The chief started in a row-boat in the same direction, and met Greene on the river in the star-light returning with Putnam. They told the chief that the garrison were in fine spirits, and confident that they could successfully defend themselves. It was then too late to withdraw them, and Washington returned to Fort Lee, but was not satisfied. Howe had planted heavy guns on the lofty banks of the Harlem River just above the present High Bridge, and from there he opened a severe cannonade early in the morning of the I6th, upon the northern outworks of Fort Washington, to cover the landing of attacking troops from a flotilla of flat-boats which had passed up the Hudson in the night, and been concealed in Spuyten Duyvel Creek. These outworks were defended on the northeast by Colonel Rawlings, with Maryland riflemen and militia from Mercer's Flying Camp under Colonel Baxter. The lines toward New York were CHAP. XXIII. CAPTURE OF FORT WASHINGTON. 895 defended by Pennsylvanians commanded by Colonel Lambert Cadwallader. Magaw commanded in the fort. Rawlings and Baxter occupied redoubts on rugged and heavily-wooded hills. The attack was made by four columns. Knyphausen, with Hessians and Waldeckers, moved from the plain along the rough hills nearest the Hudson River on the north at the same time Lord Percy led a division of English and Hessian troops to attack the lines on the south. General Matthews, supported by Lord Cornwallis, crossed the stream near Kingsbridge, with guards, light-infantry, and grenadiers, under cover of the guns near the High Bridge, while Colonel Sterling, with the 42d regiment of Highlanders, crossed at a point a little above the High Bridge. Knyphausen divided his forces. One division under Colonel Rall (killed at Trenton a few weeks afterward) drove the Americans from Cock Hill Fort, a small redoubt near Spuyten Duyvel Creek, while Knyphausen, with the remainder, penetrated the woods near Tubby Hook, and after clambering over rocks and felled trees, attacked Rawlings in a redoubt afterward called Fort Tryon. Meanwhile Percy had driven in the American pickets at Harlem Cove (Manhattanville), and attacked Cadwallader at the advanced line of intrenchments. A gallant fight ensued, when Percy yielded and took shelter behind some woods. While Rawlings and Cadwallader were keeping the assailants at bay, Matthews and Sterling were making important movements. The former pushed up the wooded heights from his landing-place on the Harlem River, drove Baxter from his redoubt (afterward named Fort George), and stood a victor upon the hills overlooking the open fields around Fort Washington. Sterling, with his Highlanders, after making a feigned landing, dropped down to a point within the American lines, and rushing up a sinuous pathway, captured a redoubt on the summit, with two hundred men. Perceiving this, Cadwallader, who was likely to be placed between two fires, retreated along the road nearest the Hudson, battling all the way with Percy, who closely pursued him. When near the upper border of Trinity Cemetery (One Hundred and Fifty-fifth street), he was attacked on the flank by Sterling, who was pursuing across the island to intercept him. He passed on and reached the fort with a loss of a few killed, and about thirty made prisoners. Meanwhile the German and British assailants on the north, who were as four to one of the Americans in number, pressed the latter back to the fort, when Rall sent a summons to Magaw to surrender. This was soon followed by a like summons from Howe. The fight outside had been desperate. The ground was strewn with the mingled bodies of Americans, Germans, and Britons. Resistance to pike, ball, and bayonet, wielded by five thou 896 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. sand veteran soldiers, was now vain, and at noon Magaw yielded. At half-past one o'clock the British flag waved over the fort in triumph, where the American flag had been unfurled in the morning with defiance. The Americans had lost in killed and wounded not more than one hundred men; the British had lost almost a thousand. The garrison that surrendered numbered, with militia, about twenty-five hundred, of whom over two thousand were disciplined regulars. Knyphausen received Magaw's sword, and to the Germans and Highlanders were justly awarded the honors of the victory. Washington, standing on the brow of the Palisades at Fort Lee, with the author of "Common Sense" by his side, witnessed the disaster AROUND FORT WASHINGTON. with anguish, but could afford no relief. The fort was lost to the Americans forever, and was named Knyphausen. Its unfortunate garrison filled the prisons of New York and crowded the British prison-ships, wherein they were dreadful sufferers. The yersey was the most noted of the floating British prisons. She was the hulk of a 64-gun ship lately dismantled, and placed in Wallabout Bay near the present Brooklyn Navy Yard. Sometimes more than a thousand prisoners were confined in her at one time, where they suffered indescribable horrors from unwholesome food, foul air, filth, and vermin, and from smallpox, dysentery, and prison fever, that slew them by scores. Their treatment was often brutal in the extreme, and despair reigned there almost continually. Every night, the living, the dying, and the dead were huddled together. At sunset each day was heard the savage order, accompanied by horrid imprecations-" Down, rebels, down!" and in the morning the significant cry" Rebels, turn out your dead! " The dead were then selected from the living, sewed up in blankets. taken upon deck, carried on shore and buried in CHAP. XXIII. THE BRITISH PRISON-SHIPS. 897 shallow graves. Full eleven thousand victims were taken from the ycrsey, and so buried, during the war. Their bones were gathered and placed in a vault by the Tammany Society of New York in I8o8, with imposing ceremonies. That vault is at the southwestern corner of the Navy Yard, where their remains still rest. Several years ago a magnificent monument dedicated to the martyrs of the British prisons and prison-ships was erected in Trinity Churchyard, near Broadway, at a point over which speculators were trying to extend Albany street through the property of that corporation. The street was not opened. So patriotism triumphed over greed. Philip Freneau, a contemporary, and sometimes called "' the Poet of the Revolution," wrote a long poem, in three cantos, in I78o, entitled The British Prison-skzips, in which he assumed the character of one of the victims. He bitterly complained of the American Loyalists or Tories, who bore a conspicuous part in the horrid scenes. Of these he wrote: "That Britain's rage should dye our plains with gore, And desolation spread through every shore, None e'er could doubt, that her ambition knewThis was to rage and disappointment due; But that those monsters whom our soil maintain'd, Who first drew breath in this devoted land, Like famished wolves should on their country prey, Assist its foes, and wrest our lives away, This shocks belief-and bids our soil disown Such friends, subservient to a bankrupt crown." He gives the following picture of suffering: "No masts or sails these crowded ships adorn, Dismal to view, neglected and forlorn! Here nightly ills oppress the imprison'd throngDull were our slumbers, and our nights too longFrom morn to eve along the decks we lay, Scorch'd into fevers by the solar ray; No friendly awning cast a welcome shade; Once was it promis'd, and was never made. No favors could these sons of death bestow,'Twas endless cursing, and continual woe; Immortal hatred doth their breasts engage, And this lost empire swells their soul with rage." The poet referred to the British commissary of prisons in New York, in the following lines: "Here, generous Britain, generous, as you say, To my parch'd tongue one cooling drop convey; Hell has no mischief like a thirsty throat, Nor one tormentor like your David Sproat." CHAPTER XXIV. GATES IN THE NORTHERN DEPARTMENT-W-AR-VESSELS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN UNDER ARNOLDBRITISH FLEET IN THE SOREL-NAVAL ENGAGEMENTS ON THE LAKE-THE BRITISH RETREAT -WAR WITH THE INDIANS-FORT LEE EVACUATED-MARCH OF WASHINGTON AND CORNWALLIS ACROSS NEW JERSEY-BAD CONDUCT OF GENERAL LEE-HIS CAPTURE-WASHINGTON BEYOND THE DELAWARE-HIS HOPE AND ENERGY EFFECTUAL-FLIGHT OF THE CONGRESSTHE BRITISH ARMY IN NEW JERSEY-CAPTURE OF HESSIANS AT TRENTON-EFFECTS OF THE VICTORY-WASHINGTON A SORT OF DICTATOR-MORRIS SUPPLIES MONEY-THE TWO ARMIES AT TRENTON-BATTLE AT PRINCETON. W HILE important events were occurring near the city of New York, others were in progress near the northern frontiers of the Union, where we left the shattered army that came out of Canada with Sullivan, in June, as recorded in Chapter XX of this Book. That army, sick and dispirited, halted, as we have seen, at Crown Point, whither General Gates was sent to take the command of them, General Sullivan retiring. Gates at once aspired to be chief of the Northern Department, then under the command of General Schuyler, and his pretensions were supported by a small faction in the Congress. He began to exercise authority which belonged exclusively to Schuyler. The latter resented the affront and referred the subject to the Congress, when a majority of that body lowered the pretensions of Gates by a resolution which instructed him that he was a subordinate in the Northern Department. He was greatly chagrined and irritated; and from that hour he continually intrigued for the place of Schuyler, until he aspired to the more exalted position of commander-in-chief, and conspired with others to obtain it, as we shall observe hereafter. Satisfied that Carleton would attempt the recapture of the Lake fortresses, so as to control the waters of Lake Champlain, the little army, by order of General Schuyler, withdrew from Crown Point and took post at Ticonderoga, where they began the construction of a flotilla of small war-vessels. By the middle of August, a little squadron was in readiness for service at Crown Point, and General Arnold was appointed its chief commander. It consisted of one sloop, three schooners, and five gondolas, carrying an aggregate of fifty-five guns which Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point had CHAP. XXIV. NAVIES ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 899 furnished. The schooner Royal Savage was Arnold's flag-ship, and he had brave commanders of other vessels under him. With this little squadron he sailed down the lake toward the close of August, almost to the present Rouse's Point, and anchored. Seeing British and Indian warriors prowling along the shores of the narrow lake, he fell back to Isle la Motte, where his flotilla was joined by other vessels, increasing it to almost forty sail. With these he roamed the lake defiantly. When Carleton heard of the ship-building on the lake, he sent about seven hundred skilled workmen from Quebec to St. John, to prepare a fleet to cope with the Americans. In the course of a few weeks a considerable BUILDING WARVESSELS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN BUILDING WAR-VESSELS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN. naval force was floating on the Sorel, and a strong land force under Burgoyne were on Isle aux Noix. Ignorant of the real strength of the British armament, Arnold withdrew to Valcour Island, not far south of Plattsburgh, and anchored his vessels across the channel between that land and the western shore of Lake Champlain, leaving the main channel free for the passage of the vessels of the enemy. This disastrous blunder was approved by Gates, who was as ignorant of naval affairs as Arnold. Early on the morning of the I Ith of October, the British fleet appeared off Cumberland Head. It was commanded by Captain Pringle. It bore twice as many vessels and skilled seamen against untutored landsmen, as the American force presented. The flag-ship-the Inflexible-was a threemasted ship, carrying eighteen I2-pounders and ten smaller guns. This formidable fleet swept by Valcour Island without opposition, and gaining the rear of Arnold's squadron, attacked it at noon. The Carleton, Captain Dacres, assisted by gun-boats, fell upon the Royal Savage and soon crippled 900 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. her. As she was returning to the lines, she grounded and was burned. Arnold and his men escaped to the Congress galley, and in her fought desperately. Arnold was compelled to act as gunner, and pointed every cannon that was fired from the Congress. She was soon dreadfully bruised in every part-her mainmast was splintered, and her yards shivered. She was hulled twelve times, and seven times she was hit between wind and water. The Carleton, also, was badly hurt, as were most of the vessels on both sides. The British landed some Indians on Valcour Island, whence they poured volleys of bullets, but without much effect, upon the Americans. Night closed the fight, after a contest of almost five hours, without victory for either party. More than sixty of the Americans and forty of the British had been killed or wounded. Arnold consulted Waterbury of the Trumbull and Wigglesworth of the Washington, and it was decided to attempt flight to Crown Point. To guard against such a movement, which the British expected, they had anchored a line of vessels across the avenue for escape, from a small island a little south of Valcour, to the main land. The Americans did not attempt the impossible feat of breaking through that compact British line, but took another course. The night was dark and became tempestuous. Under its cover, the shattered fleet crept around the north end of Valcour Island, and taking advantage of a stiffening north wind, had left the enemy far behind, when, at dawn, the escape was discovered. Pursuit was immediately ordered. The Trumbull had led the way, and the Congress had brought up the rear. At Schuyler's Island the flotilla had stopped to make repairs, and toward evening the wind shifted to the southward. The better equipped British vessels overtook the Americans early the next morning (Oct. 13, 1776), and soon compelled the Washington to surrender. Arnold, in the Congress, kept up a running fight for five hours. Finally his vessel, with four gondolas, was chased into a creek on the Vermont shore of the lake, where they were set on fire by their crews. Arnold remained on his vessel until driven away by the flames, and was the last to reach the shore. He formed his men in good order in sight of his pursuers, and marching through the woods to Chimney Point, reached Crown Point in safety. He had lost between eighty and ninety men, and gained nothing but renown for his personal bravery. All that remained of his proud little fleet were two schooners, two galleys, one sloop, and one gondola. Governor Carleton, who was with his fleet, took possession of Crown Point on the I4th of October. Although he was within two hours' sail of Ticonderoga, then garrisoned by only three thousand effective men, with twenty-five hundred on Mount Independence opposite, he was too cautious CHAP. XXIV. WAR WITH THE CHEROKEES. 90I to attempt its capture. At the beginning of November, he fled back to Canada, with his troops, where he found himself about to be superseded in military command by General Burgoyne. He was soothed by the present of an order of knighthood by his king. Thenceforward he was Sir Guy Carleton. At about the same time General Howe was created Sir William Howe. At this time the British king was trying to " bring on the inhabitants of the frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions." Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, at Detroit, wrote to the ministry early in September (I776) that he had employed "chiefs and warriors from the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandots, and Potawatomies," with the Senecas, to "fall on the scattered settlers" in the Ohio region, and this news seemed to be pleasant to Lord George Germain, the successor of the more humane Dartmouth. In the southwest there was a dreadful conflict between the white people and the savages, who had been incited to hostilities by British emissaries. The authorities in Canada had sent down messengers from the Six Nations, and tribes westward of them, to stir up the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws to war, but only the first-named nation felt inclined to listen favorably. In an evil hour for their people, the Cherokee chiefs, influenced by Stuart and Cameron, Scotch emissaries of the crown among them, took up the hatchet and the war-club, and fell with fury upon the settlers on the frontiers of the Carolinas and southwestern Virginia. Innocent men, women, and children were slain, and the mountain ranges were illumined by the flames of burning dwellings. Their cruelties aroused the settlers, who organized into military bands, and so gallantly fought and fearfully chastised the savages, that late in the autumn they begged for mercy. Germain had looked eagerly for news from his faithful agents, of the success of the savages; and at the moment when the dusky warriors were on their knees, as it were, before the exasperated settlers, that minister wrote to Stuart, saying: " The Cherokees must be supported, for they have declared for us; I expect, with some impatience, to hear from you of the success of your negotiation with the Creeks and Choctaws, and that you have prevailed on them to join the Cherokees. I cannot doubt of your being able, under such advantageous circumstances, to engage them in a general confederacy against the rebels in defence of those liberties of which they are so exceedingly jealous, and in the full enjoyment of which they have always been protected by the king." It was too late. The chastisement had been inflicted, and the Cherokees had been taught discretion by adversity. We left Washington with his little army near Fort Lee on the Jersey 902 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. shore. He was soon disturbed by Lord Cornwallis, who, early on the morning of the 20th of November, crossed the Hudson from Dobb's Ferry to Closter's Landing, five miles above Fort Lee, and with artillery climbed a steep, rocky road to the top of the Palisades, unobserved by Greene. That officer was told of his danger by a farmer, who awoke him from slumber. Greene gave warning to Washington, who ordered Lee to cross the Hudson immediately and join him. Greene fled in haste from Fort Lee, with two thousand men, leaving behind cannon, tents, stores and camp equipage, and barely escaping capture. Washington covered the retreat of the garrison so effectually, that less than one hundred stragglers were made prisoners. It was now suspected that the British would move on Philadelphia. Washington, with his army led by himself and reduced to less than four thousand men, marched toward the Delaware to impede the progress of the invader as much as possible. His force decreased at almost every step. The patriotism of New Jersey seemed to be paralyzed by the presence of a British army on the soil. Hundreds of republicans-even men who had been active in the patriot cause-signed a pledge of fidelity to the British crown. During the twelve days that Washington was making his way to the Delaware, so closely pursued by Cornwallis that the rear-guard of the Americans often heard the music of the van-guard of the royal troops, he was chilled by the seeming indifference of the people. He halted at points as long as possible, for Lee to join him and so give him strength to make a stand against his pursuers; but that officer, assuming that his was an independent command, paid no attention to the order of his superior. He was then evidently playing a desperate game of treason. Daily messages to him, urging him to push forward with his troops, did not affect him. He lingered long on the Hudson, until many of his soldiers had left him and gone home; and he tried to induce Heath to weaken his force in the Highlands by assigning for duty under Lee, two thousand of his men. Failing in this, he moved slowly as far in the rear of Washington as possible; and finally (eleven days after the chief had reached the Delaware), he took lodgings at Baskingridge in East Jersey, three miles from his camp, and nearer the enemy. There, on the morning of the I3th of December, he suffered himself to be captured by a small British scout. Lee had habitually treated Washington with superciliousness; and in letters to Gates and others, who would applaud his utterances, he would speak with contempt of the commander-in-chief as "not a heaven-born genius," and words of like import. He had just finished a letter to Gates when the scout appeared, in which he wrote most falsely: " A certain great man is most damnably deficient He has thrown me into a situation where CHAP. XXIV. EVENTS IN NEW JERSEY. 903 I have my choice of difficulties; if I stay in this province, I risk myself and army; and if I do not stay, the province is lost forever," and so on. This letter was not folded when the scout came and summoned Lee to surrender. He went out unarmed, bareheaded, in slippers, without a coat, in a blanket cloak, his shirt-collar open and his linen much soiled, and gave himself up. In this plight he was hurried on horseback to the camp of Cornwallis, and was afterward sent to New York. Sullivan, who was next in command, took charge of the troops and pushed on to the Delaware. Had Lee obeyed the orders of Washington, Cornwallis could not have penetrated New Jersey further than Newark, for the disobedient officer had four thousand troops under his command when he crossed the Hudson, and might have joined Washington with them in less than three days. On the evening of the Ist of December, Washington fled from New Brunswick after destroying a part of the bridge over the Raritan there, and engaging in a contest with cannon with his pursuers. It was understood that Howe, who was about to send a part of his army to take possession of Rhode Island, had instructed Cornwallis not to pursue further than the Raritan. So Washington left Lord Stirling at Princeton with twelve hundred men, and with the remainder of his little army (the New Jersey and Maryland brigades had just left him), pushed on to the Delaware, at Trenton. Having sent his baggage, stores, and sick across the river into Pennsylvania, he turned back to oppose the further progress of Cornwallis, when, on t-he morning of the 6th, he met Stirling flying before a greatly superior force. Howe had sent troops under General Clinton to Rhode Island, borne by the ships of Sir Peter Parker, and with a considerable force had now joined Cornwallis; making an army four thousand strong. With these they were pressing on toward the Delaware. Washington was compelled to turn back and seek safety, with his little army, beyond the river. He crossed that stream on the 8th, and before the arrival of the British on its banks, he had seized or destroyed every boat on its waters and those of its tributaries, along a line of seventy miles. Philadelphia was now trembling for its own safety. The Congress, in whom there was a growing distrust in the public mind, were uneasy. Leading republicans hesitated to go further. Only Washington, who, at the middle of December, when frost was rapidly creating a bridge across the Delaware over which his pursuers might pass, had not more than a thousand soldiers on whom he could rely, seemed hopeful. When asked what he would do if Philadelphia should be taken, he replied: " We will retreat beyond the Susquehanna River, and thence, if necessary, to the Alleghany mountains." He had already conceived the masterly stroke which sent a 58 904 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. thrill of joy and hope through the desponding heart of America, and toward that end he worked. He sent Putnam to cast up defences around Philadelphia, and stimulated the Congress to vigorous action. They sent forth a strong appeal to the people. A thorough reorganization of the army was begun according to the plan adopted by the Congress. There was to be one grand army, composed of eighty battalions of seven hundred and fifty men each, to be raised in the several States. Liberal bounties were offered to soldiers who should re-enlist, and a loan of ten million dollars from France was authorized. Placing almost unlimited control of Philadelphia in the hands of Putnam, Congress, on the I2th (December, I776), resolved to leave that city and retire to Baltimore, at the same time delegating their powers to a committee composed of Robert Morris, George Clymer, and George Walton to act in their behalf during their absence. On their departure the loyalists became bold, and there was much danger of a counter revolution in favor of the crown. Informed that nearly all the Pennsylvanians were loyalists, and looking with contempt upon the scattered forces of Washington in that State, Cornwallis had cantoned his troops in a careless manner in the vicinity of the Delaware, left them in charge of General Grant, and returned to New York. So confident were the British leaders of their ability to capture Philadelphia at any time, and end the rebellion by that single blow, that Cornwallis was preparing to go to England, when events called him back to New Jersey. Lee's division under Sullivan, and some regiments from Ticonderoga under Gates, joined Washington on the 2Ist of December. Inducements offered for re-enlistments had retained nearly one-half of the veterans. The Pennsylvania militia cheerfully responded to the call for help, and on the day before Christmas, Washington found himself at the head of an army between five and six thousand in number. He now felt strong enough to execute a plan which he had conceived, for surprising and capturing a force of the enemy stationed at Trenton, fifteen hundred in number, composed chiefly of Hessian troops under Colonel Rall. Washington expected the Germans, as was their custom, would have a carousal on Christmas day, and he fixed upon the succeeding night as a favorable time for crossing the Delaware, and falling upon them during their heavy slumbers before the dawn. Rall, in his pride, had said: "What need of intrenchments? Let the rebels come; we will at them with the bayonet;" and he made the fatal mistake of not placing a single cannon in battery. At twilight on the appointed evening, Washington had two thousand men at McConkey's Ferry (now Taylorsville), a few miles above Trenton, -with boats of every kind to transport them across the river, then filled with CHAP. XXIV. BATTLE OF TRENTON. 905 masses of thickening ice, for the weather was very cold. With him were Generals Sterling, Sullivan, Greene, Mercer, Stephen, and Knox, the latter (commissioned brigadier-general two days afterward) in command of artillerists, and about twenty pieces of cannon. Arrangements had been made for simultaneous movements against other British cantonments, especially one from Bristol, with about ten thousand men, which Gates was directed to lead. With wilful disobedience, in imitation of Lee, Gates refused the duty, turned his back on Washington on Christmas eve, and rode on toward Baltimore to intrigue in Congress for Schuyler's place in the Northern Department. The perilous voyage across the Delaware amid the floating ice was begun early in the evening, and it was four o'clock in the morning before the troops stood in marching order, with all their cannon, on the New Jersey shore. The current was swift, the ice was thickly strewn in it, and the night was dark, for toward midnight a storm of snow and sleet set in. The army moved in two columns-one led by Sullivan along the road nearest the river, and the other commanded by Washington, accompanied by Generals Stirling, Greene, Mercer, and Stephen. It was broad daylight when they approached Trenton, but they were undiscovered until they reached the picket lines on the outskirts of the village. The firing that followed awakened Rall and his troops, who were hardly recovered from their night's debauch. The colonel was soon at the head of his men in battle order, but reeled like a man half asleep. A sharp conflict ensued, lasting only thirty-five minutes, when the Hessians were defeated and dispersed, and Colonel Rall was mortally wounded. The main body of his troops attempted to escape by the Princeton road, when they were intercepted by Colonel Hand. The affrighted Germans threw down their arms and begged for mercy. Some British lighthorse and infantry at Trenton escaped to Bordentown. The victory for the Americans was complete. It would have been more decisive had the co-operating parties been able to perform their duties. They could not; and Washington won all the glory of the victory which greatly inspirited the patriots. In the engagements the Americans did not lose a single man, and had only two-William Washington (afterward distinguished in the South) and James Monroe (afterward President of the United States)-who were slightly wounded. The spoils of victory were almost a thousand prisoners, twelve hundred small arms, six brass fieldpieces, and all the German standards. The triumphant army re-crossed the Delaware at McConkey's Ferry, and before midnight of the day of victory were back to their encampment. This bold stroke of the American general puzzled and amazed the 906 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. British leaders, alarmed the Tories, and dissipated the terror which had been felt in the presence of the Hessians, as invincible troops. The faltering militia soon flocked to the standard of Washington, and many of the soldiers, who were about to leave the American camp, re-enlisted. Cornwallis was sent back to New Brunswick, where General Grant was in command of the main British army in New Jersey, and the other cantonments in that province were broken up and the troops concentrated toward Trenton. Grant moved forward to Princeton, and Washington, who had resolved to attempt to drive the British out of New Jersey, boldly recrossed the river to the,: X FLIGHT OF THE HESSIANS. eastern side, and took post with his army at Trenton, on the 30th of December, 1776. The Congress, sitting at Baltimore, had invested him with powers almost equal to those of a Roman Dictator, for six months, authorizing him to reorganize his army; appoint all officers below brigadier-general; to make requisitions for subsistence and enforce them with arms, and to arrest the disaffected. Intending to remain on the eastern side of the Delaware, he announced to the Congress, while his army was crossing that stream, his intention. " to pursue the enemy and try to beat up their quarters;" and he directed McDougall and Maxwell to collect troops at Morristown, as a place of refuge in case he should need one. The low condition of the military chest would not allow Washington to pay the bounties agreed to be given, at the appointed time, and the com CHAP. XXIV. HOW BOUNTY-MONEY WAS FURNISHED. 907 mander-in-chief wrote to Robert Morris, the great financier of the Revolutionary period, for an immediate supply of hard money. The Congress had just resolved to issue bills to the amount of five million dollars immediately, but the credit of that body was then very low, even John Dickenson refusing to take the Continental money. The credit of Robert Morris was high, and confidence in him was unbounded. The sum asked for was large, and the financier was perplexed with doubts of his ability to obtain it. In a despondent mood he left his counting-room at a late hour, musing, as he walked in the street, on the subject of the requisition, when he met a wealthy member of the Society of Friends, who, at that time, were generally of the Tory faith in politics. To this Friend, Morris made known his wants. "Robert, what security canst thou give?" asked the Quaker. "My note and my honor," Morris replied. "Thou shalt have it," the Friend answered, and the next day Morris wrote to Washington: " I was up early this morning to dispatch a supply of fifty thousand dollars to your Excellency." Washington, in acknowledging its receipt, wrote that he had engaged a number of the eastern troops to stay six weeks beyond their term of enlistment, upon giving a bounty of ten dollars. "This, I know," wrote Washington, " is a most extravagant price when compared with the time of service;" but he thought it " no time to stand upon trifles." The main army of Americans, about five thousand strong, were encamped on the south side of the Assanpink Creek at Trenton, when, toward evening on the 2d of January (I777), Cornwallis approached from Princeton with a superior force of British regulars. They had engaged in a series of skirmishes on the way, and followed the Americans, who had attacked them, to the margin of the Assanpink. After trying to pass the guarded fords of that stream, they halted and lighted fires; and Cornwallis rested that night with the full assurance that he would make an easy conquest of the republican army the next day. "I will catch the fox in the morning," said the Earl to Sir William Erskine, who urged him to make an attack that night. Washington's army were now in a very critical situation. A council of war was held, when it was decided to withdraw stealthily, at midnight, take a circuitous route to Princeton, gain the rear of the British and beat up their quarters there, and then fall upon their stores at New Brunswick. But the ground, on account of a thaw, was too soft to allow an easy transit for their forty pieces of cannon. This gave Washington much anxiety. While the council was in session, the wind turned to the northwest, the temperature suddenly fell, and by midnight the ground was frozen as hard as a pavement. Along the front of the American camp, fires had been lighted, and the 90o8 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK I V. British supposed the republicans were slumbering. Great was their surprise, mortification and alarm, when, at dawn, they discovered that the American camp-fires were still burning but the army had departed, none knew whither. All was silent and dreary on the south side of the Assanpink, when suddenly there came upon the keen wintry air, from the direction of Princeton, the low booming of cannon. Although it was a cold winter's morning, Cornwallis thought the sound was the rumbling of distant thunder. The quicker ear of Erskine decided that it was the noise of artillery, and exclaimed: "'To arms, general! Washington has outgeneralled us. Let us fly to the rescue at Princeton!" // ATTACK ON GENERAL MIERCER. The American army, after sending their baggage to Burlington, had marched from Trenton at one o'clock in the morning of the 3d, leaving patrols to make their accustomed rounds and men to keep the camp-fires blazing until near the dawn, when they hurried after the retreating army. By a circuitous march the troops reached the neighborhood of Princeton before sunrise. Crossing Stony Brook, the main army wheeled to the right to take a back road to Princeton, while General Mercer, with about three hundred and fifty men, was sent to break down another bridge that spanned the stream. Two regiments of Colonel Mawhood's brigade had just started CHAP. XXIV. BATTLE OF PRINCETON. 909 to join Cornwallis at Trenton, and the one in advance, led by the colonel in person, accompanied by three companies of dragoons, first discovered Mercer. The two parties, whose numbers were about equal, tried to gain a vantage ground upon an eminence near. Each had two field-pieces; and a sharp engagement was begun by Mawhood by attacking Mercer with his cannon. The firing was returned with spirit by Captain Neal with his two pieces, while Mercer's riflemen sent deadly volleys from behind a hedge fence. They were soon furiously attacked with British bayonets, and fled in disorder, the enemy pursuing, until, on the brow of a hill, they discovered the American regulars and Pennsylvania militia, under Washington, marching to the support of Mercer. In trying to rally the troops, Colonel Haslet of Delaware, and Captains Neal and Fleming, were killed, and General Mercer, whose horse had been disabled under him, was knocked down by a British clubbed musket, mortally wounded and left for dead. Just at that moment Washington appeared, checked the flight of the fugitives, and intercepted the march of the other British regiment. He was assisted by the fire of Moulder's artillery placed in battery. When Mawhood saw Washington riding from column to column and bringing order out of confusion, he halted, and, drawing up his artillery, charged and attempted in vain to seize Moulder's guns. The Pennsylvania militia, who were first in line, began to waver at this onset, when Washington, to encourage them and set an example for all his troops, rode to the forefront of danger. For a moment he was hidden by the smoke of the musketry on both sides, and a shiver of dread lest he was slain, ran through the army; when he appeared, unhurt, a shout of joy rent the air. At that moment Colonel Hitchcock came up with a fresh force, and Hand's riflemen were turning the British left, when Mawhood ordered a retreat. His troops (the Seventieth regiment) fled across the snow-covered fields and over the fences, up Stony Brook, leaving two brass field-pieces behind them. The Fifty-fifth regiment, which had attempted to reinforce them, were pressed back by the New England troops under Stark, Poor, Patterson, Reed and others, and were joined in their flight toward New Brunswick by the Fortieth, who had not taken much part in the action. A portion of a British regiment remained in the strong, stone-built Nassau Hall of the College at Princeton, which had been used for barracks. Washington brought cannon to bear upon the building, and the troops within soon surrendered. One of the cannon-balls entered a window and passed through the head of a portrait of George the Second in a frame that hung on the wall of the Prayer-room. A full-length portrait of Washington by Peale, now occupies that frame. In this short but sharp battle, the British loss in killed, wounded and 910 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. prisoners, was about four hundred and thirty. That of the Americans was light, excepting in officers. Colonels Haslet and Potter, Major Morris and Captains Shippen, Fleming and Neal, were slain. General Mercer was taken WASHINGTON IN THE FIELD AT PRINCETON. to a house near by, where he was tenderly nursed by a Quaker maiden and a colored woman at the house of Thomas Clarke. There he died nine days afterward in the arms of Major George Lewis, a nephew of Washington.' CHAPTER XXV. WASHINGTON'S ARMY AT MORRISTOWN IN WINTER-QUARTERS-HIS ACHIEVEMENTS-THE BRITISH IN NEW JERSEY-CHANGE IN PUBLIC SENTIMENT-THE CONGRESS RETURNS TO PHILADELP1HIA -STATE SUPREMACY ASSERTED-THE CONGRESS AND THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT-SPIRIT OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE-BRANT AND INDIAN ALLIES-THE MINISTERIAL PLAN-AGGRESSIVE MOVEMENTS-STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS-SCHUYLER AND GATES-WILL OF THE KING-MILITARY OPERATIONS IN NEW JERSEY-BOTH ARMIES MIO'VE TOWARD PHILADELPHIA-LAFAYETTE AND OTHER FOREIGN OFFICERS. W 5 THEN Cornwrallis was assured of Washington's escape and heard his cannon at Princeton, he was alarmed for the safety of his stores at New Brunswick, and immediately began a rapid pursuit. Had the republican troops been fresh, no doubt the British stores on the Raritan would have been a part of Washington's spoils of victory; but they were worn down with the fatigues of two days' hard service; lack of sleep and food; a night march of ten miles in bitter cold, many of the men barefooted and thinly clad, and the excitement of a battle. They could do very little more without rest and refreshment; and when Washington found his enemy close upon him, he pursued the fugitive British regiments only as far as the Millstone River at Kingston (about three miles), where he crossed that stream, broke down the bridge behind him, and rested at Somerset Court-House that night. Cornwallis had pursued so swiftly, that he reached Princeton just as Washington left it. There he was confronted by a thirty-two pound cannon, whose vigorous discharges by the skillful American artillerists, made the British leader believe the republicans were about to make a stand and give battle. He halted, and wasted so much time in reconnoitering that Washington was allowed to escape. Believing his foe was pressing on toward New Brunswick, Cornwallis continued the pursuit, crossing the Millstone at Kingston after reconstructing the bridge. There Washington had turned toward the hill country around Morristown, by way of a narrow road by Rocky Hill; but Cornwallis, suspecting he was on the march toward New Brunswick, hastened forward over the rough highway, and arrived there at sunset, where he found his stores all safe, and not a republican soldier near. Washington marched to Morristown, where he put his army into winter-quarters. 9 12 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. The American commander had now achieved a mighty victory. Viewed in all its varied aspects, Frederick the Great of Prussia declared the exploits of the Patriot and his handful of followers, between Christmas and Twelfth Day, the most brilliant of any recorded in the annals of military achievements. At the very moment when his army appeared to be on the verge of dissolution, Washington struck a blow so powerful that it paralyzed the enemy. It broke up the British and Hessian cantonments upon the Delaware, and made Cornwallis anxious to secure quarters nearer New York, under the protection of General Howe. It caused Howe to recall a brigade from Rhode Island to strengthen his force at New York; and it was not long before the British were driven to near the sea-shores of New Jersey, and held posts only at New Brunswick, Amboy, and Paulus Hook (now Jersey City), for Washington, with his army encamped in huts at Morristown, was not idle. He had established cantonments from Princeton on the right, under the command of General Putnam, to the Hudson Highlands on the left, under General Heath. He was in the midst of hills, a fertile country teeming with abundance, and generally patriotic inhabitants. His little expeditions sent out to harass the enemy were conducted with so much spirit, that the British were kept in continual dread. The people were thereby encouraged; their martial spirit seemed to revive, and early in the spring of 1777, the thinned battalions of the army began to fill up. The Continental Congress, which had fled to Baltimore, satisfied that immediate danger was past, returned to Philadelphia early in March, and resumed their sessions there. And the people of New Jersey, of whom not more than a hundred had joined Washington in his retreat from the Hudson to the Delaware, and who, to the number of almost three thousand, had subscribed to a declaration of fidelity to the king, seeing the changed aspect of affairs, and having suffered dreadfully from the unbridled passions of the British and Hessian soldiers exercised on friend and foe alike, now became active partisans of the republican cause. A feeling of revenge gave strength to their purpose and arms. Their action was doubtless accelerated by a proclamation of Washington issued late in January, who, in the exercise of the discretion given him by Congress, demanded, in the name of the associated States, that all who had taken British protection, and professed fidelity to the crown, should take an oath of allegiance to the United States of America, or withdraw within the British lines. The Legislature of New Jersey, regarding the proclamation as a violation of State supremacy,-a doctrine that was the bane of our national life down to the Civil War-censured the commander-in-chief. A few members of Congress, possessing less sagacity and political wisdom than Washington, CHAP. XXV. FOLLY OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 913 joined in the censure, and seemed ready to deprive him of all power. When a proposition was made to give him authority to name his generals, John Adams said: "In private life, I am willing to respect and look up to him; in this House, I feel myself to be the superior of General Washington." By a bare majority, the Congress, after failing to furnish reinforcements for Washington's army, expressed their earnest desire that he could " not only curb and confine the enemy within their present quarters, but, by divine blessing, totally subdue them before they could be reinforced." This seemed like insulting irony, when we consider that Washington then had less than three thousand effective men at his command in New Jersey. The apathy and folly of the British monarch and ministers, at this time, were astonishing to men who perceived the gravity of public affairs through the medium of events in America. They were in strong contrast with the energy and wisdom of the managers of American affairs at home and abroad. A British army had been driven from Boston; a British fleet had been expelled from Charleston harbor; the colonies had declared their independence, and full thirty thousand British and German troops had been defied and combated; and yet the Parliament did not meet until the close of October (I776) to consider these things. Then the king, in his speech, congratulated the legislature upon the success of the royal troops in America, and assured them, without the shadow of a good reason, that most of the Continental powers entertained friendly feelings toward Great Britain. After rejecting every conciliatory proposition, and voting men and supplies for the united service in America, Parliament adjourned to keep the Christmas holidays with an apparent feeling that their votes had crushed the trans-Atlantic rebellion. At that moment Washington was planning his brilliant achievements in person. Meanwhile the American Congress had held a perpetual session. They knew that the European powers had no real friendship for haughty Britain. They knew that France, Spain, the States-General of Holland, the Prince of Orange, Catharine of Russia and Pope Clement, all feared and hated England, and were anxious for a pretence to strike her fiercely and humble her pride, because of her potency in arms, commerce, and diplomacy, and her strong Protestantism. Therefore, as we have seen, the Congress sent Silas Deane to France as a commercial agent in the spring of 1776, to procure army supplies, and in the autumn appointed Dr. Franklin and Arthur Lee joint commissioners with Deane for the same purpose. The latter had already procured arms from the French arsenals, and abundant promises of men and money from the French minister, Vergennes. The British ambassador to the French court (Lord Stormont) treated the Com 9I4 OUR COUNTRY. BOOK IV. missioners with contempt. When they asked him to make an arrangement for the exchange of captive seamen, he was silent. When the request was repeated, he answered: "The King's ambassador receives no applications from rebels unless they come to implore his Majesty's mercy." This was then the spirit of the British government,' the spirit of the American people at the same time was displayed by the answer of Nathan Coffin, an American seaman, when he was threatened, to induce him to enlist in the royal navy: " Hang me, if you will, to the yard-arm of your ship, but do not ask me to become a traitor to my country." At the beginning of 1797, the British government prepared for crushing the rebellion 4 early in the ensuing campaign. Reinforcements to the number of more than thirty-five l- _