Chapter VII: {george III. 1776–1777} (1)

Affairs of Ireland..... Debates on America, &c.
Prorogation of Parliament..... Sentiments of Foreign Powers,
&c. Evacuation of Boston by the British..... Mission of
Indian Chiefs..... Affairs of Canada..... Unsuccessful
Attack on Sullivan’s Island..... Affairs in Virginia.....
Declaration of Independence by Congress..... Expedition
against New York..... Defeat of the Americans on Long
Island..... Conference on Staten Island..... Capture of New
York..... Capture of Fort Washington..... Capture of Fort
Lee, and Retreat of Washington..... Expedition against Rhode
Island..... Successes of General Carleton..... Measures of
Congress..... Defection of the Colonists, &c. Meeting
of Parliament..... Debates on America..... Attempt to fire
His Majesty’s Dock-yard at Portsmouth.

AFFAIRS OF IRELAND.

After the Christinas recess, the first important measure of parliament related to Ireland. Addresses from America had been sent to the people of that country, and they soon produced their intended effects among them; especially among the people of Dublin, and the Protestant dissenters. This was first seen in the acts of the sheriffs and common-council of that city. After voting thanks to Lord Howard, on his resignation, and to those peers who had supported the constitution, and, in opposition to a weak and wicked administration, protested against the American restraining acts in imitation of the city of London, they sent over a strong petition and remonstrance to the king. This was opposed by the lord mayor and aldermen, and the common-council then resolved that whoever refused to consent to a dutiful petition, tending to undeceive the king, and by which the effusion of one drop of blood of the subjects of Great Britain might be prevented, was an enemy to the constitution. The Irish parliament was not behindhand with the common-council in exhibiting sympathy for the cause of the Americans. Soon after it assembled, which was on the 10th of October, the members rejected a money-bill transmitted from England, upon the plea that it had been altered in council. On the 23rd of November, still more unequivocal symptoms of a refractory spirit appeared in the Irish parliament. Lord Harcourt, the lord-lieutenant, having proposed to the commons to send out of the kingdom 4000 men, for the American service, and accept in their stead an equal number of foreign Protestant troops, to be maintained at the expense of the British crown, they reluctantly conceded to the first proposition, and absolutely refused to admit the foreign substitutes.

These embarrassing matters were brought before the English parliament. On the 15th of February, Mr. Thomas Townshend moved for a committee of inquiry, on the allegation that the lord-lieutenant had made an offer of the public money without consulting the British house of commons, and had thereby been guilty of a breach of privilege. Ministers were in a dilemma. Taken by surprise no two of them agreed in their modes of defence, or took the same ground in warding off the attack. Thus while one asserted that the Irish speaker had misunderstood the viceroy’s message, which only meant that his majesty would pay the 4000 foreigners, another contended that when the Irish establishment was increased, the king had engaged to pay 12,000 troops in that country, except in case of invasion or rebellion in England, and that the present demand not being within these exceptions, his majesty should, therefore, be absolved from his promise. But whatever ground ministers took it was clear that they or the viceroy of Ireland had been at fault, and had not Lord Harcourt been popular both with “the king’s friends” and the opposition, it is probable that he would have been censured by the house. The motion was, however, quashed by a large majority, and another motion on the same subject was equally unavailing.

DEBATES ON AMERICA, ETC.

On the 20th of February, Mr. Fox made a motion for a committee to inquire into the causes of the ill-success of our arms in North America, and the defection of the Canadians. In a speech of considerable power, Fox maintained that the ultimate design of government was to overthrow the constitution. He chiefly confined himself to an inquiry whether the proceedings of ministers had produced the desired effects. To this end he pursued a detail of ministerial operations beginning with the Boston Port Bill, in the course of which he endeavoured to show that folly existed in the cabinet, and that their plans were conceived in ignorance and executed in imbecility. At the same time he inveighed against the disgraceful servility of parliament, and concluded by remarking that none would object to inquiry but those who were culpable themselves. Unable to resist his reasoning, ministers attempted to elude it, but their arguments rather weakened than strengthened their cause. Lord North, indeed, candidly admitted that some of his plans had miscarried; arguing, in extenuation of their failure, that it was impossible to foresee every event. He concluded by saying that he was ready to resign, whenever the house should withdraw its confidence. There was no danger, however, of this extremity; for, though excited by the speech of the mover, several friends of government joined in calling for an inquiry, the motion was negatived by a majority of two hundred and forty against one hundred and four.

On the 29th of February, copies of treaties lately-entered into with the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, the Duke of Brunswick, and the Hereditary Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, for the hire of troops, to the amount of about 17,000 men, for the American service, were laid before the house of commons. Lord North moved to refer these compacts to a committee; on doing which he dilated on the fairness of the terms, and dwelt on the advantages of employing foreign troops. By the opposition, however, Great Britain was represented as disgraced in the sight of all Europe, by applying to the petty states of Germany for succours against her own subjects. They complained also, that the troops had been obtained at an immoderately high price; £7 10s. levy-money being paid for every man. The princes, likewise, it was said, who let them out like slaves, or beasts of draught, were to be subsidised besides; the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, who furnished 13,000 men, being guaranteed £10,281 per annum, and the Hereditary Prince of Hesse, who furnished 688 men, £6000 annually. Moreover, it was objected that the King of England had ensured the dominions of these princes against foreign attacks, while their troops were employed in America. Finally, the opposition argued that it was injudicious and dangerous to hire men who had nothing to do with the quarrel in question. Lord Irnham, in opposing ministers, made a good use of the weapons of ridicule. He remarked:—“I shall say little as to the feelings of those princes who can sell their subjects for such purposes. We have read of the humourist Sancho’s wish,—‘that, if he were a prince, all his subjects should be blackamoors, as he could, by the sale of them, easily turn them into ready money;’ but that wish, however it may appear ridiculous and unbecoming a sovereign, is much more innocent than a prince’s availing himself of his vassals for the purpose of sacrificing them in such destructive war, where he has the additional crime of making them destroy much better and nobler beings than themselves.” Other members maintained that these German soldiers, on arriving in America, would be induced to accept lands from the colonists, join the banner of independence, and fight against the monarch who purchased their services. But argument was of no avail: the question for referring the treaties to a committee was carried by two hundred and forty-two to eighty-eight, and subsequently for agreeing to the report by one hundred and twenty to forty-eight. One amendment was carried on the motion of Colonel Barrè, namely, for an address to his majesty to equip the German troops with British manufactures.

In the house of lords the whole strength of the opposition was arrayed against the treaties. The Duke of Richmond moved an address not only to countermand all foreign troops, but to forego hostilities. His grace observed, in his speech, that ever since the year 1702, the German princes had been rising in their demands; that the present bargain was harder than any former one; and that the cost of the mercenaries engaged would not be less than one million and a half annually. He then animadverted on the large proportion of officers employed, and pointed out the danger of keeping so many foreigners under their own generals. He took occasion, also, to speak again of the unseen, overruling influence which had for so many years pervaded all our councils, though it was manifest to all that this influence proceeded from the king himself. After a long and animated speech, the Duke of Richmond was followed by other noble lords who enforced his sentiments. It was stated that neither Marlborough’s campaign of 1704, which saved the German empire, nor the campaign by which the Earl of Chatham had obtained Canada, had cost so much money as that of Boston during the last year. It was also urged that the nation was incapable of bearing new taxes or of supporting the war in America; and that, if to the American war were added a rupture with France and Spain, and the whole house of Bourbon, the ruin of England was inevitable. The population of America was likewise pompously displayed, and the termination of all connexion between England and her colonies predicted. On their part ministers supported their measures by tracing the history of the colonies, and exhibiting their uniform disposition to factious resistance. Lord Temple, who had again differed with his brother-in-law the Earl of Chatham, strongly reprobated the intemperance of the opposition. He remarked:—“The next easterly wind will convey to America every expression used in this debate; and I would not that the nakedness and weakness of my country should stand confirmed by the sanction and authority of such testimony. It is time to act, and not to talk; for the die is cast, the sword is drawn, and the scabbard thrown away. Past experience certainly will not justify confidence in ministers; but I would not, by declaring our utter inability to reduce the colonists, furnish a golden bridge for an ignominious, ruinous, and disgraceful peace. I have heard the war called unjust: but who in this house have a right to call it so? Not those who voted for the Declaratory Act: those only who denied our right of taxation; and how very few were they! I cannot approve of recalling troops, and publishing the terms to which you will yield, until there is reasonable assurance of their not being rejected. When the happy moment for conciliation shall arrive, I hope ministers will seize it: I wish them success: at least at such a crisis I will not hang on the wheels of government, rendering that which already is but too difficult more impracticable.” Upon a division, the Duke of Richmond’s motion was negatived by one hundred to thirty-two; but the proposed address was entered on the journals, with the names of ten peers protesting against its rejection.

Despite this “vast and invincible majority,” as it was called by Burke, on the 14th of March the Duke of Grafton moved for an address beseeching his majesty that a proclamation might be issued, declaring that if the revolted colonies, within a reasonable time, before or after the arrival of the troops in America, should present a petition to the commander-in-chief, or to the commissioners appointed under the late act, setting forth what they considered to be their just rights and real grievances, hostilities should be suspended, and the said petition be referred to parliament for consideration. In making this motion, the Duke of Grafton asserted that both France and Spain were arming, and that two French gentlemen had already been to America, and had had conferences with Washington and with congress. These assertions, however, were treated by ministers as chimerical, and Lord Weymouth, secretary for foreign affairs, assured the house that there never was a time when Great Britain had less to fear from foreign powers, and that every courier brought assurances of the pacific intentions and friendly feelings from all the courts of Europe. After a long debate, in which old arguments were reiterated on both sides of the house, the duke’s motion was negatived, by a majority of ninety-one against thirty-one. About a fortnight after this Mr. Hartley presented the form of another address in the commons, which was conceived in a better spirit, but it shared the same fate as that of the Duke of Grafton. On the 10th of May Mr. Sawbridge, who had succeeded Wilkes as lord mayor, made a similar motion, for placing the Americans in the same situation as the Irish.

During the debates on this motion, Mr. Temple Luttrel, a younger brother of the colonel, uttered very violent language; declaring that the king’s speech was a sanguinary parole, and the ministry an infernal administration: quoting the well-known observation of the philosopher Thales; “that of all wild beasts, the worst was a tyrant, and of all tame ones, a flatterer.” The motion was negatived, as was also a motion subsequently made by General Conway, for inspecting the powers vested in his majesty’s commissioners proceeding to America.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

On the 23rd of May, at the moment when his majesty was expected in the house of lords to prorogue parliament, Mr. Hartley moved in the commons, an address, praying that parliament might not be prorogued, but continue sitting by adjournments during the summer, in order that they might be ready to receive information concerning the proceedings in America, and to provide for contingencies. This motion was, however, negatived without a division, and soon after the commons were summoned to the upper house for the purpose of prorogation. In his speech the king said that no alteration had taken place, or was likely to take place, in his relations with foreign courts. He represented the country as engaged in a great national cause, attended with great difficulty and with much expense. As, however, the essential rights and interests of the empire were deeply concerned in the issue of it, and could have no safety or security but in that constitutional subordination for which they were contending, he felt convinced, he said, that no price would be considered too high in order to obtain the wished-for objects. He still hoped his rebellious subjects might be awakened to a sense of their errors, and make a voluntary submission; but if not, he trusted to effect this object by a full exertion of the forces with which he had been entrusted by parliament.

SENTIMENTS OF FOREIGN POWERS, ETC.

Notwithstanding the declarations of the secretary of state for foreign affairs, and likewise of his majesty, that there was nothing to fear from foreign powers, it is evident that at this very period there was much to fear from those quarters. France and Spain both smarted under the disgrace of the late wars, and burned for revenge, whence there was every reason to apprehend that the armaments they were preparing, under various pretences, would ultimately be employed against England. Then again, Frederic of Prussia entertained strong feelings of resentment against us, for the manner in which he had been treated during the late war, and the Czarina of Russia had absolutely refused her promised aid. Moreover the naval superiority of Great Britain had excited the envy of almost every other state; and they longed to see it diminished. It does not appear, indeed, that any foreign potentate looked with an approving or an unjaundiced eye upon the part taken by Britain, except the Emperor of Austria, and as this part was in strict accordance with the monarchical principles of the Austrian court, his aid might fairly be expected. These well-known sentiments of foreign powers had doubtless the effect of stimulating the Americans in their factious opposition to their mother country, and England ought to have been warned by them. But England itself was like a divided house upon this subject. The Americans in fact were more encouraged by the people of England in their rebellion than by the hostile sentiments of foreign powers. Recent pages fully prove that they had their advocates in parliament,—men who not only justified their proceedings, but likewise exhibited to them in their speeches “the nakedness of the land,” in strange, unjustifiable, and hyperbolical language. Like the false spies among the Hebrews, they spread an evil report of their country’s resources, and hence held it forth to the contempt of the colonists. In this they were also aided by the political writers of the day. The press teemed with publications in favour of the colonists, and every breeze wafted them across the mighty waters to add fuel to the flames. One of the most conspicuous of these writers was Dr. Price, whose work entitled, “Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, &c.;” sought to depreciate the British government, and extolled the spirit which gave rise to the American revolution. Powerful pens, as that of Dr. Johnson, were, it is true, employed on the other side of the question,—but sentiments in accordance with the feelings of an individual or a whole people will ever maintain a preponderating influence. Moreover, it must be confessed that those writers who took the part of government often wrote in an illiberal and unenlightened spirit, so that their emanations had an equally powerful effect in confirming the Americans in their views and designs, as those which proceeded from the pens of their advocates. From every party, in truth, and on every hand, the colonists received encouragement in their hostility to the British crown.

EVACUATION OF BOSTON BY THE BRITISH.

While the British parliament was indulging in oratorical debate, and political writers were dipping their pens in gall, the Americans had been actively engaged with the sword. During the winter, both the British army in Boston, and the blockading army of the Americans, by which that town was surrounded, had undergone many miseries. Washington, however, was active in keeping up the flagging spirits of his troops, and they were further revived by the constant arrival of provision-waggons, ammunition, artillery, and reinforcements. At length Washington was induced to commence offensive operations. Ploughed Hill, Cobble Hill, and Lechemeres Point were successively occupied during the month of December, and the approaches of the American troops were carried within half-a-mile of the British works on Bunker’s Hill. Congress recommended an immediate assault upon Boston; but Washington asked for more time, to complete his approaches and make his preparations. This was allowed him, and in the month of January a council of war was held in the camp—some of the members of congress being present—when it was resolved, that the British troops should be attacked before any reinforcements should arrive. At the same time it was resolved that thirteen regiments of militia should be required from Massachusets and the neighbouring colonies, that the attempt might be made with good prospect of success. These regiments were supplied early in February, but Washington was compelled to forego an immediate attack from the state of the weather. It was then exceedingly mild, and he wanted ice to enable him to pass the river. But this was not long wanting. About the middle of February the cold became intense, and the ice was sufficiently strong to bear the troops. Still the attack was delayed. Another council of war was held, and it was unanimously’ resolved, that the attempt was too hazardous. Soon after, however, Washington received intelligence that a part of the British troops in the town was expected at New York, and from various appearances among them he conceived that there was an intention of evacuating Boston. He now resolved to commence the attack. On the 2nd of March he began a heavy bombardment and cannonade on the town and on the British lines, which was continued for two days. On the night of the 4th of March Washington took a more decisive step. The heights of Dorchester commanded the shipping in the harbour and nearly the whole town, and yet Lord Howe had taken no more care to occupy this hill than General Gage had taken to occupy Bunker’s Hill. In the midst of the roar of artillery, therefore, Washington dispatched General Thomas, with 2000 troops and 300 labourers, to take possession of the heights of Dorchester; and at the break of day the British beheld the hill occupied and strongly fortified. They had scarcely recovered from their surprise when Thomas began to cannonade the town and the ships of war, his labourers still working with ardour, in order to render his position still more formidable. General Howe saw that he must either dislodge Thomas, or evacuate Boston, and he sent Lord Percy with 3000 men to effect his dislodgement. Percy embarked in transports, and fell down to the castle in order to proceed up the river to a low strip of land at the foot of Dorchester Hill; but a storm arose, and he was compelled to return to the harbour. It was providential for the British troops that this storm arose; for the heights of Dorchester are almost perpendicular, and the force was hence insufficient to accomplish the enterprise. And the task was soon rendered more difficult. While Washington still kept up a terrible fire, more men were sent to the heights; and Thomas, on the advice of Colonel Mifflin, chained together a number of hogsheads filled with sand and stones, which were to be rolled down the hill, should General Howe renew the attempt, upon his advancing columns. The British commander, however, became sensible of the madness of such an attempt, and resolved to evacuate the town. An intimation was sent to Washington that Boston would be spared from the flames if the troops were suffered to embark without molestation. This notice determined Washington to refrain from hostilities, and in ten days, on the 17th of March, the British troops quitted the cradle of the revolution, and set sail for Halifax, in Nova Scotia. Before they departed the British troops destroyed Castle William, but they left their barracks uninjured, with a large quantity of cannon and ammunition, of which Washington was in want. This was a great blunder; for if they could not have been carried away they should have been destroyed. And this was not the only blunder committed. In sailing away, Howe left no cruizer in Boston Bay to warn the ships expected from England that the place was not in our possession; and a few days after, when Washington had taken up his quarters in the town, several of our store-ships sailed into the harbour, and fell into the hands of the Americans, before they discovered that Boston was lost to King George. Howe’s negligence was even still more disastrous in its consequences than this; for Lieutenant-colonel Archibald Campbell sailed into the harbour with seven hundred fresh troops from England, and he was taken, and became the subject for severe and brutal retaliation. The loyalists who remained in Boston became also the objects of vengeance; they were tried as the betrayers of their country, and their effects were confiscated, while the very estates of the emigrants were seized, and passed into the hands of the victors. It was a proud triumph for the Americans. Congress, elated by it, passed a vote of thanks to Washington and his army for their acquisition of Boston, and directed a gold medal to be struck in commemoration of the event.

{GEORGE III. 1776–1777}

MISSION OF INDIAN CHIEFS.

Untutored as the savage is, many a lesson may be gathered from his lips and his conduct. Before Boston was evacuated by the British troops, the Oneidas and some other Indian tribes had sent to the provincial assembly a deputation of their chiefs, on a mission which displayed much practical humanity and good feeling. The purport of this mission is disclosed in the address of these chiefs to the assembly. It reads thus:—“Brothers, we have heard of the unhappy differences and great contention between you and Old England. We wonder greatly and are troubled in our minds. Brothers, possess your minds in peace respecting us Indians. We cannot intermeddle in this dispute between brethren: the quarrel seems to us so unnatural; and we bear an equal affection to both. Should the great king apply to us for aid we shall deny him: if the colonies apply we shall refuse. We Indians cannot find or recollect, in the traditions of our ancestors, a case similar to this. Brothers, if it were an alien that had struck you we should look into the matter. We hope, through the wise government and good pleasure of the Great Spirit, your distresses may be soon removed, and the dark clouds dispersed. Brothers, as we have declared for peace, we desire you will not apply to our Indian brethren for assistance. Let us Indians be all of one mind, and you white people settle the disputes between yourselves.” But notwithstanding this wise policy of these Indian chiefs, many of the savage tribes bordering on the great lakes and rivers were induced by British agents to wield the tomahawk in behalf of “the great king,” and committed ravages which brought a stain upon the fair fame of Great Britain.

AFFAIRS OF CANADA.

At the close of the session of the British parliament good news had arrived from Canada. Congress had voted nine regiments for service in that colony, and General Schuyler was ordered to prepare a number of batteaux to transport these troops down the lakes and the Sorel to the scene of action. At this juncture news arrived of the death of Montgomery, and the critical situation of Arnold. This news urged congress to renewed exertions. They did all they could to hasten their reinforcements, and called upon the provincial conventions to collect all the money they could for the use of the army in Canada. Men and specie were, however, not easily procured; and, moreover, had the troops been ready on the instant, they could not have marched during the winter, as the ground was covered with snow, and the lakes all frozen over. On the opening of spring, however, by the 1st of April, the force in Canada was raised to 1,800 men. But coined money was not forthcoming for their use, and Arnold issued a proclamation, making the paper-money of congress current, under promise of redeeming it with specie in four months, and threatening all who refused this paper in exchange for their commodities or labour with destruction. The French Canadians had no faith in the paper-money, or in the promises of Arnold, and the troops, therefore, were under the necessity of helping themselves to what they wanted. This was fatal to the American cause in Canada. The Canadians were told that the troops were come to liberate them from tyranny and oppression, but they concluded that they had only come to plunder them. Added to this, the New Englanders laughed at the Catholic church ceremonies, and insulted some of the priests, whence they insured universal hatred and vengeance. The situation of Arnold was a critical one, and it was rendered more so by the appearance of the small-pox among his troops, which greatly thinned his ranks. Still Arnold resolved to persevere. He again set up his battery before the walls of Quebec, hoping to take it before it should be relieved by reinforcements from England. Before, however, he could make any impression, General Wooster arrived as his superior in command; and, taking offence, he retired to Montreal, there to assume a separate command. Many of the Americans also left the army and returned home, under the pretence that the period of their engagement was expired. General Thomas arrived on the 1st of May, and the force then amounted to 2000 men. Had these troops been effective, and had the magazines been well stored, Thomas might have had some chance of success, but such was not the case; and to complete his dilemma, the river St. Lawrence began to open below, and intelligence arrived that English ships of war were daily expected. Thomas therefore resolved to make a precipitate retreat, and he began to remove the sick to the Three Rivers, and to embark his artillery and stores in boats and canoes. Before these operations were completed, however, three English ships which had forced their way through the ice arrived before Quebec, and these vessels instantly threw on shore two companies of the 29th regiment, with some marines and sailors. Struck with consternation, the Americans began to fly in all directions, and General Carleton then sallied out in pursuit of them. Notwithstanding, the enemy retreated so precipitately that Carleton could do nothing more than capture their artillery and stores, about a hundred fugitives, and nearly all their sick, who had been left behind. Many, however, were afterwards found concealed and starving in the woods; and Carleton, as humane as he was brave, treated the whole of the prisoners with great humanity. The rest of the troops crossed the St. Lawrence, and formed at the forts of Chamblée and St. John, on the Sorel, where General Thomas died of the small-pox.

Thus successful, General Carleton dispatched Captain Forster to a strong fort, called the Cedars, situate thirty miles west of Montreal, and which was garrisoned by four hundred Americans. This fort surrendered, on condition that the garrison should be preserved from the ferocity of the Indians. In the attack on this fort one Indian, on the side of the English, was slain, and this excited the passions of the red men to revenge. On the day after the surrender of the Cedars Forster heard that a party of the enemy were marching from another point to secure the fort, and he ordered one hundred Indians to place themselves in ambush on both sides of the road in a wood through which the enemy must pass. This stratagem was completely successful. All the Americans were captured, and when the Indians had brought them to the front of the fort they prepared to put them to death, in atonement for the blood of their tribe which had been shed. This was an ancient custom, and it was with difficulty that Captain Forster induced them to dispense with it: it was only effected by conciliating them with presents. From the Cedars, Forster proceeded to Vaudreuil, about six miles northward. Arnold made an attempt to dislodge him, but was obliged to retreat, and return to St. Anne’s, on the island of Montreal. Being encumbered with prisoners, Forster judged it expedient to release them; Arnold promising to return an equal number of royal troops within two months. This compact, however, was shamefully violated by congress, under pretence that Forster had treated the prisoners taken at the Cedars in a barbarous manner—a pretence which was utterly unfounded. In the meantime General Carleton being reinforced by more troops from England, repaired to Three Rivers, about midway between Quebec and Montreal. Imagining that Carleton had only sent a detachment, General Sullivan, who had succeeded to the command of the troops on the death of Thomas, ordered General Thomson and Colonel St. Clair to cross the St. Lawrence, and to make a night attack on the forces of the English. These two officers did not arrive at Three Rivers till the day dawned, and as soon as they were seen the alarm was given all along the bank, and a fire was opened upon them from some ships. They landed from their boats, and in their confusion ran into a broad morass, where they were attacked in front by General Fraser, and in their rear by General Nesbit; while Major Grant took possession of a bridge, which rendered their escape over the river Des Loups impracticable. Many were killed and wounded, and General Thompson, with Colonel Irvine, and about two hundred men, were taken prisoners. The rest fell back in disorder across a bog into a wood on their left, and on the next day crossed the bridge which Major Grant had occupied, and which was by some mistake now left unguarded, whence they reached their boats, and escaped to their main body at Sorel. General Carleton embarked the mass of his forces and pursued them by water; but when he arrived at Sorel he found that place evacuated, and the batteries dismantled. General Burgoyne, who had arrived with the last reinforcements from England, was charged with the pursuit of Sullivan, while Carleton himself recrossed the St. Lawrence to look after Arnold. That officer, however, glad to make his escape from Canada, embarked his men, crossed over the river at Long Isle, and joined Sullivan at Fort St. John, on the Sorel. The two American generals did not deem themselves safe at this fort, and they therefore set fire to it, as well as that of Chamblée, and continued their retreat up the river. They were followed by Burgoyne; but when that general reached the head of the Sorel, and saw the lake beyond it well supplied with armed vessels, he desisted from the pursuit, and rejoined General Carleton. By these events, Canada was entirely freed from the American arms; and General Carleton commenced preparations for the recovery of Ticonderoga, and the dominion of the lakes Champlain and St. George, now held by the enemy. The American generals, Sullivan and Arnold, threw themselves upon the isle Aux Noix, where they were secure from the enemy, but where many of their men perished of fever.

UNSUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON SULLIVAN’S ISLAND.

While success attended the British arms in Canada, an expedition sent against the southern states totally failed. Governor Martin had been strenuously exerting himself to recover his lost province of North Carolina, by means of a body of Highlanders, who had recently emigrated to America, and another body of resolute men, called “Regulators,” who lived principally by the chase. These two bodies were commanded by Colonels Mac Donald and Mac Leod. They were embodied at Cross Creek, but having attempted to open their way to Wilmington, where they expected some regular troops were to be landed, they were circumvented by a superior insurgent force, and beaten. Mac Leod, with most of his Highland followers, were slain, and Mac Donald, with some of the “Regulators,” were taken prisoners; while the rest fled, and returned to their old hunter life in the back country. The attempt which was made by Governor Martin, indeed, seems altogether to have been premature; but he appears to have been induced to make it from the delay of the arrival of General Clinton and his troops, who were destined for this service. No second attempt could be made to erect the royal standard in the Carolinas, till Clinton arrived from England, and then it was found to be too late. He reached Cape Fear in the month of May, and immediately took the command of some troops which had previously been conveyed to those coasts by Sir Robert Parker. The general’s instructions were to endeavour, by proclamations and other means, to induce the Carolinas to return to their allegiance; to gain information as to the temper and disposition of those provinces; and if he found the royalists sufficiently numerous to take up arms, to leave a part of his forces with them, and then to repair to New York to meet the commander-in-chief, General Howe. Clinton found no encouragement, and met with no signs of co-operation; and he, together with Parker, tired of doing nothing, resolved to go beyond their commission, by capturing or destroying Charleston, the capital of South Carolina, the trade of which town supplied the two colonies with the nerve of war. To this end they sailed from Cape Fear on the 4th of June, and arriving off Charleston they took possession of Long Island, where there were many royalists, but who had previously been disarmed. Near Charleston, however, and covering-its harbour, was another island, called Sullivan’s Island, in which there were armed insurgents and formidable batteries. There was a projecting point of land, also, called Hadrell’s Point, which almost touched this island, and on which General Lee, an Englishman, and rival of Washington, in the American service, was posted with a large force of regular troops and militiamen, and some artillery. Notwithstanding these formidable appearances, however, Clinton persevered in his design of taking this island. He constructed two batteries on Long Island, answering to those of the enemy, and to co-operate with the floating-batteries destined to cover the landing of the troops. The event was most disastrous. On the 28th of June the fleet, under Parker, anchored in front of the American fort, and opened a tremendous fire upon it; while Clinton seconded the efforts of the admiral by firing from the batteries on Long Island. In the midst of the roar of cannon the troops embarked in the rear of some floating batteries in boats and some small craft; but they had scarcely left the beach when they were ordered to return to their encampment on Long Island. Meanwhile the ships continued their firing upon the fort, which was responded to with equal vigour by the Americans. The roar of cannon ceased not till long after night-fall, and then the British fleet exhibited a sad and desolating spectacle; for while the fire of the ships made but comparatively little impression upon the fort, the fire from the fort did fearful execution upon the fleet. The following description of this day of carnage is from the pen of Burke. He says:—“Whilst the continued thunder from the ships seemed sufficient to shake the firmness of the bravest enemy, and daunt the courage of the most veteran soldier, the return made by the fort could not fail of calling for the respect as well as of highly incommoding the British seamen. In the midst of that dreadful roar of artillery, they stuck with the greatest constancy and firmness to their guns; fired deliberately and slowly, and took a cool and effective aim. The ships suffered accordingly: they were torn to pieces, and the slaughter was dreadful. Never did British valour shine more conspicuous, nor never did our marine, in an engagement of the same nature with any foreign enemy, experience as rude an encounter. The springs of the Bristol’s cable being cut by the shot, she lay for some time exposed in such a manner as to be most dreadfully raked. The brave Captain Morris, after receiving a number of wounds, which would have sufficiently justified a gallant man in retiring from his station, still, with a noble obstinacy, disdained to quit his duty, until his arm, being at length shot off, he was carried away in a condition which did not afford a possibility of recovery. It is said, that the quarter-deck of the Bristol was at one time cleared of every person but the commodore, who stood alone, a spectacle of intrepidity and firmness, which has seldom been equalled, never exceeded.” When the firing ceased the Bristol and Experiment, ships of fifty guns each, were left almost wrecks upon the water, but the frigates had not suffered so severely. It was expected by the Americans that most of them would be unable to pass the bar; but, with the exception of the Actæon frigate, which got aground at the commencement of the action, all dropped down with the tide beyond the reach of the guns in the fort. It is clear that Admiral Parker did all that could have been done to effect his object, but skill and valour were of no avail. The fortress was built of palmetto-wood, and therefore it was little damaged; the shot which struck it being buried in its soft materials. Then again, the bombs that were thrown into the fort were instantly swallowed up in a morass that was constructed in the middle, and therefore failed in their design. While the English ships, indeed, were swept of their men, the loss of the garrison did not exceed ten men killed and about twenty wounded. The Americans themselves accounted for their victory by the strength of the fort; the care they had taken to secure its approaches; the courage and skill displayed by Colonel Moultrie, who commanded in the fort; and the presence of Lee on the projecting point opposite the island. On the other hand, the English attributed their defeat to the non-co-operation of the army, which appears to have been declined by Parker, he having full confidence in the powers of the fleet. But whatever may have been the cause of the result, it is certain that by the repluse of this armament the southern states obtained a long respite from the horrors of war, and that it had the effect of raising the depressed spirits of the colonists: by it the spell which had long attached itself to the British navy was broken. After the disaster General Clinton set sail in the Solby frigate with his troops to join General Howe, but the rest of the ships remained at Long Island to refit.

AFFAIRS IN VIRGINIA.

During these events Lord Dunmore had been making a last effort to retrieve the king’s affairs in Virginia. With the consent of General Howe he sent Mr. Connelly, a native of Pennsylvania, to induce the people in the back and inland parts of the colony, together with several of the Indian tribes, to take up arms for government. Connelly had already reached the back-settlements, but soon after his arrival he was recognized by a tradesman to whom he was known, who denounced him to one of the nearest revolutionary committees. Connelly was seized with all his papers, and sent to Philadelphia, where he was put in irons and treated with the utmost severity. The scheme of Lord Dunmore was developed by his papers, and the whole was in consequence frustrated.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY CONGRESS.

It required no prophetic eye to foresee that at no very distant period, notwithstanding the sentiments of loyalty expressed in their papers by congress, they would, nevertheless, take one vast stride in the march of revolution and proclaim their independence. As early as the 15th of May the congress, in their sitting at Philadelphia, resolved:—“That it should be recommended to all the various assemblies and conventions in the United States of America, where no form of government adequate to the exigencies of affairs had yet been adopted, to establish such a constitution as should be most conducive to the public welfare and security.” This resolution was published in the newspapers, with a preamble, stating that as the king and parliament of Great Britain had excluded the inhabitants of the colonies from the protection of their mother country, it behoved them to abolish the power and constitution which had been derived from thence. By this measure of congress the mask was at length thrown off, and many Americans now stepped forward to claim the honour of having been the originator of the grand idea. The glory is, however, generally attributed by Americans to Benjamin Franklin;—the man who, while in England, strove with all his might, and in the depth of guile, to make the Earl of Chatham, and all the great orators of opposition, believe that the wish was furthest from his thought;—that he earnestly desired to preserve the connexion of the colonies with his “dear old mother country.” While at the same time, however, that American writers attribute the origin of the grand idea to Benjamin Franklin, they admit that it was the pen of an English writer that rendered the most effective service in this particular—a pen that was wielded by the infidel, Thomas Paine! Originally a Quaker and stay-maker in Norfolk, Paine first made himself known as a political writer by the publication of a pamphlet. This pamphlet recommended him to the notice of Franklin, who advised the poor author to try his fortune in America, now affording a wide field for the talents of adventurers. Paine accordingly settled at Philadelphia in 1774, where he became first a contributor to newspapers and periodicals, and then editor of the “Philadelphia Magazine.” By this time the public mind had been prepared by various productions issued from the press, to entertain thoughts of independence. Paine turned his wit to this subject, and in 1776 he brought out his famous pamphlet, called “Common Sense,” which contained bolder sentiments than any written by all the other various pamphleteers. His production met with unparalleled success. Copies were distributed throughout the colonies, and “Common Sense” became literally the study of the whole American world. It was even read, admired, and eulogised in England by men of sense and talent: Burke calls it “that celebrated pamphlet which prepared the minds of the people for independence.” Its chief merit, however, seems to have consisted in rough, sarcastic wit, which was well calculated to flatter the prejudices as well as to inflame the resentment of the American people. The effects it produced were wonderful. Multitudes were brought over by it to the cause of independence, who but a few months before would have regarded the proposition with abhorrence. As for the writer he at once gained by it the topmost pinnacle of the temple of popularity. The legislature of Pennsylvania voted him £500; the university of the same province conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts; he was elected member of the American Philosophical Society, founded by Franklin; and he was subsequently made clerk to the committee of foreign affairs, while he was consulted by all members of government and congress as an oracle.

The recommendation of congress to the various assemblies and conventions in the United States of America met with all due attention, and many prepared for the organization of a new government. Thus the convention of New York appointed a committee to take the resolution into consideration, and on the 27th of May this committee presented a report, replete with democratic principle, and going the whole length which the recommendation involved. The men of the hot south, however, the Virginians, went to work in a less roundabout manner than those of the other states. The convention of that colony, which met at Williamsburg on the 6th of May, instructed their delegates at congress to propose to that body an immediate declaration of independence. Accordingly, on the 7th of June, Richard Henry Lee, one of their delegates, moved that the congress should forthwith 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 connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that measures should immediately be taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a confederation be formed for binding the colonies more closely together.” Vehement debates followed this proposition, its principal supporter being John Adams, and its chief opposer John Dickenson. On the question being put, six delegates voted in the affirmative, and an equal number in the negative; the delegates from Pennsylvania being equally divided. The debate, therefore, was resumed on the following day, when Dickenson relinquished his opposition, and by his vote decided the contest. Congress now assumed the title of “Representatives of the United States of America,” and on the 4th of July they published a definite declaration, or act of independence. This declaration was drawn up by Jefferson, and slightly altered first by Franklin and Adams, and afterwards by the whole committee to whom it was submitted. As passed by congress it commenced with asserting that all men were originally equal, and that all people have an unalienable right to choose their own government. It then set forth that the history of the present King of Great Britain had been a history of injuries and usurpations, having for their direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over America. The sins of the monarch—for it was against the king himself that congress chiefly aimed their blows—were set forth in eighteen separate clauses, and it must be confessed that if the monarch was so great a sinner as he was represented to be in these clauses, then the summing up of the act of independence was justifiable. This summing up declared,—“That a prince marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people: consequently, congress, in the name and by the authority of the good people of America, had solemnly published and declared that the colonies were free and independent states, absolved from allegiance to the British crown; that all political connexion between them and Great Britain was broken; and they, as free and independent states, had full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, and establish commerce.” But though the people of England were not calumniated by congress in such bold and unwarrantable language as their monarch, they nevertheless were condemned by the act of independence. A clause in it with reference to the British people, reads thus:—“Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts made by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of an emigration and settlement here; we have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow those usurpations which interrupted our connexion and correspondence. But they have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which pronounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends. We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentional 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 connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is and 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 to 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 honour.”