modation since I heard of the measures which were adopted in consequence of the Bunker's Hill fight. The King's speech has confirmed the sentiments I entertained upon the news of that affair; and if every man was of my mind, the Ministers of Great Britain should know in a few words upon what issue the cause should be put. I would not be deceived by artful declarations nor specious pretences; nor would I be amused by unmeaning propositions; but in open, undisguised, and manly terms, proclaim our wrongs, and our resolution to be redressed. I would tell them that we had borne much; that we had long and ardently sought for reconciliation upon honourable terms; that it had been denied us; that all our attempts after peace had proved abortive, and had been grossly misrepresented; that we had done everything which could be expected from the best of subjects; that the spirit of freedom rises too high in us to submit to slavery. This I would tell them, not under covert, but in words as clear as the sun in its meridian brightness." It must, I think, be granted that the Declaration of Independence flowed naturally from the love of free and equal laws, which the English race had carried with them to the West. It was a corollary of the Bill of Rights. While such was the resolution displayed by Congress on the question of independence, neither they nor the people they represented made military preparations at all adequate to the occasion. Washington in vain endeavoured to procure a law for enlisting men for the whole period of the His troops were generally under engagements for only one year; their numbers sometimes rose to thirty thousand, but more frequently sunk to fifteen, and at one time to eight, thousand. The soldiers chose their own officers; war. they exacted a promise that the officers' pay should be thrown into the same purse with the pay of the private soldiers. The troops were scantily supplied with ammunition, and often marched barefoot for weeks and months together. The fortitude, resolution, gallant spirit, and calm sense of Washington, never failed; but he sometimes exposed himself and his army to great hazard from his want of military experience. In the month of August, 1776, his men were posted in Long Island, with no retreat except by sea. Sir William Howe at the same time had thirty thousand good troops under his command. The campaign was opened on the 22nd of August; on the 26th the battle of Brooklyn was fought. The British attacked; the Americans retired in confusion. They were not pursued, and on the 29th they made good their retreat to New York. The passage of the river, or rather arm of the sea, was effected in thirteen hours. Within this time nine thousand men passed over in boats, besides field artillery, ammunition, provisions, cattle, horses, and carts. A British historian of the war thus describes the operation: "The circumstances of this retreat were particularly glorious to the Americans. They had been driven to the corner of an island, where they were hemmed in within the narrow space of two square miles. In their front was an encampment of near twenty thousand men; in their rear an arm of the sea a mile wide, which they could not cross but in several embarkations. Notwithstanding these difficulties, they secured a retreat without the loss of a man."* The position of the American army, however, was not tenable. New York was therefore evacuated by Washington; and Fort Washington, having been retained against his *Stedman's "American War," vol. i. p. 197. opinion, surrendered to the British with a garrison of 2800 men. The Americans then abandoned New Jersey, and retired beyond the Delaware. It was generally said that the British general had now an opportunity of striking a great blow. He commanded 30,000 well-armed and disciplined troops against 5000 or 6000 men ill-armed and worse equipped. On advancing into New Jersey, the British were received with open arms, and the province hastened to make its submission. The conquest of at least the whole coast seemed inevitable. At this critical moment the opposite characters of Howe and Washington turned the fortune of war. Howe allowed his Hessian troops to plunder loyalists and insurgents alike: having thus lost the returning affections of the colonists, he scattered his fine army in detached posts over eighty miles of country, with the Hessian troops in advance on the frontier. Washington, with great sagacity, marked the opportunity. On the night of Christmas he crossed the Delaware, surprised Trenton, and took 1000 prisoners. Alarmed at this success, General Howe sent for Lord Cornwallis, and ordered him at once to advance against Washington. Lord Cornwallis soon found himself at the head of 7000 or 8000 men, divided from the American army only by the Assanpink. Sir W. Erskine advised him to attack Washington at once, but he declined, saying, "he would be sure to bag the fox in the morning." In the night, however, Washington, by a bold movement, got in the rear of his enemy, and surprised three British regiments, the 17th, 40th, and 55th, at Princeton. By a rapid advance these regiments were separated from each other; the 17th, with heavy loss, marched on to Trenton; the 55th retired by a by-road to Brunswick; a great part of the 40th surrendered. The loss of the British was 100 killed and 300 prisoners. When Lord Cornwallis came up, Washington had disappeared. While the American general raised the spirits of his troops by these military exploits, he at the same time issued a proclamation requiring the inhabitants of the province to pay allegiance to Congress. Soon after, General Howe abandoned New Jersey, thus losing without a battle the only fruits of his former success, and of his great numerical superiority. Washington, on the other hand, animated his army by his resources in difficulties, and his determination never to submit. He justly earned the name of “the But no Hannibal appeared on the American Fabius." side of the British. CHAPTER VIII. DESPONDENCY OF THE WHIGS-SECESSION-CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA- 1776 - 1777. WHEN the news of the landing of the King's troops, under Lord Howe, in Long Island, and of their success at Brooklyn, reached England, the nation appears to have been transported with the prospect of the speedy submission of America. Charles Fox, in writing to Lord Rockingham, after advising against secession, goes on to say: "Above all, my dear lord, I hope that it will be a point of honour among us all to support the American pretensions in adversity as much as we did in their prosperity, and that we shall never desert those who have acted unsuccessfully upon Whig principles, while we continue to profess our admiration of those who succeeded on the same principles in the year 1688. . . . . Believe me, my dear lord, the expectation of your lordship and all your friends, must in a great measure depend on the part you act at this critical juncture. I am sure you are a person whom we need not advise to take a firm one; but I am so clear that firmness in Whig principles is at present become so much more necessary than ever, that I cannot help conjuring you over and over again to consider the importance of the crisis. In regard to myself, I dare hope that professions are unnecessary, and I will therefore trouble your lordship no further than |