3. Should those places of North America, still subject to Britain, be reduced by the states, they should be confederated with them, or subjected to their jurisdiction.

4. Should any of the West India Islands be reduced by France, they should be deemed its property.

5. No formal treaty with Great Britain should be concluded, either by France or America, without the consent of each other; and it was mutually agreed, that they should not lay down their arms till the independence of the states had been formally acknowledged.

6. The contracting parties mutually agreed to invite those powers who had received injuries from Great Britain, to join in the common cause.

7. The United States guarantied to France all the possessions in the West Indies which she could conquer; and France, in her turn, guarantied the absolute independence of the states, and their supreme authority over every country they possessed, or might acquire during the war.

This treaty was signed on the part of France by M. Gerard; on the part of the United States by Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee. On the 20th of March, the American commissioners were received at the court of France, as the representatives of a sister nation; an event which was considered in Europe, at that time, as the most important which had occurred in the annals of America, since its first discovery by Columbus.

72. Battle of Monmouth, or Freehold.

At the opening of the campaign in 1778, General Howe went to England, and left the command to Sir Henry Clinton. In June, the British army left Philadelphia, and marched towards Staten Island. In their march they were annoyed by the Americans; and on the 28th of June, a division of the army, under General

Williams' History of the Revolution.

Lee, was ordered, if possible, to bring them to an engagement. Soon after the British had left the heights of Freehold, General Lee was on the same ground, and followed them into the plain. Whilst he was advancing to reconnoitre the enemy in person, Sir Henry Clinton marched back his whole rear division to attack the Americans. While Lee made a feint of retreating, in order to draw the British after him, one of his officers, Gen. Scott, who had under him the greater part of General Lee's force, misunderstood his orders, and actually retreated. This obliged Lee to follow, until he could overtake him, the army hanging upon his rear. In this situation he was met by General Washington, who, riding up to General Lee, addressed him in terms that implied censure. Lee answered with warmth and disrespectful language. General Washington led the troops in person, and a smart action took place, in which both parties claimed the victory, but the advantage was clearly on the side of the Americans. The loss in killed and wounded amounted to three or four hundred, on each side; but the British left the field of battle in the night, and pursued their retreat. This battle lasted through the whole of one of the warmest days of summer, the mercury being above ninety degrees by Fahrenheit's scale. Many of the soldiers died on the spot, by heat, fatigue, or drinking cold water. General Lee was tried by a court martial for disobedience, and his command suspended for one year.

73. Taking of Savannah and Charleston.

In 1778, Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, an officer of courage and ability, embarked on the 27th of November from New York for Savannah, with about two thousand men, under the convoy of some ships of war, commanded by Commodore Hyde Parker; and in about three weeks landed near the mouth of Savannah river. From the landing place, a narrow causeway of six

hundred yards in length, with a ditch on each side, led through a swamp. At this causeway a small party was posted, under Captain Smith, to impede the passage of the British; but it was almost instantly dispersed. Gen. Howe, the American officer, to whom the defence of Georgia was committed, had taken his station on the main road, and posted his little army, consisting of about six hundred continentals and a few hundred militia, between the landing place and the town of Savannah, with the river on his left, and a morass in front. While Col Campbell was making arrangements to dislodge his adversaries, he received intelligence from a negro, of a private path, on the right of the Americans, through which his troops might march unobserved; and Sir James Baird, with his light infantry, was directed to avail himself of this path in order to turn their right wing, and attack their rear. As soon as it was judged that he had cleared his passage, the British in front of the Americans, were directed to advance and engage. General Howe, finding himself attacked both in front and rear, ordered an immediate retreat. The British pursued, and their victory was entire. Upwards of one hundred of the Americans were killed; and thirty-eight officers, four hundred and fifteen privates, the town and fort of Savannah, forty-eight pieces of cannon, twentythree mortars, the fort, with its ammunition and stores, the shipping in the river, and a large quantity of provisions, were in a few hours in possession of the conquerors. The whole loss of the British during the day, amounted to no more than seven killed and nineteen wounded.*

Sir Henry Clinton, finding it more easy to make an impression on the southern states, which were less populous than the northern, and being a level country, rendered the transportation of artillery less difficult, determined to make them the seat of war. Agreeable to this resolution, he sailed from New York with a large force, in the severe winter of 1779-80; and, after a tempestuous passage, in which he lost some of his transports, Holmes' Annals.

arrived at Savannah the latter part of January. From Savannah the army proceeded to Charleston, and in April laid siege to that city. The enemy made regular approaches, and finally, being prepared to storm the town, General Lincoln was compelled to capitulate. About two thousand five hundred men, besides the militia and inhabitants, became prisoners, and all the cannon and military stores. This happened on the 12th of May, 1780. General Clinton left Lord Cornwallis to command the troops in the southern army, and returned to New York. Great numbers of the people in South Carolina, being left defenceless, returned to their allegiance, and the British commander represented the state as subdued.*

74. Paul Jones' Naval Battle.

On the 22d of September, 1778, occurred on the coast of Scotland, "that unexampled sea-fight," which gave to the name of Paul Jones such terrific eclat. This man was a native of Scotland, but engaged in the service of the United States. His flotilla was composed of the Bonhomme Richard, of forty guns, the Alliance of thirtysix, (both American ships,) the Pallas, a French frigate of thirty-two, in the pay of Congress, and two other smaller vessels. He fell in with a British merchant fleet, on its return from the Baltic, convoyed by Captain Pearson, with the frigate Serapis, of forty-four guns, and the Countess of Scarborough, of twenty.

Pearson had no sooner perceived Jones, than he bore down to engage him, while the merchantmen endeavoured to gain the coast. The American flotilla formed to receive him. The two enemies joined battle about seven in the evening. The British having the advantage of cannon of a longer reach, Paul Jones resolved to fight them closer. He brought up his ships, until the muzzles of his guns came in contact with those of his enemy.

* Webster.

Here the phrenzied combatants fought from seven till ten. Paul Jones now found that his vessel was so shattered, that only three effective guns remained. Trusting no longer to these, he assailed his enemy with gre nades; which, falling into the Serapis, set her on fire in several places. At length her magazine blew up, and killed all near it. Pearson, enraged at his officers, who wished him to surrender, commanded them to board. Paul Jones, at the head of his crew, received them at the point of the pike; and they retreated. But the flames of the Serapis had communicated to her enemy, and the vessel of Jones was on fire. Amidst this tremendous night-scene, the American frigate Alliance came up, mistaking her partner for her enemy, fired a broadside into the vessel of Jones. By the broad glare of the burning ships, she discovered her mistake, and turned her guns against her exhausted foe. Pearson's crew were killed or wounded, his artillery dismounted, and his vessel on fire, and he could no longer resist. The flames of the Serapis were, however, arrested; but the leaks of the Goodman Richard could not be stopped, and the hulk went down soon after the mangled remains of the crew had been removed. Of the 375 who were on board that renowned vessel, only 68 left it alive. The Pallas had captured the Countess of Scarborough; and Jones, after this horrible victory, wandered with his shattered, unmanageable vessels, for some time; and at length, on the 6th of October, had the good fortune to find his way to the waters of the Texel.*

75. Gen. Putnam's escape at Horseneck.

About the middle of the winter of 1778, General Putnam, a bold and veteran officer, was on a visit to his outpost at Horseneck, in West Greenwich, Conn., where he found Tryon, the British governor, advancing upon that place with a corps of fifteen hundred men. To oppose this

• Willard's Hist. United States.