Volume 3 — EXPEDITION AGAINST RHODE ISLAND.

While Cornwallis had been advancing through the Jerseys, General Clinton had been sent, together with the squadron of Sir Peter Parker, to Rhode Island, where an American squadron had been collected under Commodore Hopkins. This island was taken without any difficulty, and Hopkins retired up Providence River, where he remained inactive and useless. The people of Rhode Island, however, were enthusiastic revolutionists, and it required a considerable force to keep them in awe; whence, during three years, a great body of men were left in perfect idleness.