Volume 2 — THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND CONCLUSION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN REVOLUTION. (continued 5)

In the evening gen. Washington repassed the Delaware, carrying with him the prisoners, their artillery and colours—and elevated hopes that this successful attack would draw after it a train of the most beneficial and important consequences. It has excited not less astonishment in the British and auxiliary quarters, than it has done joy in those of the Americans. The Hessians will be no longer terrible; and the spirits of the Americans will rise amazingly. But before this happened, a small party in the neighborhood of Quaker-town had flown to arms, with a resolution not to lay them down more, while they had enemies near them; being provoked to it by the insufferable behavior of some British light-horsemen.

Though gen. Cadwallader did not pass over the Delaware at the time intended, yet the day after the surprise [Dec. 27.] he crossed about two miles above Bristol, with 1500 men, imagining that gen. Washington was still on that side. Receiving intelligence that the enemy had left Mount Holly, he determined upon proceeding to Burlington (even after learning that the successful troops had re-crossed) and upon marching the next day to Bordentown; which was accordingly done, the enemy going off in the utmost confusion on the alarm of his approach. The day he crossed, 500 men were sent from Philadelphia, who passed over to Burlington on the morning of the 28th; in the evening gen. Mifflin sent over 300 more, and soon followed with a further 155reinforcement of some hundreds, designing to join gen. Cadwallader as soon as possible. Pennsylvania was now roused, and coming in great numbers to the aid of the commander in chief. On the last mentioned day, gen. Greene crossed afresh into the Jerseys with 300 militia. The time for which many of the militia were to serve, was just expiring. In order to prevail with them to continue, they were harangued. Their pride was addressed. They were told that if they withdrew, it would be charged upon them that they were afraid. Application was artfully made to every passion; and not altogether in vain.

[Dec. 29.] General Washington reached Trenton with about 1800 continentals. Twelve hundred of them were released from their enlistment the first of January. Attempts were made to engage them to continue a month or six weeks longer. Ten dollars extra pay was offered; they took the bounty, and near one half went off in a few days after, before the critical moment arrived: It was soon debated whether to order up the Pennsylvania militia from Bordentown, Mount Holly, and elsewhere, to join general Washington. Gen. Knox had prepared Dr. Rush, a member of congress, to assist in effecting the scheme. He was asked in to give his opinion, and declared in favor of ordering them up, which was then done. [Jan. 1, 1777.] The junction of the militia with the continentals (making in the whole about 5000 men) emboldened the latter to remain in their position after hearing that the enemy was advancing toward them. The alarm which had been given, induced the British and auxiliary troops to assemble; and general Grant, with the forces at Brunswick and in that quarter, marched speedily for Princeton. Lord Cornwallis was gone to New-York in his way to Great-Britain; but upon this unexpected turn of affairs, concluded upon deferring his voyage, and returning to the defence of the Jerseys. He pressed on with the greatest expedition; left the fourth brigade, consisting of the 70th, 40th, and 55th regiments, under the command of lieut. col. Mawhood, at Princeton, and the second brigade, under general Leslie, at Maidenhead, and joined the main body by the time they got near Trenton.

Gen. Greene is sent out with a considerable detachment to support a party stationed about a mile off, and to check the march of the enemy; but finds them advancing in such force and so expeditiously, that he is at some difficulty in making a good retreat with the whole of the Americans. Mean while general Washington makes a disposition for an action; which, as the enemy do not come on directly, is afterward varied to prevent their getting in on the American rear. The bridge over Sanpink Creek, is 156well secured; but can be of little advantage, as the stream is fordable in many places. The American army has between thirty and forty pieces of artillery in front, facing the creek. The fate of the continent seems suspended by a single thread; and the independence of America to hang on the issue of a battle which appears inevitable; and in which the most sanguine son of liberty can scarce flatter himself with the hope of a victory, the enemy being so superior in numbers and discipline. A defeat must be totally ruinous, from the nature of the ground which the Americans occupy.

Sir William Erskine, according to report, advises lord Cornwallis to an immediate attack, saying, “Otherwise Washington, if any general, will make a move to the left of your army: if your lordship does not attack, throw a large body of troops on the road to your left.” The attack is put off till the morning; his lordship might act upon what is said to be a military principle, that the strongest army ought not to attack toward night. Mean while gen. Washington calls a council of war. It is known that they are to be attacked the next day, by the whole collected force of the enemy. The matter of debate is, “Shall we march down on the Jersey side, and cross the Delaware over against Philadelphia, or shall we fight?” Both are thought to be too hazardous. On this gen. Washington says, “What think you of a circuitous march to Princeton?” It is approved, and concluded upon. Providence favors the manœuvre. The weather having been for two days warm, moist and foggy, the ground is become quite soft, and the roads to be passed so deep that it will be extremely difficult, if practicable, to get on with the cattle, carriages and artillery. But while the council is sitting, the wind suddenly changes to the north-west, and it freezes so hard that by the time the troops are ready to move, they pass on as though upon a solid pavement. Such freezings frequently happen in the depth of winter, upon the wind’s coming suddenly about to the north-west. This sudden change of weather gives a plausible pretext for that line of fires which gen. Washington causes to be kindled soon after dark, in the front of his army; and by which he conceals himself from the notice of the enemy, and induces them to believe he is still upon the ground, waiting for them till morning. The stratagem is rendered the more complete by an order given to the men who are entrusted with the business, to keep up the fires in full blaze, till break of day. While the fires are burning, the baggage and three pieces of ordnance are sent off to Burlington for security, and with the design, that if the enemy follow it, the Americans may take advantage of their so doing. The troops march about one o’clock, 157with great silence and order, and crossing Sanpink Creek, proceed toward and arrive near Princeton a little before day-break. The three British regiments are marching down to Trenton on another road, about a quarter of a mile distant. The centre of the Americans, consisting of the Philadelphia militia, under gen. Mercer, advances to attack them. Col. Mawhood considers it only as a flying party attempting to interrupt his march, and approaches with his 17th regiment so near before he fires, that the colour of their buttons is discerned. He repulses the assailants with great spirit, and they give way in confusion; officers and men seem siezed with a panic, which spreads fast, and indicates an approaching defeat. Gen. Washington perceives the disorder, and penetrates the fatal consequence of being vanquished. The present moment requires an exertion to ward off the danger, however hazardous to his own person. He advances instantly; encourages his troops to make a stand; places himself between them and the British, distant from each other about thirty yards; reins his horse’s head toward the front of the enemy; and boldly faces them while they discharge their pieces; their fire is immediately returned by the Americans, without their adverting to the position of the general, who is providentially preserved from being injured either by foe or friend. The scale is turned, and col. Mawhood soon finds that he is attacked on all sides by a superior force; and that he is cut off from the rest of the brigade. He discovers also, by the continued distant firing, that the fifty-fifth is not in better circumstances. His regiment having used their bayonets with too much severity on the party put to flight by them in the beginning, now pay for it in proportion; near sixty are killed upon the spot, beside the wounded. But the colonel and a number force their way through, and pursue the march to Maidenhead. The fifty-fifth regiment being hard pressed, and finding it impossible to continue its march, makes good its retreat, and returns, by the way of Hillsborough, to Brunswick. The fortieth is but little engaged; those of the men who escape, retire by another road to the same place.

It was proposed to make a forced march to Brunswick, where was the baggage of the whole British army, and gen. Lee; but the men having been without either rest, rum or provisions, for two days and two nights, were unequal to the task. It was then debated whether to file off to Cranberry, in order to cross the Delaware and secure Philadelphia. Gen. Knox urged their marching to Morristown, and informed the commander in chief, that when he passed through that part of the country, he observed that it was a good position. He also remarked, that they should be upon the flank of the enemy, and might easily change 158their situation, if requisite. By his earnest importunity he prevailed, and the measure was adopted. Gen. Greene was with the main body, which was advanced; and had put it into the Morristown road, without having been first acquainted with the determination. Just as that was concluded upon, the enemy were firing upon the rear of the Americans. Lord Cornwallis had been waked by the sound of the American cannon at Princeton; and finding himself out-generaled, and apprehensive for his stores and baggage, had posted back with the utmost expedition. The army under general Washington marched on to Pluckemin in their way to Morristown, pulling up the bridges as they proceeded, thereby to incommode the enemy and secure themselves. By the time they got there, the men were so excessively fatigued, that a fresh and resolute body of five hundred might have demolished the whole. Numbers lay down in the woods and fell asleep, without regarding the coldness of the weather. The royal army were still under such alarming impressions, that it continued its march from Trenton to Brunswick, thirty miles, without halting, longer at least than was necessary to make the bridges over Stony-Brook and Millstone passable.

Gen. Howe admits that the loss in this affair, was 17 killed, and nearly 200 wounded and missing. But the Americans say, they have taken near 300 prisoners, of whom 14 are officers, all British. Capt. Leslie, the son of the earl of Leven, who was killed in the engagement, was buried by the Americans with the honors of war, not only as a British officer, but in testimony of respect to his lordship’s worth. The American officers commended the bravery of the troops under colonel Mawhood; one of the generals, observing how they fought, exclaimed, “When will our men fight like those fellows!” General Mercer met with hard usage, being bayoneted in three places, of which wounds he is since dead. He was a deserving character, and merited different treatment. Some may pronounce the treatment that captain Philips, of the thirty-fifth grenadiers, has met with, much baser; but not when they have the case properly represented.—The captain, as he was returning from New-York, to join his company, was surprised between Brunswick and Princeton, by a party of militia, who threatened him in case he attempted to escape; regardless of the threat, he clapped spurs to his horse and pushed forward, on which they fired and killed him. General Gates, who is married to the captain’s sister, blames the captain more than the men.

The eagerness of the royal army to reach and secure Brunswick, occasioned their marching through Princeton with such expedition as to divert their attention from either carrying off 159or destroying the curious orrery belonging to Nassau college. It was contrived and made by an original genius and self-taught astronomer, Mr. Rittenhouse of Philadelphia. There is not the like in Europe. An elegant and neatly ornamented frame raises perpendicular near upon eight feet. In the front of which you are presented, in three several apartments, with a view of the celestial system, the motions of the planets round the sun, and the satellites about the planets. The wheels, &c. that produce the movements, are behind the wooden perpendicular plane, on which the orrery is fixed. By suitable contrivances, you in a short time tell the eclipses of the sun and moon for ages past and ages to come; the like in other cases of astronomy. It is said that lord Cornwallis intended to have carried it over to Great-Britain; no man of conscience can blame his taste, which may have preserved it from ruin, by securing to it that protection while in the hands of the enemy, that might otherwise have been denied. But the children of the alma mater, whose it is, triumph in its preservation, though somewhat damaged. The college library did not escape so well as the orrery; but suffered considerable.

Let us attend for a while upon the congress at Baltimore, where they met according to adjournment the 20th of December, and soon after passed the following act—[Dec. 27.] “The congress, having maturely considered the present crisis, and having perfect reliance on the wisdom, vigor and uprightness of gen. Washington, do hereby resolve, That gen. Washington shall be, and he is hereby vested with full, ample and complete powers, to raise and collect together, in the most speedy and effectual manner, from any or all of these United States, 16 battalions of infantry, in addition to those already voted by congress; to appoint officers for the said battalions of infantry; to raise, officer and equip three thousand light-horse, three regiments of artillery, and a corps of engineers, and to establish their pay; to apply to any of the states for such aid of the militia as he shall judge necessary; to form such magazines of provisions, and in such places as he shall think proper; to displace and appoint all officers under the rank of brigadier general, and to fill up all vacancies in every other department in the American armies; to take, wherever he may be, whatever he may want for the use of the army, if the inhabitants will not sell it, allowing a reasonable price for the same; to arrest and confine persons who refuse to take the continental currency, or are otherwise disaffected to the American cause; and return to the states of which they are citizens, their names, and the nature of their offences, together with the witnesses to prove them; and, that the foregoing powers be vested in gen. Washington, for and during the term of six months from the date hereof, unless sooner determined by congress.”

160They also “Resolved, that the council of safety of Pennsylvania, be requested to take the most vigorous and speedy measures for punishing all such as refuse continental currency; and that the general be directed to give all necessary aid to the council of safety, for carrying their measures on this subject into effectual execution.”

[Dec. 28.] “Resolved that two large floating batteries be built on Lake Champlain, to cover the boom and the bridge at Tyconderoga; that a fort be constructed on Mount Independence; that the navigation of the lake near that place, be obstructed by sunken cassoons, joined together by string-pieces, so as, at the same time, to serve for a bridge between the fortifications on the east and west side; and that fort Stanwix be strengthened, and other fortifications made at proper places near the Mohawk river.”

[Dec. 30.] It was “Resolved, That commissioners be forthwith sent to the courts of Vienna, Spain, Prussia and the grand duke of Tuscany—that the several commissioners of the United States be instructed to assure the respective courts, that notwithstanding the artful and insidious endeavors of the court of Great-Britain, it is their determination, at all events, to maintain their independence—that they be directed to use every mean in their power to procure the assistance of the emperor of Germany, and of their most Christian, Catholic and Prussian majesties, for preventing German, Russian, or other foreign troops, from being sent to America for hostile purposes against these United States, and for obtaing a recal of those already sent—and, that his most Christian majesty be induced, if possible, to assist the United States in the present war with Great-Britain, by attacking the electorate of Hanover, or any part of the dominions of Great-Britain, in Europe, the East or West-Indies.” His mos Christian majesty was to be assured, “That should his forces be employed, in conjunction with those of the United States, to exclude his Britannic majesty from any share in the cod-fishery of America, by reducing the islands of Newfoundland and Cape-Breton, and ships of war be furnished, when required by the United States, to reduce Nova-Scotia; the fishery shall be enjoyed equally and in common, by the subjects of his most Christian majesty and of these states, to the exclusion of all other nations and people whatever; and half the island of Newfoundland shall be owned by, and be subject to the jurisdiction of his most Christian majesty, provided the province of Nova-Scotia, the island of Cape-Breton, and the remaining part of Newfoundland be annexed to the territory and government of the United States.” If these proposals were not 161sufficient to produce a declaration of war, and it could not be otherwise accomplished, his most Christian majesty was to be assured, “That such of the British West-India islands, as in the course of the war shall be reduced by the united forces of France and these states, shall be yielded in absolute property to his most Christian majesty: and the United States engage, on timely notice to furnish at their expence, and deliver in some convenient port or ports, in the said United States, provisions for carrying on expeditions against the said islands, to the amount of two millions of dollars, and six frigates mounting not less than twenty-four guns, each manned and fitted for the sea; and to render any other assistance which may be in their power as becomes good allies.”

The commissioners of the courts of France and Spain were to consult together, and prepare a treaty of commerce and alliance, to be proposed to the court of Spain, adding thereto, “that if his Catholic majesty will join the United States in a war against Great-Britain, they will assist in reducing to the possession of Spain the town and harbour of Pensacola, provided the citizens and inhabitants of the United States shall have the free and uninterrupted navigation of the Missisippi, and use of the harbour of Pensacola; and will, provided it be true, that his Portuguese majesty has insultingly expelled the vessels of these states from his ports, or has confiscated any such vessels, declare war against the said king, if that measure shall be agreeable to, and be supported by the courts of France and Spain.”

[Jan. 3, 1777.] “Whereas congress hath received information, that Richard Stockton, esq. of New-Jersey, and a member of this congress, hath been made a prisoner, and ignominiously thrown into a common jail, and their detained—Resolved, That gen. Washington be directed to make immediate enquiry into the truth of this report, and if he finds reason to believe it well founded, that he send to gen. Howe, remonstrating against this departure from that humane procedure which has marked the conduct of these states to prisoners who have fallen into their hands; and to know of gen. Howe, whether he chooses this shall be the future rule for treating all such on both sides, as the fortune of war may place in the hands of either party.”

The capture of gen. Lee has proved inconvenient to both sides, and calamitous to individuals. Somewhat like a cartel was before established for the exchange of prisoners between generals Howe and Washington. Gen. Lee being particularly obnoxious to government, and Howe perhaps having received prior instructions how to conduct himself with respect to him individually, (for he can have had none as yet upon the news of his capture) 162his exchange was refused. Washington having no prisoner of equal rank, proposed six Hessian field officers to balance that disparity: and, if this was not accepted, required that he should be treated suitable to his sitation, and the precedent already set by the Americans in regard to the British officers they had captivated. It was answered, that as Lee was a deserter from his majesty’s service, he could not be considered as a prisoner of war, nor come within the conditions of the cartel, nor receive any of its benefits. A fruitless discussion ensued: and Lee was still confined, watched and guarded with the utmost strictness and jealousy; which produced the following congressional act—[Jan. 6.] “Congress being informed that major gen. Lee hath, since his captivity, been committed to the custody of the provost, instead of being enlarged on his parole, according to the humane practice that has taken place with officers of the enemy who have fallen into the hands of the American troops; a treatment totally unworthy of that gentleman’s eminent qualifications, and his rank in the service of the United States, and strongly indicative of further injuries to his person:—Resolved, That gen. Washington be directed to send to general Howe, and inform him, that, should the proffered exchange of gen. Lee for six Hessian field officers not to be accepted, and the treatment of him as abovementioned be continued, the principles of retaliation shall occasion five of the Hessian field officers, together with lieut. col. Archibald Campbell, or any other officers that are or shall be in our possession equivalent in number or quality, to be detained in order that the said treatment which gen. Lee shall receive may be exactly inflicted upon their persons:—Ordered, that a copy of the above resolution be transmitted to the council of the Massachusetts-bay, and that they be desired to detain lieut. col Campbell, and keep him in safe custody till the further order of congress; and that a copy be also sent to the committee of congress in Philadelphia; and that they be desired to have the prisoners, officers and privates, lately taken, properly secured in some safe place.”

When the resolution was received by the Massachusetts council, instead of conforming solely to the words of the order to keep the colonel in safe custody, they sent him to Concord jail; where he was lodged in a dungeon of twelve or thirteen feet square whose sides were black with the grease and litter of successive criminals. Two doors with double locks and bolts, shut him from the yard, with an express prohibition from entering it, either for health, or the necessary calls of nature. A leathsome black hole, decorated with a pair of fixed chains, was granted him for his inner apartment; from whence a felon had been removed 163but the moment before, and in which his litter and excrements remained a fortnight after it was appropriated to the use of the colonel. The attendance of a single servant on his person was denied him, and every visit from a friend positively refused. When he had transmitted an account of these and other matters to Sir William Howe on the 14th of February, and the same had been communicated to gen. Washington, a letter was directly written on the 28th, in which the general says, “You will observe that exactly the same treatment is to be shewn to col. Campbell and the Hessian officers, that gen. Howe shews to gen. Lee; and as he is only confined to a commodious house, with genteel accommodations, we have no right or reason to be more severe upon col. Campbell, who I would wish should be immediately removed from his present situation, and put into a house where he may live comfortably.”

The enemy have in their power and subject to their call, near 300 officers belonging to the army of the United States; while the Americans have not more than 50 belonging to the enemy. The resolve therefore, of putting in close confinement col. Campbell and the Hessian officers, in order to retaliate Lee’s punishment, seems injurious in every point of view, and to have been entered into without due attention to the consequences. Gen. Lee’s misfortune has sunk him greatly in the opinion of many Americans; and serves to convey a lively idea of the inconstancy and ingratitude of mankind. Some of those very people who, when he was marching to join gen. Washington, regarded him as the guardian angel that was to deliver America, not only censure him bitterly, but even insinuate that he was treacherous. The Americans however, have reaped one advantage by that event—the enemy are convinced that they have not gotten the palladium of America, as they fondly boasted.

Congress have been often, and for a considerable time, in a committee of the whole, upon the state of the treasury, and the means of supporting the credit of the continental currency. At length they have “Resolved [Jan. 14.] That all bills of credit emitted by authority of congress, ought to pass current in all payments, trade and dealings in these states, and be deemed in value equal to the same nominal sums in Spanish milled dollars; and that whosoever shall offer, ask or receive more in the said bills, for any gold or silver coins, bullion, or any other species of money whatsoever, than the nominal sum or amount thereof in Spanish milled dollars, or more in the said bills for any lands, houses, goods or any commodities whatsoever, than the same could be purchased at of the same person or persons, in gold, silver or any other species of money whatsoever; or shall offer to sell any goods or commodities for gold or silver coins, or any other species of 164money whatsoever, and refuse to sell the same for the said continental bills; every such person ought to be deemed an enemy to the liberties of these United States, and to forfeit the value of the money so exchanged, or house, land or commodity so sold or offered to sale. And it is recommended to the legislatures of the respective states, to enact laws inflicting such forfeitures and other penalties on offenders as aforesaid, as will prevent such pernicious practices—that it be recommended to the legislatures of the United States, to pass laws to make the bills of credit issued by the congress, a lawful tender in payments of public and private debts; and a refusal thereof an extinguishment of such debts; that debts payable in sterling money, be discharged with continental dollars, at the rate of four and six-pence sterling per dollar; and that in discharge of all other debts and contracts, continental dollars pass at the rate fixed by the respective states for the value of Spanish milled dollars.”

The several states will undoubtedly make the continental bills a legal tender, agreeable to the recommendation; though therein they establish the perpetration of iniquity by law. There are too many debtors in every state, and general assembly, who will by the help of it clear themselves of incumbrances; and who will feel nothing, or but little, at the injustice they commit in paying their creditors with a depreciated currency, while they have the law of the land in their favor. But all these attempts of congress to keep up the value of the bills, are delusive; and will deceive those most who have the greatest confidence in the wisdom of the present measure. It is scarce possible that they can so far impose upon their own judgments, as to view it in any other light than a momentary relief from a present evil, by subjecting themselves to a greater in future, but which, when it shall arrive, they flatter themselves they shall get rid of by some new expedient.

[Jan. 16.] Congress “Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed to enquire into the conduct of the British and Hessian generals and officers toward the officers, soldiers and mariners in the service of the United States, and any other persons, inhabitants of these states, in their possession, as prisoners of war or otherwise, and also into the conduct of the said generals and officers, and the troops under their command, toward the subjects of these states and their property, more especially of the states of New-York and New-Jersey.” This committee will undoubtedly authenticate the cruelties of the royal army, which have been too frequent and notorious. The very orders of gen. Howe have not been sufficiently guarded for the preventing of abuses. When the enemy fled from their cantonments in the Jerseys, his orders to 165col. Donop fell into the hands of the Americans; they expressed that “all salted and meal provisions, which may be judged to exceed the quantity necessary for the subsistence of an ordinary family, shall be considered as a magazine of the enemy, and seized for the king, and given to the troops as a saving for the public.”

When the royal army entered the Jerseys, the inhabitants pretty generally remained in their houses, and many thousands received printed protections, signed by order of the commander in chief. But neither the proclamation of the commissioners, nor protections, saved the people from plunder any more than from insult. Their property was taken or destroyed without distinction of persons. They showed their protections; Hessians could not read them, and would not understand them; and the British soldiers thought they had as good a right to a share of booty as the Hessians. The loyalists were plundered even at New-York. Gen. De Heister may be pronounced the arch-plunderer. He offered the house he lived in at New-York, to public sale; though the property of a very loyal subject, who had voluntarily and hospitably accommodated him with it. The goods of others, suffering restraint or imprisonment among the Americans, were sold by auction. The carriages of gentlemen of the first rank, were seized, their arms defaced, and the plunderer’s arms blazoned in their place; and this too by British officers. Discontents and murmurs increased every hour at the licentious ravages of the soldiery, both British and foreigners, who were shamefully permitted, with unrelenting hand, to pillage friend and foe in the Jerseys.^[40] Neither age nor sex was spared. Indiscriminate ruin attended every person they met with. Infants, children, old men and women, were left in their shirts, without a blanket to cover them, under the inclemency of winter. Every kind of furniture was destroyed and burnt; windows and doors were broken to pieces; in short, the houses were left uninhabitable, and the people without provisions; for every horse, cow, ox and fowl, was carried off. Horrid depredations and abuses were committed by that part of the army which was stationed at or near Penny-town. Sixteen young women fled to the woods, to avoid the brutality of the soldiers, and were there seized and carried off. One man had the cruel mortification to have his wife and only daugher (a child of ten years) ravished. Another girl of thirteen, was taken from her father’s house, carried to a barn about a mile off, there dishonored, and afterward abused by five others. A most respectable gentleman in the neighborhood of Woodbridge, was 166alarmed with the cries and shrieks of a most lovely daughter; he found a British officer in the act of violating her, and instantly put him to death. Two other officers rushed in with their fusees, and fired two balls into the father, who was languishing under his wounds the beginning of January.^[41]

These enormities, though too frequently practised in a time of war by the military, unless restrained by the severest discipline, so exasperated the people of the Jerseys, that they flew to arms immediately upon the army’s hurrying from Trenton, and forming themselves into parties, they way-laid the men, and cut them off as they had opportunity. The militia collected. The Americans in a few days over-ran the Jerseys. The army was forced from Woodbridge. Gen. Maxwell surprised Elizabeth-Town, and took near 100 prisoners, with a quantity of baggage. Newark was abandoned. The royal troops were confined to the narrow compass of Brunswick and Amboy, both holding an open communication with New-York by water. They could not even stir out to forage but in large parties, which seldom returned without loss. [Jan. 20.] Gen. Dickenson, with about 400 militia and 50 of the Pennsylvania riflemen, defeated near Somerset court-house, on Millstone river, a foraging party of the enemy, of equal number; and took 40 waggons, upward of 100 horses, beside sheep and cattle which they had collected. They retreated with such precipitation that he could make only nine prisoners; but they were observed to carry off many dead and wounded in light waggons. The general’s behavior reflects the highest honor upon him; for though his troops were all raw, he led them through the river middle deep, and gave the enemy so severe a charge, that although supported by three field-pieces, they gave way and left their convoy.

The whole country was now become hostile to the British army. Sufferers of all parties rose as one man to revenge their personal injuries and particular oppressions, and were the most bitter and determined enemies. They who were incapable of bearing arms, acted as spies, and kept a continual watch, so that not the smallest motion could be made by the royalists, without its being discovered before it could produce the intended effect. This hostile spirit was encouraged by a proclamation of general Washington [Jan. 25.] which commands every person having subscribed the declaration of fidelity to Great-Britain, taken the oaths of allegiance, and accepted protections and certificates from the commissioners, to deliver up the same, and take the oath of allegiance to the United States of America. It grants however, 167full liberty to all such as prefer the interest and protection of Great-Britain to the freedom and happiness of their country, forthwith to withdraw themselves and families within the enemy’s lines. But it declares, that all who neglect or refuse to comply with the order, within thirty days from the date, will be deemed adherents to the king of Great-Britain, and treated as common enemies to these American States. Some days before the proclamation was issued, a number of the Pennsylvania militia, having served the time fixed upon, were desirous of returning, which was complied with, and the general took the earliest opportunity of returning his most hearty thanks to those brave men, who in the most inclement season of the year nobly stepped forth in defence of their country. He also acknowledged with pleasure the signal services done by the said militia; and with additional satisfaction, the good services of those battalions, who determined to remain with him after the expiration of their times of service. The militia of Pennsylvania are not only entitled to the hearty thanks of the commander in chief, but of the United States; for greatly through their instrumentality, the Jerseys have been nearly recovered, and a victorious and superior army been reduced to act upon the defensive, as well as Philadelphia saved, and Pennsylvania freed from danger. Nor will gratitude forget the share which gen. Mifflin had in exciting them to rise in favour of public liberty.

Toward the end of January a plan was formed for taking Fort Independence, near Kingsbridge, and by so doing, to obtain a passage into New-York island. About 4000 militia of the Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New-York states, in four divisions, under generals Heath, Wooster, Parsons and Lincoln, were destined for the service. Gen. Heath was commander in chief. They marched, the division under Heath from White-Plains—under Wooster and Parsons from New-Rochelle—and under Lincoln from toward Tarry-town. All met on the heights about and near Kingsbridge. The fort had but a trifling garrison, which could have made no effectual resistance, had a vigorous push been instantly made; and the men were in spirits for the attempt. In this way only could it be carried, was defence sttempted, as the Americans had no other artillery than three field-pieces. With these they fired a number of shots at eighty or a hundred Hessians, and a few light-horse, who collected on the other side of Haerlem river; the Hessians were thrown into a momentary confusion, but soon formed again. Gen. Heath demanded a surrender of the fort, and threatened in case of non-compliance. The threat was disregarded. The troops were employed chiefly in picking up tories, and in foraging and taking stores that had been in the 168possession of the enemy, till more artillery should arrive from Peek’s-kill which a council of war had agreed to send for. About nine days from the first appearance of the Americans before the fort, the artillery came to hand, and consisted of one brass 24 pounder, and two howitzers. The twenty-four pounder was fired twice, when the carriage broke; and a few shells were thrown, without any execution. A great number of teams were then employed in carrying off forage, &c. The enemy who had been reinforced during these delays, sallied out, but were repulsed: soon after the Americans retired, upon a report that some ships were gone up the North-River. Gen Heath’s conduct was censured by men of sense and judgment, who were with him on the expedition. It was fraught with so much caution, that the army was disappointed, and in some degree disgraced. His summons, as he did not fulfil his threats, was idle and farcical, and tended to bring upon all of them the ridicule of their enemies. The Americans suffered much from the weather, and not less from the failure of the expedition. Many of them afterward crossed the North-River, and proceeded to Morristown.

About the time this fruitless expedition commenced, and three days before gen. Washington’s proclamation, plundering had become so prevalent among the American troops, that his excellency had inserted in general orders—“The general prohibits, both in the militia and continental troops, in the most possitive terms, the infamous practices of plundering the inhabitants, under the specious pretence of their being tories. It is our business to give protection and support to the poor distressed inhabitants, not to multiply and increase their calamities. After this order, any officer found plundering the inhabitants under the pretence of their being tories, may expect to be punished in the severest manner. The adjutant general to furnish the commanding officer of each division with a copy of these orders, who is to circulate copies among his troops immediately.” You will regret, that while the British and Hessians plunder the Americans upon the plea of their being rebels; these should plunder their own countrymen upon the plea of their being tories. Humanity and good sense should dictate a different line of conduct, from a belief, that men of opposite sentiments may act conscientiously, while taking contrary parts in a civil contest.

Near upon 2000 of the British went on a foraging party from Amboy. They attacked the American guards and drove them five or six miles. When the latter were reinforced by gen. Maxwell, with about 1400 men, chiefly militia, the others retreated with such precipitation, as to be able to return but two fires, and left behind them six of their men prisoners and two dead. 169Thus are the troops under lord Cornwallis watched, straitened, and obliged to undergo the hardships of a most severe and unremitting duty; though he has been strengthened by a brigade of British, and some companies of grenadiers and light infantry from Rhode-Island. The order for these troops was sent to lord Percy, gen. Clinton being gone to England. Lord Percy did not immediately comply: but returned for answer, that the enemy were collecting a large force near Providence, of which circumstance he supposes gen. Howe was unacquainted; that he thought it his duty to represent this matter, and to add, that he apprehended it would be dangerous to the service there, to send away so large a corps. Gen. Howe replied, that lord Percy knew the consequence of disobedience of orders, trial by court martial, and certain sentence of being broke; but that he was inclined to show his lordship all the indulgence that his services deserved, at the same time he insisted upon his orders being punctually obeyed. His lordship’s feelings have been so hurt by this reply, that it is apprehended, he will not remain long in a situation that subjects him to gen. Howe.

The American recruiting service went on most wretchedly.—The returns which gen. Washington received from different quarters, were of so extraordinary a nature, that he suspected the most abominable fraud and embezzlement of the public money. The accounts of desertion almost surpassed belief, and afforded him the highest probability that officers were tempted, by the great bounty allowed, to exhibit a number of pretended recruits, that were never in reality inlisted. But the evil he complained of, was owing greatly to the prevailing method of inlisting men, viz. the paying of them the bounty, and then suffering them to ramble about the country, by which means they inlisted with half a dozen officers. Instead of being formidable by the middle or March, he wrote, [March 6.] “After the fifteenth, when gen. Lincoln’s militia leave us, we shall only have the remains of the five Virginia regiments, who do not amount altogether to more than five or six hundred men, and two of the other continental battalions very weak. The rest of our army is composed of small parties of militia from this state and Pennsylvania; and little dependence can be put upon the militia, as they come and go when they please, if the enemy do not move it will be a miracle; nothing but ignorance of our numbers, and situation, can protect us.” He has since owned, that during the latter part of this last winter, he and his army have remained at the mercy of the royal troops, with sometimes scarcely a sufficient body of men to mount the ordinary guards, liable every moment to be dissipated, if the enemy had only thought proper to march against 170them. The general’s whole force, including militia, at Morristown and the several out-posts, amounted often to not more than 1500 men; and it has been asserted, upon apparently good authority, that he repeatedly could not muster more at Morristown than between three and four hundred. In writing officially upon the subject to the governor and council of Connecticut the representation he gave of affairs drew tears from the eyes of those who heard the letter read. While gen. Washington was at this low ebb with his army, gentlemen of five thousand pounds fortune or more, and many others who were men of substance, though not equal to that, did duty as centinels at his doors and elsewhere.

Though gen. Howe made no capital stroke at the commander in chief of the Americans; yet he concerted an operation against the post which gen. M’Dougall occupied, and where a considerable quantity of provisions and stores was deposited. A detachment of 500 men under col. Bird was convoyed by the Brunc frigate to Peek’s-kill, near fifty miles from New-York. They landed on the 23d of March. As the general had but 250 men fit for duty, insted of 600 to guard the place, which lay in a bottom and was not tenable, he fired the principal store-houses, and then quitted the town in order to occupy the important pass through the highlands, on the east side of the river, about two miles and a half distant. The fire rendered useless the only wharf where it was practicable to embark the remaining stores in convenient time, which made it expedient to destroy the greater part. Col. Bird having done it, and hearing a reinforcement was expected by the Americans, re-embarked the same day. The loss of rum, molasses, flour, biscuit, pork, beef, wheat, oats, hay, tallow, iron pots, camp kettles, canteens, bowls, nails, waggons and carts, barracks, store-houses, sloops and pettiaugers laden with provisions, was very considerable, far beyond what was given out by the Americans, though not of that importance and magnitude, as to answer the expectations of gen. Howe. Gen. Washington had repeatedly guarded the commissary against suffering any large quantities of provisions to lie near the water, in such places as were accessable to the enemy’s shipping; but he had not been properly attended to.

The want of muskets occasioned a delay in forwarding the new troops from the Massachusetts: but many of the militia from that state were persuaded to remain at Morristown for some weeks longer than the fixed time of service. Fifteen hundred of the new troops would have been upon their march, but the general court could not supply them with arms. The perplexity occasioned by this circumstance was however of short continuance. 171On the day of its commencement or the following, a vessel of fourteen guns from France arrived at Portsmouth with 364 cases, containing 11,987 stand: she had also on board a thousand barrels of powder, 11,000 gun-flints, 48 bales of woollens, and a small quantity of handkerchiefs, cottons, linens, and other articles. Congress were under a similar distress with the Massachusetts general court, as to the procuring of arms for gen. Washington’s army; but obtained a similar relief, by the arrival of a vessel, [March 24.] with 10,000 stand, beside a great number of gun-locks. These seasonable arrivals will furnish an ample supply of arms: the main difficulty will now be to get men to use them. Dr. Franklin arrived at Nantz the 13th of December.

The brilliancy of the successes, which have attended the American army since last Christmas, and their most happy consequences in changing the complexion of the times, must raise the character of gen. Washington as highly in Europe as it had done in America; and may lead sanguine spirits, who are strangers to the real circumstances of the country, to imagine that he will soon be able to drive all before him; but it will require his utmost abilities to act in so defensive a manner, as to secure himself from injury, and at the same time frustrate the offensive plans of the enemy. He is indeed to have the assistance of a body of cavalry, which will be of considerable advantage.

You will scarce think it beneath remarking, that when the royal army had possessed themselves of the Jerseys, and the American affairs were at the lowest ebb, there was not a single state, or capital town or city (if not wholly in the power of the enemy) that made advances toward submission. But in the month of January, the tories rose to a great head, in the counties of Somerset and Worcester, in the state of Maryland; so that in the beginning of February, the congress were obliged to employ several battalions (before they could march forward to join gen. Washington) in suppressing the insurgents.

Committees, from the four New-England states, had a meeting; since which their proceedings were laid before congress; and the last have resolved, [Feb. 15.] “That the plan for regulating the price of labor, of manufactures, and internal produce within those states, and of goods imported from foreign parts, except military stores, be referred to the consideration of the other United States; and that it be recommended to them to adopt such measures, as they shall think most expedient to remedy the evils occasioned by the present fluctuating and exorbitant prices of the articles aforesaid:—That for this purpose it be recommended to the legislatures, or in their recess, to the executive 172powers of the states of New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, to appoint commissioners to meet at Yorktown in Pennsylvania, on the third Monday in March next, to consider of and form a system of regulation adapted to those states, to be laid before the respective legislatures of each states, for their approbation:—That for the like purpose it be recommended to the legislatures, or executive powers in the recess of the legislatures of the states of North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia, to appoint commissioners to meet at Charleston in South-Carolina on the first Monday in May next.” Some of the New-England states had passed acts for regulating prices, before these resolutions.

On the 27th, congress adjourned to meet at Philadelphia the following Wednesday. Before adjourning they recommended to the several states, the passing of laws to put a stop to the distilling of grain.

Congress having dismissed doctor Samuel Stringer, director of the hospital in the northern department of the army, (at the same day they dismissed Dr. Morgan) gen. Scuyler took offence at it, and expressed himself unguardedly in some of his official letters: upon that it was “Resolved, [Mar. 15.] That as congress proceeded to the dismission of Dr. Stringer, upon reasons satisfactory to themselves, gen. Scuyler ought to have known it to be his duty to have acquiesced therein:—That the suggestion in gen. Scuyler’s letter to congress, that it was a compliment due to him to have been advised of the reasons of Dr. Stringer’s dismission, is highly derogatory to the honor of congress; and that the president be desired to acquaint gen. Scuyler, that it is expected his letters for the future, be written in a style more suitable to the dignity of the representative body of those free and independent states, and to his own character of their officer:—Resolved, That it is altogether improper and inconsistent with the dignity of this congress, to interfere in disputes subsisting among the officers of the army, which ought to be settled, unless they can be otherwise accommodated, in a court martial, agreeable to the rules of the army; and that the expression in gen. Scuyler’s letter of the fourth of February—“That he confidently expected congress would have done him that justice, which it was in their power to give, and which he humbly conceives they ought to have done”—were to say the least, ill-advised and highly indecent.”

[Jan. 24.] “Resolved, That gen. Washington be informed that it never was the intention of congress that he should be bound by the majority of voices in a council of war contrary to his own judgment:—That the commander in chief in every department 173be made acquainted, that though he may consult the general officers under him, yet he is not bound by their opinion; but ought finally to direct every measure according to his own judgment.”

In the month of January gen. Howe discharged all the privates who were prisoners in New-York. Great complaints were made of the horrid usage the Americans met with after they were captured. The garrison of Fort Washington surrendered by capitulation to gen. Howe the 16th of November. The terms were, that the fort should be surrendered, the troops be considered prisoners of war, and that the American officers should keep their baggage and side arms. These articles were signed, and afterward published in the New-York papers. Major Otho Holland Williams, of Rawlings’s rifle regiment, in doing his duty that day, unfortunately fell into the hands of the enemy. The haughty, imperious deportment of the officers, and the insolent scurrility of the soldiers of the British army soon dispelled his hopes of being treated with lenity. Many of the American officers were plundered of their baggage and robbed of their side arms, hats, cockades, &c. and otherwise grossly ill-treated. He and three companions were (on the third day) put on board the Baltic Merchant, an hospital ship, then lying in the Sound. The wretchedness of his situation was in some degree alleviated by a small pittance of pork and parsnip, which a good natured sailor spared him from his own mess. The fourth day of their captivity, Rawlings, Hanson, M’Intire, and himself, all wounded officers, were put into one common dirt cart, and dragged through the city of New-York, as objects of derision, reviled as rebels, and treated with the utmost contempt. From the cart they were set down at the door of an old waste house (the remains of Hamden-hall) near Bridewell, which because of the openness and filthiness of the place, he had a few months before refused as barracks for his privates; but now was willing to accept for himself and friends, in hopes of finding an intermission of the fatigue and persecution they had perpetually suffered. Some provisions were issued to the prisoners in the afternoon of that day; what quantity he could not declare; but it was of the worst quality he ever, till then, saw made use of. He was informed the allowance consisted of six ounces of pork, one pound of biscuit and some peas per day for each man, and two bushels and a half of sea-coal per week for the officers, to each fire-place. These were admitted on parole, and lived generally in waste houses. The privates, in the coldest season of the year, were close confined in churches, sugar-houses and other open buildings which admitted all kinds of weather and consequently 174were subjected to the severest kind of persecution that ever unfortunate captives suffered. Officers were insulted, and often struck for attempting to afford some of the miserable privates a small relief. In about three weeks he was able to walk, and was himself a witness of the extreme wretchedness his countrymen suffered. He could not describe their misery. Their constitutions were not equal to the rigor of the treatment they received, and the consequence was the death of many hundreds. The officers were not allowed to take muster-rolls, nor even to visit their men, so that it was impossible to ascertain the numbers that perished; but from frequent reports and his own observations, he verily believed, as well as had heard many officers give it as their opinion, that not less than fifteen hundred prisoners perished in the course of a few weeks in the city of New-York, and, that this dreadful mortality was principally owing to the want of provisions and extreme cold. If they computed too largely, it must be ascribed to the shocking, brutal manner of treating the dead bodies, and not to any desire of exaggerating the account of their sufferings. When the king’s commissary of prisoners intimated to some of the American officers, gen. Howe’s intention of sending the privates home on parole, they all earnestly desired it; a paper was signed expressing that desire; the reason for signing was, they well knew the effects of a longer confinement; and the great numbers that died when on parole, justified their pretensions to that knowledge. In January almost all the officers were sent to Long-Island on parole, and there billeted on the inhabitants at two dollars per week.^[42]

The filth in the churches (in consequence of fluxes) was beyond description. Seven dead have been seen in one of them, at the same time, lying among the excrements of their bodies. The British soldiers were full of their low and insulting jokes on those occasions, but less malignant than the tories. The provision dealt out to the prisoners was not sufficient for the support of life; and was deficient in quantity, more so in quality. The bread was loathsome and not fit to be eaten, and was thought to have been condemned. The allowance of meat was trifling, and of the baser sort. The consequence was, a suspicion of a premeditated and systematical plan to destroy the youths of the land, thereby to deter the country. The integrity of these suffering prisoners was hardly credible. Hundreds submitted to death, rather than enlist in the British service, which they were most generally pressed to do. It was the opinion of the Ameaican officers that gen. Howe perfectly understood the condition of 175the private soldiers; and they from thence argued, that it was exactly such as he and his council had devised. After general Washington’s success in the Jerseys, the obduracy and malevolence of the royalists subsided in some measure. The surviving prisoners were ordered to be sent out for an exchange; but several of them fell down dead in the streets, while attempting to walk to the vessels.^[43]

Gen. Washington wrote to gen. Howe in the beginning of April, “It is a fact not to be questioned, that the usage of our prisoners while in your possession, the privates at least, was such as could not be justified. This was proclaimed by the concurrent testimony of all who came out. Their appearance sanctified the assertion, and melancholy experience, in the speedy death of a large part of them, stamped it with infallible certainty.” The cruel treatment of the prisoners being the subject of conversation among some officers captured by Sir Guy Carleton, gen. Parsons, who was of the company, said, “I am very glad of it.” They expressed their astonishment, and desired him to explain himself. He thus addressed them. “You have been taken by gen. Carleton, and he has used you with great humanity; would you be inclined to fight against him?” The answer was no. “So,” added Parsons, “would it have been, had the troops taken by Howe been treated in like manner; but now, through his cruelty, we shall get another army.” The hon. William Smith, esq.^[44] now at Haverstraw, learning how the British used the prisoners, and concluding it would operate to that end by enraging the Americans, applied to the committee of the New-York state, for leave to go into the city, and remonstrate with the British upon such cruel treatment, which he doubted not but that he should put a stop to. The committee, however, either from knowing what effect the cruelties would have in strengthening the opposition to Britain, or from jealousies of his being in some other way of disservice to the American cause, or from these united, would not grant his request. Gen. Gates has been repeatedly heard to say to the following purport—“Had gen. Howe seen to it, that the prisoners and Jersey inhabitants, when subdued, were treated with as much humanity and kindness as Sir Guy Carleton exercised toward his prisoners, it would have been all up with the Americans.”

The congress commissioners for treating with the Indians of the Six Nations, and their brethren on the Susquehanna, have 176had repeated meetings with them. They had one the last August at the German Flats; when Adam, an Oghuaga Sachem, made mention of the line that was settled between the Indians and whites at the treaty at Fort Stanwix; and observed, that by the agreement the whites were not to encroach upon their lands; but that of late some of the white people had made encroachments, by surveying their hunting grounds, close up to their habitations. He desired the commissioners to consider it, and hoped for redress. They assured the Indians, that the great council at Philadelphia would effectually put a stop to such wicked practices, and punish every person that should offend against their orders. “If any persons (say they) shall come upon your lands, we desire you will immediately bring them to the minister, that he may write down their names, and inform us of it, and then we shall immediately proceed against them. Brothers, you may all rest assured, that no white people will be suffered to pass the line settled at Fort Stanwix; for although that agreement was made with the king, yet as you are satisfied with it, we shall take care that it is complied with.” Since then, some of the Indians have complained of a number of people who have gone over the line, and settled on the west branch of the Susquehanna, contrary to the Fort Stanwix treaty, and threatened they would not suffer them to stay. The people have not any legal claim to the ground in the opinion of the commissioners; who suppose that col. Butler, upon coming to Niagara, seized upon this affair as a fit instrument to foment a difference. But the difference, it is hoped, will be prevented by a late treaty at Easton, which ended February the sixth, to mutual satisfaction. The commissioners say, “We remember the agreement at Fort Stanwix. Our people ought not to have bought, and your people not to have sold lands contrary to the former agreement. We blame both. We will tell this matter to congress, who will enquire, and not suffer the old agreement to be broken by any of their people. They will call the intruders back, and do strict justice to both sides.” The Indians seemingly mean to adhere steadily to their engagements of neutrality; and absolutely protest against either the enemy marching through their country by way of Niagara, to attack the United States, or the army of the latter marching that way to attack their enemy.

The Americans were not in readiness to begin their naval hostilities at a distance from their own coasts till late in the last year. That circumstance however, was of no great disadvantage, by reason of an unexpected occurrence. The discovery of an intended conspiracy among the negroes of Jamaica, detained the fleet till after the customary time of sailing. Through this detention, 177it sailed at a season that was accompanied with much tempestuous weather, which scattered the ships, and exposed them to such American cruisers, as lay in wait for them in the latitudes through which they were to pass in their voyage homeward. The consequence was, that many of them were taken by the American privateers. The trade from the other islands suffered proportionably; so that by the close of the year, the British loss in captures, exclusive of transports and government store-ships, was considerable higher than a million sterling. The privateers were at no difficulty as to the disposal of their prizes. The ports of France and Spain especially the first, were open to them, both in Europe, and in their American dominions. In the last the captors sold them openly, without any colours of disguise. On remonstrances from the British court, a little more decorum was observed in Europe, and a check given to the avowed sale of them; for a while they were obliged to quit the harbours, and were purchased at the entrance or in the offing. But in the West-India islands the real inclinations of the French were undisguised. They not only purchased the prizes as fast as they could be brought into port; they moreover fitted our privateers, under American colours and commissions, and with a few American seamen on board (at times probably not any) carried on a war upon the British commerce.

Though many have been the captures made by the ships and armed vessels of the British navy, they have not counterbalanced, either in number or value those taken by the Americans from Great-Britain. Several of them indeed were laden with flour, and other articles for the trade in the West-Indies; and so proved a timely relief to the British islands, which were suffering much, through the depravation they lay under, of those various supplies with which they had been before furnished from the American continent.

The ministerialists at New-York will undoubtedly amuse the nation with accounts of the thousands, who have formed themselves into military corps under the auspices of gen. Sir William Howe, as he is now to be stiled from the honor conferred upon him, for his success on Long-Island. But when the campaign comes to be opened by Sir William, you will find that they are reduced to hundreds; and that the acquisition of strength derived from the country, whatever flattering appearance it may have upon paper, is no wise answerable to the report. Governor Tryon made a parade in black and white before lord George Germain, with his two thuosand [typo: thousand] nine hundred and seventy inhabitants of New-York, who have qualified by taking an oath of allegience and fidelity to his majesty. By the aid of the mayor, he may increase 178them to three thousand and twenty. He may add those attested on Staten-Island and elsewhere, and make the whole amount to five thousand six hundred men. He may also tell of the loyal inhabitants of Queen’s county, who have received eight hundred stand of arms, with demonstrations of joy, and with a professed resolution to use them in defence of the island^[45]. But the service they will be of to government, in the great American contest, will be next to nought.

The Georgia representatives, met in convention, unanimously agreed in a constitution for that state, on the 5th of Februray.

LETTER VII.

London, June 7, 1777.

Friend G.

Mr. Sayre sued lord Rochford, in the court of Common Pleas, about this time twelvemonth, for illegal imprisonment; the jury granted him a thousand pounds damages, subject to the opinion of the court upon a point of law. Thus ended an affair, which in the commencement occasioned a great bustle among the people.

An unaccountable indifference possessed the nation, through the last summer. When at length the American cruisers, not only scoured the Atlantic, but spreading over the European seas, brought alarm and hostility to our doors—when the destruction which befel the homeward bound richly laden West-India fleets, poured equal ruin upon the planters in the islands, and the merchants at home—even in that state of public loss and private distress, an unusual phlegm prevailed, and the same tranquil countenance was preserved, by those who had not yet partaken of the calamity.

Administration had acquired such an appearance of stability, as seemed to render them, for some considerable time to come, superior to the frowns of fortune. Supported by an irresistible majority in parliament, they were already armed with every 179power which they were capable of desiring for the establishment of their American system. But the conduct of the French and Spaniards gave them just cause of alarm.——The French and Spanish ministry not only connived at the encouragement given to the American privateers, but filled the ports of both kingdoms with such indications as denoted that objects of far higher and more dangerous importance were in contemplation. The naval preparations carried on by the house of Bourbon, became at length so formidable, that sixteen British ships of the line were suddenly put into commission; [Oct. 25.] and the unusual methods taken for manning them by a very hot unexpected press, and the opening houses of rendezvous for such seamen, as would enter voluntarily upon the proffered bounty. Some days after a proclamation was issued for a general fast through England and Wales, to be observed the 13th of December following.

The news of gen. Howe’s success on Long-Island, gave the highest satisfaction to administration, and the strongest hopes of the most decisive good consequences, The messenger of the operations had been but two days in London, before a title and badge of honor was bestowed upon the general.

On the last of October, the session of parliament was opened. The royal speech seemed to breathe indignation and resentment against the people of America; and the receipt of assurences of amity from the several courts of Europe was still acknowledged. When the address of the house of commons in answer to it was produced, an amendment was moved for by lord John Cavendish, and supported by a speech perhaps the most remarkable of any that had been delivered since the commencement of the troubles, for the freedom and pointedness with which it was expressed. It entered into a comprehensive view of the conduct of the British ministry respecting America; and approached them with the pursuits of schemes formed for the reduction and chastisement of a party, supposed to consist of some inconsiderate and factious men, but which had in the issue, driven thirteen large colonies into an open and armed resistance. Every act of parliament, it said, proposed as a mean of procuring peace and submission, had proved, on the contrary, a new cause of opposition and hostility. The nation was now almost inextricably involved in a bloody and expensive civil war, which threatened to exhaust the strength of the British dominions, and to lay them open to the most deplorable calamities. No hearing had been given to the reiterated petitions of the colonies, nor any ground laid for a reconciliation, the commissioners nominated for the purpose of restoring peace, not being furnished with sufficient powers to bring about so desirable an end. It observed, that it must have 180been expected, that the American seamen and fishermen, being indiscriminately prohibited from the peaceable exercise of their occupations and declared open enemies, would betake themselves to plunder, and wreak their vengeance on the commerce of Great-Britain. After a variety of other observations, it concluded with declaring—“We should look with the utmost shame and horror, upon any events that would tend to break the spirit of any part of the British nation, and to bow them to an abject, unconditional submission to any power whatsoever, to annihilate their liberties, and to subdue them to servile principles and passive habits, by the force of foreign mercenary arms; because amidst the excesses and abuses which have happened, we must respect the spirit and principles operating in these commotions. Our wish is to regulate, not to destroy them; for though differing in some circumstances, those very principles evidently bear so exact an analogy with those which support the most valuable part of our own constitution, that it is impossible, with any appearance of justice, to think of wholly extirpating them by the sword, in any part of the British dominions, without admitting consequences, and establishing precedents the most dangerous to the liberties of this kingdom.” Debates pro and con succeeded. It was the same in the house of lords, where the royal speech underwent a no less severe scrutiny. Since the declaration of independence, the debates in parliament are less interesting to the Americans than formerly, brevity in the account of them will therefore be most acceptable. The opposition said—“What can ministers mean by assurances of friendly and pacific sentiments from abroad? Poor politicians must they be, who depend upon such assurances, in the best of times, from those quarters whence they now come. Old grudges are not so easily forgotten; and this nation has every thing to apprehend from those to whom it has done so much mischief in the last war. Resentment and ambition will go on hand in hand upon this occasion, and will not lose so fair an opportunity of revenge, as that which is opened by this fatal quarrel between Great-Britain and her colonies. The preparations, of those powers who speak so friendly a language are no secret; their partiality to the Americans shows their intentions to this country; their encouragement to the privateers, which are capturing the British merchantmen, is a sufficient carnest of the designs that are uppermost in their councils, and is but a prelude to what we are to expect, as soon as circumstances have brought their plans to maturity. A war with the whole house of Bourbon, and perhaps with other powers, will be the inevitable consequence of continuing hostilities in America; but such a war at present, will no longer resemble those who have formerly waged with the princes of that family. Powerful as they 181were at that time, they will still be much more formidable now that the strength of America will be thrown into their scale. It is a sorrowful, but a true reflection, that one half of the British nation is become an instrument in the hands of our natural enemies, with which most effectually to distress the other. Impelled with these cogent reasons, it is the duty of every man who feels them, to oppose an address approving of measures which must, if persisted in, terminate in calamities that will give such deadly wounds to Britain, as may prove incurable, and bring her to such a state of debility as will, from one of the first powers in the world, reduce her to hold but a secondary rank among the European nations.”

Administration urged in favor of the address—“Nothing is recommended by it that tends to oppose the Americans; no more is required of them than a return to the same obedience which every other subject is bound to pay. Is it consistent with the wisdom of the nation, to throw away the fruits of the infinite cares and expences it has bestowed upon the colonies, while any hope remains of reclaiming them from their defection? To give them up, will be to resign the wealth, the strength and the importance of Great-Britain; these are evidently at stake in the present contest; should the issue of it be contrary to what is hoped by all well-wishers to their country, its fall and degradation will be the necessary consequence. The season for arguing is over. The Americans have bid us defiance, and are become our enemies; the sword is therefore to decide; it is now to be seen whether we can reduce them to obedience by superior force. It is time to assert our national dignity and supremacy; we are in full strength and vigor; the resources of the country are far from being exhausted. They cannot be employed upon a more critical and necessary occasion than the present. The successes of the last campaign in America, afford a well grounded prospect of settling affairs to our satisfaction. A spirited prosecution of the business in hand will speedily conclude it. Much is threatened from abroad, and great terrors are held out, and we are told that occasion will be taken from these unhappy broils, to do Great-Britain irreparable damage. But the prudence of government has fully obviated these objections. A sufficient force is preparing to face all dangers at home; and the prosperity of our arms abroad has, it is well known, cast a damp on all the partisans of the Americans throughout Europe. However well they may wish them, the most inveterate of our foes will not venture to engage in so distant a quarrel, until they see better signs of its terminating to the advantage of our opponents. We are now in the career of victory; and it will betray weakness to be driven out 182of it by mere apprehensions. The people at large are now greatly alienated from the Americans; however they might once have been inclined to favor them, they are full of resentment at their late conduct. The declaration of independence has entirely altered their opinion of the colonists.”

The conclusion of the debates was the carrying of the address in the house of lords by 91 votes to 26; and in the house of commons by 232 to 83. The declaration of independence lost the Americans many advocates; but the great bulk of those who had hitherto espoused their cause, dreaded the success of ministerial measures against them, from an apprehension of the danger which would result from it to the liberties of this country. They were therefore, before and after the opening of the session, indefatigable in representing the necessity of putting an end to a dispute, which they considered as ruinous, in every shape, whether the British arms did or did not prevail.

[Nov. 6.] A motion was made in the house of commons by lord John Cavendish, for a revisal of all those acts by which the colonies thought themselves aggrieved. It was grounded on a paragraph in the declaration of the commissioners, given at New-York, the 19th of September, in which mention is made of “the king’s being most graciously pleased to concur in the revisal of all acts by which his subjects in the colonies may think themselves aggrieved.” The motion was opposed with great warmth; and in the sequel of the debate, it was asserted by ministry, that until congress had rescinded the declaration of independence, no treaty could be entered into with America. Such an assertion was severely censured by opposition, as being no less than a denunciation of war, and all its calamities, unless the Americans implicitly admitted the principal point in litigation, without any preliminary stipulation. The motion was rejected by a majority of 109 to 47. This rejection exasperated the minority so violently, that a part of them avowedly withdrew whenever any questions relating to America were proposed, and from this period left the house to the full and undisturbed possession of the majority.

They justified this secession, by alledging that an attendance on these matters was nugatory; the weight of numbers was irresistible, and baffled all arguments. It was a degrading office alway to contend with a certainty of being defeated. There was a time when reasoning was listened to, and had its due influence; but as experience had shown, that time was no more, it was wiser to acquiesce in silence than to undergo the fatigue of a fruitless opposition. The season was not yet come for the nation to be undeceived. It was the interest of so many to continue the deception, that it would last till an accumulation of calamities 183had oppressed the public so as to be felt by all degrees. Such amazing numbers were benefitted by the measures of ministry, that till defeats, disappointments and losses of every kind, had disabled them from pursuing their schemes any longer, they were sure of a ready support from those whom they employed in their execution. For these reasons they judged it necessary to refuse their presence to transactions which they disapproved, and could not hinder; but whenever they perceived that adversity had, as usual, opened the eyes of men, they would then come forth anew, and endeavor, if possible, to remedy the evils which it was not at present in their power to prevent.

The strength of ministry was now so decisive, that whatever was proposed, was immediately approved and carried, without any opposition or debate.

A bill was brought in for granting letters of marque and reprisals against the Americans. This was followed by another to empower the crown to secure such persons as were accused or suspected of high treason (committed either in America or at sea) or of piracy. By the provisions of this bill, they were liable to be detained in custody without bail or trial, while the law continued in force; it was reserved solely to the privy council to admit them to either. His majesty was also empowered by warrant, to appoint one or more places of confinement within the realm, for the custody of such prisoners.

This bill spread a general alarm through the metropolis; and a petition was presented by the city against it, condemning the measures proposed in it, as violent and unconstitutional, subversive of the sacred and fundamental rights of the people, subjecting them to the most cruel oppression and bondage, and introductive of every species of mischief and confusion. The petition was ordered to lie upon the table; but probably made way for the introduction of a provisional clause, enacting “that no offences shall be construed to be piracy within the meaning of the act, except acts of felony committed on the ships and goods of his majesty’s subjects, by persons on the high seas.”

The bill however, did not pass without opposition and severe animadversion. It was said, that it armed ministers with an unconstitutional and dangerous power. A mere pretended suspicion or foolish credulity in a mercenary tool of a ministerial magistrate, might render the inhabitants of above half the empire liable to imprisonment without bail or mainprise. It did not require an oath, nor that the parties should be heard in their own justification, nor confronted with the witnesses, nor that two witnesses should be deemed necessary for the colourable ground of a commitment. 184The few who opposed it, contended that no lawful or obvious reason subsisted for investing the crown with so unusual a power. Such an extraordinary measure could only be tolerated in cases of great domestic danger, when the realm or constitution were immediately threatened; but neither of these could be pleaded in the present instance. After a long debate, the bill passed by a majority of 195 to 43. The oppostion would have been stronger, but the seceding party would not afford their assistance.

“Before this act, every man putting his foot on English ground, every stranger, even a negro slave, became as free as every other man who breathed the same air with him. As things now stand, every man in the West-Indies, every inhabitant or these unoffending provinces on the American continent, every person coming from the East-Indies, every gentleman who has travelled for his health or education, every mariner who has navigated the seas, is, for no other offence, under a temporary proscription.”^[46]

The two bills received the royal assent on the third of March.

Toward the close of the last year, and in the beginning of the present, much confusion, apprehension and suspicion, was excited by the machinery of a wretched enthusiast and incendiary, since well known by the appellation of John the Painter, but whose real name was James Aitkin, born at Edinburgh, and bred a painter——a most profligate and abandoned villain.

After having committed the most attrocious crimes, he shipped himself off for America, where he continued about two years, and from whence he returned in March 1775. The violence of the language and sentiments then held in political matters, by the people among whom he lived, gave birth to that enthusiastic madness which afterward became so dangerous.——Under its baneful influence he returned to England with the most dreadful antipathy to the government and nation; and adopted the design of subverting, in his own single person, that power which he so much abhorred, by setting fire to the dock-yards, and burning the principal trading cities and towns, with their shipping, of whatsoever sort, so far as it could possibly be done. He constructed fire-works, machines and combustibles for the purpose, but was strangely unsuccessful in all his attempts.——Owing to this failure in his machines, the nation was providentially saved from receiving some dreadful or irretrievable shock. He however succeeded in setting fire to the rope-house in the yard at Portsmouth, the beginning of last December. The next 185month, while party and political disunion prevailed among the inhabitants of Bristol, he attempted, first to burn the shipping, and afterward the city. He succeeded only so far as to set fire to some ware-houses near the quay, six or seven of which were consumed. He was soon after his departure from Bristol, taken up on some suspicious circumstances; and being circumvented by one Baldwin, another painter, the whole scene of iniquity was brought to light. Baldwin pretended to sympathize with him under his misfortunes, and to hold principles similar to his own; and often visited him, till he at length obtained his confidence, and drew from him the history of his crimes. He told Baldwin that he had been in France, and seen Mr. Silas Deane, who had given him some money, and encouraged him to set fire to the dock-yards at Portsmouth, Plymouth, &c. as the best means of distressing Great-Britain, and had promised to reward him according to the service he should do to the American cause. He said that Deane, as an earnest of what should follow, had given him a recommendation to, and bills upon a merchant in London, to the amount of £.300, which however, he had found it necessary to burn, to prevent a discovery; and that in consequence of this encouragement he procured a passport from the French king. He was condemned at Winchester assizes, and executed at Portsmouth dock gate, the tenth of March, and then hung in chains. While he lay at Winchester, after condemnation, and before taken away to execution, he denied his having recommendations and bills, and burning the same. It was while working at Titchfield, in Hampshire, that he conceived the idea of setting fire to the dock-yards. He then went, as he said, to France, and applied to Mr. Deane, who told him that when the work was done he should be rewarded. He added, that on his return, and after setting fire to the ropeyard at Portsmouth, he went to London, and waited on Dr. Bancroft, to whom he had a verbal recommendation from Mr. Deane, but that the doctor gave him no countenance, and did not approve of his conduct.

When general Lee’s capture came to be known by the gazette of February the 25th, the rejoicing in Great-Britain on the occasion, was great. Personal animosities contributed not a little to the triumph and exultation it produced. But the same gazette furnished more than a counterpoise to the joy, in the accounts it contained of general Washington’s successes at Trenton and Princeton.

The name of Lee reminds me of Mr. Arthur Lee. The latter received timely notice of the acts of congress, so as to withdraw and get to Paris a few days after Dr. Franklin’s arrival. 186While in England he was particularly commissioned by a certain body, and that under every sacred promise of secrecy, to make discoveries and transmit them to America; he was also personally consulted by Monsieur Caron de Beaumarchais, upon a project which the latter had formed, of establishing a commercial house, sufficiently powerful and spirited to hazard the risks of the sea and enemy in carrying stores and merchandise for the American troops. A correspondence was afterward opened between them; and on the 21st of June, 1776, Mr. Lee, under the name of Mary Johnson, wrote in cyphers to Mr. Beaumarchais, that the army of Great-Britain in America, would consist of forty thousand men, and their fleet of a hundred ships, and but two only of seventy-four guns. He advised the dispatching secretly ten large ships of war to the Cape or Martinico; and their joining the American fleet, scouring the American coast, and destroyiag the whole British fleet, dispersed as it would be, upon which success the land army could be easily defeated. “By this stroke,” says he “the English fleet will be mortally wounded. Do you fear that this will kindle a war between the two nations? But how will England be able to support a war without fleets, without colonies, without seamen, without resources? On the contrary, if you suffer America to fall again under the dominion of England, the latter will be forever invincible.” If this proposal was communicated to the French minister, it was adjudged too venturous to be prosecuted. Though France must, for her own interest, wish to have the American states perpetually separated from Great-Britain, yet the court will be cautious of risking a war with this country till the prospects of success are extremely encouraging. This accounts for the French king’s issuing out, about the month of February, a proclamation, prohibiting the sale of English prizes taken by American privateers, in any of the ports of France; but as the purchase of them is not prohibited, and the sale of them only in the ports, the Americans will find no difficulty in disposing of them to Frenchmen. The police of France is so well constructed, that they can easily convey to the extremities of the kingdom, the views and sentiments of the court, and secure a ready compliance with them. It is only for the minister to give the farmers-general his instructions, and for them, through their lines of connection with every province, city, town and village, to distribute their directions; on which the inhabitants of the most distant parts will think, speak and act mechanically, in unison with their betters at Versailles.

On the 20th of February, the British ambassador at the Hague, presented a memorial to their high mightinesses, containing various 187complaints; and closing with an express demand of a formal disavowal of the salute by Fort George at St. Eustatia, to the American flag, and of the dismission and immediate recal of the governor; followed by a further declaration, that till that satisfaction was given, they were not to expect that his majesty would suffer himself to be amused by mere assurances, or would delay one instant to take such measures as he should think due to the interests and dignity of his crown. Their high mightinesses disdaining the spirit and manner of the complaint, passed by the ambassador (Sir Joseph Yorke) and slso the secretary of state, and commanded their minister at London, the count de Walderen, to address himself directly to the king, and to deliver their answer into his own hands; which was done March the 26th. They complained of the reproaches contained in the ambassador’s memorial, and the menacing tone which reigns in it, strained beyond what ought to take place between two sovereign and independent powers. They did not disguise the poignant sensation with which it had impressed them. They afterward mentioned their having ordered the governor home to give the necessary information of what had passed, and their resolution to disavow every act or mark of honor that actually tended in the least degree to recognise the independence of the North-American colonies. On the 10th of April, lord Suffolk, by letter, assured the court, that his majesty accepted with satisfaction, the memorial he had addressed to him; but that his majesty could not perceive in Sir Joseph Yorke’s memorial, any thing contrary to what ought to take place between sovereigns and independent powers in the weighty circumstances in question.

In February and April, Messrs. Franklin and Deane sent to lord Stormont, two letters on the subject of an exchange of British seamen, prisoners in the hands of the captain of an American frigate, for an equal number of American seamen, prisoners in England; and of the cruel treatment the American prisoners meet with in Europe, in being ether compelled by chains, stripes and famine, to fight against their friends and relations, or sent to Africa and Asia, remote from all probability of exchange. They had for answer—“The king’s ambassador receives no applications from rebels, unless they come to implore his majesty’s mercy.” They pronounced it an indecent paper, and returned it for his lordship’s more mature consideration. The news of gen. Clinton’s being created a Knight of the Bath, will be no otherwise important to the Americans, than as a direction how to address him in future.

A fresh effort was made in the house of lords, to bring about a reconciliation between Great-Britain and her colonies, as they 188are here still called. The earl of Chatham had been prevented of late, by his advanced age and infirm state of health, from taking an active part in the disputes of the house. But viewing with concern the dangers which menaced the kingdom, he determined again to come forth from his retreat, and endeavor to influence the contending parties to listen to terms of accommodation. On the 30th of May he entered the house, wrapped in flannel, and bearing a crutch in each hand. His lordship, sitting in his place and with his head covered, delivered a speech, herein he explained the grounds of the motion he was about to make. He recapitulated and reprobated the measures which had been taken with the Americans, from the voting away of their property without their consent, to the attempting of their conquest by the aid of German mercenaries. He endeavored to show the absurdity of relying longer on the force of arms, and very pathetically pressed the necessity of a speedy conciliation. After speaking for fifty minutes, he moved for an address to the throne, “most humbly to advise his majesty to take the most speedy and effectual measures, for putting a stop to hostilities, upon the only just and solid foundation, namely, the removal of accumulated grievances; and to assure his majesty, that the house will enter upon this great and necessary work with cheerfulness and dispatch, in order to open to his majesty the only means of regaining the affection of the British colonies, and of securing to Great-Britain the commercial advantages of those invaluable possessions; fully persuaded that to heal and redress will be more prevalent over the hearts of generous and free born subjects, than the rigors of chastisement and the horrors of civil war, which have hitherto served only to sharpen resentments and consolidate union, and if continued, must end finally in dissolving all ties between Great-Britain and the colonies.”

This brought on an interesting and animating debate, which terminated in the question’s being put, when lord Chatham’s motion was rejected by a majority of 99 to 28. The ministry had obtained all they wanted from parliament; were confident in their own conceit and in the success of their measures; and would attend to no remonstrances of reason.

The general assembly of the church of Scotland, in an address to his majesty, among many expressions of loyalty, declared that, sensible of their own felicity, they observed with concern, the first appearance of a turbulent and ungovernable spirit among the people of North-America; that they had with astonishment contemplated its alarming progress, and beheld fellow-subjects, who enjoyed in common with them, the blessings of his majesty’s mild administration, take up arms in opposition to lawful authority, 189disclaim the supremacy of the British legislature, reject with disdain the means of reconciliation, and labour to erect their unlawful confederacy into separate states. They then, with reverence and gratitude to Divine Providence, offer their congratulations for the success which has attended the fleets and armies, that have been employed to oppose the violence of rebellious, subjects, and to reclaim them to a sense of their duty: and conclude with acknowledging it their immediate duty, in the present situation of public affairs, to increase their diligence, not only in confirming the people under their care in sentiments of loyalty, but by inciting them to such reformation in their hearts and lives, as will avert from their country those judgments which their iniquities justly deserve.

[June 6.] His majesty went to the house of peers, and after giving his royal assent to a number of bills, closed the session with a speech which finished with saying, “My lords and gentlemen, I trust in Divine Providence, that by a well-concerted and vigorous exertion of the great force you have put into my hands, the opperations of this campaign, by sea and land, will be blessed with such success as may most effectually tend to the suppression of the rebellion in America, and to the re-establishment of that constitutional obedience which all the subjects of a free state owe to the authority of the law.”

In the beginning of May, a captain Cunningham, in a privateer fitted out from Dunkirk, took and carried into that port the British packet going to Holland. Not understanding thoroughly the business on which he was sent, and being hurried, he was not careful to secure insantly, upon the capture of the vessel, the packet intrusted with the king’s messenger, which he therefore missed of; but the mail was taken and forwarded to the American commissioners at Paris. Adieu.