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done; but no man on earth would have seen him weep.

While Washington was thus hunted by his enemy, he had repeated again and again his intentions to General Lee, to move forward; but, whether it was owing to all his expresses being intercepted, as some were, or to some other cause yet to be explained, General Lee moved so sluggishly in the rear of Washington, as never to be of any use, and at length was taken prisoner. He had carelessly made his quarters in a house two miles from his most exposed flank; and on the 13th was carried off by Colonel Harcourt of the British light horse. This event was a subject of great exultation to the enemy: they boasted that they had now the palladium of American hope; and the Americans almost believed it to be true. The feelings of the latter were quickened to poignancy by the circumstances of the capture. They believed that Lee, their favourite-Lee, in whose military talents, from his European education, they had the most confidence, despairing of the American cause, had chosen to abandon them in this manner. His neglect to obey the reiterated command of Washington; his extreme imprudence in sleeping so far from his troops, and without a guard, under the disheartening prospects of the country, would have been a sufficient foundation for any opinion, however extravagant, so it contributed to the general alarm.

But to other causes than these, his capture must be attributed. Lee was ambitious: a great man with great faults. Excellencies and defects are always proportioned to each other in the human character: he

*There was a guard; but they were scattered about when the dragoons appeared.

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was ambitious, but not weak. He was not anxious to save Washington; nor was he willing to lose himself. If Washington's army was cut to pieces, his chance of succeeding to the chief command in America was probably better than that of any other officer. He did not reinforce Washington, because he was ambitious; because he actually meditated a blow at the enemy on his own responsibility at the time. General Wilkinson supposes, and he knew the character of Lee, that he would probably have made an attack on the British post of Princeton, on the very next morning, had he not been captured. If successful, a link would have been broken in the chain, and Sir William Howe must have fallen back. The supposition is not only ingenious, but supported by so many circumstances, collected and arranged in the spirit of an experienced soldier, as entitle it to something more than the credit of a plausible conjecture. It is rendered extremely probable that such was his design; and he did not voluntarily suffer the British to take him prisoner, because he was not a blockhead. He was, undoubtedly, surprised. His capture produced an unjustifiable despondency in the publick mind; he had been successful when the other leaders had been beaten; and how far his foreign education then contributed to his value, may be imagined by observing how much is now thought of European schools and science. Even now, the soldier who has fought in Europe, or the scholar who has been educated in Europe, exacts a kind of supremacy over mere Americans.

After his capture, the command of his troops devolved on General Sullivan. He immediately crossed the Delaware and joined Washington, who had already received considerable reinforcements of Pennsylvania

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militia, which had chiefly been obtained, at this seasonable moment, by the activity and influence of General Mifflin, and was soon after joined by General Gates with his division.

On the very day that Washington crossed the Delaware, General Clinton, with two brigades of British troops and two of Hessians, with a squadron under Sir Peter Parker, took possession of Newport in Rhode Island, and blockaded Commodore Hopkins, with his squadron and a number of privateers, in Providence. The chief object of this movement was to prevent the New England states from reinforcing Washington; and it had that effect-six thousand troops, under General Lincoln, which were already on the march, were detained to watch the enemy at home. Another object was to interrupt the privateering business; this also was effected. But such inconsiderable objects were purchased too dearly. From three to five thousand troops were kept in a state of inactivity for nearly three years.

By the approach of the British army, the deliberations of Congress were disturbed, and on the 12th of December they adjourned from Philadelphia to Baltimore, where they met on the 20th, passing a resolution, at the time of their adjournment, authorising Washington to direct all things relative to the war, and giving him full powers to act at discretion. This was a noble example of confidence but it came almost too late.

Thus far had uninterrupted success trod in the footsteps of the British army. Multitudes were crowding to its banners. Their march was continued without molestation on the Jersey side of the Delaware; and they were only waiting for reinforcements to make a

blow at Philadelphia. But Congress was still unshaken. On the 10th of December they addressed the states in the eloquence of national energy and feeling. There was little to hope. But, after all, it was only to be conquered like men, with arms in their hands: and those who would have submitted if assured of safety and protection, felt unwilling to throw aside their shield until that security was rendered certain. Thus the strong and the feeble alike remained in arThe mighty drama appeared hastening to a close. The actors were thinning away, and the last dreadful scene seemed at hand, which should forever terrify the brave and the oppressed from lifting up their manacled hands against their destroyers; but even yet there were some stout hearts within the land, the fastnesses of America, that would sooner burst than submit.

On the 11th of December, Congress recommended a day of national fasting, and humiliation: "To implore of Almighty God the forgiveness of their many sins, and to beg the confidence and assistance of his Providence in the prosecution of their present just and necessary war."

In this hour of darkness, when clouds were resting upon the pavilion of their hopes; when the prayers of a whole people were to be lifted to the EVERLASTING GOD; a sudden illumination passed athwart their firmament. It was in the councils of the nation. On the 27th of December the powers of Washington were unexpectedly augmented. He was empowered to give bounties, and use what measures he chose for the enlistment of troops, to appoint a Commissary of Prisoners and Clothier General, and fix their salaries; to establish a system of military promotion; to raise

and officer sixteen battalions of infantry in addition to those already voted; three thousand light horse; three regiments of artillery; and a corps of engineers; to displace and appoint all officers under the rank of a Brigadier General; and to fill all vacancies; to impress stores and necessaries for his army, &c. in short, acknowledging, in so many words their own incompetence, and clothing him with full powers for the conduct of the war.

This was a prelude to great events. Washington felt his might. If he perished now, he would perish in a manner worthy of himself: not as a subaltern in the battles of his country, but as her leader and her champion. True, these vast powers, were rendered nearly ineffectual by the poverty of his resources, and the lateness of the hour; but if he could survive this season of doubt and dismay, a brighter morning would soon break upon him.

It might be proper here, as the campaign and the year are drawing to a close, to review for a few moments the measures of the continental Congress. It is necessary to understand their worth, their importance. Under the continual and accumulating pressure of all their calamities not a voice was lifted for submission in their counsels, or even in a single state or town, that was not absolutely in the power of the enemy. They had chosen their stand and it was not to be abandoned. But to such extremities were they reduced at the termination of the campaign, that some members prudently distrustful of the powers of America, single handed to battle with Great Britain, that they proposed to offer to France, whose aid they were then supplicating, that monopoly of their trade, which had hitherto been enjoyed by Great Britain.

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