army might attempt to pass; so that his feeble army was secured from the danger of an immediate attack. The British troops made demonstrations of an intention to cross the river, and detachments were stationed to oppose them; but the attempt was not seriously made. In this situation the American commander anxiously waited for reinforcements, and sent some parties over the river to observe and annoy the enemy.

While General Washington was retreating through the Jerseys, he earnestly desired General Lee, who had been left in command of the division of the army at North Castle, to hasten his march to the Delaware and join the main army. But that officer, notwithstanding the critical nature of the case, and the pressing orders of his commander, was in no haste to obey. He marched slowly to the southward, at the head of about 3,000 men; and his sluggish movements and unwary conduct proved fatal to his own personal liberty, and excited a lively sensation throughout America. He lay carelessly without a guard, and at some distance from his troops, at Baskenridge, in Morris county, where, on the 13th of December, Colonel Harcourt, who, with a small detachment of light horse, had been sent to observe the movements of that division of the American army, by a gallant act of partisan warfare, made him prisoner, and conveyed him rapidly to New York. For some time he was closely confined, and considered not as a prisoner-of-war, but as a deserter from the British army. The capture of General Lee was regarded as a great misfortune by the Americans; for at that time he enjoyed, in a high degree, the esteem and confidence of the friends of congress; on the other hand, the British exulted in his captivity, as equal to a signal victory, declaring that "they had taken the American palladium."

General Sullivan, who on the 4th of September had been exchanged for Gen eral Prescott, when Lord Stirling also had been exchanged for General McDon ald, succeeded to the command of Lee's division, and soon conducted it across the Delaware to General Washington's army. At the same time General Gates with part of the army of Canada, arrived in camp. But even after the junction of those troops, and a number of militia of Pennsylvania, General Washington's force did not exceed 5,000 men; for though many had joined the army, yet not a few were daily leaving it; and of those who remained, the greater part were raw troops, ill-provided, and all of them dispirited by defeat.

General Howe, with an army of 27,000 men, completely armed and disciplined, well-provided, and flushed with success, lay on the opposite side of the Delaware; stretching from New Brunswick to the vicinity of Philadelphia, and ready, it was believed, to pass over as soon as the severity of the winter was set in, and the river completely frozen. To the Americans this was the most gloomy period of the contest; and their affairs appeared in a very hopeless condition. To deepen the gloom of this period, so alarming to the Americans, and to confirm the confidence of the British army, General Clinton, with two brigades of British and two of Hessian troops, escorted by a squadron of men-of-war under Sir Peter Parker, was sent against Rhode Island. The American foree, incapable of making any effectual resistance, abandoned the island on General Clinton's approach; and on the day that General Washington crossed the Delaware, he took possession of it without opposition or loss. At the same time the British fleet blocked up Commodore Hopkins' squadron, and a number of privateers at Providence.

When the American army retreated through the Jerseys, dejection took possession of the public mind, General Washington called on the militia of that state to take the field; but his call was not obeyed. Fear triumphed over patriotism; and every one was more anxious to provide for his personal safety than to support the national cause.

On the 30th of November, when the sun of American independence seemed

fast setting, Lord Howe and the general issued a proclamation, promising pardon to those who should return to their allegiance, and subscribe a suitable obligation. Many took advantage of the proclamation, and submitted to the British government; and among these were all the richer inhabitants of the province, with a few exceptions. It was the middle class chiefly that remained steadfast in the day of trial and adversity. The consequence of this apathy, fear, and defection, was the retreat of General Washington across the Delaware, at the head of only 2,000 men; and in a day or two afterward even that small number was considerably diminished.

On the 12th of December, congress quitted Philadelphia and retired to Baltimore, in Maryland. But under all the reverses which their cause had suffered, and in the most unpromising state of their affairs, they manifested an unshaken firmness. Their energy did not forsake them; there was no humiliation in their attitude, no despondency in their language, and no inactivity in their operations. Their fortitude was well supported by their brave, sagacious, and persevering commander-in-chief.

At first, the Americans fondly hoped that the war would not be of long duration; and, influenced partly by that deceitful expectation, and more perhaps by a wish not to discourage their adherents, congress had enlisted their soldiers for a year only. That error in their military system, which gave them much uneasiness, and exposed them to no small danger in the course of the war, now began to be severely felt, by the almost total dissolution of their army, in the presence of a victorious enemy. In order to remedy that defect in future, congress resolved that their soldiers should be bound to serve for three years, or during the continuance of the war; and, on this principle, they ordered a new army of eighty-eight battalions to be raised, each state furnishing its due proportion. Virginia and Massachusetts were each to raise fifteen battalions; Pennsylvania, twelve; North Carolina, nine; South Carolina, six; Connecticut and Maryland, eight each; Rhode Island, two; Delaware and Georgia, one each; New Hampshire, three; New York and the Jerseys, being partly in possession of the enemy, were rated at only four battalions each. The appointment of officers in the battalions, and the filling up of vacancies, except in the case of general officers, was left to the several provincial governments.

But the first ebullition of popular patriotism had evaporated; and, while all clamored about freedom, each wished to make as few sacrifices as possible in order to obtain it. Of this state of things congress were fully sensible, and therefore endeavored to overcome the general reluctance to the service, by present bounties and the prospect of future rewards. To induce men to enlist and fill up the battalions that had been ordered, congress promised a bounty of twenty dollars to each soldier, and an allotment of land, at the end of the war, to all who survived, and to the families of such as had fallen in the service. The allotments were proportioned to the rank of the individuals: a common soldier was to have 100 acres; an ensign, 150; a lieutenant, 200; a major, 400; a lieutenant-colonel, 450; and a colonel, 500. They who enlisted for three years only were not entitled to an allotment. No person was permitted to purchase another's allotment, which was to remain secure to him as a means of decent subsistence, when the public should no longer need his professional services.

Congress also offered a bounty to such foreign troops in British pay as should desert, and enlist under the republican banners: to a colonel, 1000 acres of land; to a lieutenant-colonel, 800; to a major, 600; to a captain, 400; to a lieutenant, 300; to an ensign, 200; and to every non-commissioned soldier, 100. This measure was intended as a counterpoise to the promise of large grants of vacant land, at the close of the troubles, made by the British government to the highland emigrants, and other new troops raised in America, as a reward for their

loyalty and zeal in the reduction of the country. In order to provide for the maintenance of their army, congress resolved to borrow five millons of dollars; and pledged the faith of the United States for the payment of principal and in

terest.

Although the continental governments of Europe felt no good-will toward the progress of liberty, and took no interest in the happiness of mankind; yet, from jealousy of the power and glory of Britain, they looked on the cause of the Americans with no unfavorable eye. Some indirect communications appear to have taken place between the cabinet of Versailles and congress; and, toward the end of September, congress elected Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee, their commissioners to the court of France, with powers to enter into a treaty with the French king: they sailed for France soon afterward. this time also commissioners were sent to Canada to induce the inhabitants of that province to join the Americans, and Charles Carroll went as one of them, but returned without success.

At

In the course of the campaign, General Washington had severely felt the want of cavalry, and of artillerymen and engineers. Therefore congress having assembled according to adjournment, at Baltimore on the 20th of December, resolved that General Washington shall be, and hereby is, 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, sixteen battalions of infantry, in addition to those already voted; and to appoint officers for the said battalions of infantry; to raise, officer, and equip 3,000 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 army; 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; and that these powers be vested in General Washington for the period of six months, unless sooner determined by congress. At the same time, congress turned its attention toward the Canadian frontier, and ordered works to be constructed for the security of the lakes George and Champlain.

While active in using all means for internal security and defence, congress were not careless of foreign relations. They resolved, without delay, to send commissioners to the courts of Vienna, Spain, Prussia, and the grand duke of Tuscany, to assure those powers that the United States were determined to maintain their independence; to solicit the friendly aid of those courts, or their good offices in preventing any more foreigners in the pay of Great Britain from being sent against the states, and in procuring the recall of those that had been already sent.

Richard Stockton, a member of congress, had been made prisoner by the British, and thrown into a common jail. Congress was indignant at the treatment he received, and ordered General Washington to open a correspondence on the subject with General Howe, that it might be ascertained in what manner prisoners were to be treated, as the Americans were determined to retaliate on British prisoners any ill-usage which their adherents who fell into the hands of the British might meet with.

Congress also made a solemn and animated appeal to all the provinces of the union. They reminded the people of their grounds of complaint against the British government, and of the treatment which they had received from it. They assured them that nothing less than absolute submission would satisfy their enemies; and emphatically asked them whether they chose resistance or slavery. The appeal produced the desired effect, and the people prepared to continue the struggle with renewed vigor.

The British parliament met on the 26th of October, 1775, and was opened by a speech from the throne, in which the king set forth that he had it in contemplation to engage some foreign troops which had been offered him to serve in America; that it was necessary to compel the colonists to submission, but that he would be ready to receive them with tenderness and mercy, on their becoming sensible of their error. Ministry moved an address in full accordance with the speech, which was strenuously resisted by the opponents of the administration in both houses of parliament, and keen debates ensued; but ministry carried their point by large majorities, and the far greater number of the people fully concurred in the war.

The employment of foreign mercenaries against the colonists was strongly opposed in parliament; but the measure was adopted, which awakened a lively sensation in the provinces, where it was considered as an avowal that the mother country had entirely shaken off the remembrance of their propinquity, and indulged a spirit of rancorous hostility against them. Hence, numbers who had hitherto been moderate in their political sentiments, became steady adherents of the republican cause; while they who had formerly been refractory, became more determined in their opposition to the measures of the British gov

ernment.

The second petition of congress, to which no answer had been returned, was brought under the notice of parliament, and Mr. Penn, formerly governor of Pennsylvania, was examined at the bar of the house of lords; but his examination was followed by no conciliatory results. About that time Mr. Edmund Burke, an eloquent member of parliament under the banners of the opposition,

introduced into the house of commons his conciliatory bill, which proposed to renounce the exercise of taxation in the colonies, without entering on the consideration of the question of right; reserving, however, to Great Britain, the power of levying commercial duties, to be applied to those purposes which the general assembly of each province should judge most salutary and beneficial. The bill also proposed the repeal of all the laws complained of by the colonists, and the passing an immediate act of amnesty. But this, like every other conciliatory proposition, was unsuccessful.

The rejection of Mr. Burke's bill was followed by the introduction of one by ministry, prohibiting all intercourse with the colonies, which, after a keen opposition, passed both houses of parliament, and received the royal sanction.

CHAPTER VI.

When General Washington crossed the Delaware, winter was fast setting in; and it was no part of General Howe's plan to carry on military operations during that inclement season of the year. Fearless of a feeble enemy, whom he had easily driven before him, and whom he confidently expected soon to annihilate, he cantoned his troops rather with view to the convenient resumption of their march, than with any regard to security against a fugitive foe. As he entertained not the slightest apprehension of an attack, he paid little attention to the arrangement of his several posts for the purpose of mutual support. He stationed a detachment of about 1,500 Hessians at Trenton, under Colonel Rhalle, and about 2,000 at Bordentown, farther down the river, under Count Donop; the rest of his army was quartered over the country, between the Hackensack and the Delaware. General Howe certainly had little apparent cause of apprehension; Washington had retreated beyond the Delaware at the head of only about 2,000 men, while he had an army of nearly 30,000 fine troops under his command. The congress had withdrawn from Philadelphia; and, by their retreat, had thrown