LIV. CHAP. address him by the rank which he assumed. Neither Sullivan nor the titular Lord Stirling, I may 1776. remark in passing, were for any long period withdrawn from the service of their native or adopted country; for a cartel being established between the two armies, the prisoners on both sides came to be exchanged on equal terms. Washington, who had hastened over from New York at the sound of the firing, beheld, with the keenest anguish, and without the power of giving aid, the discomfiture and slaughter of his best troops. He saw them pursued by the victorious British almost to the foot of the Brooklyn lines, and even those lines on the very point of being scaled. In the words of General Howe, who had also arrived upon the ground, "such was the eagerness (of my troops) "to attack the redoubt, that it required repeated "orders to prevail upon them to desist from the "attempt. Had they been permitted to go on, it "is my opinion they would have carried the re"doubt; but as it was apparent the lines must "have been ours at a very cheap rate by regular approaches, I would not risk the loss." By such ill-timed caution, arising probably from an overestimate of the insurgents' force, the English general flung away the fairest opportunity of utterly destroying or capturing the flower of the American army. The respite thus afforded was most judiciously employed by Washington: he rallied as he best might his broken troops, and on the 28th and 29th awaited another battle at his lines. So great LIV. were his exertions and anxieties, that during forty- CHAP. eight hours he was hardly off his horse, and never once closed his eyes. Yet his position was in 1776. truth untenable, and on the evening of the 29th he determined, by the unanimous advice of a Council of War, to relinquish Long Island, and endeavour to transport his troops back again, across the ferry of the East River, to New York. It was a most difficult and delicate operation, in the face of a victorious enemy, to be accomplished only through the supineness of the British general, and under cover of a thick fog, which opportunely arose. Yet the Americans not merely removed their troops in safety, but carried with them their military stores and cannon, except only a few heavy pieces, which, soaked as was the ground by continued rain, could not be dragged along. With such silence and good order was every thing conducted, that their last boat had pushed from the shore, and was crossing the river, before the British had discovered their retreat. Thus had Washington, with great skill and judgment, once again secured his army in New York; but he found it wholly unnerved by its late disaster. Here follows his own account of it, as given on the 2d of September to the President of Congress : — “Our situation is truly distressing. The check "our detachment sustained on the 27th of last "month has dispirited too great a portion of our "troops, and filled their minds with apprehension "and despair. The Militia, instead of calling forth СНАР. LIV. 1776. their utmost efforts, are dismayed, intractable, "and impatient to return. Great numbers of them "have gone off; in some instances almost by "whole regiments, by half ones, and by companies "at a time.... and with the deepest concern, I am "obliged to confess my want of confidence in the "generality of the troops. Till of late I had no " doubt in my own mind of defending this place; "nor should I have yet, if the men would do their duty; but this I despair. of. It is painful and "extremely grating to me to give such unfavour"able accounts, but it would be criminal to con"ceal the truth at so critical a juncture.' Meanwhile, the captivity of General Sullivan had suggested to Lord Howe, as principal Commissioner, the means of another overture for peace. He hoped that such an overture might carry the greater weight, and the more clearly indicate his conciliatory spirit as coming in the train not of disaster but success. Accordingly, taking General Sullivan's parole, he requested him to proceed to Philadelphia with a verbal message to the Congress. The message stated that at present he could not treat with Congress as such-that, nevertheless, he was very desirous of having a conference with some of the Members, whom for the present he would consider only as private gentlemen-that he would meet them himself as such at any place they might appoint-and that he wished a compact might be settled at this time, when no decisive blow was struck, and when neither party could say LIV. 1776. they were compelled to enter into terms. Upon CHAP. this message, when Sullivan conveyed it, there ensued in Congress much hesitation and several keen debates. There was no longer a pretence for alleging the point of form, since Lord Howe proposed to waive it; the meeting to be on both sides as of private gentlemen only. But to allow the interview might cast a doubt on the reality of Independence; to decline it, would perhaps alienate, certainly offend, the more moderate party, especially when a word so attractive as "Compact" had been used. Upon the whole, the Congress, though with an ill grace, and after an elaborate protest, consented to the interview, the majority being swayed in no slight degree by the hope of proving to the public how limited and unsatisfactory were in truth the terms of the Howe Commission. Their adverse spirit plainly appeared in the choice of the Committee for this meeting. They elected three of the keenest and most uncompromising enemies to British connexion, namely, Dr. Franklin, John Adams of Massachusetts, and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina. On the 11th of September, by appointment with Lord Howe, the desired conference took place at a house on Staten Island, opposite the town of Amboy. "His Lordship," say the Committee in their Report, "received and entertained us with "the utmost politeness." But how changed both the scene and the temper of negotiation since Lord Howe and Dr. Franklin had first met in 1776. CHAP. London, leaning in friendly converse over Mrs. LIV. Howe's chess-board! Lord Howe argued earnestly that the Americans should return to their allegiance, and that if willing to submit they might obtain the most favourable terms. On the other hand, the Committee explicitly declared that the United Colonies would not accede to any peace unless as free and independent States. At last, the British Admiral, with sorrow, closed the conference; and the American gentlemen wended back their way to Philadelphia. This negotiation did not arrest—it had only rendered still less active-the movements of the British troops. Nearly all had by this time passed into Long Island, where they found themselves warmly welcomed. As Washington relates it, "I am sorry to say that from the best information "we have been able to obtain, the people on Long Island have, since our evacuation, gone 66 66 generally over to the enemy, and made such "concessions as have been required; some through "compulsion, I suppose, but more from incli"nation."* There was not wanting at that time around the American commander in chief the suggestion of the most desperate counsels. Thus, General Greene urged him to retreat at once from New York Island, but first to lay the entire city in ashes. This advice Greene gave in writing, and added this strong reason for it: "Two thirds * To Governor Trumbull, September 9. 1776. |