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whenever they marched out with their baggage ammunition, and artillery.

A proclamation had been issued by the king, prohibiting the exportation of military stores from Britain, which reached America in the latter end of the year 1774. Immediately the people of RhodeIsland seized upon and removed from the public battery forty pieces of cannon: soon after four hundred men attacked the castle at Portsmouth; they sustained a fire from three four-pounders and small arms; but before they could be ready for a second fire, the assailants stormed the fort : some secured and confined the garrison, while others broke open the powder-house, and took away the contents.

A. D. 1775.

In the following February, colonel Leslie was sent with a detachment of troops from Boston to take possession of some cannon at Salem. But the people had intelligence of the design, took up the draw-bridge in that town, and prevented the troops from passing, until the cannon were secured. In April, colonel Smith and major Pitcairn were sent with a body of about nine hundred troops, to destroy the military stores which had been collected at Concord. It is generally believed that another, and perhaps the principal object of the expedition, was to seize on the persons of Messrs. Hancock and Adams, who had rendered themselves peculiarly obnoxious to general Gage. At Lexington the militia were collected on a green, to oppose the incursion of the British forces. These were fired upon by the British troops, and eight men killed on the spot. The militia were dispersed, and the troops proceeded to Concord, where they destroyed a few stores. But on their return they were incessantly harassed by the Americans, who, inflamed with resentment, fired upon them from houses and fences, and pursued

them even to Boston. The loss of the British in this expedition, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, amounted to two hundred and seventy-three men. Here, then, was spilt the first blood in a war which ultimately severed America from the British empire. Lexington opened the first scene of this great drama, which in its progress exhibited the most illustrious characters and events, and closed with a revolution important to the rights and liberties of mankind.

This battle roused all America. The militia collected from every quarter; and Boston in a few days was besieged by twenty thousand men. Α stop was put to all intercourse between the town and country, and the inhabitants were reduced to the greatest distress for want of provisions. General Gage offered to permit the people to depart, provided they would deliver up their arms. The people complied; but the general refused to stand by his engagement.

In the mean time a small number of men, to the amount of only two hundred and forty, under the command of colonels Allen and Easton, without any public orders, surprised and took the British garrisons at Ticonderoga and Crown-Point, without the loss of a man.

A martial spirit now pervaded all ranks of men in the colonies. They believed that their liberties were in danger, and were generally disposed to risk their lives in defence of them. The animated votaries of the equal rights of human nature consoled themselves with the idea, that though their whole sea-coast should be destroyed, they could retire to the western wilderness, and enjoy the luxury of being free; and it was observed in congress by one of the South-Carolina delegates; "Our houses, beVOL. XXIV. Y

ing constructed of brick, stone, and wood, though destroyed may be rebuilt: but liberty once gone is lost for ever."

Resistance being resolved on by the Americans, the pulpit, the press, the bench, and the bar, severally laboured to unite and encourage them. The clergy of New-England were a numerous and respectable body, who had a great ascendency over the minds of their hearers. They connected religion and patriotism, and in their sermons and prayers represented the cause of America as the cause of heaven. Writers and printers followed in the rear of the preachers, and next to them had the greatest share in animating their countrymen. Gentlemen of the bench, in their addresses to the juries, denied the charge of rebellion, and justified the resistance of the colonists.

About the latter end of May, a great part of the reinforcements ordered from Great-Britain arriv ed at Boston, under the command of generals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton. General Gage was now prepared for acting with decision: but before he proceeded to extremities he conceived it due to ancient forms to issue a proclamation, in which he offered in the king's name, pardon to all who should forthwith lay down their arms and return to their respective occupations, excepting only from the benefit of that pardon Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose offences were said to be of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other consideration than that of condign punishment.

In June the Americans attempted to fortify Bunker's Hill, which is only about a mile and a half from Boston. They had during a single night thrown up a small breast work, which sheltered them from the fire of the British cannon. But the next morning the British army was sent to drive

them from the hill; and landing under cover of their cannon, they set fire to Charlestown, which was consumed, and marched to attack the troops in their intrenchments. In Boston, the heights of every kind were covered with citizens, and such of the king's troops as were not on duty. The hills around the adjacent country, which afforded a safe and distinct view, were occupied by the inhabitants of the country. Thousands both within and without Boston were anxious spectators of the bloody scene. The honour of British troops beat high in the breasts of many, while others, with a keener sensibility, felt for the liberties of their country. The British moved on slowly; which gave the provincials a better opportunity for taking aim. The latter, in general, reserved themselves till their adversaries were within fifty or sixty yards, but then streamed a furious discharge of small arms. The beginning of the American fire was so incessant, and did such great execution, that the king's troops retreated in precipitation. Their officers rallied them and pushed them forward with their swords; but they returned to the attack with reluctance. A second time they were put to flight. General Howe and the officers redoubled their exertions, and were at last successful. A retreat was ordered: but so zealous were the provincials, that when their ammunition was expended, they made resistance with their discharged muskets, as if they had been clubs, till the king's troops had half filled the redoubt.

In this engagement fifteen hundred Americans were opposed to three thousand British; of whom the former sustained a small loss compared with that of the latter: the whole loss of the Americans

amounted to four hundred and fifty; of the British to eleven hundred. The circumstance most lamented on this bloody day by the Americans was the loss of Dr. Warren, who was at this time a major-general. He died like a brave man, fighting valiantly at the head of his party. This excellent hero had rendered himself conspicuous by his universal merit, abilities, and eloquence; he had been a delegate to the first general congress, and was at the time of his death president to the provincial congress of Massachusetts. Quitting the humane and peaceable walk of his profession as a physician, and breaking through the endearing ties of family connexion, he prov ed himself equally calculated for the field as for public business or private pursuits.

The burning of Charlestown, though a place of great trade, did not discourage the provincials. It excited resentment and execration, but generated no disposition to submit. "Such," says Mr. Ram. sey, "was the high-toned state of the public mind, and so great the indifference for property, when put in competition with liberty, that military conflagrations, though they distressed and impoverished, had no tendency to subdue the colonists. They might answer in the Old World, but were not calculated for the New, where the war was undertaken, not for a change of masters, but for securing essential rights."

The action at Bunker's Hill produced many and very important consequences. It taught the British so much respect for Americans intrenched behind works, that their subsequent operations were retarded with a caution that wasted away a whole campaign to very little purpose. It added to the confidence which the Americans began to

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