CHAPTER VIII.

{GEORGE III. 1777–1778}

Letters of Marque granted..... Bill for Detaining Persons in

Prison charged with High-treason..... Miscellaneous

Debates..... Spirited Address of the Speaker to the

King..... Lord Chatham’s Motion for Concessions to

America..... Parliament Prorogued..... Successes of

Washington..... British Expedition up the Hudson River.....

American Expedition to Long Island..... Capture of General

Prescot, &c. Battle of the Brandywine, &c. Capture

of Philadelphia..... Opening of the Delaware..... Close of

Howe’s Campaign..... Expedition and Capture of Burgoyne.....

Clinton’s Expedition up the Hudson..... Meeting of

Parliament..... Debates on America..... Duke of Richmond’s

Motion for Inquiring into the State of the Nation..... Fox’s

Motion for Inquiring into the State of the Nation..... Army

and Navy Estimates..... Intelligence of Burgoyne’s

Defeat..... Royal Assent to Several Bills..... Parliament

Adjourned.

{A.D. 1777}

LETTERS OF MARQUE GRANTED.

On the meeting of parliament, after the recess, a bill was brought into

the commons for enabling the admiralty to grant letters of marque

and reprisal to privateers against vessels belonging to the revolted

colonies, which were now doing much mischief, not only among our West

India Islands, but also in the narrow seas of Europe. This bill passed

the commons without a debate, and it went through the lords without

any amendment, except that the words “letters of permission” were

substituted for “letters of marque.”

BILL FOR DETAINING PERSONS IN PRISON CHARGED WITH HIGH-TREASON.

On the 6th of February Lord North introduced a bill “For enabling His

Majesty to detain and secure Persons charged with, or suspected of, the

Crime of High-treason, committed in North America or on the High-seas,

or the Crime of Piracy.” The bill provided, that all persons charged

with or suspected of treason, committed in any of the colonies, or on

the high-seas, or of piracy, should be liable to be committed to any

place of confinement named by the king, under his sign-manual,

within any part of his dominions, without bail or mainprize, and there

detained, without trial, during the continuance of the act, unless

his majesty’s privy-council granted an order for admitting any

such prisoners to bail or to trial. This bill encountered a strong

opposition. On the second reading Mr. Dunning declared that it struck

directly at that great pillar of British liberty, the Habeas Corpus Act,

and that it was disgraceful that it should be brought in without notice,

and when the house was so thinly attended. He moved, that the bill

should be printed, which was granted, and the second reading was

therefore postponed. The alarm it excited brought back several of the

seceders, and the debate became more animated. It was urged by the

opposition that the bill would tend to create spies, informers, and

false accusers; that it would furnish means of gratification, emolument,

and safety to the most profligate of mankind; and that it would enable

any revengeful minister or mercenary villain to satiate his revenge or

replenish his purse at the expense of the virtuous. Charles Fox used

some cogent arguments against the measure. He remarked:—“Who knows but

ministers, in the fulness of their malice, may take into their heads

that I have served on Long Island under General Washington? What would

it avail me, in such an event, to plead an _alibi_—to assure my old

friends that I was, during the whole of the campaign, in England—that I

was never in America, or any other sea but between Dover and Calais, and

that all my acts of piracy were committed on the mute creation? All this

may be true, says a minister or a minister’s understrapper, but you are

for the present suspected, and that is sufficient. I know that you are

fond of Scotland:—this is not the time for proofs; you may be, and very

probably are innocent, but this bill cares not whether you are guilty

or innocent: I will send you, under the sign-manual, to study the Erse

language in the isle of Bute; and as soon as the operation of the bill

is over, you will be at liberty to return, or go whither you please. You

may then call upon your accusers, to prove their charges of treason

in America, or of piracy on the high-seas; but they will laugh in your

face, and tell you they never charged, they only suspected; and the act

of parliament will serve as a complete plea in bar. It will answer a

double end—it will be at once your redress and our justification.” In

reply, Lord Thurlow ridiculed the idea that the bill was framed to reach

disaffected persons within this realm; though, he added sarcastically,

for his own part, if it did operate in this direction, he should

scarcely consider it a fault. The commitment of the bill was carried by

a majority of one hundred and ninety-five against forty-three; but as

it was discovered that some of the clauses were opened to serious

objections, several amendments were made in committee, one of which,

moved by Sir Grey Cooper, secretary to the treasury, defined the places

and the extent of the offence, subjecting persons to the operation of

the act. This, however, by no means satisfied either the opposition or

the country at large. A petition was presented from the city of London,

praying that the bill might not pass, or if it did, that it might not

extend to persons resident in Great Britain. A clause to this effect was

adopted, principally by the efforts of Mr. Dunning, and another was also

carried, which exempted certain minor acts of piracy from the operation

of the bill. Thus amended, the bill passed both houses; and the

opposition felicitated themselves, that, notwithstanding their numerical

weakness, they had compelled ministers to accept their corrections of so

reprehensible and dangerous a measure.

MISCELLANEOUS DEBATES.

A series of debates arose on abuses in the commissariat, in the

chartering of transports, and in the contracts for supplying the troops

in America with provisions, rum, &c. These abuses existed to an enormous

extent, and they were laid at the doors of many members of the house of

commons, who invariably voted with the treasury-bench. These members had

been allowed to get profitable contracts, and they contrived to render

them still more profitable, by supplying unwholesome provisions to the

troops, and which was, therefore, deservedly condemned. Another violent

debate took place on account of a new demand made by the Landgrave of

Hesse for more money; and Lord North’s situation was rendered still

more embarrassing by the necessity he was under of asking the faithful

commons for an increase to the civil list, amounting to upwards of

£600,000, in order to discharge a second debt incurred by his majesty.

Violent debates followed these demands, but both the Landgrave of Hesse

and his majesty were gratified eventually with having their desires

granted. The sum of £618,340 was granted, to enable his majesty to pay

his debts, and the further sum of £100,000 was voted in addition to the

sum already fixed of £800,000 per annum, for the better support of his

majesty’s household. The latter grant was warmly opposed in the house

of lords by the Marquess of Rockingham and the Duke of Grafton, who

endeavoured to enforce the necessity of economy, and to show that the

sum which his majesty already received was sufficiently ample to sustain

his dignity. They also argued, that this increase would furnish him with

the means of obtaining corrupt influence, and an unbounded power and

control over parliament. The opposition, however, were defeated by the

usual large majority, and the amendment which the Marquess of Rockingham

moved was entered as a protest on the journals, which was signed by

fourteen peers.

SPIRITED ADDRESS OF THE SPEAKER TO THE KING.

In presenting this extraordinary grant to his majesty for the royal

assent, Sir Fletcher Norton remarked:—“In a time of public distress,

full of difficulty and danger, their constituents labouring under

difficulties almost too heavy to be borne, your faithful commons,

postponing all other business, have not only granted to your majesty a

large present supply, but also a very great additional revenue—great

beyond example—great beyond your majesty’s highest expense; but all

this, sire, they have done in a well-grounded confidence that you apply

wisely what they have granted liberally; and feeling that, under the

direction of your majesty’s wisdom, the affluence and grandeur of the

sovereign will reflect dignity and honour on his people.” It is said by

some that this freedom of speech was unwelcome to the royal ears, and it

is certain that his courtiers were highly indignant; and yet Lord North

allowed the usual vote to pass, returning the thanks of the house to

the speaker, and requesting him to allow his speech to be printed.

Notwithstanding, his spirited conduct did not pass by unnoticed. In

the course of a debate on an address to his majesty moved by Sir James

Lowther, praying for an increase of income to the king’s two brothers,

which was negatived, the recent conduct of the speaker was violently

arraigned by Mr. Rigby, In reply, Sir Fletcher Norton appealed to the

vote of thanks which he had received, as a proof that the sentiments

he had expressed were the sentiments of the house. The court party,

however, retorted, and Lord North, uneasy at the altercation, wished

that the subject might be dropped. But the opposition now stepped in to

keep up the ball. Charles Fox declared, that a serious and direct charge

having been made, the question was now at issue—either the speaker

had misrepresented the house, or he had not, and the question must be

decided by the house. Fox accordingly moved:—“That the speaker of this

house, in his speech to his majesty at the bar of the house of peers, on

Wednesday last, and which was desired by this house, _nem. con._, to be

printed, _did_ express, with just and proper energy, the zeal of

this house for the support of the honour and dignity of the crown, in

circumstances of great public charge.” The speaker now declared, “that

he would sit no longer in that chair than while he was supported in the

free exercise of his duty: he had discharged what he conceived that duty

required of him, intending only to express the sense of the house; and

from the vote of approbation with which he had been honoured, he

had reason to believe that he was not chargeable with any

misrepresentation.” Lord North, perplexed at the dilemma to which the

heat of the courtiers had brought him, besought the speaker to rest

quiet, and the mover and supporters of the question to let it drop;

asserting, that no censure had been intended, and that though the

speaker might have made some mistake, it could only be attributed to the

hurry of an extempore address, and not to his judgment. The withdrawal

of the motion was refused, and then, still hoping to evade a division,

ministers moved an adjournment.

Opposition, however, maintained, that if the motion were not carried,

the speaker could not safely remain in the chair for another moment;

that he would, on all future occasions, be liable to disgrace whenever

he fulfilled his duty; that the dignity of the house would be at an

end if the chair should be degraded; and that the step which the

court-faction had taken was an attempt to render the representatives of

the people despicable in the eyes of their constituents. Ministers and

the court faction were compelled to bow before the storm. The motion

for an adjournment was withdrawn. Mr. Rigby made some concession, by

declaring that he meant no reflection on the character of the speaker,

and that he merely meant to express his own private opinion, according

to the privilege possessed by every member; and then Fox’s motion was

put and carried unanimously.

LORD CHATHAM’S MOTION FOR CONCESSIONS TO AMERICA.

Towards the close of the session there was a grand debate in the house

of lords on the affairs of America. After a long absence, the Earl

of Chatham moved for an address, advising his majesty to take speedy

measures for terminating the war with America, by the removal of their

grievances. The lords were summoned for the purpose of deliberating on

this motion, and it was introduced on the 30th of May. Chatham commenced

his speech by declaring the mother country unequal to the contest. He

remarked:—“My lords, this is a flying moment; perhaps but six weeks

are left to arrest the dangers that surround us. The gathering storm may

break; it has already opened, and in part burst. It is difficult,

after all that has passed, to shake hands with the defiers of the

king—defiers of the parliament—defiers of the people. I am a defier

of nobody; but if an end is not put to this war, there is an end to this

country! I do not trust my judgment in my present state of health; this

is the judgment of my better days—the result of forty years’ attention

to America. The Americans are rebels; but for what? Surely not for

defending their unquestionable rights. But their excesses have been

great! I do not mean to pronounce their panegyric, but must observe, in

extenuation, the erroneous and infatuated counsels which have prevailed

here. The door to mercy and justice has been shut against them; but they

may still be taken up upon the grounds of their former submissions and

petitions. I state to you the importance of America: it is a double

market—a market of consumption, and a market of supply. This double

market for millions, with all its naval stores, you are giving to your

hereditary rival. America has carried you through four wars; and will

now carry you to your death, if you do not take things in time. In the

sportsman’s phrase, when you have found yourselves at fault, you must

try back. You have ransacked every corner of Lower Saxony; but 40,000

German boors never can conquer ten times the number of British freemen.

You may ravage—you cannot conquer; it is impossible: you cannot conquer

the Americans. You talk of your numerous friends to annihilate the

congress, and of your powerful forces to disperse their army: I might as

well talk of driving them before me with my crutch! But what would you

conquer—the map of America? I am ready to meet any general officer on

the subject, What will you do out of the protection of your fleet? In

the winter, if together, they are starved—if dispersed, they are taken

off in detail. I am experienced in spring hopes and vernal promises: I

know what ministers throw out; but at last will come your equinoctial

disappointment. You have got nothing in America but stations. You have

been three years teaching them the art of war—they are apt scholars;

and I will venture to tell your lordships that the American gentry

will make officers enough fit to command the troops of all the European

powers.

“What you have sent there are too many to make peace—too few to make

war. If you conquer them, what then? You cannot make them respect you;

you cannot make them wear your cloth; you will plant an invincible

hatred in their breasts against you. Coming from the stock they do, they

can never respect you. If ministers are founded in saying there is no

sort of treaty with France, there is still a moment left; the point of

honour is still safe. France must be as self-destroying as England to

make a treaty, while you are giving her America at the expense of twelve

millions a year: the intercourse has produced everything to France; and

England, Old England, must pay for all. I have, at different times, made

different propositions, adapted to the circumstances in which they were

offered. The plan contained in the former bill is now impracticable:

the present will tell you where you are, and what you have now to depend

upon. It may produce a respectable division in America, and unanimity

at home: it will give America an option; she has yet had no option.

You have said, ‘Lay down your arms,’ and she has given you the Spartan

answer, ‘Come, take.’” Lord Chatham here read his motion, which he

afterwards said, if earned, would prove the herald of peace, and would

open the way for treaty. In conclusion, he again urged the necessity of

making peace with America before France should espouse the quarrel on

behalf of the Americans. He observed, that the French court was too wise

to lose the opportunity of separating America from Great Britain; that

whenever that court, with that of Spain likewise, should enter into

a treaty with America, we must declare war against them; and that he

should be among the first to advise such a declaration, even though we

had only five ships of the line in our ports. The Earl of Chatham was

answered by Lords Gower, Mansfield, Lyttleton, and Weymouth, and by the

Archbishop of York, who all maintained that the original aim of America

was independence, and that concessions on our part now would be useless,

ridiculous, degrading, and an acknowledgment of weakness, that would

draw down upon England the contempt of her friends and the attacks

of her foes. The motion was supported by the Dukes of Grafton and

Manchester, Lords Camden and Shelburne, and the Bishop of Peterborough,

who reiterated the arguments of the noble mover in its favour. In the

course of the debates Lord Weymouth had expressed some doubt as to

Chatham’s real meaning, and later in the evening he thus explained

it:—“I will tell your lordships very fairly what I wish for: I wish for

a repeal of every oppressive act which your lordships have passed since

1673. I would put our American brethren on the same footing they stood

at that period; and I should expect that, being left at liberty to

tax themselves, they would in return contribute to our common burdens,

according to their means and abilities. I will move your lordships for

a bill of repeal, as the only means left to arrest that approaching

destruction which threatens to overwhelm us. I shall no doubt hear it

objected, Why should we submit or concede? Has America done anything on

her part to induce us to agree to so large a ground of concession? But

I will tell you, my lords, why I think you should concede—you have

been the aggressors from the beginning; you have burned their towns,

plundered their country, confiscated their property, and imprisoned

their persons!” A murmur was heard through the house, that the Earl of

Chatham was doing his best to encourage the Americans, and to discourage

the people of England; and it must be confessed that the whole tenor of

his speech was likely to produce such an untoward effect. Moreover,

the sentiments which his speech contained were otherwise not founded in

wisdom. Thus the belief which he expressed, that the Americans would,

if left to tax themselves in their assemblies, contribute to our common

burdens, according to their means and abilities was a fallacy which had

been disproved by matters of fact; for, when in a previous year, and

in the course of the quarrel, this had been proposed to them, not

one assembly would contribute a single shilling. All advances toward

concession, indeed, were met by a louder appeal to arms; and there was

at this time no alteration in their sentiments which could justify a

hope that, even if a repeal of all the taxes were guaranteed to them,

they would now lay down their arms, or cease the long and loud cry for

independence. It was certainly now too late to offer any concession,

and so the majority of the peers seems to have considered; for, on

a division, the bill was lost by a majority of ninety-nine against

twenty-eight.

{GEORGE III. 1777–1778}

PARLIAMENT PROROGUED.

During this session the other debates which took place related almost

exclusively to East Indian affairs. These will be noticed hereafter in

a continuous narrative. At the close of the session, the speaker, in

presenting the bills relating to the supplies, again stated to his

majesty the hope of the house that speedy means would be discovered

to terminate the war, which otherwise might be attended with ruinous

consequences to the prosperity, and perhaps dangerous to the safety, of

the country. His majesty himself seems to have entertained a hope that

the war would soon be ended; for on the 6th of June, when he prorogued

parliament, after thanking the commons for the zeal and public spirit

they had displayed in granting large and extraordinary supplies,—the

whole amounted to £12,895,543,—he said, that he trusted Divine

Providence would so bless the efforts of his forces that the war might

be ended in the present campaign; that the constitutional obedience to

the laws, which is due from all the subjects of a free state, would be

speedily re-established.

SUCCESSES OF WASHINGTON.

Long before parliament was prorogued events had transpired which, if

known, would have almost precluded the hope that the war in America

would soon be successfully terminated. Notwithstanding his reverses,

encouraged by congress, Washington exerted himself to raise a standing

army. He met with great difficulties; and as the militia could not be

stimulated to exertion, he had reason to fear that in a short time he

should be left without any forces. In this emergency, Washington

decided that something must be done to raise the drooping spirits of

his followers. Circumstances favoured his decision. After the detachment

which Lord Cornwallis had led through the Jerseys was put into

winter-quarters, many of the officers had obtained leave of absence, and

had repaired to New York, to enjoy themselves at head-quarters. The men

who were left behind, also seem to have indulged themselves in Christmas

festivities; being the more induced to lead a jovial life from their

recent victories, and from the supposition that Washington’s army was

completely disorganized. In all their cantonments, which were straggling

and far apart, a careless confidence prevailed, and it happened

unfortunately, likewise, that one of the most critical points was

entrusted to a body of Hessians, and unprovided with any defence. But

while they were slumbering in fancied security, Washington was marking

them for his prey. He had spies everywhere, and having ascertained

the situation of our forces, he resolved to try the effect of a sudden

attack, which might induce his enemy to fall back from the Delaware.

Accordingly, on the 24th of December, he collected his forces on

the opposite banks of the river, and on the next day he made his

preparations for crossing it at night-fall. Difficulties which he had to

surmount prevented him from gaining the left bank before three o’clock

in the morning; but by that time his troops were collected a little

above Trenton, where the Hessians were posted under the command of

Colonel Rhalle. At the same time Generals Irving and Cadwallader were

ordered to cross the river lower down, in order to cut off the retreat

of the Hessians. These generals, however, could not get their artillery

across the river, and they returned, leaving Washington with his

division, which consisted of 2,500 of his best men, to perform his

enterprise alone. It was four o’clock before he could get his troops

into motion, and then he had to march eight or nine miles before he

could reach Trenton, where the Hessians lay. But these mercenaries were

buried in sleep and Christmas drink; and though it was daylight before

the Americans arrived, they permitted themselves to be almost surrounded

before they prepared for resistance. The event was disastrous. Colonel

Rhalle assembled all that he could of his three regiments, and bravely

charged Washington’s main body; but at the very commencement of the

attack he was mortally wounded by an American rifle, and the Hessians

being encompassed on all sides with muskets and artillery, to the number

of nearly a thousand, laid down their arms and surrendered. A troop of

British light-horse, and about five hundred infantry, who were stationed

at the lower end of Trenton, towards the bridge, escaped to Borden town;

but Washington recrossed the Delaware in triumph, with his prisoners,

six field-pieces, and a quantity of military stores.

This expedition had a surprising effect on the Americans. Hitherto the

Hessians had been looked upon as invincible; but to show that this was

a mere fiction Washington dispatched the prisoners to Philadelphia, and

caused them to be paraded through the town. His troops were now soon

augmented, and those whose time was expired agreed to remain a little

longer, upon receiving a bounty of ten dollars per man. This success of

Washington, however, made him rash. In a few days, the Delaware

being frozen over, and the ice strong enough to bear his army and the

artillery, he resolved to recover the Jerseys. On the last day of the

year, 1776 therefore, he again crossed the Delaware, and took post at

Trenton, where he had captured the Hessians. His reappearance alarmed

the British general, and Lord Cornwallis, who had reached New York

on his road to England, was ordered back to take the command in the

Jerseys. Having effected a junction with Generals Grant and Leslie,

at Princetown, on the 2nd of January, Lord Cornwallis descended from

thence, drove the enemy’s posts before him, and by four o’clock in the

afternoon reached Trenton. A severe cannonade commenced, and Washington

retired across the Assumpinck, a creek which runs through the town. He

was followed by Cornwallis; but the British, finding the fords of the

creek guarded by artillery, desisted from the attempt to pass over the

fords, and night coming on, both armies kindled their fires, and spread

their blankets whereon to rest. Cornwallis hoped to bring on a general

engagement in the morning: but Washington, aware of this, and being

prevented from recrossing the Delaware by a rapid and temporary thaw,

he resolved to strike across the country, and get into the rear of

Princetown, where no considerable British force had been left, At two

o’clock in the morning the Americans stole silently away; having first

renewed their bivouac-fires, and left their advanced pickets and several

small parties to guard for a time the fords of Assumpinck Creek. On his

march, about sunrise, Washington fell in with two British regiments

under Colonel Mawhood, in full march from Princetown, to join the

forces at Trenton. At first, the morning being foggy, Mawhood mistook

the Americans for Hessians; but soon discovering his error, he opened

a heavy charge of artillery upon them, which threw their van into

disorder. One of the regiments now rushed forward with fixed bayonets,

and drove the Americans back to a ravine, which separated them from the

rear; and in this attack General Mercer who was attempting to rally the

rabble rout, was mortally wounded. Washington came up with the rear, and

succeeded in getting his main body into order and passing the ravine,

but in so doing he lost five more of his best officers, and was himself

beset with danger. After several efforts, he succeeded in severing

the two regiments under Mawhood, which success opened his way to

Princetown. At the same time, part of the British force which he had

encountered marched forward for Trenton, and part retreated towards New

Brunswick. Washington entered Princetown, but as Lord Cornwallis had

discovered his retreat, and was now in his rear, he left that town, and

reached and crossed Millstone River; breaking down the bridge to prevent

his being pursued. Cornwallis marched to New Brunswick, where he lay for

many days, during which time Washington overran the greater part of East

and West Jersey; made himself master of the coast opposite to Staten

Island, by occupying Newark, Elizabeth Town, and Woodbridge; and fixed

his head-quarters at Morris Town, a place situated among hills and

difficult of access, with a fine country in its rear, abounding in

supplies. By these events the whole of the Jerseys were for a time lost

to England: and it was not only the success of Washington’s arms which

led to this consummation. The inhabitants of the Jerseys had been

harassed and plundered by the British, and more especially by the

Hessian troops, whence, no sooner had Washington, who restrained

the troops under him from committing acts of violence, issued a

proclamation, absolving all those who had taken the oath of allegiance

tendered by the king’s commissioners, and promising them friendship and

protection on condition of taking another oath prescribed by congress,

than the majority of them declared in his favour; and while not a few

joined his army, others rendered him service by pretending still to be

royalists, and acting as his spies in the English cantonments, and even

in New York itself. Yet all the while Washington was thus acting—while

he was issuing proclamations, recruiting his forces, strengthening his

positions, erecting forts, mills, and magazines, reconciling the people

of the country to the dominion of congress, and even cutting off the

supplies of the British advanced posts at Brunswick and Amboy, the

British commander was only a few miles distant, with a far superior

force, and with a good fleet at command. True, it was winter; but it

must be recollected that all the successes which had attended the arms

of Washington were the results of a winter campaign. Still something

was done by General Howe during this season of repose. Several thousand

provincial troops, native Americans, and ardent royalists were enrolled

and trained, and placed under the command of Governor Tryon, who was

honoured with the rank of major-general of the provincials. And the good

faith of these troops might be calculated upon, for the greater part

had been losers by the revolution, not only of property, but of the

consideration which they had held in the colonies; and they hoped,

therefore, to regain all that they had lost. Moreover, during the

winter, an intercourse was kept up with the royalists in other parts of

the continent; and both Washington and congress were frequently alarmed

by rumours of movements and insurrections in various colonies. Congress,

however, by means of the committees of safety, did what they could to

remove all persons of influence and “desperate character” into some

remote place, where they could effect no harm to the republican cause.

BRITISH EXPEDITION UP THE HUDSON RIVER.

In the course of the spring General Howe was assured that Washington’s

main position, now among the Jersey hills, and called the Manor of

Courland, was converted into a kind of citadel, and that the port to

which his supplies were chiefly carried was Peekshill, about fifty mites

up the Hudson River. Acting upon this information he sent a detachment

of five hundred men, under the command of Colonel Bird, in a couple of

transports, to drive the Americans away from Peekshill, and to capture

their stores. As Bird approached the Americans fled from their position,

but before they retreated they set fire to their store-houses, so that

no booty was obtained. Shortly after this exploit Howe sent 2000 men,

under the command of Governor Tryon, General Agnew, and Sir William

Erskine, to seize a large quantity of stores which had been collected

for Washington’s army at Danbury, on the borders of Connecticut. This

detachment sailed up the east river in transports, and having landed

at Camp’s Point, the troops marched to Danbury. On their approach, the

Americans fled precipitately, and they entered the town, where they

found a large quantity of stores; but having no carriages to carry

them away, they were burned, together with the town of Danbury. Having

completed their work of destruction, the detachment began to inarch back

to their shipping; but while they had been thus employed the Connecticut

men had been running in from all quarters, and had collected under the

American generals, Wooster, Silliman, and Arnold. The latter general was

posted at the little town of Bridgefield, and as there was no road but

through the town, it was necessary to force his entrenchments. This was

effected after a short but terrible conflict; and as it was now near

night, and the British troops were fatigued, they formed themselves into

an oblong square, and lay upon their arms till morning. In the morning,

when they recommenced their march, they encountered fresh dangers.

General Wooster had brought some field-artillery, and had placed it at

the end of a bridge, over which he thought the British must of necessity

pass; and when they arrived at the bridge they found him with his

artillery and two strong columns drawn up on the bank of the river.

Their guide, however, led them to a ford, three miles above the bridge,

and there they crossed without opposition. But from this ford, nearly

all the way to Camp’s Point, they were harassed in flank and rear by the

American troops, who seemed resolved to cut them off. They paid dearly

for their temerity. Just before the royal troops reached Camp’s Point

Sir William Erskine, placing himself at the head of four hundred men,

charged the two American columns, broke them, drove them back across the

country, and General Wooster, with several field officers and a great

many men, were left dead upon the field. The loss of the British,

also, in killed and wounded, amounted to about two hundred—the rest

re-embarked and returned to New York.

AMERICAN EXPEDITION TO LONG ISLAND.

On both sides the contest at this time assumed the features of a

predatory warfare. Having learned that the British had collected a large

quantity of stores on Long Island, at a place called Sagg’s Harbour, the

Americans resolved to destroy them by a night attack. This expedition

was undertaken by Colonel Meigs, a Connecticut man, and he crossed

the sound in whale-boats, reached the harbour before break of day, and

though he met with some resistance, he succeeded in setting fire to

the store-houses and to some of the shipping, and also in taking about

ninety prisoners, with whom he returned triumphant to Connecticut.

CAPTURE OF GENERAL PRESCOT, ETC.

During the winter of the preceding year, while Washington was retreating

before Lord Cornwallis Colonel Harcourt, who commanded our light-horse,

took prisoner Charles Lee, who had deserted from the British service, in

which he held the rank of colonel, and had gone over to the Americans,

who conferred on him the rank of major-general. Lee was attempting to

join Washington’s force with 3000 men, when he was captured, and his

loss seems to have been considered a severe blow to the cause of

the Americans. Washington, indeed, proposed giving six Hessian

field-officers in exchange for him; which was refused, on the ground

that Lee was a deserter from the king’s service, and therefore could not

be considered as a prisoner of war, or be exchanged by cartel. Congress

then took up the business, and directed that Washington should inform

General Howe that five Hessian field-officers and Lieutenant-colonel

Archibald Campbell, who had been captured at Boston after Howe had

evacuated that city, should be thrown into confinement, and subjected

to the same treatment which Lee should receive. This would have been no

great hardship; for Lee was merely confined to a commodious house, and

had every accommodation; but shutting their eyes to this well-known

fact, congress threw Campbell into the common gaol of Concord, and

decorated his loathsome dungeon with the ornaments of the gallows

or gibbet. Washington himself represented the iniquity of such a

proceeding, but to no purpose: the chagrin felt at the capture and

retention of Lee forbade the exercise of a manly and liberal feeling.

Congress had soon an opportunity of exhibiting their chagrin in a still

stronger light. General Prescot, commanding-officer on Rhode Island,

had imprudently fixed his head-quarters near the western shore, at a

considerable distance from his troops. This was known to Colonel Barton,

an American officer, and he, with several other militia officers

and volunteers, chiefly Rhode Islanders, crossed over by night from

Warwick-neck to Rhode Island, and took General Prescot in his bed,

hurried him to their boats, and sailed away to the main land. It was

announced that Prescot should be hanged if Lee were shot; and they

treated him in the interval with great severity, in order to make

General Howe consent to an exchange, to which he finally agreed.

{GEORGE III. 1777–1778}

BATTLE OF THE BRANDYWINE, ETC.

At length, in the month of June, General Howe took the field. At this

time Washington, who had been greatly reinforced, had taken up a strong

position at Middle Brook, having entrenchments and formidable batteries

in his front. It was the object of Howe to tempt the American general to

quit this position; and having failed in various expedients, on the 19th

of June he ordered his main body to retire to Amboy. This succeeded.

Washington abandoned what had cost him so much trouble to create, and

advanced to Quibble Town. The mass of the British troops now moved back

by different routes, in order to get on the American general’s flank and

rear, and by intervening between him and the hills, to force him to

a conflict on open ground. Lord Cornwallis led the van, and he had not

marched far before he fell in with Washington’s advanced body, who were

advantageously posted, and well provided with artillery. The British

troops, however, attacked them with such impetuosity that the Americans

fled, and were pursued as far as Westfield, leaving behind them some

of their cannon, and two hundred men in killed and wounded. But by

this time Washington had seen his error, and he quickly remedied it by

regaining his station on the hills, and securing those passes which were

the main object of Cornwallis’s expedition. General Howe now altered his

whole plan of operation. He called in all his detachments, concentrated

his army at Amboy, and then passed over to Staten Island, leaving

Washington in possession of the Jerseys. His men wondered what he meant

to do; but they soon learned that his object was to take Philadelphia.

To this end he set sail with his army on the 23rd of July, and on the

30th he rounded the coast to the capes of Delaware. His intention was

to have sailed up the Delaware to Philadelphia; but discovering that the

Americans had raised prodigious impediments on that river, he sailed to

Chesapeake Bay, where he landed about the middle of August. By this time

his men had become worn out by the long confinement on ship-board, and

the horses had become almost useless; so that it was necessary for them

to have rest before they proceeded on their enterprise. The van was

put in motion on the 2nd of September, and on the day following, his

advanced body fell in with some detachments of the enemy, scattered

them, and took up their position, which was on Iron Hill, and which

commanded a view of the Delaware river. It was now discovered that

Washington had left the Jerseys and was in the field to oppose the

advance of the British troops. He had taken possession of some heights

on the eastern side of the river Brandywine, which falls into the

Delaware below Philadelphia, with an intention of disputing the passage.

Howe must necessarily cross this river in order to obtain the great

object of the campaign, and he resolved to force his way over. The

position of the enemy was formidable; but, notwithstanding, on the

11th of September, the attempt was made, and that successfully. General

Knyphausen advanced with the second division of the army to Chad’s Ford,

as a feint; and while the Americans were defending that point, Lord

Cornwallis had marched a few miles round, crossed the forks of the

Brandywine, and came upon Washington’s flank. On discovering this the

Americans fell into great confusion, and Knyphausen then rushed with

his division across Chad’s Ford, and drove them from their batteries and

entrenchments at the point of the bayonet. Later in the day the British

forces attacked the Americans, under General Sullivan, who were strongly

posted on the heights above Birmingham church, and drove them from

thence in great confusion. In the whole they lost three hundred killed,

about six hundred wounded, and four hundred who were taken prisoners,

besides several pieces of artillery; but Washington kept his corps

together, and retired with his cannon and baggage to Chester, where

he passed the night without molestation. On the following morning he

marched by Derby to Philadelphia, where he collected his scattered

troops, in order to defend the city.

CAPTURE OF PHILADELPHIA.

General Howe advanced towards, Philadelphia with caution. This was

necessary, for the enemy hovered about him and threatened an attack.

Washington, indeed, had not yet relinquished all hope of impeding the

enemy’s progress, and he made an attempt to repeat the stratagem which

had been so successfully executed by Lord Cornwallis. When Howe put

his army in motion he marched towards Chester, and took possession of

Wilmington, where he lodged his sick and wounded. He was now about

a day’s march from Philadelphia; but there was the river Schuylkill

intervening between him and that city, and on the bank of that river

General Armstrong was posted to dispute the passage. At the same time

Washington had struck away to the left of the British, by the Lancaster

road, in the hope of getting on Howe’s flank. Both Philadelphia and the

inhabitants around, however, were friendly to the cause of Howe; and

having gained timely information from some country-people, he extended

his line, and presented such a front on the Lancaster-road that

Washington was defeated in his design. A heavy fall of rain, also, had

the effect of keeping the combatants asunder, for the ammunition on

both sides was thereby rendered useless. Washington fell back to Warwick

Furnace, on the south branch of the French Creek; and from thence he

detached General Wayne, with 1,500 men, to cross a rough country and

get, if possible, into the rear of the enemy. But here again he was

foiled. Wayne’s movement was discovered, and Major-general Gray, who was

sent against him, attacked him suddenly by night in his bivouac, slew

three hundred men, took one hundred prisoners, and captured all the

baggage of those who fled. Washington now gave up his intention of

defending the line of the Schuylkill and covering Philadelphia, and he

retreated so as to leave the road open. Three days after, the British

army passed that river, and took possession of German Town. By this time

congress had fled from Philadelphia; and on the 26th of October,

Lord Cornwallis, at the head of a strong detachment, took undisputed

possession of the city. Congress had threatened to set fire to the

place rather than let it fall into the hands of the British: but they

abandoned this design, and no incendiaries were left, as at New York.

Some loyal Quakers, and other royalists, had been put under arrest on

Howe’s approach, and about twenty of them had been sent close prisoners

to Staunton, in Virginia; but the majority of the people remained at

Philadelphia, and were well affected to the cause of the mother country.

OPENING OF THE DELAWARE.

By the capture of Philadelphia a communication was facilitated between

the northern and south provinces, and nothing was required for an active

co-operation between the army and the navy, but the opening of the

Delaware. There was a great difficulty, however, in effecting this

object. Franklin was now gone to Paris in his diplomatic capacity, but

before he went he had caused some tremendous works to be erected on that

river. Three rows of _chevaux-de-frise_, composed of immense beams of

timber, were sunk across its bed, a little below the confluence of the

Schuylkill, and the lower line of the _chevaux-de-frise_ was protected

by some works erected on the Jersey shore, at Billing’s Port, while

the upper line was defended by a battery, mounting heavy cannon, and

situated on a flat, marshy land, near the Pennsylvanian bank of the

liver. On the opposite bank, also, there was a formidable redoubt and

intrenchments, with floating batteries, armed galleys under cover,

rafts, with guns upon them, and a great many fire-ships. Moreover,

higher up the river, the Americans had two frigates, and several

gondolas or gun-boats; while, lower down, there were various works to

obstruct the navigation. At this time Lord Howe arrived with his fleet,

and soon after commenced operations. Three batteries were erected on the

Philadelphia side of the river, and Colonel Stirling was thrown across

the river to the Jersey shore to sweep the works at Billing’s Port,

which commanded the first line of _chevaux-de-frise_. The Americans fled

at his approach, and Captain Hammond then sailed up the Delaware, broke

the _chevaux-de-frise_, and made a gap wide enough to admit the largest

of our ships of war. Two other rows of _chevaux-de-frise_, however,

remained, with the forts on the bank of the river and the marshy island.

Against these the British now directed their operations; but while they

were making preparations, Washington, who had withdrawn to Skippack

Creek, about sixteen miles from Philadelphia, and who had been

reinforced by 2,500 men, resolved to attempt a surprise. Favoured by a

thick fog, on the 3rd of October, he quitted his encampment, and by dawn

of day arrived at German Town, where a body of the British troops were

posted. Taken by surprise, these troops retreated; but Colonel Musgrave,

by whom they were commanded, threw himself into a large stone house with

five companies, and kept up such an incessant fire upon the assailants

that their progress was impeded, till the troops rallied and got under

arms and into line. Musgrave was summoned to surrender, but he defied

the enemy; and General Grey with Brigadier Agnew coming up to his

relief, the Americans were beaten out of the village, and Washington was

compelled to retreat to Skippack Creek, leaving behind him eight hundred

killed and wounded, and about four hundred prisoners. The opening of the

navigation of the Delaware was now eagerly pursued. An attempt was made

by the Hessians to storm the American redoubt and intrenchment at

Red Bank, on the opposite side of the river; but after carrying the

outer-works they were repulsed, and their commander, Count Dunnop, with

four hundred of his men, were slain. At the same time two sloops-of-war,

the Augusta and Merlin, which were sent to aid in the assault, ran

aground while they endeavoured to avoid the _chevaux-de-frise_ and were

burnt. Preparations, however, being made for attacking the fort on the

marshy island, which was the chief defense of the river, an attack was

made, and a breach was soon effected in the works, which ensured its

capture. Two days after this Lord Cornwallis proceeded against the

redoubt on Red Bank, and this was also captured. Franklin’s ingenious

mechanism was then destroyed, and a full and free communication was

established along the whole course of the Delaware.

CLOSE OF HOWE’S CAMPAIGN.

It was towards the end of November that the river Delaware was opened.

By this time General Howe seems to have considered that his work was

done for the year. His supineness, and the slow movements of his army,

seem at all times to have been favourable to the cause of the enemy;

for though he was generally partially successful when he did act, yet he

always gave Washington sufficient time to rectify his many blunders and

to repair his losses. But though Howe thought of repose, Washington

had no intention of letting him enjoy himself. Having received a

reinforcement of 4000 men from the army of the North—which, as will be

seen, had rendered important service to the American cause—he quitted

Skippack Creek, and took post at White Marsh, only fourteen miles from

Philadelphia. Howe felt called upon to make fresh exertions, for the

proximity of the American forces shut him out from a fertile source of

supplies. Accordingly he quitted Philadelphia, and took post on Chesnut

Hill, in front of Washington’s right wing. Here he remained for two

days, with his troops drawn out in line of battle, hoping to tempt

Washington to come to a general engagement. Nothing occurred, however,

but a slight skirmish, in which the American militia ran like a rabble

before some light-infantry; and Howe then removed to Edge Hill, about a

mile from Washington’s left wing. Here a decided advantage was gained by

Lord Cornwallis, who drove a strong body of the American troops from the

crest of that hill, and a favourable opportunity was afforded, from the

dismay which their retreat occasioned, for attacking the main body with

success. But Howe was still cautious, and seeing that Washington was not

disposed to quit his camp, he returned to Philadelphia, there to spend

the winter. But Washington was determined to keep the field, despite the

winter’s cold, which had now set in, and he selected a strong piece of

ground, thickly covered with wood, at Valley Forge, on the west side

of the Schuykill, and about twenty-five miles from Philadelphia. This

position was chosen in order to keep Howe in check, and Philadelphia in

great discomfort, and he was allowed to take possession of it without

any molestation. The way in which Washington executed his plan does

honour to his perseverance. He had but few tents, and, even if there had

been an abundance, mere canvass would not have protected his men from

the rigour of an American winter. Under these circumstances he imitated

the backwoodsman’s practice of hutting. Trees were felled, and log-huts

wore erected, the interstices of which were filled up with earth, moss,

and a rude kind of mortar, in order to render them warm and comfortable.

Around them, for defence, two redoubts were erected and an intrenchment,

drawn with a ditch six feet wide and three or four feet deep. His left

was covered by the Schuylkill, and his rear, for the most part, by an

abrupt precipice; but his right was somewhat accessible, and the centre

of his front was weak, notwithstanding his intrenchments. There was,

however, no cause for fear: Howe was in snug winter-quarters, and had

no disposition to move till the flowers of the earth reappeared, and his

men might be animated by the cheerfulness of the spring. He seemed to

forget that there was such a place as Valley Forge, and such a resolute

commander on that spot. For resolute indeed must have been the man who

could thus defy the winter’s cold, and resolute also must have been his

troops to submit to the hardships which they had to encounter on Valley

Forge. Hundreds of them, it is said, had not a blanket to cover them

in the night season, while the winds blew, and the storm beat, and the

snows drifted over and around their huts. There they lay, naked and

shivering on the bare ground, none murmuring at their lot. Those that

lived endured their miseries patiently; those that died expired with

silent resignation. And hunger was added to their lingering tortures;

for congress failed to procure them needful supplies. Of this Washington

bitterly complained; but as the evil could not be obviated without

creating distress in other quarters, no effectual assistance could be

rendered. The chief thing which congress did to afford the troops relief

was to authorise Washington to seize all provisions which he could

within seventy miles of Valley Forge; and such was his extremity, that

he was compelled, at least on one occasion, to avail himself of this

authority, though repugnant to his feelings. But this only afforded a

temporary relief, and the army was, towards the close of the winter,

on the very verge of total starvation. Washington stated to congress

at this period, that there was not a single head of cattle in the camp;

that he had only twenty-five barrels of flour; and that there were 3000

men unfit for duty, being bare-footed and naked, besides numbers who

were confined by sickness in the hospitals and farm-houses. But even then

congress was slow in affording relief, and enabling the army to

make preparations for the ensuing campaign. Yet, sustained by hope,

Washington and his army preserved their fortitude, and resolved to try

once more their fortune on the field of battle.

[Illustration: 109.jpg GENERAL BURGOYNE ADDRESSING THE INDIANS]

EXPEDITION AND CAPTURE OF BURGOYNE.

Perhaps one cause which sustained the spirits of Washington and his

troops in Valley Forge may be found in the success which had attended

the American arms in the North. A plan had been formed by the British

government to send an army by the Canadian Lakes to Hudson’s River, for

the purpose of cutting off all communication between the northern and

the southern colonies. For parliamentary reasons ministers thought

proper to take the command from General Carleton, who had re-established

our supremacy on these lakes, and to confer it on General Burgoyne. The

plans which Burgoyne had to follow in his expedition were minutely and

absolutely laid down by the ministry, they having concocted them from

inaccurate maps and uncertain and contradictory reports. Nothing,

however, was wanting to promote the success of the undertaking.

Burgoyne’s force amounted to 7,200 men, rank and file, exclusive of the

corps of artillery, and vast quantities of warlike stores were furnished

for the use of those Canadians who might enter the British service.

French Canadians, to the number of two or three thousand, joined

Burgoyne; and as that general had been authorised to accept the services

of the fierce Indians, several of those tribes willingly took up the

hatchet against the Americans. The first thing Burgoyne was to do, was

to take Ticonderago; and his preparations being made, he set out from

Fort St, John, on the Sorel, on the 16th of June, for that purpose.

Having detached Colonel St. Leger, with about eight hundred men, to make

a diversion on the side of the Mohawk River. Burgoyne, preceded by the

shipping, began his course, having columns of Indians on his right

and left flank. At Crown Point there were a considerable number of

Americans, but they retired at the approach of the flotilla, and the

troops were safely landed. Here Burgoyne treated the Indians with a

war-feast, in order to whet their appetites for slaughter; though, at

the same time, he exhorted them to relinquish their old habits, and to

fight like civilized men. But he might as well have attempted to change

their natural colour by washing them with soap and water; and, moreover,

the effects of his precepts must have been set aside by the tenor of a

proclamation, which he issued immediately after, and which threatened

such of the insurgents as should continue in their obstinacy with

destruction. This proclamation was unheeded, and in a few days, after

erecting some magazines and slight defences at Crown Point, Burgoyne

proceeded to Ticonderago. The Americans had greatly strengthened their

works at this fort; but as they had not troops sufficient to man them,

General St. Clair, who held the command there, evacuated it, and putting

their baggage and provisions on board of batteaux, the Americans fled

to Skenesborough. The batteaux sailed along the South River, and being

pursued by a brigade of gun-boats, it was overtaken and captured, or

destroyed near the falls of Skenesborough. General Burgoyne followed

with one part of his army, in other gun-boats and two small frigates,

while Generals Frazer and Reidesel marched after St. Clair by land.

Skenesborough was captured with as much ease as Ticonderago; the

Americans who had occupied the place retiring hastily to Fort Anne, and

St. Clair marching with headlong haste to Castletown. The rear of the

retreating army was overtaken by General Frazer, and Colonel Francis,

with many officers, and two hundred men were slain, while a similar

number were taken prisoners, and about five hundred wounded crawled

away to perish in the woods, vainly hoping to escape to the inhabited

country. St. Clair continued his route from Castletown, and after a

fatiguing march arrived at Fort Edward, on the Hudson, where General

Schuyler, the American commander-in-chief, was stationed with about

4,400 men under his command. And here the reverses of the British arms

commenced. Being joined by St. Clair, and by Colonel Long, who was

compelled to evacuate Fort Anne, General Schuyler commenced a series of

active operations to baffle the advancing enemy. He broke up the roads

and the bridges; blocked up creeks and rivers; swept the country bare

of live-stock and all kinds of provisions; called up the militia and

backwoodsmen of New England and New York; and having succeeded in

collecting a numerous though motley force, he issued a proclamation in

the name of the congress of the United States, threatening death and

destruction to all who should send any deputation or afford any aid

to the enemy. It would have been prudent in Burgoyne had he taken a

different course to that which was laid down in his instructions, but he

resolved to persevere in that course. Having sent General Philips with

a strong detachment to proceed by Lake George with the artillery,

provisions, and baggage, he struck across the country, with the mass

of his force, towards Fort Edward. His progress was but slow, for his

troops had to remove the impediments which Schuyler had caused to

be thrown in his way; and, added to this, their inarch was rendered

fatiguing by the sultry heat of the weather. Nevertheless, by the 30th

of July, they reached the river Hudson, near Fort Edward, and Schuyler

retired across the river at their approach. Burgoyne waited in the

neighbourhood of Fort Edward for the arrival of General Philips with the

artillery, provisions, and stores, and for the junction of Colonel St.

Léger, who had from the first proceeded on a different line of march,

and who was now descending from Oswego, the Onedia Lake, and Wood Creek,

by the Mohawk River, which falls into the Hudson. St. Leger stopped at

the upper end of Mohawk to lay siege to Stanwix Fort, and upon receiving

this information General Burgoyne thought it his duty to support him. As

a preparatory measure he detached Colonel Baum to surprise Bennington,

a place between the forks of the Ilosick River, about twenty-four miles

eastward of the Hudson, and where the American stores were deposited.

The troops employed by Burgoyne for this enterprise were Germans, always

slow in their motions, and before they reached Bennington their design

had become known, and the Americans were ready to receive them. Baum

had only six hundred men with him, and he applied to Burgoyne for

reinforcements; and another detachment of German soldiers, consisting

of five hundred men, under Lieutenant-colonel Breyman, were sent to his

assistance. Breyman, however, was as slow in his movements as Baum had

been, and, before he could arrive, the first detachment of Germans were

completely surrounded by a body of more than 1,500 Americans. Colonel

Baum sustained the attack with great bravery; but he was at length slain

by a rifle-shot, and then the Germans retreated into some woods in the

direction of Fort Edward. It was at this critical moment that Breyman

came up, and having succeeded in putting the fugitives of Baum’s

detachment into some order, he fought his way back to Burgoyne’s

encampment. Instead of taking Bennington and the military stores,

Burgoyne lost five hundred men in killed and wounded in this expedition.

in the meantime St. Leger was prosecuting the siege of Stanwix Fort.

As he lay before this fort, he discovered that General Harkimer was

advancing to its relief with 1000 men under his command. He had with him

several tribes of savages, and St. Leger detached these, with a party

of regulars under Sir John Johnson, into the woods to lie in ambush.

Harkimer fell into the snare, and nearly four hundred of his men were

either killed or wounded, while the rest fled back to the Hudson. Still

Fort Stanwix held out, and the savages, growing weary of the siege, and

being falsely informed by some Americans that Burgoyne’s army had been

cut to pieces, insisted upon retiring. Many deserted, and St. Leger,

hearing that Arnold was approaching with 2000 men, and ten pieces of

artillery, he was compelled to raise the siege and to retreat. These

defeats, and the failure of St. Leger, contributed greatly to the ruin

of Burgoyne’s expedition. It has been seen, that on the arrival of that

general near Fort Edward, the Americans under Schuyler had retreated

across the Hudson. They had taken up their position at Saratoga, lower

down the river, and soon after, General Gates, an Englishman by birth

and education, took the chief command, and he was subsequently joined

by General Arnold. On his arrival, Gates removed the troops to an island

near the confluence of the Mohawk with the Hudson, about eight

miles below Albany, and called “Still Water.” Here he had a strong

star-redoubt and other defences; and against him, as he lay in this

position, Burgoyne having passed the Hudson by a bridge of boats, led

his forces. About the middle of September Burgoyne encamped on the

heights of Saratoga, in the face of the enemy. The mass of the British

army formed, on the 19th, close in front of the American left; the

right wing being commanded by Burgoyne, the left by Generals Philip

and Reidesel, and the front and flanks being covered by Indians and

Canadians. Without waiting to be attacked, General Gates threw out 5000

men to attempt turning the right of the British forces, and to attack

General Burgoyne in his rear. In making this attempt, however, he lost

between five hundred and six hundred men in killed and wounded, besides

several officers; and at night he deemed it prudent to collect all his

forces into and round the star-redoubt. The attack on the British

right had been made by General Arnold, and Burgoyne’s loss was scarcely

inferior to that of his enemy. That night the British army lay on their

arms in the field of battle; but as the day dawned, they began to erect

works within cannon-shot of the enemy, with strong redoubts on their

right. The two armies lay in sight of each other, from the 20th of

September till the 7th of October, during which time Burgoyne’s troops

had nearly consumed all their provisions. Burgoyne’s situation was a

critical one, and no time was lost in giving General Howe information of

it, in the hope that he would either co-operate or cause a diversion

to be made in his favour. Howe had just taken Philadelphia, and being

wholly occupied with Washington, and in destroying the forts and strong

works on the Delaware, could not spare a thought on the matter. Sir

Henry Clinton, however, who had the command of the troops left at

New York, informed Burgoyne that he would, on his own responsibility,

attempt a diversion, by attacking Forts Montgomery and Clinton, on the

lower part of the Hudson. Burgoyne agreed to remain in his position,

therefore, till the 12th of October: but his Indian followers, in

the meantime, disappointed in their hopes of plunder, annoyed at his

endeavours to check their ferocity, and wishing to return, as their

hunting-season had commenced, began to desert from him in great numbers.

Still Burgoyne, hoping that Clinton’s diversion would effect his

deliverance from clanger, would not think of retreating. On the other

hand, the Americans were greatly favoured by this delay. Every day

reinforcements arrived from the southern and northern provinces, while

stores and provisions poured into their camp in great abundance. General

Gates, indeed, having been joined by General Lincoln with 2000 men, at

the suggestion of Arnold, now adopted a scheme likely to reduce Burgoyne

to the stern necessity of an unconditional surrender. A considerable

body of New England militia, who had assembled in the rear of Burgoyne’s

forces, were sent to surprise Ticonderago, Mount Independence, and

Fort George, and to cut Burgoyne off from all supplies, and even from a

retreat to Canada. Colonel Brown, to whom this enterprise was entrusted,

failed in his main designs; but he destroyed some vessels which were

bringing provisions to Burgoyne, and then returned to his former station

in the rear of the enemy. Other American forces also collected between

the British army and the Lakes. Burgoyne’s difficulties increased daily.

The red-men, who had hitherto remained with him, now deserted, while the

Canadians and loyal Americans in his army lost all courage. But what

was worse than all, his provisions began to fail, while his horses were

perishing for want of forage. No tidings were yet heard of Clinton’s

diversion; and rendered desperate by his situation, Burgoyne resolved

to attempt dislodging Gates from his position. Accordingly, he advanced

forward with 1,500 men and a considerable body of artillery; but this

detachment had scarcely formed within half a mile of the American

intrenchments when they were attacked by a superior force, under Arnold,

and driven back to their camp, with the loss of six pieces of cannon.

From being assailed, the Americans now became the assailants. A furious

assault was made on the British lines; and though it was repulsed on the

English side of the camp, and Arnold was wounded, yet the intrenchments

on the German side of the camp were carried, and two hundred prisoners,

with a large supply of ammunition, were captured. Night closed on the

scene of carnage, and Lieutenant-colonel Brooks, who had defeated the

Germans, kept the ground he had won within the line of the British

intrenchments. In the engagement, General Frazer and Colonel Breyman

were mortally wounded; and on the following morning Burgoyne,

disheartened by this loss, removed his whole army, with their artillery

and baggage, to some heights above the bank of the Hudson, extending his

right up that river. In doing so, he left his wounded to the humanity of

General Gates and his army—a confidence which was not misplaced.

In his new position Burgoyne repeatedly offered battle to the enemy, but

without effect. The design of Gates was to obtain an easier victory by

turning the right of the British army and enclosing them on all

sides; and seeing this, Burgoyne quitted his position and fell back to

Saratoga, where he found the passes towards the Canadian frontiers all

pre-occupied by the Americans, while the further banks of the river were

lined with troops, which, together with numerous batteaux, commanded the

navigation. No means of escape seemed left but by a rapid night-march

to Fort Edward; but before preparations were made for this it was

discovered that the fords at that place were occupied, and that the

high grounds between that fort and Fort George were everywhere secured.

Burgoyne’s situation was now desperate. The 13th of October had

arrived, and no tidings were heard of Clinton’s diversion. Thus

unsupported, deserted by his Indian allies, worn down by a series of

incessant exertions, greatly reduced through repeated battles, and

invested by an army three times their number, and which was hourly

increasing, the British officers at length thought of capitulation.

There was no alternative, for their provisions were nearly spent;

and though the enemy declined battle, yet rifle and grape-shot were

continually pouring into the British camp. All hope of relief or of

extrication from danger fled; and a council-of-war being called, which

comprehended field-officers and captains, it was unanimously resolved to

capitulate, if it could be done on honourable terms. This was a

bitter step to take, but no other could be taken, and this message was

therefore sent by Major Kingston to General Gates:—“After having fought

you twice, Lieutenant-general Burgoyne has waited some days in his

present position, determined to try a third conflict against any force

you could bring against him. He is apprised of the superiority of your

numbers, and the disposition of your troops to impede his supplies, and

render his retreat a scene of carnage on both sides. In this situation,

he is impelled by humanity, and thinks himself justified, by established

principles and precedents of state and war, to spare the lives of brave

men upon honourable terms. Should Major-general Gates be inclined to

treat upon that idea, General Burgoyne would propose a cessation of

arms during the time necessary to communicate the preliminary terms, by

which, in any extremity, he and his army mean to abide.” In reply, Gates

demanded that the British troops should ground their arms, and surrender

themselves prisoners-of-war. To this Burgoyne answered:—“This article

is inadmissible in every extremity: sooner than the army will consent to

ground their aims in their encampment, they will rush on the enemy, with

a determination to take no quarter.” In the end, after much negotiation,

a convention was settled, which imported, that Burgoyne’s troops were to

march out of the camp, with all the honours of war, to the verge of the

Hudson River, where their arms and artillery were to be left; that a

free passage should be granted the troops to Great Britain, on condition

of their not serving again in America; that if any cartel should take

place by which Burgoyne’s army, or any part of it, should be exchanged,

the foregoing article should be void, so far as that exchange extended;

that care should be taken for the subsistence of the British troops

till they should be embarked; that all officers should deliver up their

carriages, bat-horses, &c., but that their baggage should be free from

molestation; that the officers should not be separated from the men,

and should be quartered according to their rank; that all the troops,

of whatever country they might be, should be included in the above

articles; that all Canadians, and persons belonging to the Canadian

establishment, should be permitted to return to Canada, should be

conducted to the first British post on Lake George, should be treated in

all respects like the rest of the army, and should be bound by the same

condition of not serving during the present contest; that passports

should be granted for three officers to carry despatches to Sir Guy

Carleton, in Canada, and to the government of Great Britain by way of

New York; that all officers, during their stay at Boston, should be

admitted to parole, and to wear their side-arms; that the army might

send to Canada for their clothing and other baggage; and that these

articles should be signed and exchanged on the following morning, and

the troops should march out of their intrenchments in the afternoon.

These were more favourable terms than Burgoyne and his troops had a

right to expect; and they appear to have been granted for a twofold

reason—first, because Gates was fearful of provoking the despair of

well-disciplined troops; and secondly, because he almost heard the roar

of Clinton’s artillery lower down the Hudson. The convention was signed

at the appointed time, and on the afternoon of the 17th of October the

troops marched out of their encampment down to the edge of the river,

where they deposited their arms. The delicacy with which this business

was conducted reflected great credit on Gates. It is said, that he not

only kept away from the spot himself, but that he would not suffer his

own people to be present, that they might not exhibit the feelings of

exultation over a fallen enemy. Nor did his urbanity end here. Burgoyne

was received by him with great kindness, and every circumstance which

could appear like a triumph in the lines of the Americans was withheld.

As for the half-famished British troops, they now partook liberally of

the plenty that reigned within the American camp, while the principal

officers were often entertained at General Gates’s own quarters, Among

the fruits of his victory were about forty pieces of artillery, 4,600

muskets, and a quantity of powder and ball. After the convention was

signed, General Gates moved forward to stop the devastations committed

by the British on the North River, but they had already retreated.

About the same time, also, the troops which had been left at Ticonderago

destroyed their cannon, and retreated to Canada. After being several

months agitated by the tumults of war, the whole country was restored to

complete tranquillity. The British army, shorn of their honours, went to

Boston, while several thousands of the victorious Americans, as before

recorded, joined the ranks of Washington.

CLINTON’S EXPEDITION UP THE HUDSON.

General Clinton was prevented from making his promised diversion in

favour of Burgoyne by the non-arrival of some troops which he expected

from Europe, and by the vicinity of General Putnam, who hovered in the

neighbourhood of New York, until the 6th of October, ten days before

the capitulation was signed. At that time, having received the expected

reinforcements, he began a series of attacks, which, if they had been

made only a few days earlier, would have rescued Burgoyne’s army from

its perilous situation. He embarked about 3000 men on board of craft of

all kinds, convoyed by Commander Hotham, and proceeded up the Hudson to

Verplank’s Point, about forty miles above New York. Clinton effected a

landing without opposition, and General Putnam, conceiving that it was

his intention to push through the islands on that side of the river, in

order to join Burgoyne, collected about 2000 men, and hastened with them

towards Verplank’s Point to obstruct his march. Leaving a third portion

of his troops, however, on that spot, Clinton passed over with the

rest to Stony Point, on the western shore, where, in two simultaneous

attacks, he carried Forts Montgomery and Clinton. This success obliged

the Americans to burn their navy, consisting of five ships, which

were lying in that part of the river, and which were defended by

a _chevaux-de-frise_, and by an immense boom, stretching from Fort

Montgomery, to an opposite point, called St. Anthony’s Nose. A few miles

higher up the river was another strong place, called Fort Constitution,

and this was destroyed by the garrison, who fled as soon as they

learned the fate of Forts Montgomery and Clinton. About the same time, a

detachment of American loyalists, under Governor Tryon, destroyed a new

settlement, called Continental Village, and in which were barracks and

military stores. Having removed the boom, Sir James Wallace also, with

a squadron of small frigates, ascended up the river, and burned many

American vessels. Clinton was everywhere victorious; and on the 13th

of October, the very day on which Burgoyne made his first overture for

capitulation, General Vaughan landed a detachment at Esopus Creek, which

was not more than thirty miles from Burgoyne’s encampment at Saratoga.

Vaughan carried fire and destruction before him: he reduced two

batteries, and a row-galley, stationed at the mouth of Esopus Creek;

and then ascending the creek about five miles, he destroyed the town

of Esopus, together with a vast quantity of stores and provisions,

collected for the use of General Gates’s forces. Clinton, however, was

still upwards of one hundred miles from Esopus Creek, and he was beset

by General Putnam’s forces, which had increased from 2000 to 6000 men.

He was in this situation when Burgoyne capitulated, and then Gates was

enabled to detach more troops to the aid of Putnam. The English general

therefore recalled Vaughan; destroyed all the forts he had taken;

re-embarked his men, and returned to New York. The main design of his

diversion had failed, and it chiefly served to prove, that had Howe

co-operated with Burgoyne, and have sailed up the Hudson during

the summer months, the campaign in this quarter, instead of being

disastrous, would have enhanced the glory of the British arms.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

The British parliament assembled on the 18th of November. The

all-engrossing topic of the king’s speech was the war with America. In

it he declared the necessity of continuing the war; and hinted, that

there was a probability that the land-forces must not only be kept up

to their full establishment, but even augmented by new contracts. Of

the disposition of foreign powers, his majesty now spoke in a doubtful

manner. They had given friendly assurances, he said, but as the

armaments of France and Spain continued, he thought it necessary that

his own naval force should be augmented. He had neither lost any of his

firmness, nor abated any of his hope, as to the issue of this contest.

He would always guard, he said, the honour of the British crown

faithfully; and he hoped that the Americans would yet return to their

allegiance; that the remembrance of their former happiness, and the

sense of their present misery, under the tyranny of their leaders, would

rekindle their loyalty and attachment to their mother country; and that

they would enable him, with the concurrence of parliament, to accomplish

peace, order, and confidence in the colonies.

{GEORGE III. 1777–1778}

DEBATES ON AMERICA.

The usual addresses were moved on the king’s speech—addresses which

were replete with panegyric on its wisdom, and likewise the wisdom of

ministers. They were doomed, however, to meet with stern opposition. In

the lower house, the Marquess of Granby, after lamenting the disastrous

effects of the war, and expressing a desire of having the happiness

to lay the groundwork of a reconciliation, moved an amendment, to the

effect, that his majesty should be requested to adopt some measures

for accommodating all differences with America; that he should be

recommended to cease hostilities, as a preparatory step to that end; and

that he should be assured that the commons were determined to co-operate

with him in every measure tending to the re-establishment of peace. This

motion was seconded by Lord John Cavendish, and it was supported by the

opposition generally, on the grounds, that after three years’ war, with

a heavy expenditure and a great loss of men, there was no prospect

of success; that, notwithstanding the hopes held out in the king’s

speeches, our progress exhibited a series of disappointments and losses;

that trade was greatly affected by the contest; and that while the

defenceless state of our coasts and commercial fleets demonstrated we

were unable at this stage of the war to protect our national trade, we

should be still less able when, involved in a war, as it was evident we

should be, with the Bourbons. The opposition now attended the house in

full force, but the amendment was nevertheless negatived by two hundred

and forty-three to eighty-six.

In the lords the debate on the address was still more animated than in

the commons. It was opposed by the Earl of Coventry, who, in the outset,

gravely recommended that our armies and fleets should be recalled, and

that the independence of America should be forthwith acknowledged.

His lordship took extreme views of our position; even predicting, that

should his advice be adopted, it, nevertheless, would not prevent the

downfall of England; that it was a matter of certainty, as fixed and as

immutable as any law of nature, that sooner or later the seat of empire

would be removed beyond the Atlantic. One grand argument used by his

lordship to establish his views, was the insignificant figure which

Britain made in the map of the world compared with the more imposing

figure of the American continent. The people, also, he argued, were more

frugal, industrious, and wise on the other side of the Atlantic than

they were in England; and that, while population increased and would

increase in America, it would inevitably decline in the mother country!

But such crotchets as these were only calculated to confirm ministers

and the country at large in their determination of pursuing the contest.

Lord Chatham, who next rose, still supported by his crutch, to move an

amendment, spoke more wisely; though he also predicted ruin to England

if the contest was not given up; or, in other words, if peace between

the two countries was not concluded. The noble lord commenced his speech

by joining in the congratulation of the address on the birth of another

princess, and the happy recovery of her majesty. Here, however, he

said, his courtly complaisance must end; for he could not join in

congratulation on misfortune and disgrace. He could not concur in a

blind and servile address, which approved, and endeavoured to sanctify,

the monstrous measures that had heaped disgrace upon us, and had brought

ruin to our very doors. The present moment, he said, was a perilous and

tremendous period, and therefore not a time for adulation. His lordship

then pointed out the degrading situation to which this country was

reduced, in being obliged to acknowledge as enemies those whom we

had denominated rebels; and in seeing them encouraged and assisted by

France, while ministers dared not interpose. He remarked:—“It is a

shameful truth, that not only the power and strength of this country are

wasting away and expiring, but her well-earned glories, her true honour

and substantial dignity, are sacrificed. France, my lords, has insulted

you; she has encouraged and sustained America; and whether America

be wrong or right, the dignity of this country ought to spurn at the

officious insult of French interference. The ministers and ambassadors

of those who are called rebels and enemies are in Paris—in Paris they

transact the reciprocal interests of America and France. Can there be

a more mortifying insult? Can even our ministers sustain a more

humiliating disgrace? Do they dare to resent it? Do they presume even

to hint a vindication of their honour, and the dignity of the state, by

requiring the dismissal of the plenipotentiaries of America? Such is

the degradation to which they have reduced the glories of England! The

people, whom they affect to call contemptible rebels, but whose growing

power has at least obtained the name of enemies—the people with whom

they have engaged this country in war, and against whom they now command

our implicit support in every measure of desperate hostility—this

people, despised as rebels or acknowledged as enemies, are abetted

against you, supplied with military stores, their interests consulted,

and their ambassadors entertained, by your inveterate enemy!—and our

ministers dare not interpose with dignity or effect. Is this the honour

of a great kingdom? Is this the indignant spirit of England, who, but

yesterday gave law to the House of Bourbon?” Chatham next dwelt on the

position of our armies in America, supposing that Burgoyne’s—for it

was not yet known—was totally lost; and asserting that General Howe

had been compelled to retire from the American lines. Judging, from the

past, he then predicted a final and total failure, notwithstanding the

exertions made to sustain the contest and gain the victory might prove

gigantic. In this part of his speech he denounced the employment of

German troops, and the tribes of wild Indians, in strong and unmeasured

language; although, nineteen years before, he had himself employed

Indians in the same manner against the French and Canadians. Chatham

next touched on the great question of disseverance and independence.

But this, unlike the Earl of Coventry who had preceded him, he utterly

repudiated; avowing, as he had ever done, that our supremacy must be

maintained, in order to avert our ruin. But this part of Chatham’s

speech was replete with inconsistencies. While he maintained that our

supremacy must be maintained at all hazards, he applauded both the

spirit and intention of the Americans; and while he acknowledged that

they had arms in their hands, he boldly asserted that they were still

full of affection for their mother country—that they only declared

independence in moments of anguish and despair; and that they were still

in heart inclined to return to their old political constitution. Again,

while Chatham attributed every blame to the British government, he

nevertheless would not admit that our power of regulating their trade

ought either to be abolished or abridged; which were the very sentiments

of the government on whom he cast odium. Chatham, also, denounced the

war as unjust in its principle; and yet it had for its indisputable

object, from beginning to end, that very independence and separate

sovereignty which he had sworn he would never recognise. The great

orator then attacked the ministers more personally than before, and

recommended them to make haste and quit office, lest the punishment

due to their crimes should speedily overtake them! He concluded

thus:—“Since they have neither sagacity to foresee, nor justice and

humanity to shun, these calamities—since not even severe experience can

make them feel, nor the imminent ruin of their country awaken them from

their stupefaction—the guardian care of parliament must interpose. I

shall, therefore, propose an amendment to the address, to recommend an

immediate cessation of hostilities, and the commencement of a treaty to

restore peace and liberty to America, strength and happiness to England,

security and permanent prosperity to both countries.” He added, that

“this was still in our power;” but few or none who heard him believed

that peace could be obtained but by a recognition of that independence

which Chatham had so warmly denounced. The amendment which he proposed,

however, was ably supported by the other peers in opposition. Lord

Camden declared, that if the war were prosecuted to the issue of the

alternative, whether America was subdued or rendered independent, he

would still wish for independence; because the subjugation of that

country by force of arms, would lead to the enslavement of England!

Some of the opposition members, notwithstanding, were not for an instant

cessation of arms, though they wished for a reconciliation. Thus

Earl Temple said, that the war ought not to be abandoned until we had

obtained decisive victories in America. The opposition, also, differed

as to the propriety of offering terms of concession; and they were not

all agreed as to what these terms should be. But on the odiousness of

employing the wild Indians against a Christian people, the views of the

whole of the opposition orators coincided. The Duke of Richmond said,

that our employment of them would call down the vengeance of Heaven;

and he argued, that our soldiers, acting with them, would become as

ferocious as the Indians, and ready to commit any atrocity, or to make

any attack on the liberties of the country that ministers might command!

The unpleasant task of defending the employment of wild Indians fell

upon Lord Suffolk, one of the secretaries of state, and he contended

that the measure was allowable on principle; inasmuch as it was

justifiable to use all the means that God and nature had put into our

hands. This was an unfortunate argument; and the Earl of Chatham did not

fail to take advantage of it. Forgetting that he had once employed the

Indian tomahawk, he rose, and exclaimed, with an indignant burst

of eloquence:—“I am astonished—shocked to hear such principles

confessed—to hear them avowed in this house, or in this

country—principles equally unconstitutional, inhuman, and unchristian.

My lords, I did not intend to have trespassed again on your attention,

but I cannot repress my indignation. I feel myself impelled by every

duty. My lords, we are called upon, as members of this house, as men,

as Christian men, to protest against such notions, standing near the

throne, polluting the ear of majesty! ‘That God and nature put into our

hands!’ I know not what idea that lord may entertain of God and nature;

but I know that such abominable principles are equally abhorrent to

religion and humanity. What! attribute the sacred sanction of God and

nature to the massacres of the Indian scalping-knife—to the cannibal

savage, torturing, murdering, roasting, and eating—literally, my lords,

_eating_—the mangled victims of his barbarous battles—To send forth

the merciless cannibal, thirsting for blood! Against whom?—Against

your Protestant brethren; to lay waste their country, to desolate

their dwellings, and extirpate their race and name with these horrible

hell-hounds of savage war—hell-hounds, I say, of savage war! Spain

armed herself with bloodhounds to extirpate the wretched natives

of America, and we improve on the inhuman example of even Spanish

cruelty—we turn loose these savage hell-hounds against our brethren

and countrymen in America—of the same language, laws, liberties, and

religion..... endeared to us by every tie that should sanctify

humanity. My lords, this awful subject, so important to our honour, our

constitution, and our religion, demands the most solemn and effectual

inquiry; and I again call upon your lordships, and the united powers of

the state, to examine it thoroughly and decisively, and to stamp upon

it an indelible stigma of the public abhorrence. More particularly I

implore those holy prelates of religion to do away these iniquities from

among us:—let them perform a lustration; let them purify this house and

this country from this sin!” These were noble sentiments, but the effect

of them was in a great measure lost by the remembrance that Chatham had

done the very same thing in the war with Canada; and that under his own

immediate superintendence. But even if there had not been this drawback

upon this fervent burst of indignation, uttered by the great orator,

it was not in the power of eloquence to alter the determination of

ministers. _They_ daily expected to hear of victories which would stop

the mouths of their antagonists, and therefore resolved to brave the

loud storms of opposition. Public sentiment was also still on their

side; for Chatham’s amendment was rejected by a majority of eighty-four

to twenty-eight, and only two peers signed a protest. Thus, in both

houses, the original address was carried by an overwhelming majority.

DUKE OF RICHMOND’S MOTION FOR INQUIRING INTO THE STATE OF THE NATION.

On the 28th of November the Duke of Richmond moved for a committee of

the house to inquire into the state of the nation. The debate on this

question was postponed till the 2nd of December, and the Earl of Chatham

was there to support it. In his speech, the Duke of Richmond once more

asserted, that the nation was in a rapid process of decay, and that it

could not support the burden of war. The inquiry, he said, should be

as extensive as possible, and he proposed the 2nd of February for the

discussion; and expressed a hope that all papers called for might be

laid before parliament. Ministers assented to the committee; and the

Duke of Richmond then moved for returns of the army and navy, both

in America and Ireland. Chatham now made another speech, in which he

expressed great alarm as to the actual state of those two important

fortresses, Gibraltar and Minorca; contending that they were not secure

from the grasp of France and Spain. He also took occasion again to

extol the Americans, and to plead their cause, still justifying their

opposition to the mother country. The motion was granted without

opposition.

FOX’S MOTION FOR INQUIRING INTO THE STATE OF THE NATION.

On the same day Mr. Fox made a motion, similar to that of the Duke of

Richmond, in the house of commons. The committee was at once agreed to

by ministers; but when Fox made a call for papers, Lord North opposed

it, as liable to make discoveries prejudicial to the interests of the

country. This drew down upon him a series of odious comparisons. Burke

compared him to the “pigmy physician,” who watched over the health of

Sancho Panza, in the government of Barataria, and who snatched away

every dish from his patient’s well-supplied table, on various pretences,

before he could get one mouthful. The house was convulsed with laughter,

but Lord North remained immoveable; nor could the intelligence that the

lords had granted the papers, alter his determination to oppose their

production. Fox again spoke when he discovered that the premier was

resolute; and this time he fell upon the chief manager of American

affairs,—Lord George Germaine. He remarked:—“For two years that

a noble lord has presided over American affairs, the most violent,

scalping, tomahawk measures have been pursued: bleeding has been his

only prescription. If a people, deprived of their ancient rights, are

grown tumultuous, bleed them!—if they are attacked with a spirit of

insurrection, bleed them!—if their fever should rise into rebellion,

bleed them!—cries this state-physician. More blood! more blood! still

more blood! When Dr. Sangrado had persevered in a similar practice of

bleeding his patients, killing by the very means he used for a cure, his

man took the liberty to remonstrate on the necessity of relaxing in a

practice to which thousands of their patients had fallen sacrifices,

and which was beginning to bring their names into disrepute. The doctor

answered, I believe, indeed, that we have carried the matter a little

too far; but you must know I have written a book on the efficacy of

this practice: therefore, though every patient should die by it, we must

continue bleeding, for the credit of my book.” The debate assumed a new

feature from a speech made by Governor Pownall, who argued, that

the production of the papers called for could answer no end. Pownall

declared that he was as uninfluenced by party spirit as he had been

nine years ago, when he predicted the precise progress of American

resistance. He added:—“I now tell the house and government, that

the Americans will never return to their subjection. Sovereignty is

abolished, and gone for ever: the Navigation Act is annihilated. Of what

use, then, are these papers?—of what import our debates? Disputation

and abuse may afford amusement; but neither America nor England can be

benefited by such discussions in the present crisis. Until the house

shall be disposed to treat with the United States as an independent,

sovereign people, schemes or plans of conciliation, whoever may suggest

them, will be found unimportant.” This was speaking like a man of

business, and the arguments adduced were unanswerable. The papers were

refused, by a majority of one hundred and seventy-eight to eighty-nine.

ARMY AND NAVY ESTIMATES.

On the 26th of November the army and navy estimates were considered. The

number of seamen was fixed at 60,000, and the troops to be employed

in America at 55,000. But these votes were not passed without severe

strictures on the manner in which every branch of the service was

conducted.

INTELLIGENCE OF BURGOYNES DEFEAT

The hope that ministers had entertained of soon hearing of some glorious

victory in America, whereby the mouth of opposition might be stopped,

was at length swept away. On the 3rd of December Colonel Barre rose in

the house of commons, with a grave countenance, and asked Lord George

Germaine what had become of Burgoyne’s army? and whether he had not

received intelligence from Quebec of their having surrendered to the

enemy? Lord George, in reply, confessed that he had received the unhappy

intelligence, by express, from Quebec; but as it was unauthenticated,

he could not declare it officially. He expressed a hope, therefore, that

the house would suspend their judgment; at the same time declaring, that

if he had committed a fault in drawing out the plan of the expedition,

he was ready to answer for it. He made this declaration in such a cold,

self-satisfied tone, that it drew down upon his head the most bitter

inventive from members of the opposition. Barre, Luttrell, Burke,

Townshend, and Fox, all, in their turns, assailed the haughty secretary,

and revelled in descriptions of the loss and disgrace which we had

sustained—necessarily, from chagrin, heightening the effect of the

picture by exaggeration. The solicitor-general, Wedderburne, endeavoured

to reconcile the house to this loss, by appealing to British magnanimity

under distress, which, he conceived, was the harbinger of victory.

During the war of the succession, he said, General Stanhope was

compelled to surrender himself, and his whole army, prisoners of war in

Spain; but the disgrace only served to call forth an ardour which soon

effaced the stigma, and achieved glorious successes. Lord North, having

declared that he had from the beginning been desirous of peace; that if

the surrender of his place and honours could obtain it he would resign

them; and that while he remained in office he would support it to the

best of his power, the conversation dropped.

In the house of lords, however, the subject was taken up more seriously.

On the 5th of December, having previously arranged matters with the

opposition peers, the Earl of Chatham moved, “that an address be

presented to his majesty for copies of all orders and instructions

issued to General Burgoyne, relative to the late expedition from

Canada.” Chatham commenced an able, though rambling speech, which he

delivered on this occasion, by criticising the king’s speech at the

opening of the session; representing it as containing an unfaithful

and delusive picture of the state of public affairs. He then lamented

Burgoyne’s fate, in pathetic terms. His character, he said, with the

glory of the British arms, and the dearest interests of the country,

had all been sacrificed to the ignorance, temerity, and impotence of

ministers. Yet almost in the same breath, Chatham said that he would

not condemn ministers without evidence! Burgoyne, he remarked, might or

might not be an able officer; he might have received orders it was not

in his power to execute; and those instructions might have been wisely

given, and faithfully and judiciously executed, although the general

had miscarried. Many events, he said, happened which no human foresight

could prevent; but, as it was evident, a fault had been committed either

by Burgoyne or the ministers, he was desirous of having the papers laid

before the house, in order to ascertain to whom the blame was in reality

attached. At the same time, he asserted that he already knew sufficient

to justify him in affirming that the measures for that campaign were

founded in weakness, barbarity, and inhumanity. Here again he launched

forth in bitter invective against the practice of employing the tomahawk

and scalping-knife of the Indians in the war. Then, turning from the

field of battle, he attacked the court. He remarked:—“Within the last

fifteen years the system has been introduced at St. James’s of breaking

all connexion,—of extinguishing all principle. A few men have got

an ascendency, where no man should have a personal ascendency; by

the executive powers of state being at their command, they have been

furnished with the means of creating divisions. This has brought pliable

men, not capable men, into the highest situations; and to such men is

the government of this once-glorious empire now entrusted. The spirit

of delusion has gone forth; the ministers have imposed on the people;

parliament has been induced to sanctify the imposition; false lights

have been held out to the country gentlemen, and they have been seduced

into the support of a most destructive war, under the impression that

the land-tax would be diminished by means of an American revenue. The

visionary phantom, thus conjured up for the basest of purposes—that

of deception—is now about to vanish.” Chatham had said that Burgoyne

might or might not be an able officer; but he now eulogised his zeal,

his bravery, and his abilities, and then, in defiance of his assertion

that he would not condemn ministers without evidence, he laid the whole

blame upon them, and said that they ought to submit to all the obloquy

till the general had an opportunity of justifying himself. Chatham now

again denounced the practice of employing the Indians; coupling the

German bayonet with the scalping-knife and tomahawk. The only thing

which could be done, he said, to preserve America in our dependence was

to disband the Indians, recall the Germans, and withdraw our troops _in

toto_. As for American independence, he could not endure the thought

of such a consummation. While he abhorred the system of government

attempted to be established in America, he as earnestly and zealously

contended for a Whig government and a Whig connexion between the two

countries, founded on a constitutional dependence and subordination of

America upon England. Against Tory principles he entertained the

most bitter hatred; and in the course of his speech he exhibited that

feeling, by animadverting, in severe terms, on the high Tory doctrines

maintained by Dr. Markham, Archbishop of York. The pernicious doctrines

advanced by that prelate, he said, were the doctrines of Atterbury and

Sacheverel; and as a Whig, he abjured and detested them, and hoped to

see the day, not only when they should be deemed libels, but when

the authors of such doctrines should be liable to punishment. Chatham

concluded, by moving for the papers relative to the instructions given

to Burgoyne, which was lost by a majority of forty to nineteen. But

though the motion was negatived, the noble lord returned to the charge,

by moving for copies of all instructions relative to the employment of

Indians in conjunction with the British troops. In this, however,

he made a whip for his own back. In opposing the motion, Lord Gower

asserted, that the noble lord had himself employed, and acknowledged

that he had employed, savages in the operation of the last war. This

charge Chatham denied. Indians, he said, had crept into the service

during that war; but he challenged ministers to produce any document of

his sanctioning their employment. He appealed to Lord Amherst, who had

commanded the troops in Canada, for a declaration of the truth, and that

noble lord had the honesty to declare the truth. The Indians, he said,

had been employed on both sides: the French engaged their services

first, and we had followed their example: but most certainly he should

not have ventured to have done so if he had not received orders to that

effect. Lord Shelburne suggested, that the orders might have proceeded

from the Board of Trade: but Lord Denbigh, who called Chatham “the great

oracle with a short memory,” said, that this was impossible, as Chatham,

when in office under George II., had monopolised functions which did not

belong to him, and had guided and directed everything relative to the

war. In reply, Chatham said, that he was sure the order had not passed

through his office, and that the humanity of his late majesty would not

have permitted him to sanction so satanic a measure. But Chatham was

now floundering in the mire, and the more he endeavoured to extricate

himself, the deeper he got into it. The fallacy of this pretence was

exposed by Lord Suffolk, who said, that all instructions to governors

and commanders-in-chief necessarily passed through the office of

the secretary-of-state, which office Chatham then held, and were

countersigned by the king. Finding that Chatham’s veracity could not

be established, the lords, in opposition, now turned the subject,

and endeavoured to justify his employment of the Indians. There was a

difference, they maintained, between the two wars—the one having

been against our old enemies, the French, the other being against

our fellow-subjects. They also argued, that the French having set the

example, we were justified in following it. But this argument applied

equally to the present war. Arnold took with him into Canada the very

savages whose services we had refused; and one of the first cares

of congress was to secure the alliance of the Six Nations. It was,

moreover, understood by all, that the treaty was not to stop at

neutrality, but to engage those Indians as auxiliaries in the war. Want

of means, coupled with the animosities which existed between the Indian

tribes and their American neighbours of the back settlements, and with a

species of reverence which the red men entertained for the name of King

George, had prevented the success of congress; but the Americans had,

to all intents and purposes, set the deplorable example of using the

tomahawk against their Protestant brethren of England. The Earl of

Dunmore, indeed, declared that he had himself, while governor of

Virginia, been attacked by a party of Indians who had been instigated

by the Virginians. Evil examples should not be followed; but the present

ministry had, at least, the same plea to offer for employing the Indians

as Chatham and the opposition lords had for employing them in the war

in Canada. The man who endeavours to blacken the characters of others

should himself possess an untarnished reputation. Chatham’s motion was

lost by a majority of forty to eighteen.

ROYAL ASSENT TO SEVERAL BILLS.

On the 10th of December the royal assent was given to a bill for

continuing the suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Acts in certain cases

of piracy, and also to the Land and Malt-tax Bills—those standing

resources of government revenue. About the same time, likewise, the

royal assent was given to a duty laid on goods sold by auction, as well

as on inhabited houses.

PARLIAMENT ADJOURNED.

On the same clay, after the discussion of some unimportant motions,

made with a design of embarrassing ministers, Lord Beauchamp proposed

an adjournment to the 20th of January. Burke proposed an adjournment

for one week only; but ministers represented that they had already

transacted all business of importance, and that nothing was likely to

occur during the recess which would demand instant attention, and their

motion was carried by one hundred and fifty-five to sixty-eight. The

next day a similar motion was made in the house of lords, on which

occasion the Earl of Chatham, in opposing it, again endeavoured to

fix blame and censure on ministers for their conduct relative to the

American war. But the motion was carried by forty-seven to seventeen.