feeble support, indeed, to the infant republic, which was threatened with irretrievable ruin. Washington retreated from Newark to Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton; and on the 8th of December crossed to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, while Lord Cornwallis was close in his rear; but finding no means to cross the river, he established his headquarters at Trenton.

Amid all these accumulated misfortunes, the hero of the republic, whose invincible soul could neither be vanquished nor shaken, trusting in Providence and the justice of his cause, showed himself to his soldiers with a cheerful countenance; and the members of congress, resolved to stand or fall with the republic, and to aid their chief through good or adverse fortune, calmly drew up various articles of confederation and perpetual union between the states. Men who can rise superior to such dangers and terrors as surround them, in an apparently hopeless cause, appear rather the instruments in the hands of God, to accomplish a mighty work, than the mere representatives of men. The condition of their minds, calm, collected and dignified, in their present deplorable situation, presents the most sublime picture of patriotism the world ever produced.

The treatment of the prisoners at New York would have disgraced barbarians. The sick and the well were all thrown together; exposed to hunger, cold, and impure air; insulted by the soldiers and loyalists, hauled wounded and bleeding through the streets, without clothing, on carts, as a public spectacle, to be hissed by the populace as traitors and rebels. Exposed to all these outrages, more than 1500 of these unfortunate men perished in a few weeks.

"But of all tales that war's black annals hold,
The darkest, foulest still remains untold;
New modes of torture wait the shameful strife,
And Britain wantons in the waste of life.

Cold-blooded Cruelty, first fiend of hell,

Ah, think no more with savage hordes to dwell;
Quit the Caribbean tribes who eat their slain,
Fly that grim gang, the inquisitors of Spain,

Boast not thy deeds in Moloch's shrines of old,
Leave Barbary's pirates to their blood-bought gold,
Let Holland steal her victims, force them o'er
To toils and death on Java's morbid shore;

Some cloak, some colour all these crimes may plead;
"Tis avarice, passion, blind religion's deed;
But Britons here, in this fraternal broil,
Grave, cool, deliberate in thy service toil.
Far from the nation's eye, whose nobler soul
Their wars would humanize, their pride control,
They lose the lessons that her laws impart,
And change the British for the brutal heart.
Fired by no passion, madden'd by no zeal,
No priest, no Plutus bids them not to feel;
Unpaid, gratuitous, on torture bent,
Their sport is death, their pastime to torment;
All other gods they scorn, but bow the knee,
And curb, well-pleased, O Cruelty, to thee.

Come then, cursed goddess, where thy votaries reign,
Inhale their incense from the land and main;
Come to New York, their conquering arms to greet,
Brood o'er their camp and breathe along their fleet;
The brother chiefs of Howe's illustrious name
Demand thy labours to complete their fame.
What shrieks of agony thy praises sound!
What grateless dungeons groan beneath the ground!
See the black Prison Ship's expanding womb
Impested thousands, quick and dead, entomb.
Barks after barks the captured seamen bear,
Transboard and lodge thy silent victims there;
A hundred scows, from all the neighbouring shore,
Spread the dull sail and ply the constant oar,
Waft wrecks of armies from the well-fought field,
And famish'd garrisons who bravely yield;

They mount the hulk, and, cramm'd within the cave, Hail their last house, their living, floating grave.

She comes, the fiend! her grinning jaws expand, Her brazen eyes cast lightning o'er the strand, Her wings like thunder-clouds the welkin sweep, Brush the tall spires and shade the shuddering deep; She gains the deck, displays her wonted store, Her cords and scourges wet with prisoners' gore; Gripes, pincers, thumb-screws spread beneath her feet, Slow poisonous drugs and loads of putrid meat;

Disease hangs drizzling from her slimy locks,
And hot contagion issues from her box.

O'er the closed hatches ere she takes her place,
She moves the massy planks a little space,
Opes a small passage to the cries below,
That feast her soul on messages of wo;

There sits with gaping ear and changeless eye,
Drinks every groan and treasures every sigh;
Sustains the faint, their miseries to prolong,
Revives the dying and unnerves the strong.

But as the infected mass resign their breath,

She keeps with joy the register of death.

As, toss'd through portholes from the encumber'd cave,
Corpse after corpse fall dashing in the wave;

Corpse after corpse, for days and months and years,

The tide bears off, and still its current clears;

At last, o'erloaded with the putrid gore,

The slime-clad waters thicken round the shore,
Green ocean's self, that oft his wave renews,

That drinks whole fleets with all their battling crews,
That laves, that purifies the earth and sky,
Yet ne'er before resigned his natural dye,
Here purples, blushes for the race he bore
To rob and ravage this unconquer'd shore,
The scaly nations, as they travel by,

Catch the contagion, sicken, gasp and die."

We will here drop the curtain, to hide these tragic scenes of distress, observing, with Congress, a "day of solemn fasting and humiliation before God, and call upon the states to furnish militia; rightly believing that divine aid can only be expected by those who do their duty."

CHAPTER IX.

Pennsylvanians aroused to defend the Capital-Capture of General Lee-Great Powers of Washington-Re-crosses the Delaware-Assumes the Offensive-Surprises the Enemy at Trenton-Returns to Pennsylvania Side with the Prisoners, &c.-Hessians paraded through Philadelphia-Washington again crosses the Delaware-Wrenches New Jersey from the Enemy and astonishes the World—Alarm of the British Commander.

"So flies a herd of beeves, that hear, dismay'd,

The lions roaring through the midnight shade."

In this unpromising situation of affairs, Generals Mifflin and Armstrong, possessing great influence in Pennsylvania, went through the state addressing the people and arousing them to arms to defend the capital and the country.

"Rise, ye men! if ye inherit

From a line of noble sires
Saxon blood and Saxon spirit,

Rise to guard your household fires.

From each rocky hill and valley

Rise against the invading band;

In the name of Freedom, rally
To defend your native land.

"Foemen's feet your soil are pressing,
Hostile banners meet your eye;
Ask from Heaven a Father's blessing,
Then for freedom dare to die.
What though veteran foes assail you,
Fill'd with confidence and pride;
Let not hope or courage fail you,
Freedom's God is on your side.

"To the winds your flag unfolding,
Rally round it in your might,
Each his weapon firmly holding,
Heaven will aid you in the fight.
By the mothers that have borne you,
By your wives and children dear,
Lest your loved ones all should scorn you,
Rise without a thought of fear.

"Come as comes the tempest rushing,
Bending forests in its path,
As the mountain torrent gushing,

As the billows in their wrath:
From each rocky hill and valley
Sweep away the invading band;
In the name of Freedom, rally

To defend your native land."

The tardy movements of General Lee to join Washington according to orders, plainly indicated that he either preferred the command of a separate army, or considered it advisable to remain in the mountainous parts of New Jersey to be ready to fall on the right flank of the British army. On the 6th of December he crossed the North River at King's Ferry, with 3000 men and some pieces of cannon.

On the 13th, being at a place called Baskinbridge, about twenty miles from the quarters of the enemy, he incautiously separated himself from his army to reconnoitre. He took up his quarters at a house three miles distant from the main body, attended by a slender guard, where he was taken prisoner.

"General Lee wasted the morning in altercation with certain militia corps who were of his command, particularly the Connecticut light horse, several of whom appeared in large full-bottomed perukes, and were treated very irreverently; the call of the adjutant-general for orders, also occupied some of his time, and we did not sit down to breakfast before ten o'clock. General Lee was engaged in answering General Gates's letter, and I had risen from the table, and was looking out of an end window, down a lane about one hundred yards in length, which led to the house from the main road, when I discovered a party of British dragoons turn a corner of the avenue at a full charge. Startled at this unexpected spectacle, I exclaimed, Here, sir, are the British cavalry.' 'Where?' replied the general, who had signed his letter in the instant. Around the house; for they had opened files and encompassed the building. General Lee appeared alarmed, yet collected, and his second observation marked his self-possession: Where is the guard ?—damn