with ice than before, our chief resolved to carry the war into the heart of New Jersey.

About one o'clock in the morning of the 3d of January, the baggage was sent down to Burlington, and about two, the enemy being perfectly quiet, the Americans, leaving their fires burning, and guards at the bridges and fords, with orders to continue the usual rounds of patrols, silently filed off by detachments, and the neighbouring fences were used to keep up a blazing fire to deceive the enemy, until near day, when they also.retired. Proceeding by a very circuitous route through Allentown, he hastened to surprise and take Princeton. The expedition with which this grand manœuvre was executed is almost incredible; for about sunrise his van came up with Mawhood's detachment, which had just began its march from Princeton to Maidenhead, midway between Princeton and Trenton. This officer had been left at Princeton by Cornwallis to defend the place, but had just been ordered to Maidenhead. He was entirely ignorant of the approach of the Americans, and the morning being foggy, he supposed them to be Hessians. Discovering it was part of the American army, and beginning to know the character of Washington, he conjectured that the vigilant chief had played them one of his nocturnal tricks. They were immediately charged with great spirit, but making a vigorous defence, the militia forming the vanguard gave way and retired. General Mercer attempted to rally them and was mortally wounded. Washington advanced and restored the battle with his conquerors of Trenton. The British, separated and overwhelmed, fled in every direction over fences and fields, without regard to roads; blowing up their breath in fine wreaths of smoke on this cold morning and conjecturing what might become of the hindmost, every one stretched his speed to the utmost to outstrip his neighbour, and "live to fight another day." The pursuit was exceedingly animated, and the commanderin-chief, while encouraging the men, exclaimed, “It is a fine fox-chase, my boys!" Colonel Hand's Pennsylvania riflemen were first in the chase, and took the greatest number of prisoners. Wilkinson says, "They were accompanied by Gene

ral Washington in person, with a squad of the Philadelphia troops, among whom Mr. John Donaldson distinguished himself in an eminent degree; in the ardour of the pursuit he had separated himself from the troop, and as the infantry could not keep up, he found himself alone and liable to be shot by any straggler of the enemy who would not surrender; yet, unwilling to slacken his pace, he mounted a lieutenant Simpson behind him, who, whenever a fugitive threatened to be refractory, jumped off and shot him, and in this manner three men, whilst taking aim at Mr. Donaldson, were knocked down and his life saved; but he made a score of prisoners, whom he sent to his rear after disarming them." The loss of the enemy was above 100 killed and 300 prisoners; the American loss was considerably less, but the fall of General Mercer was universally lamented; he was a Scotchman by birth, and a physician by profession. "He served in the campaign of 1755, with General Braddock, and was wounded through the shoulder in the unfortunate action near fort Du Quesne; unable to retreat, he lay down under cover of a large fallen tree, and in the pursuit an Indian leaped upon his covert immediately over him, and, after looking about a few seconds for the direction of the fugitives, he sprang off without observing the wounded man who lay at his feet. So soon as the Indians had killed the wounded, scalped the dead, rifled the baggage, and cleared the field, the unfortunate Mercer, finding himself exceedingly faint and thirsty from loss of blood, crawled to an adjacent brook, and after drinking plentifully, found himself so much refreshed that he was able to walk, and commenced his return by the road the army had advanced; but being without subsistence, and more than a hundred miles from any Christian settlement, he expected to die of famine, when he observed a rattlesnake on his path, which he killed and contrived to skin, and, throwing it over his sound shoulder, he subsisted on it as the claims of nature urged, until he reached fort Cumberland, on the Potomac."

This the critic will say should be in a note, but it saves the reader the trouble of looking down to the bottom of the

page, and then groping his way back again to the place he read before.

The long absence of Washington, who had been led away in the pursuit of the fugitives, began to excite great alarm for his safety among his troops, already assembled at Princeton; but he soon appeared, to prepare for another running fight.

Cornwallis awoke at Trenton, shook off the dew of the morning, and looked around, but Washington was non est inventus! Immediately abandoning his camp, Cornwallis hastened to Princeton, where he arrived almost as soon as Washington with the Grand Army, as it was then called, composed of a handful of men, half-naked, half-frozen, halfstarved, and broken down with fatigue and two nights' loss of sleep. But the army was morally grand, amounting to sublimity.

Washington left his enemy very abruptly; crossed Millstone river, broke down the bridges behind him, passed the Raritan river, and soon reposed beyond the mountains, making his head-quarters at Morristown in upper Jersey, with a fine country in his rear to supply him with all necessaries, and through which he could readily find a passage over the Delaware. But he comes again: his troops refreshed, and reinforced with a few battalions, he scours the country to the Raritan, under the very noses of the enemy; he even crosses the river, and, penetrating into Essex county, seizes Newark, Elizabethtown, and Woodbridge, making himself master of the coast of Staten Island, brushing the lion's beard and staring him right in the face! Truth is stranger than fiction, and the world never dreamed of anything more astonishing. The length and breadth of the country rung with the name of Washington, and continental Europe, filled with admiration and wonder at the splendour of the achievements, echoed the name back again.

"Achievements so astonishing, acquired an immense glory for the captain-general of the United States. All nations shared in the surprise of the Americans; all equally admired and applauded the prudence, the constancy, and the noble intrepidity of General Washington. A unanimous voice pronounced

him the saviour of his country; all extolled him as equal to the most celebrated commanders of antiquity; all proclaimed him the Fabius of America. His name was in the mouths of all; he was celebrated by the pens of the most distinguished writers. The most illustrious personages of Europe lavished upon him their praises and their congratulations. The American general, therefore, wanted neither a cause full of grandeur to defend, nor occasion for the acquisition of glory, nor genius to avail himself of it, nor the renown due to his triumphs, nor an entire generation of men perfectly well disposed to render him homage ;" and, we might add-nor patriotism to do all for his country.

By this almost superhuman effort, Washington not only saved Philadelphia, but wrested nearly all New Jersey from the tyrant's grasp. Selecting his positions well, and fortifying them strongly, the royalists did not think it safe to attack him. New Brunswick and Amboy were the only two posts left to the enemy in the state, and these could have no communication with New York except by sea. Congress, by the advice of the generals, had retired to Baltimore, but now they immediately returned, which inspired the people with new hope and confidence.

CHAPTER X.

Expedition of the Enemy against American Provisions at Danbury, Connecticut -Heroic Conduct of Wooster and Arnold-Death of the former-Congress votes a Monument to the one, a Horse to the other.

'Exigui numero, sed bello vivida virtus.”

WHY not at once say, "Small in number, but of tried and war-proof valour," instead of resorting to an ancient, outlandish, dead language. The only reason I can see to quote other languages is to appear learned! Now I claim an equal privilege with the rest, for we are all equally ignorant of the philosophy of those languages, for very obvious reasons:

The Americans were not idle during the winter. They formed immense magazines of provisions, and stores of every description, against which the enemy planned expeditions before the regular opening of the campaign of the spring of 1777. One was undertaken against Danbury, in Fairfield county, Connecticut. The command of the enterprise was given to Governor Tryon, General Agnew and Sir William Erskine. Reaching Danbury, without opposition, on the 26th of April, they destroyed 1800 barrels of beef and pork, 800 of flour, 2000 barrels of grain, and 1790 tents; burned eighteen houses and murdered three unoffending inhabitants.

Generals Wooster and Arnold, being in the neighbourhood, formed the bold design of cutting off their retreat. Wooster hung upon their rear, and harassed them incessantly, in defiance of their field-pieces to cover their flank and rear. In one of these skirmishes, however, the general, nearly seventy years of age, was mortally wounded, and died soon after. His soldiers, on the loss of their leader, immediately dispersed.

At Ridgefield, Arnold had thrown up imperfect entrenchments, when the enemy appeared, and a hot action ensued. The Americans were obliged to retire to Norfolk. The next morning Tryon, after burning some houses, renewed his march towards the Sound. Arnold, though beaten, was not conquered. He returned to the conflict and continually annoyed the enemy in their retreat to their ships, in which they returned to New York. The result of this expedition was beneficial to the American cause. The enemy not only lost 170 men in killed, wounded, and missing, but their barbarous conduct in wantonly destroying private property, exasperated the honest yeomanry of the country, and made them more firm in their resistance.

Congress decreed that a monument should be erected to the memory of General Wooster; and to General Arnold they presented a horse richly caparisoned, to testify their admiration of his gallantry.