CHAP. XXIX. 1776. the Americans out of his protection, and waging war against them. Some passages are remarkable for low and intemperate scurrility; and the whole accusation of the King is summed up by averring, that a prince so marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people; and, in consequence, the Congress, in the name and by the authority of the good people of America, solemnly published and declared that the colonies were free and independent states, absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; that all political connexion between them and Great Britain was dissolved, and that they had full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, and establish commerce*. That the court of Great Britain should not condescend to answer this intemperate and futile declaration, could excite no surprise. The Americans were not yet deemed by the world, as Congress affected to consider them, a people dissolving, in the natural course of events, those political bands which formed the connexion with another people; they were subjects contending, whether rightly or not, against the authority of their legitimate sovereign. It was their intent to obtain, by specious representations, the countenance and assistance of other nations; but Great Britain had no appeal to make; the question between her and her colonies was not one of public right, but of domestic regulation; to answer the declaration of independence, would have been to acknowledge a jurisdiction in other powers to interfere in her concerns, and would, beside, have produced declarations relative to principles, which, in the existing state of the public mind in Europe and America, could answer no beneficial purpose, but must See the Declaration in the Annual Register for 1776, p. 261; Almon's Remembrancer, v. iii. p. 258; and Ramsay's History of the American Revolu tion, v. i. p. 339. Also Jefferson's Memoirs, &c. vol. i. p. 8 to 30, where will be found an ample account of the debates and proceedings on this most momentous subject; it is also right to observe that, in the same volume, p. 102, the author declares that the statement of Mr. Galloway, from which I deduced much of the above narrative, does not contain one word of truth; and where it bears some resemblance to truth, it is an entire perversion of it. Of Mr. Jefferson's means of information, less doubt can be entertained, than of the candour of his disclosures, or the impartiality of his remarks. give rise to endless discussions, in which the real nature and ground of the dispute would have been more and more obscured and deserted. Yet, although this paper was not formally answered, the framers had no reason to triumph in the success of unrefuted calumny and undetected misrepresentation. The press in England, not being subject to the tyranny which was exercised over it by the revolutionists of America, sent forth an answer, complete in all its parts, in which every fallacy in argument, every false assumption in principle, every mis-statement in fact, was exposed and refuted with so much clearness, perspicuity, and irrefragable force, as to render it surprising that a public body should found their defence of an important measure on pretences so fallacious, and so extremely open to detection*. it. CHAP. XXIX. 1776. Among foreign powers, this declaration could only Effect of afford a pretext, to such as were already so disposed, publishing to gratify their malice against England by active hostilities, or pursue what they considered their own interest, in forming commercial connexions with the revolted colonists. In America, where the first and most important effects were to be produced, the success of such a paper was rendered almost certain: the press was completely enslaved by the popular party; and no printer, on peril of his life, durst publish a sentence in refutation of their assertions. The multitude would not stedfastly examine or carefully separate the allegations, which were falsely stated or fallaciously blended; but, taking the whole as the abstract of long meditation, sanctioned by the highest authority, receive it with implicit deference. The scurrility with which it abounded was gratifying to the taste of the populace ; and the direct attack on the person and authority of * The work alluded to is intitled, "An Answer to the Declaration of the American Congress," printed for Cadell, Walter, and Sewell, 1776. It is in the highest degree worthy the perusal of those who wish to have the means of thinking rightly on the origin of the American dispute. Another answer, written by Governor Hutchinson, intitled "Strictures on the late Declaration of Congress,' was for some time privately circulated, and at length published; it may be found in Almon's Remembrancer, vol. iv. p. 25. It is not so detailed as the other, but contains many valuable observations. the sovereign gave a new impulse to their spirits, and furnished a more conspicuous topic of invective. The declaration was therefore generally received with marks of applause, accompanied with insults on the King. At New York, an equestrian statue, erected in 1770, was thrown down and melted; and in most parts of the colonies, the word royal and the sign of the crown were suppressed in the streets*. Washington's army received it with loud acclamationst. America being thus divided from the mothercountry‡, no reserve was maintained by those who had so long laboured to attain that end in avowing the course and object of their efforts. Samuel Adams, a distinguished leader of the American councils, noted for subtlety, perseverance, and inflexibility, boasted in all companies that he had toiled upward of twenty years to accomplish the measure; during that time, he had carried his art and industry so far, as to search after every rising genius in the New England seminaries, employed his utmost abilities to fix in their minds the principles of American independency, and now triumphed in his success§. Independence was not, however, to be secured by a vote of Congress, an insulting declaration, or shouts of applause. A vigorous campaign was expected; its commencement was awaited with awful anxiety, and the most sanguine hopes could not veil the disadvantages under which the Americans were likely to labour. Their army amounted nominally to twenty thousand five hundred, but, deducting the sick and the absent, could not be stated at more than eleven thousand five hundred, of whom many were militia, called suddenly from their homes, and unused to arms * Almon's Remembrancer, vol. iii. pp. 286, 387. + Washington's Letters, vol. i. p. 185. The sentiments of the general himself, in favour of the measure before it was decreed, appear in Sparks's Life, vol. i. pp. 171, 177. The separation of America from the British empire took place 294 years after the discovery of that continent by Columbus; 166 years from the first established settlement in Virginia, and 156 years from the first settlement of Plymouth in Massachuset's Bay, which were the earliest English settlements in America. Morse's American Geography, p. 105. Galloway's Historical and Political Reflections, p. 109. Their and the exposure and hardships of a camp*. CHAP. XXIX. 1776. conduct of In the midst of his difficulties and anxieties, the Prudent personal virtue and pure sentiments of Washington Washington. were displayed, to his own immortal glory and the great benefit of his country. His general orders tended uniformly to implant and encourage morality, religion, a courageous devotion to the public cause, and a high-minded self-confidence, essential to the accomplishment of great and arduous undertakings. He prohibited, most positively, playing at cards and games of chance, either by officers or persons of lower degree. Gaming was the foundation of evil, and the cause of ruin to many a brave officer; but games of exercise for amusement were not only to be permitted but encouraged¶. He gave strict orders, and promoted all proper measures, for securing due attention to divine service, whether on Sundays or on the days of Sparks's Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 187. + Washington's Letters, vol. i. pp. 179, 193. Idem, pp. 183, 222, et passim. Idem, pp. 146, 176. Idem, vol. i. pp. 173, 174, 181. Annual Register, 1776, p. 169. Happy had it been for the public service, and honourable to those who were engaged in it, if the British commanders had taken the same view of this matter. CHAP. 1776. British plan fast and humiliation decreed by Congress; discouraged the habit of profane cursing and swearing; forbad the plunder of individuals under pretence that they were tories; reprobated the jealousies and expressions of contumely used by men of different provinces against each other; and, exhorting them to recollect how their courage and spirit had been traduced, stimulated them to acts of valour, with a confidence in Providence as to the final result, and announcing honour or punishments proportioned to the observance or disregard of these injunctions*. The British plan of campaign embraced three obof campaign. jects: to recover Canada, and invade the back settlements by way of the lakes; to make a strong impres sion on the Southern provinces; and to direct a grand expedition against the city and province of New York. The partial success of the first and the failure of the second part of the project have been already detailed. The expedition against New York was regarded by General Washington with alarm, uncontaminated by fear, and with a contemplative anxiety, which only suggested maxims of caution commensurate to the known extent of the dangert. But the British commander had the discouragement of knowing that the movements he was directed to make were disclosed to the enemy by their friends in England, by letters conveyed in the same packet which brought his dispatches from the Secretary of State; and, consequently, that all his attempts would be anticipated and counteracted. He sensibly felt the disadvantages of a defensive campaign, and ardently longed for ample reinforcements. With a proper army of twenty thousand men, judiciously divided at New York, Rhode Island, and Halifax, exclusive of the army for Quebec, the present unfavourable appearances would be entirely changed. With a smaller force, he observed, the success of an offensive campaign must be very doubtful. The opposing army, he admitted, was not to be despised. It contained many European soldiers, and all or most of Sparks's Life of Washington, vol. ii. p. 343, et seq. + Washington's Letters, vol. i. passim from 174 to 223. |