*

THE HOWES AT NEW YORK.

297

The British did not begin to arrive until the twentyfifth of June, when the first of the fleet of Sir William Howe sailed into the harbor from Halifax. By the twenty-ninth one hundred and thirty shiploads of soldiers had come and debarked on Staten Island. On the twelfth of July, the Admiral, Lord Howe, entered the harbor, with troops from England, and on the twelfth of August the eight thousand Hessians whom King George had hired to help him fight his battles, increased the number to thirty-two thousand men, including the troops of Sir Henry Clinton which had been repulsed at Charleston. Against this army of veterans Washington opposed eight thousand, mostly poorly disciplined and not familiar with the art of war. The case seemed hopeless, but Washington constantly issued animating orders, and called upon the men to remember that Heaven would crown with success so just a cause.†

*Language was not strong enough to express the detestation in which the Howes were held by the Americans, though they were not so harsh in their measures as the British ministers would have had them. In his usual impetuous ardor, John Adams wrote of them one spring Sunday, in 1777, "The two brothers Howe will be ranked by posterity with Pizarro, with Borgia, with Alva, and with others in the annals of infamy, whose memories are entitled to the hisses and execrations of all virtuous men. . . I would not be a Howe for all the empires of the earth, and all the riches and glory thereof."

It was this apparent hopelessness which inspired the enemies of America. It led Mr. Curwen to write in his journal, under date June 21st, 1776, “The number and strength of the American navy will prove, when put to the test, to be a delusive fancy: civil wars in time make good generals and soldiers, but the immense inequality will, I suppose, put an end to this war before they will have time to qualify; in any case, America must be ruined, perhaps desolated." It made him write in view of an American success, "Their activity and success is astonishing."

Howe transported his troops to Long Island and prepared to attack the Americans outside of Brooklyn. He routed them, and on the twenty-ninth attacked the fortifications at Brooklyn, obliging the Americans to retreat to New York. After a rest of two weeks, the British pursued, forcing Washington to retreat to Harlem Heights. During a cessation of hostilities, Howe endeavored to treat with Congress (not as an official body, but as a collection of private citizens) for a return to allegiance. The message was presented to Congress on the second of September, and a committee consisting of Benjamin Franklin, an old friend of Howe, John Adams and Edward Rutledge, was sent to confer with him. It met him on the eleventh, but found his meaning in calling for a conference had been misrepresented by General Sullivan, the messenger. The meeting resulted in nothing.

Washington's military genius was displayed in the masterly manner of the retreat from Long Island, and he was now to show the imperturbable persistence with which he carried on the war, under the most unfavorable circumstances, for his necessities forced him to retire from one position and another, until, in the middle of December, he was obliged to exclaim, "I think the game is pretty nearly up." At the same date Samuel Adams, in view of the state of affairs, cried out almost in agony, with tears rolling down his cheeks, "O, my God, must we give it up?'

A few days after the conference with Howe, Congress chose three of its members, Franklin, Silas Deane of Connecticut, and Arthur Lee of Virginia,

* Deane was already in Paris, having gone there as Representative of Connecticut, in June, 1776.

THE RETREAT THROUGH NEW JERSEY. 299

to go to France for the purpose of negotiating a treaty with that nation. Their mission was destined to be successful, but not at once.

Washington was not able to hold his position at Harlem Heights, because Howe made plans to attack him in the rear, and was obliged to meet the British at White Plains, where he suffered a partial defeat on the twenty-eighth of October. On the sixteenth of November, Fort Washington was captured, and on the twentieth, Fort Lee on the opposite side of the Hudson, was evacuated. Then began a retreat through New Jersey.

Meantime Arnold was suffering defeat at the North. He was driven from Lake Champlain, and lost Crown Point October 14th. On the eighth of December, Newport was taken and Providence blockaded. Five days later General Lee, who was at the time spreading dissatisfaction with Washington, and who esteemed himself a more sagacious officer, was captured, in consequence of his own careless confidence. His adverse influence was thus, for the time, happily stopped. Howe had lessened his force by sending a portion to Newport, and now, after following Washington across New Jersey, he again divided it, leaving a body of Hessians at Trenton on the Delaware, while he went into winter quarters at New York. This gave Washington opportunity for the most brilliant stroke of the war up to the time. determined to surprise the Hessians, and by suddenly crossing the river and approaching Trenton on Christmas evening, by two routes at once, he accomplished his purpose, and took one thousand prisoners. A few escaped, and the commander, Rahl, was killed.

He

Two days later, Congress, which had removed to Baltimore for safety,* voted to raise still larger forces, and gave to Washington the complete command of the army, for lack of which he had before been crippled in all his movements. Hope rose in the heart of the nation. Washington followed up his success, surprised Cornwallis at Princeton (Jan. 3.), and gradually forced Howe to withdraw his forces from New Jersey to Staten Island, (June 30, 1777), whence he sent sixteen thousand men to threaten Philadelphia (July 5). Six months before Howe had sent his luggage on board a packet for England, supposing that New Jersey was permanently conquered, and the war over! It had been the opinion of Washington himself that the first year would close the war, but the time was stretched on and on by the inefficiency of Howe and the persistence of the Americans.†

As we look upon it from the vantage ground of the present time, it seems the most hopeless contest in

It first met at

*Congress at this period led a migratory existence. Philadelphia, in 1774. In December, 1776, it was at Baltimore; in March, 1777, it was in Philadelphia again; but on the nineteenth of September of that year it incontinently adjourned to Lancaster; after wards to York, Pa. (then known as Yorktown), the records being sent to Bristol. Its migrations did not stop with the peace, for on the twenty-first of June, 1783, frightened by some threatening soldiers, it adjourned to Princeton, where its sessions were held from June 30th to November 4th. On the twenty-sixth of the same month it met at Annapolis, until June 3d, 1784, receiving there (December 20th, 1783) the resignation of Washington as commander-in-chief. Its next sessions were held at Trenton, from November 1st, 1784, to December 24th; and from there it went to New York, where it convened January 11th, 1785. It dissolved in 1789 at New York.

† Admiral Howe, when at Halifax, had expressed his belief that peace would be declared within ten days after his arrival in America.

HOPELESSNESS AND PLUCK.

301

which a people ever engaged. Without government that had power to enforce its determination, with no financial credit, with an army that was constantly changing, composed at its best of raw and ragged militiamen or volunteers, the thirteen Colonies engaged the rich and well-prepared government of Great Britian, the echoes of the great deeds of whose army, under a Marlborough, a Marlborough, were still ringing through Europe.

The campaign of 1777 was made memorable by the

aid given to the Americans secretly by France, and by the arrival of the Marquis of Lafayette, who on the last day of July was made a major-general by Congress. The great effort of the British was to cut off the New England Colonies from New York and the South. To effect this, General Burgoyne with a large army of English, Tories, and Indians, marched from Canada, took Ticonderoga, was defeated in an attempt on Bennington, Vt., August 16 ( where he had sent a