'I have deceived the Court of St. James's by simply telling the truth!' And it was really so; since the more he drew attention to facts, the less credit he obtained. English politicians appeared bent upon mistaking their hopes and wishes for solid arguments. But at length the brazen trumpet was blown, and all verbal remonstrances died away amidst the smoke and bloodshed of Lexington and Bunker's Hill. Congress now formally met, and George Washington was elected Captain-general of their forces. The American population was then under three millions, without artillery, arsenals, or magazines, but with a good cause, much popular enthusiasm, several virtuous and able leaders, and the best wishes of Europe on their side. They had to fight, moreover, for their own hearths and homes. Wives, sisters, friends, and children were living and looking on around, as close and interested spectators of the conflict. Nevertheless finances had to be found, the Indians were to be conciliated, and the Canadians allured if possible. To rescue these last, General Montgomery marched to Montreal, and afterwards to Quebec, where an honourable grave awaited him. Meanwhile, Sir William Howe headed the royal army, after it had been demonstrated only too late, how well the patriots could stand fire, or assail a province. At home, even toryism began to express surprise that the war, scarcely commenced, was not already over. The opposition found more ready listeners in anticipating difficulties and disasters. Vaticinations that France would espouse the severance of America from her ancient rival were uttered with all the confidence of certainty; nor ever were debates more violent in the House of Commons than those which followed the king's speech for the session of 1776. German mercenaries had swelled the British forces to upwards of forty thousand effective men, amidst a variety of murmurs from almost every quarter. At Newfoundland, an irruption of the ocean had desolated our fisheries. At Boston, the besiegers had become themselves besieged. Commerce caught the alarm. London and Bristol presented petitions, which expatiated upon the lives about to be sacrificed, the treasure to be expended, the new enemies to be encountered. They represented that the obstinacy of the colonists would render even victory too costly; that the victor and the vanquished would be involved in one common ruin. They exhorted, they prayed, they conjured the government to renounce hostile resolutions, which promised no good and threatened so many disasters.'

But the die was cast. The British were forced to evacuate the capital of Massachusetts, which General Washington immediately occupied. Privateers began to swarm upon the occan, to the temporary ruin of our coasting trade, and the per

petual humiliation of our marine. In both the Carolinas little else than disappointment seemed the lot attendant upon our best efforts. Royal commissioners had left London for America with gracious offers of pardon from his majesty, just when the gallant Congress were debating about their celebrated Declaration of Independence. This was at length announced with great solemnity, at Philadelphia, on the 8th of July, 1776. Salvoes of ordnance were fired; popular clamour rent the air; the people seemed delirious with exultation. At New York, three days afterwards, a leaden statue of George the Third (how appropriate the metal) was taken down, and dragged through the streets, that it might be converted into musket balls. At Baltimore, the effigy of this same sovereign became the sport of the populace, and was burnt in the public square. Throughout New England and Virginia a similar spirit prevailed. The remarks of our author will be thought calm and sensible, when he observes,

Thus, on the one hand, the American patriots, by their secret manœuvres, and then by a daring resolution, and on the other, the British ministers, at first by oppressive laws, and afterwards by hesitating counsels, and the employment of inadequate forces, gave origin to a crisis, which eventually produced the entire dismemberment of a splendid and powerful empire. So constant are men in the pursuit of liberty; and so obstinate in ambition. But also so timid are they in their resolutions, and even more prompt to warn their enemy of his danger by threats than to overwhelm him by force. It is certain that the English ministers wanted either sagacity to foresee the evil, or energy to remedy it. The tumults of America had broken out, as it were unobserved: till at length, swollen like an overflowing river, they acquired such an impetuosity as to sweep before them the impotent dikes, with which it was attempted too late to oppose them.'-p. 215.

There can now be no question, on reviewing the whole contest, together with its preliminaries, that we first bullied when we ought to have conciliated; and hesitated when we ought to have acted. Our armies, however, were augmented with foreign mercenaries; and General Howe, in conjunction with his brother the admiral, commenced their combined operations against the state of New York, precisely when it was boiling over with joy at the recent declaration of independence. The battle of Brooklyn, on Long Island, where Washington is said to have shed honourable tears at the fearful carnage made among his brave, yet irregular militia, threw the Liverpool of America into the hands of her enemy. New Jersey was rapidly overrun; Philadelphia was threatened; General Lee was captured through his own carelessness; the tomahawk of savage tribes degraded and

afflicted both parties, in almost equal degrees; the campaign in Canada produced results, to say the least, doubtful for the present: so that, under Divine Providence, nothing could have saved the infant republic but the Fabian policy so ably carried out by Washington. The dictatorial powers, with which Congress of necessity had invested him, rather illustrated his own character, than really strengthened his hands. It was to foreign aid that all eyes were turned,—not to admit a master, but to emancipate a continent. The maritime prowess of England had long rendered her an object of jealousy to the continental powers. The Court of Versailles, relying upon its family compact for assistance from Spain, only waited until she could extort the best terms for herself from the new republicans. Her efforts had been incessant for some time, to effect retrenchment in her expenditure, and apply their savings to the reparation of her fleets and dockyards. Meanwhile Doctor Franklin appeared at Paris, an object of intense interest to the inhabitants of that gay metropolis. His simplicity of life, the fame of his talents and philosophy, and probably also his notorious coincidence with themselves in much of their irreligion, attracted all classes. His portraits caught the eye in almost every dwelling. His humorous and grave aphorisms made many compare him to Socrates. His whole aspect was a novelty most acceptable to the palled tastes of luxurious and voluptuous satiety. It was anticipated, moreover, that the cause of American independence, which he so ably represented, would gratify the ambition of the French in helping them to humble England: as, indeed, it did most effectually in the sequel. Great Britain stood in need of punishment for her oppression, presumption, and incapacity; nor was she long in obtaining a most abundant and profitable share of it.

The expedition of Burgoyne, in 1777, was to open a way to New York from the northern lakes to Albany and the banks of the Hudson. All intercourse would thus have been cut off between the eastern and western provinces, so that resistance on the part of the patriots could scarcely have had a gleam of hope afterwards. The British general, full of self-confidence, with an army of many thousand men, a complete train of artillery, and a numerous horde of savages, invested Ticonderoga on the first of July. This fortress is upon the western bank of that narrow inlet, which connects lake George with lake Champlain.. The Americans now had to withdraw from before the British, after enormous losses; whilst their enemy haughtily advanced through a tract of country then rough and overgrown, besides being intersected with innumerable creeks and morasses.

Trees had been felled and locked together,—

trenches were dug from side to side of every valley, through which a passage might be sought,—and parties of sharpshooters infested every thicket to impede the progress of Burgoyne. On that general at length emerging from the forests, on the real banks of the Hudson, he vainly imagined that a glorious triumph was at hand. General Schuyler, his opponent, had done all that an able commander could do under the circumstances; but notwithstanding the support of Washington his personal friend, he was superseded by Gates, an officer popular with Congress, and already celebrated for several partisan achievements. It was the 19th of September, when the first regular engagement terminated in no decisive results upon either side; except that to the English, every serious detention was equivalent to the loss of a battle, as provisions got scarce and the Indians refractory. They had been induced to rely upon assistance from General Clinton, who, it was hoped, would forward them succours from New York, to facilitate a junction between himself and Burgoyne at Albany. The latter had now exchanged his brightest hopes for the direst apprehensions. October had arrived. Several most severe and disastrous skirmishes had deprived him of many gallant supporters, and considerably disheartened his troops. The advances made, subsequently to the drawn battle of the 19th, had augmented his perplexities. the neighbourhood of Saratoga, his position was that of a lion amidst the toils of his hunters, without the possibility of escape. Gates, by a long series of masterly manœuvres, had drawn him on towards destruction. Within a few days, it exceeded the power of words to describe his pitiable condition.

In

The soldiers, worn down by hard toil, incessant effort, and stubborn action; abandoned by the Indians and Canadians; the whole army reduced by repeated and heavy losses, from 10,000 combatants to less than 5,000 effective fighting men, of whom little more than 3,000 men were English. In these circumstances, and in this state of weakness, they were invested by an army four times their own number, extending through three parts out of four, in a circle all around them; but who refused to fight from a knowledge of their own condition; and who, from the nature of the ground, could not be attacked successfully on any quarter. In this helpless situation, obliged to lie constantly on their arms, while a continued cannonade pervaded all the camp, and even rifle and grape shot fell in every part of their lines, the troops of Burgoyne retained their ordinary constancy, and while sinking under hard necessity, showed themselves worthy of a better fate. Nor could they be reproached with any action or word which betrayed a want of temper or fortitude. At length, no succours appearing, and no rational ground of any hope remaining, an exact account of provisions was taken on the morning of the 13th October, when it was found that the whole stock would

afford no more than three days' bare subsistence for the army. In such a state it was alike impossible to advance or remain as they were; and the longer they delayed to take a definitive resolution, the more desperate became their distress. Burgoyne, therefore, immediately called a council of war, at which not only the generals and field officers, but all the captains of companies were invited to assist. While they deliberated, the bullets of the Americans whistled around them, and frequently pierced even the tent where the council was convened. It was determined unanimously to open a treaty, and enter into a convention with the American general.'-p. 294.

Considerable moderation was manifested by the triumphant patriots. The articles were settled on the 15th of October, and were to be signed on the morning of the 17th instant, when, strange to say, late in the night of the intervening day, an express reached the camp, that Clinton would be shortly at hand. Ideas of rescue revived in the breasts of some, but it was almost universally felt that the British troops were from exhaustion, no longer able to handle their arms, and that the public faith had already been engaged. Through magnanimous tenderness towards the feelings of the vanquished, General Gates ordered his troops to retire within their lines, that they might not witness the shame of their adversaries when they piled their arms. Verily, he that overcometh his spirit is better than he that taketh a city! He gained by the capitulation the surrender of a magnificent train of fine brass artillery, amounting to fortytwo pieces of different sorts and sizes, 4,600 muskets, an enormous quantity of ammunition-grievously needed by the republicans-besides all the prisoners. Such was the fate of this celebrated expedition, conceived in overweening confidence, and conducted to its disgraceful termination, through want of combined action between the generals commanding in Canada and those in the province of New York. When the British made their way along the lakes of Champlain and St. George, Sir William Howe, instead of ascending the Hudson, moved upon the Delaware. When Burgoyne captured Ticonderoga, Howe set out against Philadelphia! Who could be surprised at the result of hardihood without wisdom,-of profuse preparation without unanimity of purpose?

It was a dark day for England when the news arrived. France quickened her preparations. De la Fayette and others had embarked with all their heart and soul in the cause of liberty; nor ever were individual disinterestedness and enthusiasm more beautifully attractive. Meanwhile, there were abundant catastrophes to act as so many sets-off against the brilliant achievement at Saratoga. Washington had plucked his country like a brand out of the fire at Trenton; but his