previous next
[136]

Chapter 5:

How far America had achieved independence at the time of the French alliance.


July—September, 1778.

confined between ridges three miles apart, the
Chap. V.} 1778.
Susquehanna, for a little more than twenty miles, winds through the valley of Wyoming. Abrupt rocks, rent by tributary streams, rise on the east, while the western declivities are luxuriantly fertile. Connecticut, whose charter from Charles the Second was older than that of Pennsylvania, using its prior claim to lands north of the Mamaroneck river, had colonized this beautiful region and governed it as its county of Westmoreland. The settlements, begun in 1754, increased in numbers and wealth till their annual tax amounted to two thousand pounds in Connecticut currency. In the winter of 1776, the people aided Washington with two companies of infantry, though their men were all needed to protect their own homes. Knowing the alliance of the British with the Six Nations, they built a line of ten forts as places of refuge. [137]

The Seneca tribe kept fresh in memory their chiefs

Chap. V.} 1778. June.
and braves who fell in the conflict with the New York husbandmen at Oriskany. Their king, Sucingerachton, was both in war and in council the foremost man in all the Six Nations. Compared with him, the Mohawk, Brandt, who had been but very lately known upon the war path, was lightly esteemed.1 His attachment to the English increased to a passion on the alliance of America with the French, for whom he cherished implacable hate. Through his interest, and by the blandishments of gifts and pay and chances of revenge, Colonel John Butler lured the Seneca warriors to cross the border of Pennsylvania under the British flag.

The party of savages and rangers, numbering between five hundred and seven hundred men, fell down the Tioga river, and on the last day of June hid in

30.
the forests above Wyoming. The next day the two
July 1.
northernmost forts capitulated. The men of Wyoming, old and young, with one regular company, in all hardly more than three hundred, took counsel with one another, and found no hope of deliverance for their families but through a victorious encounter with a foe of twice their number, and more skilful in the woods than themselves. On the third of July, the
3.
devoted band, led by Colonel Zebulon Butler, who had just returned from the continental service, began their march up the river. The horde of invaders, pretending to retreat, couched themselves on the ground in an open wood. The villagers of Wyoming [138] began firing as they drew near, and at the third vol-
Chap. V.} 1778.
ley stood within one hundred yards of the ambush, when the Seneca braves began the attack and were immediately seconded by the rangers. The Senecas gave no quarter, and in less than a half hour took two hundred and twenty-five scalps, among them those of two field officers and seven captains. The rangers saved the lives of but five of their captives.2 On the British side only two whites were killed and eight Indians wounded. The next day the remaining forts, filled chiefly with women and children, capitulated. The long and wailing procession of the survivors, flying from their fields of corn, their gardens, the flames of their cottages, the unburied bodies of their beloved defenders, escaped by a pass through the hills to the eastern settlements. Every fort and dwelling was burned down.

The Senecas spread over the surrounding country, adepts in murder and ruin. The British leader boasted in his report that his party had burned a thousand houses and every mill; Germain in reply extolled their prowess and even their humanity,3 and resolved on directing a succession of similar parties, not only to harass the border, but to waste the older settlements. Yet the marauders came to destroy and deal deaths, not to recover and hold; and the ancient affection for England was washed out in blood. When the leader of the inroad turned to desolate other scenes, Pennsylvania was left in the undisputed possession of her soil. [139]

After the retreat of the British, her government,

Chap. V.} 1778.
as well as that of New Jersey, used the right of bringing to trial those of their citizens who had been false to their allegiance; but Livingston, the governor of New Jersey, pardoned every one of seventeen who were found guilty. At Philadelphia, against his intercession, two men, one of whom had conducted a British party to a midnight carnage, were convicted, and suffered on the gallows. Regret prevailed that these also had not been forgiven.

Before the co-operation of the arms of France the Americans had substantially achieved their existence as a nation. The treaties of alliance with them had not yet been signed, when Vergennes wrote ‘that it was almost physically impossible for the English to wrest independence from them; that all efforts, however great, would be powerless to recall a people so thoroughly determined to refuse submission.’ On the side of the sea, from Nova Scotia to Florida, the British held no post except the island of Rhode Island and New York city with a small circle around its bay. No hostile foot rested on the mainland of New England. The British were still at Ogdensburg, Niagara, and Detroit; but the Americans held the country from below the Highlands to the water-shed of Ontario. Over the Mississippi and its eastern tributary streams the British flag waved no more.

The Americans had gained vigor in the conflict: the love and the exercise of individual liberty, though they hindered the efficiency of government, made them unconquerable. The British soldier had nothing before him but to be transferred from one of the many provinces of Britain to another, perhaps to the [140] West Indies, perhaps to India: he did what he was

Chap. V.} 1778.
bound to do with the skill of a veteran; but he had no ennobling motive, no prospect of a home, and no living patriotism. The American looked beyond danger to the enjoyment of freedom and peace in a family and country of his own. His service in the camp exalted his moral character: he toiled and suffered for the highest ends, and built up a republic not for his own land only, but for the benefit of the human race.

Moreover, the inmost mind of the American people had changed. The consciousness of a national life had dissolved the sentiment of loyalty to the crown of England. More than three years had elapsed since the shedding of blood at Lexington; and these years had done the work of a generation.

In England a similar revolution had taken place. The insurgents, losing the name of rebels, began to be called Americans. Officers, returning from the war, said openly that ‘no person of judgment conceived the least hope that the colonies could be subjected by force.’ Some British statesmen thought to retain a political, or at least a commercial, connection; while many were willing to give them up unconditionally. Even before the surrender of Burgoyne, Gibbon, a member of the Board of Trade, confessed that, though England had sent to America the greatest force which any European power ever ventured to transport into that continent, it was not strong enough to attack its enemy, nor to prevent them from receiving assistance. The war ‘measures’ of the administration were, therefore, ‘so repugnant to sound policy that they ceased to [141] be right.’4 After that surrender,5 he agreed that,

Chap. V.} 1778.
since ‘the substance of power was lost, the name of independence might be granted to the Americans.’ General Howe coupled his retirement from active service with the avowal that the disposable resources of his country could produce no decisive result. ‘Things go ill, and will not go better,’ wrote the chief of the new commission for establishing peace. The successor of General Howe reported himself too weak to attempt the restoration of the king's authority. Germain had no plan for the coming campaign but to lay the colonies waste. The prime minister, who had been at the head of affairs from 1770, owned in anguish the failure of his system, and deplored its continuance. Should the Americans ratify the French alliance, Lord Amherst, who was the guide of the ministry in the conduct of the war, recommended the evacuation of New York and Rhode Island and the employment of the troops against the French West Indies.

But the radical change of opinion was shown most clearly by the votes of parliament. In February, 1774, the house of commons, in a moment of unrestrained passion; adopted measures for enforcing the traditional absolutism of parliament by majorities of three to one: corresponding majorities in February, 1778, reversed its judgment, repealed the punitive [142] acts, and conceded every thing which the colonies

Chap. V.} 1778.
had demanded.

There was ‘a general cry for peace.’6 The king, in January, 1778, confessed to Lord North: ‘The time may come when it will be wise to abandon all North America but Canada, Nova Scotia, and the Floridas; but then the generality of the nation must see it first in that light.’7 Lord Rockingham was convinced himself and desired to ‘convince the public of the impossibility of going on with the war.’8 On the second of February, Fox spoke against its continuance, went over the whole of the American business, and was heard with favor. The ministers said not one word in reply; and on the division several tories voted with him.9 English opinion had by this time resigned itself to the belief that the United States could not be reduced; but as a massive fountain, when its waters are first let loose, rises slowly to its full height, so the mind of parliament needed time to collect its energies for official action. If British statesmen are blamed for not suffering her colonies to go free without a war, it must yet be confessed that the war grew by a kind of necessity out of the hundred years contest with the crown for the bulwark of English freedom.

But now Fox would have England ‘instantly declare their independence;’10 Pownall, who had once defended the Stamp Act, urged their recognition;11 [143] and Conway broke through his reserve, and said in

Chap. V.} 1778.
parliament: ‘It has been proved to demonstration that there is no other method of having peace with them but acknowledging them to be, what they really are, and what they are determined to remain, independent states.’ The house of commons seemed secretly to agree with him.12 Tories began to vote against the ministry.13 The secretary of war, Lord Barrington, said to the king: ‘The general dismay among all ranks and conditions arises from an opinion that the administration is not equal to the times. The opinion is so universal that it prevails even among those who are most dependent on the ministers and most attached to them; nay, it prevails among the ministers themselves.’14 Lord North was convinced of the ruinous tendency of his measures, and professed, but only professed, an earnest wish to resign office. Lord Mansfield deplored the danger of a war with both houses of the Bourbons.15 The landed aristocracy were grown weary of the conflict which they had brought on, and of which the continuance promised only increasing taxation and a visible loss of national dignity and importance. So long as there remained a hope of recovering America the ministers were supported, for they alone would undertake its reduction. The desire to replace them by statesmen more worthy of a great people implied the consent to peace on the basis of American independence.16 To that end all elements conspired. The [144] initial velocity of the British attack was exhausted,
Chap. V.} 1778. July 2.
and the remainder of the war was like the last rebounds of a cannon-ball before it comes to rest.

On the second of July, the president and several members of congress met once more in Philadelphia. On the ninth, the articles of confederation, engrossed

9.
on parchment, were signed by eight states. On the tenth, congress issued a circular to the other five,
10.
urging them ‘to conclude the glorious compact which was to unite the strength, wealth, and councils of the whole.’ North Carolina acceded on the twenty-first; Georgia, on the twenty-fourth. New
21.
Jersey demanded for the United States the regula-
24.
tion of trade and the ownership of the ungranted north-western domain: but, after unassisted efforts for a more efficient union, the state, on the twentyfifth of the following November, accepted the confederacy without amendment; and on the fifth of May, 1779, the delegates of Delaware did the same. Maryland, which was on all sides precisely limited by its charter,—while Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and at least one of the Carolinas, might claim by royal grant an almost boundless extension to the north and west,—alone arrested the consummation of the confederation by demanding that the public lands north-west of the Ohio should first be recognised as the common property of all the states, and held as a common resource to discharge [145] the debts contracted by congress for the
Chap. V.} 1778. July 8.
expenses of the war.17

On the eighth of July the French fleet, consisting of twelve ships of the line and three frigates, after a rough voyage of nearly ninety days from Toulon, anchored in the bay of Delaware; ten days too late to intercept the inferior squadron of Lord Howe and its multitude of transports on their retreat from Philadelphia. Its admiral, the Count d'estaing, a major-general in the French army, had persuaded Marie Antoinette to propose the expedition. On the eleventh, congress learned from his letters

11.
that he was ‘ready to co-operate with the states in the reduction of the British army and navy.’ The first invitation to a concert of measures revealed the inability of the American people to fulfil their engagements. For want of an organized government congress could do no more than empower Washington to call upon the six states north of the Delaware for aids of militia, while its financial measure was a popular loan to be raised throughout the country by volunteer collectors.

D'Estaing followed his enemy to the north, and anchored within Sandy Hook, where he intercepted unsuspecting British ships bound for New York. The fleet of Lord Howe was imperfectly manned, but his fame attracted from merchant vessels and transports a full complement of volunteers. The French fleet would nevertheless have gone up the bay and offered battle, could pilots have been found to take its largest ships through the channel.

Since New York could not be reached, d'estaing, [146] ignorant of — the secret policy of France and Spain,

Chap. V.} 1778.
indulged the dream of capturing the British towns in Newfoundland and annexing that island to the American republic as a fourteenth state with representation in congress.18 Washington proposed to employ the temporary superiority at sea in the capture of Rhode Island and its garrison of six thousand men. He had in advance summoned Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to send quotas of their militia for the expedition. The council of war of Rhode Island, exceeding his requirement, called out one half of the effective force of the state for twenty days from the first of August, and ordered the remainder to be ready at a minute's warning. Out of his own feeble army he spared one brigade from Massachusetts and one from Rhode Island, of one thousand each, and they were followed by a further detachment. Directing Sullivan, who was placed over the district of Rhode Island, to throw the American troops into two divisions, he sent Greene to command the one, and Lafayette the other. Young Laurens served d'estaing as aid and interpreter. On the twenty-ninth of July, while Clinton was reporting to Germain that he would probably be under the necessity of evacuating New York and retiring to Halifax,19 the French fleet, with thirty-five hundred land troops on board, appeared off Newport, and the British saw themselves forced to destroy ten or more armed ships and galleys, carrying two hundred and twelve guns. [147]

The country was palpitating with joy at the al-

Chap. V.} 1778. Aug. 6.
liance with France. Congress on Sunday the sixth of August, with studied ceremony, gave its audience of reception to Gerard de Rayneval, the French plenipotentiary, listened to his assurances of the affection of his king for the United States and for ‘each one’ of them, and ‘acknowledged the hand of a gracious Providence in raising them up so powerful a friend.’ At Headquarters there seemed to be a hundred chances to one in favor of capturing the garrison on Rhode Island, and thus ending British pretensions to sovereignty over America. Robert Livingston expressed the hope that congress, in treating for peace, would insist on having Canada, Hudson's Bay, the Floridas, and all the continent independent.

On the eighth the French fleet, which a whim of

8.
Sullivan had detained for ten days in the offing, ran past the British batteries into the harbor of Newport. The landing had been concerted for the tenth; but, learning that the British outpost on the north of the island had been withdrawn, Sullivan, on the morning of the ninth, without notice to d'estaing, crossed
9.
with his troops from the side of Tiverton. Scarcely had he done so, when the squadron of Lord Howe, which had been re-enforced from England, was seen to anchor near Point Judith. On the tenth a strong
10.
wind rising from the north-east, d'estaing by the advice of his officers, among whom were Suffren and de Grasse, sailed past the Newport batteries, and in order of battle bore down upon the British squadron. Lord Howe stood to the southward, inviting pursuit. For two days d'estaing was baffled in the attempt to [148] force an action, while the wind increased to a hurri-
Chap. V.} 1778. Aug.
cane and wrecked and scattered both fleets. The French ship Languedoc lost its rudder and masts; the Apollo, to which the British admiral had shifted his flag, could not keep at sea.

The same storm flooded Rhode Island with rain, damaged the ammunition of the American army, overturned their tents, and left them no shelter except trees and fences. Many horses were killed, and even soldiers perished. The British troops, being quartered in the town, suffered less; and, on the return of fair weather, Pigot, but for his inertness, might have fallen upon a defenceless enemy.

The squadron of Lord Howe steered for Sandy Hook. D'Estaing, three of whose ships had severally encountered three English ships, appeared on the twentieth within sight of Newport; but only to an-

20.
nounce that, from the shattered condition of his fleet, and from want of water and provisions, after nearly five months service at sea, he was compelled by his instructions to sail for Boston. In general orders Sullivan censured d'estaing, and insinuated the inutility of the French alliance; and then, under compulsion from Lafayette, in other general orders made reparation. He should have instantly withdrawn from the island; and Washington sent him incessant messages to do so. On Honyman's hill he was wasting strength in raising batteries which were too remote to be of use, and could be easily turned; more than half his army was composed of militia, who saw that the expedition had failed, and began to go home. There remained in the American camp less than six thousand men; and a retreat had now to be [149] conducted in the presence of regular troops, superior
Chap. V.} 1778. Aug. 29.
in numbers. It began in the night of the twentyeighth. The next day the British attempted to get round the American right wing, and thus cut off every chance of escape. On that side Greene, almost within sight of his native town, held the command. Supported by young Laurens, he changed the defence into an attack, and drove the enemy in disorder back to their strong post on Quaker hill. In the engagement the British lost at least two hundred and sixty men; the Americans, forty-nine less. On the night following the thirtieth, the army of Sullivan, evading
30.
its sluggish pursuers, withdrew from the island. Clinton, with a re-enforcement of four thousand men, landed the day after the escape.
31.

The British general returned to New York, having

Sept.
accomplished nothing, except that a detachment under Grey set fire to the shipping in New Bedford, and then levied cattle and money on the freeholders of Martha's Vineyard. Lord Howe gave up the naval command to Admiral Byron, and was never again employed in America.

The people of New England had in twenty days raised the force of Sullivan to ten thousand effective men; the total disappointment of their hope of brilliant success excited criminations and distrust. At Boston a French officer lost his life in attempting to quell a riot between his countrymen and American seamen; but d'estaing preserved unruffled politeness, and really wished well to the United States.

Notwithstanding the failure of the first expedition from France, every measure adopted by the British government or its army to reduce the United States [150] served only to promote its independence. In 1775

Chap. V.} 1778. Sept.
they sought to annihilate the rebellion by attacking it at its source; and before many months they were driven out of Boston. In 1776 the acquisition of New York was to prelude the one last campaign for crushing all resistance; in 1777 Philadelphia was taken, but only to be evacuated in 1778. To a friend in Virginia Washington wrote in August, as he came again upon White Plains: ‘After two years manoeuvring and the strangest vicissitudes, both armies are brought back to the very point they set out from, and the offending party at the beginning is now reduced to the use of the spade and pickaxe for defence. The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.’ ‘The veil of ordinary events,’ thus the Governor of Connecticut expressed the belief of the state, ‘covers the hand of the supreme Disposer of them, so that men overlook his guidance. In the view of the series of marvellous occurrences during the present war, he must be blind and infatuated who doth not see and acknowledge the divine ordering thereof.’ The faith of the American people in the moral government of the world sprang not from irrational traditions, or unreflecting superstition, but from the deep sentiment of harmony between their own active patriotism and the infinite love which founded all things and the infinite justice which carries all things forward in continuous progression. The consciousness of this harmony, far from lulling them into an indolent expectation of supernatural [151] intervention, bound them to self-relying diligence in
Chap. V.} 1778.
the duty that was before them. They had the confidence and joy of fellow-workers with ‘the divine ordering’ for the highest welfare of mankind.

On the third of October the commissioners for

Oct. 3.
restoring peace to the colonies addressed a farewell manifesto to the members of congress, the several assemblies, and other inhabitants of America, that their persistence in separating from Great Britain would ‘change the whole nature and future conduct of this war;’ that ‘the extremes of war’ should so distress the people and desolate the country, as to make them of little avail to France. Congress published the paper in the gazettes to convince the people of the insidious designs of the commissioners. In the British house of commons, Coke of Norfolk proposed an address to the king to disavow the declaration. Lord George Germain defended it, insisting that the Americans by their alliance were become French, and should in future be treated as Frenchmen. Burke pointed out that the ‘dreadful menace was pronounced against those who, conscious of rectitude, stood up to fight for freedom and country.’ ‘No quarter,’ said the commissioner Johnstone, who in changing sides on the American question had not tamed the fury of his manner, ‘no quarter ought to be shown to their congress; and, if the infernals could be let loose against them, I should approve of the measure. The proclamation certainly does mean a war of desolation: it can mean nothing else.’ Gibbon divided silently with the friends of America, who had with them the judgment, though not the vote, of the house. Three days later Rockingham [152] denounced the ‘accursed’ manifesto in the house of
Chap. V.} 1778.
lords, saying that ‘since the coming of Christ war had not been conducted on such inhuman ideas.’ Lord Suffolk, in reply, appealed to the bench of bishops; on which the Bishop of Peterborough traced the resemblance between the proclamation and the acts of Butler at Wyoming. He added: ‘There is an article in the extraordinaries of the army for scalping-knives. Great Britain defeats any hope in the justness of her cause by means like these to support it.’ The debate closed well for America, except that Lord Shelburne was provoked into saying that he never would serve with any man who would consent to its independence, when in truth independence was become the only way to peace.

The menaces of the proclamation were a confession of weakness. The British army under Clinton could hold no part of the country, and only ravage and destroy by sudden expeditions. Towards the end of

Sept.
September Cornwallis led a foray into New Jersey; and Major-General Grey with a party of infantry, surprising Baylor's light horse, used the bayonet mercilessly against men that sued for quarter. A band led by Captain Patrick Ferguson in October,
Oct.
after destroying the shipping in Little Egg harbor, spread through the neighboring country to burn the houses and waste the lands of the patriots. On the night of the fifteenth they surprised light infantry under Pulaski's command; and, cumbering themselves with no prisoners, killed all they could. In November a large party of Indians with bands of
Nov.
tories and regulars entered Cherry valley by an unguarded pass, and, finding the fort too strong to be [153] taken, murdered and scalped more than thirty of the
Chap. V.} 1778. Nov.
inhabitants, most of them women and children. The story of these massacres was repeated from village to village, and strengthened the purpose of resistance.

With the year 1778, South Carolina, which for two years had been unvisited by an enemy, after long deliberation established a permanent form of government. Immediately after the general declaration of independence, its citizens, by common consent, intrusted constituent powers to their representatives. In January, 1777, a bill for the new constitution was introduced. Hitherto the legislative council had been chosen by the general assembly. A bold effort was made, in like manner, to confer the election of the senate on the assembly, because in that way Charleston, through its numerous representation, would have controlled the choice. On this point the country members would not yield; but the distribution of the representation in the general assembly was left unchanged. The bill was then printed and submitted for examination to the people during more than a year. Sure of the prevailing approval, the legislature, in March, 1778, gave it their final sanction; and it was then presented to the president for his confirmation. Every one expected that in a few hours it would be proclaimed, when Rutledge called the council and assembly into the council chamber, and, after a formal speech, gave it a negative, not only for the change which it would effect in the manner of choosing one branch of the legislature, but also because it took from the chief of the executive his veto power. The majority, soon recovering from their consternation, determined to vote no taxes until [154] the veto should be reversed. After a three days

Chap. V.} 1778.
adjournment, which was required by the rules before a rejected bill could be again brought forward, Rawlins Lowndes, the newly elected president, gave his sanction to the re-enacted bill.20

The new constitution might be altered by legislative authority after a notice of ninety days. None but freeholders could elect or be elected to office; and for the higher offices the possession of a large freehold was required. In any redistribution of the representation of the state, the number of white inhabitants and the amount of taxable property were to be considered. The veto power was taken from the president. Till this time the church of England had been the established church in South Carolina. The toleration of Locke and Shaftesbury was now mixed with the religious faith of its people. Not the Anglican or Episcopal church, but the Christian Protestant church, was declared to be the established religion of the state; and none but Protestants were eligible to high executive or any legislative office. The right of suffrage was conferred exclusively on every free white man who, having the requisite age and freehold, acknowledged God and a future state of rewards and punishments. All persons who so believed, and that God is publicly to be worshipped, might form religious societies. The support of religious worship was voluntary; the property then belonging to societies of the church of England, or any other religious societies, was secured to them in perpetuity. [155] The people were to enjoy forever the right of elect-

Chap. V.} 1778.
ing their own pastors or clergy; but the state was entitled to security for the due discharge of the pastoral office by the persons so elected. Of slaves or slavery no mention was made unless by implication.

The constitution having been adopted on the nineteenth of March, 1778, to go into effect on the following twenty-ninth of November, all resident free male persons in the state above sixteen years, refusing to take the oath to maintain it against the king of Great Britain and all other enemies, were exiled; but a period of twelve months after their departure was allowed them to dispose of their property. In October, 1778, after the intention of the British to reduce South Carolina became known, death was made the penalty for refusing to depart from the state, or for returning without permission.21

The planters of South Carolina still partook of their usual pastimes and cares; while the British ministry, resigning the hope of reducing the north, indulged the expectation of conquering all the states to the south of the Susquehanna.22 For this end the British commander-in-chief at New York was ordered to despatch before October, if possible, a thousand men to re-enforce Pensacola, and three thousand to take Savannah. Two thousand more were destined as a re-enforcement to St. Augustine. Thus strengthened, General Prevost would be able to march in triumph from East Florida across lower Georgia.

The new policy was inaugurated by dissensions between the minister for America in England and [156] the highest British officials in America, and was fol-

Chap. V.} 1778.
lowed by never-ending complaints. Lord Carlisle and his associate commissioners deprecated the seeming purpose of enfeebling the establishment at New York by detachments for different and distant services. ‘Under these appearances of weakness,’ so they reported, ‘our cause has visibly declined.’23 Sir Henry Clinton threatened to evacuate New York and to retire to Halifax,24 remonstrated against being ‘reduced to a starved defensive,’25 and complained of being kept in command, ‘a mournful witness of the debility’ of his army; were he only unshackled with instructions, he might render serious service.26 Every detachment for the southern campaign was made with sullen reluctance; and his indirect criminations offended the unforgiving minister.

1 Haldimand to Germain, 15 Sept., 1779. Brandt was not at Wyoming. This appears from Butler's report; and compare Brodhead Documents, VIII. 752.

2 Major John Butler to Lieutenant-colonel Bolton, dated Lacuwanack, 8 July, 1778.

3 Lord George Germain to Sir Clinton, 4 Nov., 1778.

4 Edward Gibbon to J. Holroyd, 13 Aug., 1777.

5 In 1847 the Archbishop of York, whose memory went back to those days, and who was with Thomas Grenville in Paris in 1782, told me, that after the affair of Bunker Hill very many persons, after the surrender of Burgoyne almost every one, gave up the expectation that England would be able to enforce the dependence of the colonies.

6 Edward Gibbon to J. Holroyd, 2 Dec., 1777, and 4 Dec., 1777.

7 Donne, II. 118.

8 Chat. Cor., IV. 488. Donne, II. 123.

9 Donne, II. 123. C. J. Fox to Mr. Fitzpatrick, in Correspondence of C. J. Fox, i. 168.

10 Donne, II. 154, 17 March, 1778.

11 Almon's Debates, IX. 60.

12 Almon's Debates, IX. 69.

13 Correspondence of C. J. Fox, i. 168.

14 Lord Barrington's Life, 186.

15 Report of Interview of Lord Mansfield with Escarano, Spanish Ambassador in London, in Escarano to Florida Blanca, 27 March, 1778.

16 The reflective opinion of England is clearly stated by Earl Russell, for many years British prime minister or minister of foreign affairs: ‘The events of the years 1777 and 1778 ought to have put an end to the American war; a simple cessation of arms must have speedily led to a treaty of peace with the new state.’ Earl Russell, in Correspondence of C. J. Fox, i. 201, 202.

17 Gerard to Vergennes, Philadelphia, 12 August, 1778.

18 Extract of a letter of the Count d'estaing to Gerard de Rayneval, in Gerard de Rayneval to the Count de Vergennes, 15 July, 1778.

19 Sir H. Clinton to Lord George Germain, 27 July, 1778.

20 Richard Hutson to George Bryan, from Charleston, S. C., 14 March, 1778. John Rutledge to Henry Laurens, 16 Feb., 1778, and 8 March, 1778. In F. Moore's Materials for History, 94, 103-106. Ramsay's History of South Carolina, i. 129-138.

21 Statutes of South Carolina, i. 150; IV. 452.

22 Germain to Clinton, 8 March, 1778.

23 Lord Carlisle and other commissioners to Germain, New York, 5 Sept., 1778.

24 Clinton to Germain, 27 July, 1778.

25 Clinton to Haldimand, 9 Sept., 1778.

26 Clinton to Germain, 8 Oct., 1778.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

Sort places alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a place to search for it in this document.
Rhode Island (Rhode Island, United States) (9)
Wyoming (Wyoming, United States) (6)
South Carolina (South Carolina, United States) (6)
United States (United States) (5)
France (France) (5)
Connecticut (Connecticut, United States) (5)
Newport (Rhode Island, United States) (4)
Halifax (Canada) (4)
Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania, United States) (3)
New Jersey (New Jersey, United States) (3)
Massachusetts (Massachusetts, United States) (3)
England (United Kingdom) (3)
West Indies (2)
Sandy Hook, Md. (Maryland, United States) (2)
New England (United States) (2)
Georgia (Georgia, United States) (2)
Delaware (Delaware, United States) (2)
Canada (Canada) (2)
York, Pa. (Pennsylvania, United States) (1)
White Plains (New York, United States) (1)
Westmoreland (Pennsylvania, United States) (1)
Toulon (France) (1)
Tiverton (Rhode Island, United States) (1)
Tioga River (New Hampshire, United States) (1)
Susquehanna, Pa. (Pennsylvania, United States) (1)
Savannah (Georgia, United States) (1)
Pulaski, Tenn. (Tennessee, United States) (1)
Providence, R. I. (Rhode Island, United States) (1)
Point Judith (Maryland, United States) (1)
Peterborough (Canada) (1)
Oriskany (New York, United States) (1)
Ogdensburg (New York, United States) (1)
North Carolina (North Carolina, United States) (1)
North America (1)
Norfolk (Virginia, United States) (1)
Newfoundland (Canada) (1)
Maryland (Maryland, United States) (1)
Mamaroneck (New York, United States) (1)
Little Egg Harbor (New Jersey, United States) (1)
Hudson (New Jersey, United States) (1)
Fort Niagara (New York, United States) (1)
Florida (Florida, United States) (1)
Department de Ville de Paris (France) (1)
Clinton, N. Y. (New York, United States) (1)
Cherry Valley, Tenn. (Tennessee, United States) (1)
Charleston (South Carolina, United States) (1)

Download Pleiades ancient places geospacial dataset for this text.

hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: