A DEEPER GLOOM OVER THE COUNTRY.

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pend on God's blessing, and He who cannot be indifferent to her righteous cause, will even work miracles if necessary to carry her through this glorious conflict, and establish her feet upon a rock.' Bancroft is doubtless justified in characterizing it as "the needless flight of Congress, which took place amidst the jeers of Tories and the maledictions of patriots, gave a stab to public credit, and fostered a general disposition to refuse Continental money. At his home near the sea, John Adams was as stout of heart as ever. The conflict thus far had been less severe than he from the first expected; though greater disappointments should be met, though France should hold back, though Philadelphia should fall, 'I,' said he, 'do not doubt of ultimate

A deeper Gloom settles over the Country.—The last hope of the nation now centred on Washington. Only a few days were left of the year 1776, and on the 1st of January a large portion of the little American army would have fulfilled their engagements; their enlistments would expire. Some electric shock must be sent through the staggering, bleeding, and disheartened colonial army, or it would be disbanded. The letters of Washington, written to confidential friends during this period, clearly indicate that he was maturing a plan, whose execution should alone reveal his concealed purpose. Howe regarded the campaign for the year as ended, and granting leave of absence to Cornwallis to visit England, and receive his share of the honors that were to crown their boasted feats of strategy and valor, he congratulated his nephew-the king-on the success of his arms, and confidently assured him that a brief spring campaign would put a final end to the rebellion. 'I am informed,' he wrote, 'by many prominent persons who had participated in the early and inconsiderate movements of the rebels, but who have returned to their allegiance since the cause became desperate, that Washington's so-called army will dissolve by the New Year, when their engagements expire.' In this belief the British commander prepared to return to New York for his winter quarters, where he could regale himself in those indulgences which were more grateful to his easy and voluptuous habits, than the inconveniences and exposures of the open field. Grant was left in command of Cornwallis's division, while the merciless Donop was charged with the business of hanging from the

Bancroft, vol. ix., p. 215.

The British commander-in-chief, General William Howe, by illegitimate descent an uncle to the king, was of a very different character [from Washington]. Six feet tall, of an uncommonly dark complexion, a coarse frame, and a sluggish mould, he was unresistingly ruled by his sensual nature. He was not much in earnest against the Americans, partly be cause he was persuaded they could not be reduced by arms, partly because he professed to be a liberal in politics, partly because he never kindled with zeal for anything. He had had military experience, and had read books on war; but being destitute of quickness of thought and will, he was formed to carry on war by rule. He would not march till he could move deliberately, with ample means of transportation. On the field of battle he sometimes showed talent as an executive officer; but, except in moments of high excitement, he was lethargic, wanting alertness and sagacity. He hated business, and his impatience at being forced to attend to it, joined to a family gloom, made

him difficult of access, and gained him the reputation of being haughty and morose. His indolence was his bane: not wholly merciless, he permitted his prisoners to suffer from atrocious cruelty; not meaning that his troops should be robbed, he left peculators uncontrolled, and the army and the hospitals were wronged by con tractors. His notions of honor in money matters were not nice, but he was not so much rapacious as insatiable Disliking to have his personal comforts infringed, he indulged freely in the pleasures of the table; without any delicacy of passion, kept a mistress; and loved to shake off dull indifference by the hazards of the farotable. His officers were expected to be, in the field, insensible to danger, like himself; in their quarters, he was willing they should openly lead a profligate life; and his example led many of the young to their ruin by gaming. He had nothing heroic about him, wanting altogether the quick eye, the instant combination, and the commanding energy of a great warrior.-Bancroft, vol. ix., pp. 99-100.

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APPROACHING DOOM OF THE HESSIANS.

nearest tree any of the inhabitants of New Jersey 'who should separately, or in bands, fire upon any British soldiers.' He had under him two Hessian brigades, a troop of mounted yagers, and the forty-second Highlanders, who during the war brought upon their country a disgrace, to which the Scotch name had always been a stranger. The brutal character of the Hessians was proverbial from the beginning. Neither life nor property of friend or foe, was held sacred by these foreign hirelings. All authorities agree, too, that there were 'examples where English soldiers forced women to suffer what was worse than death, and on one occasion pursued girls, still children in years, who had fled to the woods. The attempts to restrain the Hessians were given up, under the apology that the habit of plunder prevented desertions. A British officer reports officially :-They were led to believe, before they left Hesse-Cassel, that they were to come to America to establish their private fortunes, and hitherto they have certainly acted with that principle.

The approaching Doom of the Hessians.-Rall, their leader, as a reward for his valuable services,' had obtained the separate command of Trenton, with a troop of yagers and dragoons, in addition to his own Hessian brigade. On this pitiless marauder and his murderous band, Washington kept his eye steadily bent, taxing his utmost power of invention and resource, to devise some plan for his destruction. It was at last matured, and the moment had come when, if ever, it must be carried out. In a despatch of the eighteenth, General Grant wrote to Lord Howe: 'I am certain the rebels no longer have any strong corps on this side of the river; the story of Washington's crossing the Delaware at this season of the year, is not to be believed.' Donop, with more sagacity, had hinted to Rall the wisdom of flanking Trenton by garrisoned redoubts; but the Hessian commander, inflated by his promotion to new honors, despised the suggestion :-'Let them come! What need of entrenchments? We'll at them with cutlass and bayonet.'

The Interval before the Blow fell.-Every moment of it was crowded with activity; but the preparations were made with so little ostentation, that his ultimate design remained undetected. His letters to Congress during the next ten days were, as the future showed, among the most important he ever wrote. They should be carefully studied by every reader who prizes that luxury of curiosity and wisdom-gazing into the clear fountains from which the streams of history flow.' Experience had taught him the lessons which he pressed upon Congress, with that clear and earnest simplicity which was beginning to be understood. A few passages from those luminous State Papers -for time has lifted them into that dignity-will photograph to us, as no other picture can, the moral and physical scenery of those dark hours.

Sparks' Life and Letters of Washington. Of all the books yet published, or probably ever will be, that work is best worthy to be called the Student's Guide to the character of Washington. No biography, however accurate or brilliant, can ever portray Washington so perfectly as his own letters. The Correspondence extends through the long period of his eventful

life, and all his Letters were the artless expressions of his own candid soul, and distinguished by a clearness and simplicity very rare in the official or familiar writ ings of eminent public men, they will delight and instruct mankind forever. In another part of this work I shall speak of the immense services Jared Sparks rendered to American Literature.

WASHINGTON'S PLAN FOR SAVING THE NATION.

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Washington's Painting of the Situation, and his Plan for Success.-All had been hitherto but doubtful conflict, in the midst of chaos. Order must take its place. Doubt must give way to certainty: incoherence to compactness : feebleness to strength: inchoate nebula to a clearly-defined system of crys

tallized power.

FRESH BATTALIONS MUST BE DRAWN FROM THE BOSOM OF THE PEOPLE. THEY MUST BE ORGANIZED AS A NATIONAL ARMY. THUS ALONE COULD THE MILITARY FORCES IN THE FIELD, REPRESENT THE CIVIL POWER OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES IN ITS COUNCILS.

This was the conception of the Leader. On its adoption was to hang the calvation of the Republic. He thus presented it :

December 12.-' Perhaps Congress have some hope and prospect of reinforcements. I have no intelligence of the sort; and wish to be informed on the subject. Our little handful is daily decreasing by sickness and other causes; and without considerable exertions on the part of the people, what can we reasonably look for? The subject is disagreeable; but yet it is true.'

December 16.-' I am more and more convinced of the necessity of raising more battalions for the new army than what we have voted. The enemy will leave nothing unessayed in the next campaign; and fatal experience has given its sanction to the truth, that the militia are not to be depended on, but in cases of the most pressing emergency.'

December 20.-'I have waited with much impatience, to know the determination of Congress on the propositions made in October last, for augmenting our corps of artillery. The time has come when it cannot be delayed without the greatest injury to the safety of these States, and, therefore, under the resolution of Congress, bearing date the 12th instant, by the pressing advice of all the general officers now here, I have ventured to order three battalions of artillery, to be immediately recruited. This may appear to Congress premature and unwarrantable; but the present exigencies of our affairs will not admit of delay, either in the council or in the field. Ten days more will put an end to the existence of this army. If, therefore, in the short interval in which we have to make these arduous preparations, every matter that in its nature is self-evident, is to be referred to Congress at the distance of a hundred and thirty or forty miles, so much time must elapse as to defeat the end in view.'

And these important passages follow: It may be said that this is an application for powers too dangerous to be intrusted; I can only say, that desperate diseases require desperate remedies. I have no lust after power; I wish, with as much fervency as any man on this wide-extended continent, for an opportunity of turning the sword into the ploughshare; but my feelings, as an officer and a man, have been such as to force me to say, that no person ever had a greater choice of difficulties to contend with than I have. It is needless to add, that short enlistments, and a mistaken dependence upon militia, have been the origin of all our misfortunes, and of the great accumulation of our debt. The enemy are daily gathering strength from the disaf

322

THE LEADER'S ADVICE TAKEN.

fected. This strength will increase, unless means can be devised to check effectually the progress of his arms. Militia may possibly do it for a little while; but the militia of these States which have been frequently called upon, will not turn out at all; if they do, it will be with so much reluctance and sloth as to amount to the same thing. Instance New Jersey! witness Pennsylvania ! The militia come in, you cannot tell how; go, you cannot tell when ; and act, you cannot tell where; consume your provisions, exhaust your stores, and leave you at last at a critical moment. These are the men I am to depend on ten days hence: this is the basis on which your cause must forever depend, till you get a standing army, sufficient of itself to oppose the enemy. This is not a time to stand upon expense. If any good officers will offer to raise men upon Continental pay and establishment in this quarter, I shall encourage them to do so, and regiment them when they have done it. If Congress disapprove of this proceeding, they will please to signify it, as I mean it for the best. It may be thought I am going a good deal out of the line of my duty, to adopt these measures, or to advise thus freely. A character to lose, an estate to forfeit, the inestimable blessings of liberty at stake, and a life devoted, must be my excuse.'

December 24th.-On this day, just on the eve of his contemplated movement, he said: 'Very few have enlisted again, not more from an aversion to the service, than from the non-appointment of officers in some instances, the turning out of good and appointing of bad in others. The last of this month I shall be left with from fourteen to fifteen hundred effective men in the whole. This handful, and such militia as may choose to join me, will then compose our army. When I reflect on these things, they fill me with concern. To guard against General Howe's designs, and the execution of them, shall employ my every exertion; but how is this to be done?'

Washington's Advice was taken.-Congress understood these despatches. They hardly needed the confirmation of Greene, but they received it with the well-merited confidence which the character of that true man inspired. He wrote:-'I am far from thinking the American cause desperate, yet I conceive it to be in a critical situation. To remedy evils, the General should have power to appoint officers to enlist at large. The present existence of the civil, depends upon the military power. I am no advocate for the extension of military powers; neither would I advise it at present, but from the fullest conviction of its being absolutely necessary. There never was a man that might be more safely trusted, nor a time when there was a louder call.'

The General-in-Chief was authorized to recruit and organize twenty-two battalions for THE NATIONAL ARMY, under the authority of THE UNITED STATES. The tide had changed.

NEW ERA IN THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE.

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SECOND SECTION.

NEW ERA IN THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE-WASHINGTON CLOTHED WITH AUTHORITY TO PROSECUTE IT.

THE preliminary skirmishing was over-the war for Independence began. Rall lay complacently, if not securely, with his Hessians at Trenton, and there was the first point of attack. 'Our numbers,' wrote Washington, 'are less than I had any conception of; but necessity, dire necessity, will-nay. must-justify an attack.' He had just counted his men.

The Position of the National Army on the Twenty-third of December, 1776. The headquarters were at Newtown, Pennsylvania, not far from the Delaware river. Gates and Sullivan had come in-the former with the fragments of the four New England regiments,-only five hundred in all,—but to be counted on, since they were led by John Stark, that brave old campaigner of New Hampshire, over whose stalwart frame time had left no trace but the frost in his locks;-Sullivan with the division which Lee had so long kept back from the front. Washington was at the head of an army of five thousand fighting men. He turned their faces towards the Delaware, with the watchword, VICTORY OR DEATH. His plan was about to be tested.

Rumors of an American movement were afloat in New Jersey, and they reached the camp of the British General in command. But he wrote: 'There will be no crossing with a large force, because the running ice would make the return desperate, or impracticable. Besides, Washington's men have neither shoes nor stockings, nor blankets, and are almost naked and dying of cold and want of food.' The British commander had not yet learned that the war of Independence was not to be fought with blankets, or food or summer weather.

Our Cause elsewhere in Europe.-Our enemies held the ocean, across which their courier ships alone could sail. On the day Sullivan and Gates reached Washington's camp, Franklin entered Paris on his important mission to the court of Louis XVI. He had borne no cheering news to the friends of liberty. It was the darkest hour the American cause was ever to see abroad. The triumph of England seemed sure. Voltaire, the iconoclast of the past, and the prophet of the future, said: 'Franklin's troops have been beaten by those of the King of England. Alas! reason and liberty are ill received in this world.' Cornwallis was the coming idol of England; decorations were on the way to New York for the victorious Lord Howe; while in the quaint old town of Cassel, he was proclaimed a new Cæsar. Franklin was declared 'a fugitive from a felon cause,' and our friends in the House of Commons saw that 'the moment of reconciliation had come.' So much